This text is part of the special Women’s Leadership booklet
As far back as Isabelle Béliveau can remember, climate justice has always been at the heart of her concerns. Driven by a desire for change, she decided to make eco-anxiety her hobbyhorse by co-founding Éco-Motion, a unique organization in Quebec.
Originally from the South Shore of Montreal, Isabelle Béliveau grew up carefully observing the world around her. “I am a hypersensitive person, she explains from the outset. I remember that when I was young, each time I saw the destruction of a natural environment, it really came to get me. »
During her studies at CEGEP and university, she chose to get involved in several environmental initiatives, but the phenomenon of “militant fatigue” caught up with her. “I experienced what is called the burnout activist. A certain fatigue of compassion, more and more common, ”she mentions in videoconference, well installed in a small café in Sherbrooke.
According to her, this loss of bearings is widespread among many committed people and environmental professionals. From this observation was born the idea of creating an organization that would provide the necessary tools to deal with the emotional burden of climate change. “I realized that it wasn’t just me who was going through what we now call eco-anxiety,” she says. I began to see signs of distress in people, linked to the environmental situation. »
One thing leading to another, the environmental bachelor, also trained in environmental psychology and social communication, set up discussion groups. Quickly, it became clear to her that the majority of attendees felt helpless about the climate crisis. “I was like, ‘There’s something wrong, we can’t go on like this.’ I thought for two years about a space to work on these things. In my view, the climate crisis and the psychological health crisis are intertwined. You can’t mitigate one without addressing the other. »
A crying need
In 2020, Éco-Motion finally saw the light of day as a non-profit organization. “It started with small training groups and now we are hundreds of people. We have a team of five workers. The idea is for us to be mobile all over Quebec,” she says.
In addition to Isabelle Béliveau, three doctoral students in psychology and a social worker complete the quintet of trainers. Ranging from two hours to a full day, the workshops aim to transform eco-anxiety into a driver of change, focusing on four elements that she lists as follows: “The meaning we give to what is happening to us at the moment, how creating a sufficient and diverse support network, developing communication skills that do not inflame eco-anxiety and, finally, the coping plan: how you can act without exhausting your resources. »
For her, two things are clear: eco-anxiety is a systemic problem and Quebec is sorely lacking in resources to help people, especially young people in the school system.
“The environment is not really part of the school curriculum,” she laments. And then, when information on the subject comes, anxiety often arrives. The problem ? If you increase knowledge, but don’t put structures in place to manage the emotional load that comes with it, behaviors like denial emerge. We try to give tools to teachers through training. »
And the future, him?
Appearing in the late 1990s, the word “ecoanxiety” is now part of popular vocabulary. When asked if she thinks the term is overused, Isabelle Béliveau takes a short break to reflect. “I’m mixed on the question, I find that eco-anxiety is an umbrella term. On the other hand, I am happy that we talk about it so much because we now make an association between our health, our personal well-being and our environment. »
The 28-year-old entrepreneur is convinced that the reconnection between humans and their environment is a fundamental part of environmental transition. “I focus a lot on the concept of ecological transition. Instead of talking about optimism or pessimism, I prefer to talk about hope. »
With Éco-Motion, the adopted Sherbrooke resident has decided to move from reflection to action. In an ideal world, she would like her organization to become a support network, a psychological safety net in the face of climate change. “I would like Eco-Motion’s work to make it imperative that we integrate psychological health into all our discussions on the environment. If we manage to do that, I can say that my work is finished, ”she concludes with a broad smile.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.
“The climate crisis and the psychological health crisis are intertwined. You can’t mitigate one without addressing the other.”