Workshop: Grief and Courage in Times of Environmental Peril – January 23-24, 2026
Gila Resources Information Project and Lotus Center of Silver City present
Nevertheless, They Persisted: Grief and Courage in Times of Environmental Peril
Workshop with Karen Starz, MA, MAEC, CNVC Certified Trainer, based on the work of Joanna Macy
When: January 23, 2026: 6:00 – 8:00 PM and January 24, 2026: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Silver City, 3845 N. Swan Street
Cost: $45
To Register, click HERE
- On Saturday, January 24, bring your own lunch; participants are asked to remain on campus during the entire workshop.
- Reading Work that Reconnects or Coming Back to Life prior to the workshop will be helpful but not required
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About the Workshop
Friday, January 23; 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Facilitator Karen Starz will provide an overview of Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects,
and how it intersects with Nonviolent Communication. Introductions and Intention setting for
the weekend will round out the evening.
Note: You may be wondering: “What is Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and what does it
have to do with environmental despair and hope?”
NVC is a compassion-based approach to communication that helps people speak honestly
and listen empathically by focusing on shared human needs rather than blame, judgment, or
coercion.
Environmental challenges are not only technical problems—they are also relationship and
values problems. NVC helps by:
– Centering care for life—human and non-human—by clarifying the needs underlying
environmental harm
– Transforming conflict into collective action, rather than cycles of accusation and
resistance
– Reducing burnout and polarization within environmental movements
In short, NVC supports the inner and relational skills needed to create the outer
changes sustainability requires—aligning personal compassion with systemic ecological
care.
Saturday, January 24; 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (doors open at 8:30 AM; please be in
place and ready to start at 9:00 AM)
9:00 AM – Noon: Listening Circles and Grief/Despair Work
A listening circle is a structured group practice designed to cultivate empathic listening,
mutual understanding, and emotional safety—rather than debate, persuasion, or problem-
solving.
Listening circles are designed to:
– Ensure that everyone is heard
– Slow down communication
– Build connection among members of the circle
– Practice empathy without fixing, advising, or judging
These listening circles will be facilitated by Karen.
Noon – 12:45 PM: Lunch break (BYO); please remain on the UU campus
12:45 – 3:00: Embodied Hope and Reconnection to Life
Embodied Hope, as presented in Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects, is a way of
understanding hope that is felt, lived, and enacted through the body and relationships, rather
than held as an abstract belief or optimistic prediction about the future.
Reconnection to Life is the experience of remembering that:
– You are not separate from the world you care about
– Your pain for the world arises from love and belonging, not weakness
– Life is participatory, intelligent, and resilient
– You are part of a larger web of relationships that includes people, species,
ecosystems, ancestors, and future generations
– This reconnection restores energy, courage, and purpose
3:00 – 4:00 PM: Small group Going Forth Exercises
Your takeaways from the workshop . . .
– Tools for self-connection practice and grounding during triggering times
– Strategies to transform grief and despair
– Ways to direct your hope and make changes in your communities
– A general understanding of Nonviolent Communication principles
Note: All sessions will be at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Silver City; 3845 N. Swan
Street
To Register, click HERE
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