These excerpts from applications to Earth Leadership Cohort 4 (2017) are shared with permission:

Finding Joanna’s work was like putting words and practices to what I felt was true all along…. It has helped me recognize the impulses for numbing and/or reactivity in myself and others, and how critical it is to address our entire experience of the destruction of life and suffering in order to really respond well…. I dream of creating spaces and facilitating practices that bring diverse people together to share their experiences of being alive in this world, feel seen and heard, and awaken collective creativity to thoughtfully address suffering.
– Tess, age 29, author of a master’s thesis entitled: “Healing the Conflict from Within: Wisdom from Buddhists, Taoists, and Christian Mystics for the Environmental Crisis”

To be a young person in this world right now is not easy, and I am utterly filled with gratitude for you holding this space to help us grow into more well-rounded and supported individuals! A million thank you’s.
– Molly. Age 28, Instructor for UVM’s Farmer Training Program

…I have thus far sought to understand the environment and the movements to protect it from an academic perspective; I would be thrilled to reinforce this education by connecting it with my own spiritual journey, and by meeting and learning from others in my community.
– Elena, age 20, sophomore at Boston College

Personally and professionally, this opportunity seems like the ideal next step to learning and reflecting on things I have maybe only touched on before. I hope for it to help my personal growth, as well as inform and strengthen and re-connect me to be a more effective, helpful campaigner (and facilitator and communicator, etc). I also think it could inspire me and equip me with the tools to help share this approach with others. Of course, as part of the Cohort, I would hope to make real connections with others who are also striving to re-connect.
– Annabelle, age 26, a member of the UK Youth Climate Coalition’s delegation to the UN climate talks

I spend my life trying to build the better world my heart knows is possible. In my years working against (and living in the results of) US imperialism in multiple countries/continents, I made the connection that the climate crisis gives us not only the duty, but the opportunity to shift our paradigm. The climate crisis is the great turning, in kinetic form.
– Adam, age 28, works with the international youth climate movement, the movement for racial justice, and If Not Now, a new movement for freedom and dignity for Jews and Palestinians