Psychedelic Community Offers Fresh Approach to Climate Activism
On September 17, the activist group Psychedelics for Climate Action (PSYCA) is launching Psychedelic-Climate Week, a series of gatherings running alongside Climate Week NYC designed for the psychedelic perspective. The event series is modeled after the arc of a psychedelic experience, winged with “Preparation” and “Integration” evenings to ground ideas that will float between attendees and leaders at the intersection of climate activism and psychedelics. Psychedelic-Climate Week, which includes more than 25 partner organizations, runs from September 22 through 29 with an opening event on September 17 and closing discussion on October 5.
What distinguishes PSYCA (PSYCA; pronounced sike-uh) from other climate activism groups is accepting the idea that it is difficult to solve a climate crisis if you yourself are in a state of fear. Marissa Feinberg, the organization’s founder, believes that heightened consciousness, lowered fear, and greater openness to new ideas inspired by psychedelics can help people better fathom and solve an issue as big as climate change – a tension she acknowledges is “a significant challenge in our climate reality, one that will only worsen as the climate emergency grows.” In a recent op-ed for Lucid News, Feinberg wrote, “At our events, new solutions and ideas are raised for collaborative dialog and consideration. We spotlight psychedelic-climate leaders to support, contributing to their climate action by sharing ways to join them.”
On September 17, the organization will host “Meet the Psychedelic Climate Leaders: Expanding Consciousness and Driving Change,” featuring talks by Paul Miller AKA DJ Spooky, De Kai, Sutton King, Douglas Rushkoff, and Bennet Zelner, along with representatives from Decriminalize Nature, Psychedelic Science Funders Collective, and Lucid News Community Media. Speakers will discuss topics related to arts, investment, science, policy, technology, and community building.
In addition to the PSYCA produced in-person launch and online integration events, Psychedelic-Climate Week includes seven partner events and participation by the organization’s leaders at Climate Week NYC events. Feinberg will lead the discussion “Can Psychedelics Help Address Climate Change,” as part of the New York Times Changemaker Lunch on September 25. Other programs include presentations of East Forest’s narrative documentary Music for Mushrooms and Nocturnal Medicine’s Sensuous Planet Festival, a nightlife experience featuring art, music, dance, and performances.
A Warm Reception
PSYCA has been supported with enthusiasm by the New York City psychedelic community. On May 28, conversations spilled out into the streets as Feinberg hosted the organization’s official launch at Manhattan’s Psychedelic Athenaeum, which attracted more than 100 attendees.
Feinberg, a social entrepreneur and marketer, hosted a number of speakers including Bennet Zelner, an associate professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business; Larissa Belcic, who teaches landscape architecture at Rhode Island School of Design; Michelle Farang Shofet, who teaches climate and design at Parsons School of Design; and musical performance artist Paul Miller AKA DJ Spooky.
Belcic said during the event that psychedelics assist us in having transformative experiences that can promote a healthier relationship to our planet, “Oh my god! There she is! There we all are!” said Belcic of astronauts’ general exclamation when they leave Earth and see our home planet for the first time. “So many people who have seen this [view of Earth] have reported an entire shift in how they understand themselves in relationship to existence, to all of us. And that’s kind of what we need.” Belcic believes psychedelics can promote this kind of emotional connection to the planet and inspire climate activism.
Zelner researches models of sustainable economics. He is conducting a study on psilocybin and decision-making in leaders. Zelner characterizes modern living, especially in the West, as embodying a “disconnected attunement” with other beings and the natural world.
“All of our major societal institutions reflect and perpetuate the myth that we are separate and disconnected from each other and from nature,” said Zelner. But psychedelics can reorient us to a “connected attunement, the attunement in which we recognize or remember our intrinsic connectedness with all things and beings and the mutuality of the relationships that support life.”
Shofet co-founded the nonprofit organization Nocturnal Medicine with Belcic to produce consciousness raising climate activism through experiential art parties. “We try to create ways to help people process and metabolize things like [the] climate crisis and ecological degradation in ways that get you out of your head, out of the intellectual realm and into your body, into your emotional landscape, into the spiritual dimension,” she said.
Miller’s work as DJ Spooky includes Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica, a performance work developed from the artist’s field recordings on the continent. Psychedelics provide “a chance to rethink your relationship” to issues like climate change, Miller said. He advocates for creativity in developing new approaches to problem solving.
“Imagination is the ultimate renewable resource,” said Miller. “My motto as an artist and creative is that there’s only two things that are infinite right now: the universe and human imagination, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of the stuff.”
Seeking Higher Perspectives
“If we look at all the solutions available – carbon capture, regenerative agriculture, organic food, clean energy – there’s so much,” Feinberg said. But “if we look into ourselves, our own consciousness, we are the ones who take action.”
Feinberg envisions PSYCA as a catalyst to change attitudes towards climate anxiety that promotes different orientations towards problem solving. “If we live like we’re in a climate crisis, then we’re going to go into a state of fear,” Feinberg said. She believes consciousness-expanding drugs and activities could promote positive change and new solutions by equipping people with the skills to approach the topic with “frank and calm confidence.” Feinberg thinks this may be “the necessary solution,” supporting people in “limiting the alarm and overwhelm,” in ways that support “being able collectively to understand and resolve it.”
“Psychedelic experiences can inspire a profound feeling of oneness with all things and beings,” said Feinberg. “The PSYCA community is on a mission to transform this awareness into meaningful climate action.”