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We use playfulness

to engage in the

Serious Business of

climate work.

Why play

playground (not battleground) thinking

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Playful Climate Action takes a different approach is grounded in positive psychology and play-based learning theory. It seeks to empower people to envision and create the thriving, regenerative world we all want.

 

Climate change and playfulness? You can't be serious.

 

Look, working on climate change is Serious Business. Unfortunately, our approach to Serious Business has been dominated by a battleground mentalityThis approach leaves many of us feeling depleted, steeped in doom and gloom, and reluctant to keep going or, worse, engage at all.

 

Alternatively, Playful Climate Action approaches the Serious Business of climate work with a playground mentalityPlaygrounds tap into our innate sense of joy, wonder, and delight, sparking our creativity, connecting us to others, and leaving us feeling renewed.*

*Spoiler alert: A playground mentality is not about glitter storms, rainbow-farting unicorns, and other forms of toxic positivity, so if you're looking for unrepentant optimism about climate change, look elsewhere.

We believe in the power of
joy and delight
in bringing about the
regenerative, thriving world
we all want.

What we do

we take climate change seriously.
we take ourselves less seriously. 

We use playfulness and playful learning to empower climate-focused leaders, green teams, educators, and organizations of all types already dabbling (or wanting to dabble) in the climate space to:

  • reignite their motivation and energy for climate work. ​​

  • cultivate personal resilience and avoid burnout.

  • counteract pervasive doom & gloom.​

  • get unstuck or get started, no matter where they are on their climate work journey.​

  • engage internal or external stakeholders with climate work.​

  • build a supportive community of climate thinkers and doers.

 

Our workplayshops are highly interactive and, well, playful. Depending on your goals, we might incorporate tools like:

  • LEGO® Serious Play® 

  • Awe walks

  • C-Roads climate change policy simulation

  • Climate change-themed games

  • Interactive, app-based Goose Chase scavenger hunts

Sound interesting?

Let's play!

...if we want to make it safely and sanely through all the changes coming our way, we're going to need to come out and play. 

-Bernie DeKoven

  game designer, fun theorist

Contact

meet the person behind
Playful Climate Action

Hello! I'm Casey Meehan, a U.S. based sustainability professional, educator and  SERIOUSWORK certified facilitator of LEGO Serious Play.

I believe that joy and delight are our collective superpowers in responding to the world's biggest challenges. I've spent over a decade helping organizations engage with stakeholders around climate change using my background in psychology and my PhD focused on climate change education.

Playtime for me includes trail running, exploring the outdoors with my partner and two boys, and juggling. Not all at the same time. Yet.

I'd love to connect. I've found talking about climate change to be the perfect ice breaker. (See what I did there?) 😂

Casey R. Meehan

Casey Meehan, PhD

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Follow Casey on LinkedIn 

 

 

 

 

or email him at casey@playfulclimate.fun 

  • LinkedIn
Meet Casey

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The opposite of work is not play. it's depression.

-Brian Sutton-Smith, PhD

 play theorist

Resources

Resources

Books

Featured post

Print resources about how we respond to the climate crisis, the importance of joy and play, or both.

The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again   (2021)     Catherine Price

A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet  (2020) 

Sarah Jaquette Ray

 

The Book of Delights: Essays  (2020)     Ross Gay

A Playful Path  (2014)  (Available for free at aplayfulpath.com)     Bernard DeKoven

Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think is Critical to Solving the Climate Crisis  (2020)

Elin Kelsey

Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration  (2022)     Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul   (2010)

Stuart Brown & Christopher Vaughan

Playful Intelligence:The Power of Living Lightly in a Serious World   (2018)     Anthony DeBenedet

 

Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness   (2018)
Ingrid Fettel Lee

Michael Rosen's Book of Play! Why Play Really Matters, and 101 Ways to Get More of It in Your Life  (2019)       Michael Rosen

Games, websites and other playful things...

Greenhouse Game: Our Home is in Your Hands    https://www.greenhousegame.com/

 

World Climate Simulation (C-Roads)    https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/world-climate-simulation/


Your Climate Journey    https://growing-greener.org/

How Bad are Bananas?   https://bananasgame.co.uk/

A deep, flexible, fun and engaging way of learning about your own carbon impacts. Needs a facilitator to work well and is based on the popular science book by Professor Mike Berners-Lee.

Can Your Reach Net Zero?   https://ig.ft.com/climate-game/

 

Climate Adam
With a PhD in climate science from Oxford, Adam Levy tries to make sense of climate change with humor-filled YouTube videos.

 

deepFUN.com
The late Bernie DeKoven's site including a blog about play and a collection games designed to help us practice playfulness.

 

Inside the Greenhouse
Students at the University of Colorado develop climate change-related sketch comedy for a class on creative climate communication. This is part of a larger project called "Inside the Greenhouse.

EarthGames

EarthGames is a growing community of researchers, game developers and students who share a passion for games and the environment. Here is a collection of their games.

From the blog

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