This is here after and I'm your host, Megan Divine, author of the best selling book. It's okay that you're not okay, we've got a bonus episode for you this week coming up right after this break. Okay, this week on here after a bonus episode from my guest Stephanie Food, author of the best selling book what my bones. Know, if you heard our main episode this week, you might have noticed that Stephanie and I referenced trees and plants and climate change in our goodbye wrap up section. So what the heck were we talking about? Well, one of the ways Stephanie Manages her anxiety and anger about climate change, really the climate emergency, is by working directly with the natural world. She literally works for the trees. It's part of how she has hope for the world right now and hope for the world to come. Our conversation about trauma work, climate change and working with the trees was too good to leave behind, and now there's no real segway here since we clipped it from the main show, so we're just going to dive into it here. It is Stephanie Food and me on dealing with climate anxiety by working with the trees. I hope you enjoy it and, you know, I also hope it gives you some ideas for finding your own hope in a rapidly changing world. I love this tack and I think this is actually a good time too, as we're already talking about hope. Like, can we talk about your hopeful work in the face of the climate emergency, because this is super relevant to what we were just talking about. And it comes agency too, something that I mentioned a lot. is like when you're feeling overwhelmed, this is terrible, this is terrible whatever, whether that's personally or collectively. Like action is the antidote to overwhelm. It doesn't matter what the action is, but like action, some kind of agency is that antidote to being flooded by overwhelmed. So can you tell folks will link to the article that you talk about how you landed in Central Park, but our forest park. Sorry, but tell me that story. Yeah, well, my my action is relatively small, but I think it's really important. I kill plants. So you know, I'm an immigrant. You're an immigrant, we're all immigrants, and you know Robin Wall kimmer writes about being a good immigrant. Basically, like, are you coming here and respecting the land and trying to make things better here for other people, or are you just kind of like draining resources and not being respectful with the gifts that, you know, America, that this continent, has to give? And it's the same for plants. There are good immigrant plants that, you know, get along well with the native plants and have actually some beneficial qualities, and then there's the bad immigrant plants that are invasive plants that kill a lot of native plants, that destroy ecosystems and like destroying many trees that would otherwise provide us with oxygen and shade and Joy Um. And so I help young trees by killing those invasive plants, and so I just go in to forest park with us at the clippers and I do eat a lot of yanking and snipping and UNTANGLING, like strangling vines from basically baby trees, and I can say okay, hey baby wall in ut or hey baby maple or whatever it is, and save them and be like okay, I hope that that's better for you and I hope that you grow into a big gas tree that you know, can remove tremendous amounts of toxins from the air and provide us with a happier, healthier place to live. And it's it's very small scale, obviously, like maybe I save, I don't know, like a hundred trees a year or maybe. But if all of us did something like that, if we all had like a relationship with nature around us where we did some sort of tiny conservation effort, whether it's like frogs or trees or whatever, I think there would be real significant change and even even sort of getting in this mindset where have a relationship with trees and like and the like has allowed me to, you know, cut back on consumption, be much more where, give more to your environmental charities, just have a relationship up with the non human world, I guess, and I recommend it for everyone. Go become a park steward at your local park. Yeah, we're plant trees also. I know, UH, here in l a where I live, there are friends of trees right where they go out and plant street trees and tend to them and and all of those things that are so it's so easy to look at the world and think like we're screwed right, and the hope, I share this hope with you, like the hope here is about small acts right when everything seems really overwhelming, whether that is in your emotional world or in the physical world or relationally, like the agency and the hope there is, like what one action moves things in a different direction than despair and giving up right because there there aren't always just those two options like we're all screwed or nothing is wrong, like neither of those two options are really going to service. So I love I love that and as a plant person, I super love it. I think working in the park has been really helpful for my trauma as well, because it gets me really grounded, it gets me out of my head and working with my hands and with my eyes and the scace and smells of the dirt. The dirt actually has bacteria and compounds in it that kind of act like PROZAC and literally make you happier. And also, I think having friendships and relationships with the non human world is really important because, yeah, humans can be kind of scary and let you down and be intense, but like trees or some of my most stable friends, it's I think it's nice to have like a relationship with the trees on your block and be like hey, they're old, old guy. Good to see. Old Trees always make me think about time. I mean, I just I really nerved out on that stuff. When I go to a city I try to use my thumb and blot out the city to see, like what, what? What this? What did this look like before this happened? Right, and trees are witnesses to that. Absolutely. They are the great weatherers of trauma. They are the great survivors and we can learn a lot from them. Yeah, and they don't care if you're crying. They do not give a shit if you're crying. They don't. They don't care if you're in a bad mood. They don't care if you're crying. They are like the original accepting force. They're just trees. Be In trees. Yeah, if you want to tell us how today's show felt for you, or you have a request or a question for upcoming explorations of difficult things, give us a call at three to three, six, four, three, three, seven, six eight and leave a voicemail. If you missed it, you can find the number in the show notes or visit Megan divine dot C o. If you'd rather send an email, you can do that too. Write on the website. Megan divine, don't CEO. We want to hear from you. I want to hear from you this show, this world needs your voice. Together we can make things better, even when they can't be made right. You know how most people are going to scan through their podcast APP looking for a new thing to listen to. They're going to see the show description for here after and think, I don't want to listen to difficult things, even if super cool people are talking about them. Well, that's where you come in. Your reviews of the show. Let people know it really isn't all that bad in here. We talk about heavy stuff, yes, but it's in the service of making things better for everyone. So everyone needs to listen. Spread the word in your friend groups, your professional circles on social media and Click through to leave a review, subscribe to the show, download episodes and keep on listening. Friends want more hereafter. Grief Education doesn't just belong to end of life issues. As my dad says, daily life is full of everyday grief that we don't call grief, from daily disappointments right up through those losses that rearrange the world. Grief is everywhere. Learning how to talk about all that without cliches or platitudes or dismissive, accidentally on purpose rude statements. Well, that's an important skill for everybody. find tip sheets, trainings, professional resources and my best selling book, it's okay that you're not okay, plus the guided Journal for Grief at Megan Divine Dot c o Hereafter with Megan divine is written and produced by me. You guessed it, Megan divine. Executive producer is Amy Brown, Co produced by Elizabeth Fossio, logistical and social media support from Micah and edited by Houston Tilly. Music provided by wave crush and occasional background noise from the air conditioning that I almost always forget to turn off one

This is here after and I'm your host, Megan Divine, author of the best selling book. It's okay that you're not okay, we've got a bonus episode for you this week coming up right after this break. Okay, this week on here after a bonus episode from my guest Stephanie Food, author of the best selling book what my bones. Know, if you heard our main episode this week, you might have noticed that Stephanie and I referenced trees and plants and climate change in our goodbye wrap up section. So what the heck were we talking about? Well, one of the ways Stephanie Manages her anxiety and anger about climate change, really the climate emergency, is by working directly with the natural world. She literally works for the trees. It's part of how she has hope for the world right now and hope for the world to come. Our conversation about trauma work, climate change and working with the trees was too good to leave behind, and now there's no real segway here since we clipped it from the main show, so we're just going to dive into it here. It is Stephanie Food and me on dealing with climate anxiety by working with the trees. I hope you enjoy it and, you know, I also hope it gives you some ideas for finding your own hope in a rapidly changing world. I love this tack and I think this is actually a good time too, as we're already talking about hope. Like, can we talk about your hopeful work in the face of the climate emergency, because this is super relevant to what we were just talking about. And it comes agency too, something that I mentioned a lot. is like when you're feeling overwhelmed, this is terrible, this is terrible whatever, whether that's personally or collectively. Like action is the antidote to overwhelm. It doesn't matter what the action is, but like action, some kind of agency is that antidote to being flooded by overwhelmed. So can you tell folks will link to the article that you talk about how you landed in Central Park, but our forest park. Sorry, but tell me that story. Yeah, well, my my action is relatively small, but I think it's really important. I kill plants. So you know, I'm an immigrant. You're an immigrant, we're all immigrants, and you know Robin Wall kimmer writes about being a good immigrant. Basically, like, are you coming here and respecting the land and trying to make things better here for other people, or are you just kind of like draining resources and not being respectful with the gifts that, you know, America, that this continent, has to give? And it's the same for plants. There are good immigrant plants that, you know, get along well with the native plants and have actually some beneficial qualities, and then there's the bad immigrant plants that are invasive plants that kill a lot of native plants, that destroy ecosystems and like destroying many trees that would otherwise provide us with oxygen and shade and Joy Um. And so I help young trees by killing those invasive plants, and so I just go in to forest park with us at the clippers and I do eat a lot of yanking and snipping and UNTANGLING, like strangling vines from basically baby trees, and I can say okay, hey baby wall in ut or hey baby maple or whatever it is, and save them and be like okay, I hope that that's better for you and I hope that you grow into a big gas tree that you know, can remove tremendous amounts of toxins from the air and provide us with a happier, healthier place to live. And it's it's very small scale, obviously, like maybe I save, I don't know, like a hundred trees a year or maybe. But if all of us did something like that, if we all had like a relationship with nature around us where we did some sort of tiny conservation effort, whether it's like frogs or trees or whatever, I think there would be real significant change and even even sort of getting in this mindset where have a relationship with trees and like and the like has allowed me to, you know, cut back on consumption, be much more where, give more to your environmental charities, just have a relationship up with the non human world, I guess, and I recommend it for everyone. Go become a park steward at your local park. Yeah, we're plant trees also. I know, UH, here in l a where I live, there are friends of trees right where they go out and plant street trees and tend to them and and all of those things that are so it's so easy to look at the world and think like we're screwed right, and the hope, I share this hope with you, like the hope here is about small acts right when everything seems really overwhelming, whether that is in your emotional world or in the physical world or relationally, like the agency and the hope there is, like what one action moves things in a different direction than despair and giving up right because there there aren't always just those two options like we're all screwed or nothing is wrong, like neither of those two options are really going to service. So I love I love that and as a plant person, I super love it. I think working in the park has been really helpful for my trauma as well, because it gets me really grounded, it gets me out of my head and working with my hands and with my eyes and the scace and smells of the dirt. The dirt actually has bacteria and compounds in it that kind of act like PROZAC and literally make you happier. And also, I think having friendships and relationships with the non human world is really important because, yeah, humans can be kind of scary and let you down and be intense, but like trees or some of my most stable friends, it's I think it's nice to have like a relationship with the trees on your block and be like hey, they're old, old guy. Good to see. Old Trees always make me think about time. I mean, I just I really nerved out on that stuff. When I go to a city I try to use my thumb and blot out the city to see, like what, what? What this? What did this look like before this happened? Right, and trees are witnesses to that. Absolutely. They are the great weatherers of trauma. They are the great survivors and we can learn a lot from them. Yeah, and they don't care if you're crying. They do not give a shit if you're crying. They don't. They don't care if you're in a bad mood. They don't care if you're crying. They are like the original accepting force. They're just trees. Be In trees. Yeah, if you want to tell us how today's show felt for you, or you have a request or a question for upcoming explorations of difficult things, give us a call at three to three, six, four, three, three, seven, six eight and leave a voicemail. If you missed it, you can find the number in the show notes or visit Megan divine dot C o. If you'd rather send an email, you can do that too. Write on the website. Megan divine, don't CEO. We want to hear from you. I want to hear from you this show, this world needs your voice. Together we can make things better, even when they can't be made right. You know how most people are going to scan through their podcast APP looking for a new thing to listen to. They're going to see the show description for here after and think, I don't want to listen to difficult things, even if super cool people are talking about them. Well, that's where you come in. Your reviews of the show. Let people know it really isn't all that bad in here. We talk about heavy stuff, yes, but it's in the service of making things better for everyone. So everyone needs to listen. Spread the word in your friend groups, your professional circles on social media and Click through to leave a review, subscribe to the show, download episodes and keep on listening. Friends want more hereafter. Grief Education doesn't just belong to end of life issues. As my dad says, daily life is full of everyday grief that we don't call grief, from daily disappointments right up through those losses that rearrange the world. Grief is everywhere. Learning how to talk about all that without cliches or platitudes or dismissive, accidentally on purpose rude statements. Well, that's an important skill for everybody. find tip sheets, trainings, professional resources and my best selling book, it's okay that you're not okay, plus the guided Journal for Grief at Megan Divine Dot c o Hereafter with Megan divine is written and produced by me. You guessed it, Megan divine. Executive producer is Amy Brown, Co produced by Elizabeth Fossio, logistical and social media support from Micah and edited by Houston Tilly. Music provided by wave crush and occasional background noise from the air conditioning that I almost always forget to turn off one