Contact

My name is Anna Nieminen (she/her) and I am a climate-aware facilitator living in Toronto/Tkaronto with connections to the Sudbury/N’Swakamok area.

As a fitness/movement arts facilitator and creator of the Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF) project, I offer activations, feature poetry, and blog about climate change, climate action, and what I’m learning about intersectionality. An important part of my work is engaging in learning about and taking actions to advance truth, justice and reconciliation.

I am on a role-modelling journey as a community-based educator and facilitator who has been sharing and applying my own continuous learning about the interconnected climate and ecological crises. Through my ECJF project, I have been offering interactive presentations and workshops about decarbonizing cities while reducing inequality, reducing and diverting waste while working toward circularity, relating to and protecting trees, valuing parks & ravines on Indigenous lands in Toronto/Tkaronto, exploring environmental identity, processing climate emotions, and more.

In the past year and more, I have become more engaged in learning about the personal and psycho-social side of climate change, including experiential explorations of finding one’s place in the ecosystem of possibilities for climate action. I have taken trainings through the Climate Psychology Alliance (CPA) and was a member of the Climate Psychology Alliance in North America (CPA-NA) from May 2023-May 2024. I have taken both the Living With the Climate Crisis (LWTCC) and the Climate Cafe facilitator trainings from CPA-UK. I have supported two existing virtual Climate Cafes with my own regular attendance and have offer some brief embodied practices as a volunteer at one of these and co-facilitated at the other.

I am canfitpro certified in Fitness Instructor Specialist (FIS) and Stress Resiliency. My group fitness instructor journey has included facilitating in-person, grant-funded classes prior to the pandemic, and offering live virtual, free and pay-what-you-can classes during the pandemic. I’m currently seeking grant-funded and honorarium-paid opportunities as a climate-aware movement arts/fusion fitness facilitator rather than pursuing fitness as a business. You can learn a bit about my really awakening to the seriousness of the climate crisis in my autobiographical poem “#NoFitnessOnASickPlanet” featured in my blog post for National Poetry Month 2023. Thank you to Devour: Art & Lit Canada for publishing my poem in Issue 015 Winter 2022-23 along with my poetry book review of Indigenous author Cher Obediah’s Shame to Shine: The Wreckage and Rise from Domestic Violence.

I also offer free themed poetry walks as a poetry curator and volunteer co-facilitator of the Scarborough Poetry Club. You can learn about the self-guided version of the “Living in Indigenous Sovereignty” Poetry Walk on my Blog page.

My hope is to grow the climate justice movement, with you, through embodied, creative, collective responses to the climate crisis.

I would love to hear from you with any questions or feedback!

You can email me at climatejusticefitness@gmail.com

You can find me on Instagram @annanieminenecjf

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am grateful to be living, working, walking, and blogging on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. I acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and in Scarborough, the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands. One of the many sources of inspiration for my work on truth, justice and reconciliation has been reading Living in Indigenous Sovereignty by Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara with Gladys Rowe and other contributors; it has deepened my reflecting on my relationships and obligations as a second-generation settler on Indigenous lands. I share about some of my learning and work on my Walking in “Indigenous Sovereignty” as a Settler-Ally page as well as on my Blog page.

Anna

BIOGRAPHY

Anna Nieminen is a movement arts/fusion fitness facilitator, creative climate communicator, blogger, and activist, as well as a poetry curator. At Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF) she combines movement arts/fusion fitness activation with climate justice storytelling to engage participants in learning about climate justice and making intentions for climate action.

As a poetry curator, Anna has co-facilitated monthly Scarborough Poetry Club meetings since October 2015 and has organized National Poetry Month celebrations and other public reading events. She has lead poetry walks during the Jane’s Walk Festival, guest curated Ontario Culture Days 2015 poetry events for Scarborough Arts, and organized poetry workshops and a final showcase event at Agincourt Library for the City of Toronto’s Cultural Hotspot 2018.

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

Embodied Climate Justice Fitness (ECJF) Project Work, Climate Activism, and more – Virtual and in-person, June 2021-Present

Creating ECJF project website and writing and designing ECJF content (ongoing)
Blogging about active living, local climate action, climate justice and reconciliation (ongoing)
Created and recorded first ECJF climate-aware activation practice demo
Presented first ECJF activation demo to members of the Scarborough Poetry Club, June 2021
Lead TransformTO Community Conversation and reported to City of Toronto, July 2021
Launched ECJF Instagram account @annanieminenecjf
Participated in and amplified ActionAid International’s EarthWalk 2021 as part of the first Embodied Climate Justice Fitness Challenge #ECJFChallenge
Participated virtually in COP26 in Glasgow along with hundreds for EarthWalk Live! a projection march of people and communities from all over the world demanding climate justice now!
Created and recorded “The Linden Tree” movement arts activation to the poem by Jeevan Bhagwat
Presented “The Linden Tree” at Tree Songs 2 hosted by Don Heights Unitarian Congregation, Nov 2021
Created first ECJF “Activate Your Learning Series” resource
ECJF declares a climate emergency #FitnessDeclares inspired by #MusicDeclares
Participated in and amplified climate justice campaigns such as the 350Canada and Council of Canadians’ Just Transition campaign #JustTransition #JustTransitionNow #GreenNewDeal #ClimateCodeRed #FloodParliament
Launched the Walking and “Living in Indigenous Sovereignty” page on ECJF website
ECJF declares #NoFitnessOnASickPlanet for Earth Day 2022
Lead the “Living in Indigenous Sovereignty” Poetry Walking during the Jane’s Walk Festival Toronto, May 2022, hosted by the Scarborough Poetry Club
Presented ECJF climate-aware activation practice demo to Don Heights Unitarian Congregation, July 2022
Participated in and amplified the Grassy Narrows River Run 2022 for mercury justice and freedom, Toronto/Tkaronto, July 2022
Co-presented “The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever”: Literary and Movement Arts Event hosted by the Scarborough Poetry Club, virtual, July 2022
Participated in the Ecojustice “Climate Action Now!” Rally at Queen’s Park on Sept 11 and attending court hearing virtually Sept 12-14, 2022
Participated in the Fridays for Future Global Climate Strike Rally at Queen’s Park on Sept 23, 2022
Volunteering/Participating in Talk Climate to Me (TCTM) Climate Change Cafes Feb 2023-Feb 2024
Review of Cher Obediah’s Shame to Shine: The Wreckage & Rise from Domestic Violence published in Devour: Art & Lit Canada Winter 2022-23
Poem “#NoFitnessOnASickPlanet” published in Devour: Art & Lit Canada Winter 2022-23
ECJF declares #NoFitnessOnASickPlanet for Earth Day 2023
Participated in Indigenous storyteller and dancer Sandra Lamouche’s Honour Dance for Creation workshop series for Earth Day 2023
Lead the “Living in Indigenous Sovereignty” Poetry Walking during the Jane’s Walk Festival Toronto, May 2023, hosted by the Scarborough Poetry Club
Co-facilitated in-person “Small Talk about Climate Change” as a volunteer with Talk Climate To Me, May 2023
Participated in and amplified the Canada is Burning National Day of Action 2023 in Toronto-Danforth, June 2023
Co-presented “The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever”: Literary and Movement Arts Event hosted by the Scarborough Poetry Club, Unique Book bookstore, Scarborough, July 2023
Review of Britt Wray’s Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis published in Devour: Art & Lit Canada, Issue 17 Summer 2023
Facilitated “Small Talk about Climate Change” as a volunteer with Talk Climate To Me, virtual, Aug 2023
Facilitated the Scarborough Poetry Club’s “Poetry for a Warming World” event at Agincourt Library, Sept 2023
Facilitated “Moving With Our Climate Emotions” workshop, virtual, Sept 2023
Participated in and amplified the Global March to End Fossil Fuels in Toronto/Tkaronto, Sept 2023
Participated in and amplified the Mass Protest to Stop Healthcare Privatization in Toronto/Tkaronto, Sept 2023
Review of Parallax Press’ Tears Become Rain published on Goodreads, Sept 2023
Attended Sustainable Sport panel discussion and met Becoming a Sustainable Runner author Tina Muir at TSC Toronto Waterfront Marathon Expo, Oct 2023
Volunteer Team Lead during Talk Climate to Me (TCTM) Fall 2023 cohort
Wrote “Shocked to Life! Hidden Climate Story in Song: “Shock the Monkey” by Peter Gabriel” as guest author on Hidden Climate Story on Substack, Nov 2023
Co-facilitated first Climate Cafe: Dance Floor Edition, Nov 2023
Published “Climate Cafe: Dance Floor Edition, Introducing a model with example” blog post, Feb 2024
Co-facilitated second Climate Cafe: Dance Floor Edition, Feb 2024
Volunteered for Project Neutral at Mindfest, University of Toronto, Mar 2024
Volunteer Team Lead during Talk Climate to Me (TCTM) Spring 2024 cohort
Facilitated “Voices in Verse VI: Weather: Celebrating National Poetry Month 2024, Scarborough Poetry Club, at Agincourt Library, April 2024
Participated in the “Turtles on the Move Parade” at High Park, Toronto/Tkaronto, May 2024
Facilitated “DiVERSE City: a celebration of poetry in our community”, Scarborough Poetry Club, at Agincourt Library, June 2024
Facilitated in-person “Your Climate Thing” workshop for 16 youth as a volunteer for Project Neutral, Scarborough, June 2024
Presented a “Climate Change Information Session” to CMHA Toronto’s Pathways program participants, virtual, Aug 2024
Facilitated “Stories of Decolonization” films screenings and discussions during Project Neutral’s monthly Community Call, Aug 20 and Sept 17, 2024
Participated in and amplified the Grassy Narrows River Run 2024 for mercury justice and freedom, Toronto/Tkaronto, Sept 18, 2024

Virtual Branded Fusion Fitness for Women Classes – Facebook Live, Apr. 2020-Feb. 2021

Cardio, older adult, and yoga fusion formats

In-person Movement Arts/Fusion Fitness Classes – Better Living Health and Community Services, July 2018-July 2019

Mindful Moments (movement and musical appreciation)
Yoga for Every Body (fusion yoga with chair options)
Branded Fusion Fitness for Women
Low-impact Functional Fitness

Earlier Scarborough Poetry Walks – Jane’s Walk Festival, 2015 and 2017

Walk planning, research, preparation, and facilitation
Coordinating with Toronto Public Library staff for event planning and promotion
Promoting poetry walks on Jane’s Walk Toronto website, event sites and social media
Blogging about poetry walks and Pan Am Path Art Relay on Jane’s Walk Toronto website

SELECTED CERTIFICATIONS, CERTIFICATES, AND TRAINING

Fitness Instructor Specialist (FIS) and Stress Resiliency, canfitpro since 2016
Seniors’ Fitness Instructor Certification (SFIC), Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging (CCAA) – Western University from Nov 2017-Nov 2021
Canadian Indigenous Culture Training – Truth and Reconciliation Edition Certificate, Sport for Life, June 2022
Introduction to Physical Literacy Certificate, Sport for Life, May 2023
Heart Wise Exercise Training Course & Exam, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Aug 2023
Life Skills Coach Training (group facilitation), George Brown College, 2010
Living With the Climate Crisis (LWTCC) Facilitator Training from the Climate Psychology Alliance (CPA-UK) on Feb 11 and Apr 29, 2023
Active Hope Foundations Training (ActiveHope.Training), Mar-Apr, 2023
Climate Cafe Facilitator Training from the Climate Psychology Alliance (CPA-UK) Apr 13, 2023
Team Lead Training Sessions from Talk Climate to Me, fall 2023 and spring 2024