Climate change is a serious global issue affecting the health of individuals, communities, ecosystems and our planet. Join me and others as we envision, express with our bodies, and share our hope and intentions for bringing about a sustainable climate future for all.

Introducing an infographic about Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF). You can email me at climatejusticefitness@gmail.com to learn more. Follow me on Instagram @annanieminenecjf

Who is Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF) for? You can email me at climatejusticefitness@gmail.com to learn more. Follow me on Instagram @annanieminenecjf

Why does Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF) amplify the necessity for climate action in cities? Because while urban areas exert increasing stress on the earth and are continuing to grow, they can play an outsized role in creating solutions for a more sustainable climate future for all. You can email me at climatejusticefitness@gmail.com to learn more. Follow me on Instagram @annanieminenecjf

It was great to see so many of us out on a frigid morning to hand out flyers and talk to our neighbours about stopping the cuts to the TTC in the City of Toronto 2023 Budget. Here’s Monica with the sign and me at Scarborough Town Centre. Thank you to TTC Riders for organizing the Feb 2 Day of Action at TTC stops across the city. You can visit TTCRiders.ca to learn about actions you can take for more equitable transit in our community. Thanks also to Progress Toronto for promoting the Day of Action.

Thank you to Carbon Conversations Toronto (CCTO) for offering “Climate Change and You: A six-part program of discovery and learning”. I’m grateful to have been a participant in the Jan 11-Feb 15, 2023 virtual cohort. Thank you to facilitators Maria, Bill and Barb for creating a safe space for our group. They modelled sharing their feelings about their own challenges and successes with reducing their personal carbon footprints so that we could feel comfortable talking about our own feelings of ambivalence and enthusiasm regarding making changes. I enjoyed the balance of whole group and one-on-one/small group discussions and fondly remember the individuals and our conversations. I value the opportunity I had to reflect on, talk about, and plan for reducing my personal carbon footprint relating to Energy at Home, Travel and Transport, Food and Water, and Consumption and Waste. We also learned about talking with friends, family and colleagues. The Rules of Thumb summaries in the Handbook and the Checklists in the Workbook will come in handy as I move forward. I will also refer back to the Climate Justice Spotlight additions to the Handbook for Ontarians to deepen my learning. I really appreciated the time everyone committed to showing up for themselves and each other as we learned and shared during the 6 weeks of the program.

February 21st is International Mother Language Day and this week I’m taking some time to learn more of my mother’s Finnish language. With this Activate Your Learning Series # 4 I invite you to breathe as you read (or listen) about climate feelings vocabulary in Finnish and English. This post is inspired by Season 1 Episode 1 of my favourite podcast called Climate Change and Happiness. It’s interesting and helpful to learn about, sit with, reflect on, and talk about different words for feelings about the climate and ecological crises. What nuanced feeling words do you know?

POSTS FROM 2022

Join me for a presentation on Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF) on Sunday, July 3 at 10:30am at Don Heights Unitarian Congregation. You can join the service and my presentation in person or virtually. Through my talk and presentation of a 6 minute activation demo, learn how symbolizing and cultivating climate justice principles, issues and ideals with physical activity during a group fitness experience can create a space for self-reflection, education and community building, which can inspire climate activism. The service will include a reading of two poems by Jeevan Bhagwat, who is ECJF’s poet in residence.

On SAT JULY 30, 2022 at 2PM EDT, let’s gather together on Zoom and celebrate Kate Bush’s famous 1978 “Wuthering Heights” song and music video (red outfit version) as part of the 7th annual “The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever” global event.

This edition is a hybrid literary and movement arts event.

We’ll begin with some poetry appreciation by discussing two poems by Emily Bronte that relate to themes in her Wuthering Heights novel, followed by reviewing the lyrics of Kate Bush’s song. Then we’ll turn to practicing the upper body movements of the dance choreography while seated in our chairs (standing is optional). Finally, we’ll channel our inner Cathys as we re-enact the dance, seated (or standing), wearing a red outfit (or not).

Who knew

there’s a moor

on your living room floor?

This event is presented by The Scarborough Poetry Club‘s co-facilitators Anna Nieminen, poetry curator/movement arts facilitator, and poet Jeevan Bhagwat. Email scarboroughpoetry@gmail.com for a Zoom invite link.

We invite you to visit Moors for the Future Partnership to learn about restoration and protection efforts that are enhancing habitats, reducing the risk of wildfires, and tackling climate change on the moorlands. In this article you can read about celebrating the moors landscape on the bicentenary of Emily Bronte’s birth.

Introducing Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF)

Climate-aware fitness: because there’s #NoFitnessOnASickPlanet

Can fitness facilitate climate justice? What can fitness learn from how sport is addressing climate injustice?  How can fitness support a just transition toward a net-zero future? How can we balance climate activism with creative coping strategies?

Climate-aware fitness or Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF), takes a mindful approach to fitness instructing by welcoming feelings about the climate crisis, facilitating the mirroring and channeling of these emotions through a combination of narrative and movement, thereby creating space for transforming their weight, moving the energy through our bodies and, ideally, generating some power to act on the emotions. 

Through a talk and presentation of a brief activation demo, learn how symbolizing and cultivating climate justice principles, issues and ideals with physical activity during a group fitness experience can create a space for self-reflection, education and community building, which can inspire climate activism. Participating in the brief activation seated in your chair or standing is optional. Give your feedback or ask questions during a brief Q&A.

Email climatejusticefitness@gmail.com for a Zoom invite link

Read the related “Working Out in a Warming World” blog post.

Anna Nieminen (she/her) is a climate-aware movement arts/fusion fitness facilitator, creative climate communicator & blogger. Follow her on Instagram @annanieminenecjf

This weekend October 01-02, 2022 I completed the online edition of the Talk Climate to Me course. I’m proudly displaying my graduation badge here. As promised it was “fun, free, unscary, online”, so I encourage you to check it out too. It did not take me the whole weekend either (that said, investing time in learning about climate communication is meaningful for me and I’m personally committed to my continuing education). Each of the four episodes is just over half an hour, so that’s very manageable. It did get heavy feelings-wise with Episode 2 on Empathy, but the course is created in a way to help you to feel safe and to encourage you to take care of yourself. There are opportunities for mindful breathing and a few cat pictures too LOL. I’m really looking forward taking this course again virtually with other participants this October-November. Check out Talk Climate to Me for a fall 2022 session that could work for you. You can view an introductory “Small Talk about Climate Change” video that’s just over 20 minutes to learn more and get a feel for the online edition and the virtual sessions.