“The whole process of bringing a child into the world (and mothering) has really made me look at myself and my resilience. I don’t think I was all that resilient before…but there’s something about the urgency of getting to the truth and really sorting out myself as a role model to her. I want my daughter to grow up with resilience and have a strong sense of her values and I need to model them for her in these early years. Facing these difficult truths, being able to sit with them and still contribute and function…I want to acknowledge the environmental breakdown, the broken systems, the political shitshow but I want to get to the place where I feel empathy for people in such denial and that’s what I want to model and embody. 

I believe that all these things that are good for our personal wellbeing are good for the planet too and it’s about how we show up in the world - the West needs to stop devaluing these feminine principles and then there would be a shift out of the systems which are destroying the world!”

As women in their mid thirties who have a deep level of awareness around the climate crisis, hosts Jenny Fraser Harris and Eilidh McLaughlin thought it important to talk next about a deeply personal and somewhat controversial topic: Motherhood. 

There is a strong connection between mothering and environmental advocacy - existentially, when thinking about Mother Nature, and more practically, when asking what motherhood and parenting looks like in a time of climate crisis, and how, as women, birthing people and mothers, we adapt.

At the time of recording Jenny and Eilidh were both at unique points in their Motherhoods - Eilidh was just about to have a baby and Jenny, who already has one child, was at the precipice of a big decision about having another - so it was an ideal time to explore this topic. This episode aims to present some thoughts and experiences on their own journeys with the hope of helping listeners process this emotional and very personal topic.

If you enjoy this episode please give it a like/review/share on whichever platform you use to download or listen! Follow us on Instagram @climatecrisisculture @jfraserharris @creative.sustainability or find us at https://climatecrisisculture.podbean.com/  

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Hosts: Jenny Fraser Harris and Eilidh McLaughlin

Editing + Artwork: Jenny Fraser Harris

Show Notes: Eilidh McLaughlin

Music: Michael Weldon

Links

• Check out Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis here
• Read Mothering into the Anthropocene by Kailea Frederick here
• More info on Spilt Milk Gallery here
• More about Pregnant athen Screwed here
• Get involved with: Parents For Future here
• Mothers Rise Up

Caroline Hickman study here