5: How to Navigate Climate Emotions and Build Community Around You with Jen Knoch

How do we hold the grief, rage, and love that come with caring deeply about the climate crisis and still keep going? In this conversation, I’m joined by my friend Jen Knoch, a Toronto-based sustainability advocate and the creator of the Climate Emotions Retreat, to explore what it looks like to feel these emotions fully, stay rooted in care, and take meaningful action alongside others.

Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, inspired, or somewhere in between, this episode is a reminder that you don’t have to hold it all alone — and that small acts of tending and care really do matter.

Takeaways

• How naming and sharing climate emotions like grief, anger, and fear can help us stay connected and engaged.
• The community care practices that sustain Jen’s work — from food rescue to plant swaps.
• The impact of Ontario’s Bill 5 and what it reveals about climate grief and resistance.
• How rescued plants, slow walks, and seed libraries remind us that small acts of care can build connections and sustain a movement.

One Small Shift

Go for a bike ride and notice what’s blooming around you.

Books

ECW Press

New Society Publishers

Facing the Climate Emergency – Margaret Klein Salamon

Earth and Soul – Leah Rampy

Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Serviceberry – Robin Wall Kimmerer

Organizations

Climate Awakening

Indigenous Climate Action

Ecojustice

Environmental Defence

Ontario Nature

Mutual Aid & Local Resources

Community Fridges Toronto

Karma Co-op

Cycle Toronto

Find Your MPP (Ontario) 

Connect with Jen

Five Minutes for the Planet (Jen’s Substack)

Instagram

Climate Emotions Retreat

Support the show

Connect With Me

Website

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Shop

Instagram

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Sustainable in the Suburbs is mixed and edited by Cardinal Studio

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