Eco-Anxiety and the Pandemic, a free nine-week course will be held Mondays, 5:30-6:30 pm, beginning Monday, August 3, 2020 and ending Monday, October 5, 2020, via Zoom meeting. Speakers include: David R. Loy, author of Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis; Newell Lewey, Passamaquoddy Language and Culture Manager, Wabanaki Public Health; Professors Ivan Fernandez, University of Maine Orono, Will Hafford, Unity College and Tora Johnson, University of Maine Machias.

For more information and to register for all or part of the nine-week series of classes visit https://www.zendowneast.org/eco_anxiety_pandemic_course.html.

The classes will:

• Consider the relationship between the pandemic and the eco-crisis
• Teach about the interconnected effect of these crises on mental and physical health
• Explore the impacts of the eco-crisis on New England
• Validate eco-anxiety as a sane, healthy response
• Discover how to make friends with uncertainty
• Experience a sense of kinship with the natural world as practiced by Native Americans and Zen meditators
• Find ways to engage in our diverse communities during these challenging, unpredictable times, centering on dignity as a guiding principle
• Ultimately, find joy in measuring up to the great trumpet call of our time, responding to the pandemic and the eco-crisis with newfound resiliency and creativity.

This course is sponsored by EcoSattvas DownEast (https://www.zendowneast.org), Sierra Club Maine (https://www.sierraclub.org/maine) and the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine (https://www.peacectr.org).