Climate Psychology: From Panic to Purpose

Climate anxiety is soaring among young people, with a 2021 poll showing that more than half of youth worldwide believe humanity is doomed and that nothing can be done—but that story is not the whole truth. In this episode of Climate Emergency Forum, host Herb Simmens is joined by clinical psychologist, author, and Climate Emergency Fund executive director Margaret Klein Salamon to explore how we can face the terrifying reality of the climate crisis without succumbing to despair. Together they unpack how grief, fear, rage, and even shame can be transformed into courageous, purposeful action grounded in climate truth.

This video was recorded on February 4th, 2026, and published on February 8th, 2026, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.

Drawing on her book Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth, Margaret explains why fully feeling our emotions—including what Lise Van Susteren calls “pre‑traumatic stress” about the future—is a necessary step toward finding our role in this crisis. She speaks about grieving for species, people, and futures already lost or under threat, and then using that grief as fuel to rewrite our life story: Who am I, given that this is happening, and what can I contribute to protecting all life? Herb, Peter Carter, and Paul Beckwith reflect on Margaret’s decade at the intersection of climate psychology and activism, including co‑founding The Climate Mobilization and inspiring the first U.S. county to declare a climate emergency.

The conversation also offers honest guidance for parents and teachers on how to talk with children about the climate emergency without resorting to false reassurance, emphasizing instead truth, shared action, and family commitment to protecting humanity and the living world. In the final “Climate Five” segment, Herb highlights key stories from the week—from EV battery shifts and China’s coal surge to wastewater methane, the future of the Winter Olympics in a warming world, and the “shifting baseline” that makes today’s cold snaps feel extreme despite a long‑term decline in severe cold. Stay tuned for part two, where Margaret returns to dive more deeply into disruptive, nonviolent climate activism and how joining movements can turn climate grief into powerful, collective change.

Links:

• Support Our Mission

• Climate Emergency Fund

• Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth

• The Climate Mobilization

• Compartmentalization (psychology)

• Lise Van Susteren

• Eco Grief (CEF Video)

• Why U.S. Car Companies Want to Make Giant Batteries

• Rush’ for new coal in China hits record high in 2025 as climate deadline looms

• The Carbon Footprint of Wastwater Treatment Plants

• How the Winter Olympics Are Adapting in a Hotter World

• Extreme cold warning issued to 100 million Americans in multiple states ahead of ‘coldest air of winter’ yet

Special Guests

• Margaret Klein Salamon - is a clinical psychologist, author of Facing the Climate Emergency, and a pioneer at the intersection of climate psychology and activism, helping people transform climate anxiety into courageous action. She is the executive director and founding director of the Climate Emergency Fund and co‑founder of The Climate Mobilization, which helped drive early climate emergency declarations and bold, justice‑centered climate policy.

Regular Panelists:

• Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute.

• Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

• Herb Simmens - Author, Co-founder of the Healthy Planet Action Coalition (HPAC), Climate Emergency Board Member and former college instructor.

Video Production:

• Charles Gregoire - Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader

• Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.

Attributions:

Background Music:

• Title: Through the City II
• Author: Crowander
• Source: crowander.com

Image and Video:

• Image and Video Attributions