Climate Café Grand Rapids

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Climate Café Grand Rapids

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A nonjudgmental space open to everyone ready to explore eco-emotions in a group setting

08/20/2026

Tuesday’s café at Lookout Park. This group put a lot into words, supported by Nancy’s colored thread activity x artwork in process. As we named emotions we’ve experienced lately related to climate+ and identified thr color-coded emotional families they belong to, we passed corresponding colored threads between us. By the end, we were able to visualize all the interwoven and shared feelings that run between us. With more time, the threads could become a tapestry.

Thanks to everyone who showed up with courage to discuss (what often feels like) the undiscussable—and with strangers no less. Doing this is not easy, but as a number of the group shared, this reminds us we are not alone in these experiences. As one person shared, “It’s a relief to be able to talk openly about this.”

We also shared community announcements, which are posted to stories.

Our next café will be September 15th. Watch for a post on this or subscribe to our lu.ma/climatecafegr page for all café updates.

One big announcement (separate post coming soon): we are now on Patreon. The idea is to create an asynchronous discussion and resource sharing community. Paid tiers purely optional, and go toward helping host events either speakers and more. You can find the link to follow / join at the link in our profile.

Until next time, take care and take courage everyone 🩵

08/03/2026

August’s café is also planned for a park setting: Lookout Park, in the Belknap Lookout neighborhood near the Medical Mile and more.

This will be an evening café. We will start with introductions at 5:30pm, so please leave time to settle in before we begin (but of course please join us whenever you can make it).

We will have blankets and cold NA drinks, but you may want to bring a camp chair, blanket, or beverages/snacks.

In case you’ve never been and are wondering, what is a climate café?, it is “a simple, hospitable, empathetic space where [feelings] and uncertainties about our climate & ecological crisis [and related political crises] can be safely expressed.”

Climate Café GR is a nonjudgmental space open to anyone in Grand Rapids down to explore eco-emotions in a justice-oriented group setting.

You can sign up at lu.ma/climatecafegr if you’d like for reminders and calendar invite. But it is not required.

Please reach out if you have any questions, and we look forward to seeing you on the 18th. In the meantime, take care and take courage everyone 🩵

07/25/2026

Yesterday was our July café. This time, the weather allowed us to meet outside—at Roberto Clemente Park.

After introductions, our activity was all about putting words to difficult to describe realities (which about sums up what we’re about). But we read aloud a variety of words, including from (bureauoflinguisticalreality.com), which proposes new terms for the ecological and political times we live in. We reflected on what these evoked for us and connected on shared experiences under the big Burr Oak. Thanks to everyone who showed up with the courage to share their experiences with new people.

Next month’s café will be Tuesday, August 18th, from 5.30-7pm at Lookout Park (weather permitting). Separate post to follow.

There is an overwhelming amount of overwhelming reality to take in right now. Wishing everyone opportunities to recenter and lean into care this weekend 🩵

(Not pictured: Jose, who kindly took the group photo this time, and Umi 🐕)

07/13/2026

For July’s café, we will aim to go back outside. This time to Roberto Clemente Park, just off Godfrey Avenue in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood near the Black Hills. We will meet near the shelter/restrooms.

This will be a Friday afternoon café to enable more folks to make it one their lunch break (no problem to bring food). We will start with introductions at 1pm. But please join us whenever you can make it there.

We will have blankets and cold NA drinks, but you may want to bring a camp chair, blanket, or beverages/snacks.

You can register at our event page (lu.ma/climatecafegr) to get a calendar invite and receive any updates pertaining to this meeting of the café community.
We hope to see you there to unpack the challenging experiences we’re facing through the unfolding climate crisis (and other related crises!). Until then, take care and take courage everyone 🩵

07/03/2026

June’s café was Wednesday. It was a hot week, which is why we moved inside. Thanks to Morning Ritual for accommodating us in your cool space on such short notice!

This month we were community to each other through the Climate Emotions Wheel exercise (created by Climate Mental Health Network). We used the wheel to help us identify what we’ve been feeling in these ecological and political time, then illustrated them, then shared them with each other and reflected to one another what we heard and felt through the experience.

Swipe for a few examples of the drawings. The point of this exercise is to sit with and then externalize one’s climate feelings. We don’t all process the same, of course. But the next time you feel strong eco-distress, perhaps try this out and see if it helps? (Note: you don’t need this template, you can simply name feelings and draw them.)

Why do we get together each month like this? In short: the climate crisis and its symptoms creates a large mental health burden. A lot of us are feeling it—more than you would guess. So we face it together, which can lead to healthier responses to ourselves, one another, and the world. Join us as we do this together.

We will post our July cafe date as soon as we can.

In the meantime, take care and take courage everybody 🩵

06/29/2026

UPDATE: due to heat, our June café is moving inside to Morning Ritual, and will be shortened to one hour. Community safety is a priority, and we are grateful Morning Ritual will host us inside on short notice. (Please do not go to Highland Park.)

Otherwise, the café will be similar:

Looking for a community of people who get it and want to support each other? Save the date for June’s climate café on Tuesday, June 30th. Let’s close out the month together.

We will start with introductions at 6pm, so please arrive early to find the group, get a drink or snack if you’d like, and settle in. (Of course, please join us whenever you can make it there.)

In case you’re wondering, what is a climate café?, it is “a simple, hospitable, empathetic space where [feelings] and uncertainties about our climate & ecological crisis [and related political crises] can be safely expressed.”

Climate Café GR is a nonjudgmental space open to anyone in Grand Rapids down to explore eco-emotions in a justice-oriented group setting.

See you soon, everyone 🩵

06/19/2026

Our June café is rescheduled to the 30th (due to storms on the 17th).

Looking for a community of people who get it and want to support each other? Save the date for June’s climate café on Tuesday, June 30th. Let’s close out the month together.

With the warmer weather, we will head back outside to Highland Park in Grand Rapids (between College and Grand, 700 College Ave NE). We will meet near the parking lot (we will share more exact location to registrants and via Instagram closer to the session time).

We will start with introductions at 6pm, so please arrive early to find the group and settle in. (Of course, please join us whenever you can make it there.)

Feel free to bring a blanket or chair for seating, as well as if you’d like to bring any drinks or snacks.

In case you’re wondering, what is a climate café?, it is “a simple, hospitable, empathetic space where [feelings] and uncertainties about our climate & ecological crisis [and related political crises] can be safely expressed.”

Climate Café GR is a nonjudgmental space open to anyone in Grand Rapids down to explore eco-emotions in a justice-oriented group setting.

Until then, take care and take courage everyone 🩵

05/25/2026

Looking for a community of people who get it and want to support each other? Save the date for June’s climate café on Wednesday, June 17th.

With the warmer weather, we will head back outside to Highland Park in Grand Rapids (between College and Grand, 700 College Ave NE). We will meet near the parking lot (we will share more exact location to registrants and via Instagram closer to the session time).

We will start with introductions at 6pm, so please arrive early to find the group and settle in. (Of course, please join us whenever you can make it there.)

Feel free to bring a blanket or chair for seating, as well as if you’d like to bring any drinks or snacks.

In case you’re wondering, what is a climate café?, it is “a simple, hospitable, empathetic space where [feelings] and uncertainties about our climate & ecological crisis [and related political crises] can be safely expressed.”

Climate Café GR is a nonjudgmental space open to anyone in Grand Rapids down to explore eco-emotions in a justice-oriented group setting.

Until then, take care and take courage everyone 🩵

05/10/2026

Well, last week’s May café did happen! But on accident, it concluded without a group photo. Sorry!

So instead here are some of the faces of the group as represented by the emoji version of our standby Climate Emotions Wheel tool (by ). The experiences people brought to last week’s café and elaborated together spanned a whole range of feels and topics. As usual, we concluded with some community announcements and connections.

Big thanks to / for hosting us again at the end of their Friday hours. We truly appreciate their space, drinks, and overall hospitality.

Stay tuned for our June café date! We will post it here, as well as on our event page at: lu.ma/climatecafegr (linked in profile).

Take care and take courage, everyone 🩵

Address

Grand Rapids, MI

Website

http://lu.ma/climatecafegr

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