The compassion pathway. What is ethical, pro-nature and environmental business. How we can act for Nature. Part of nature based coaching skill
Module 5 – Protecting what we love
5.1 Protecting what we love
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6 responses to “5.1 Protecting what we love”
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This session deepened my understanding of compassion — both as a personal practice and as a foundational stance in nature-based coaching. It also marked a shift in how I view the role of the coach: not only supporting clients in nature but actively coaching for nature. That shift — from nature as a passive setting to an active partner and stakeholder — felt profound.
I’m coming away from this module with a strong desire to explore further. I want to investigate the St John’s Wort plant — its connection to mental health and depression — and reflect on how plants can be part of our healing vocabulary, both literally and metaphorically. Similarly, the conversation around Sanskrit terms like Maitru (loving-kindness) and Karuna (feelin pain) inspired me to explore the language of compassion more deeply, including words like Aman, meaning peace.
I’m also curious to learn more about the Global Charter for Compassion, and what it could mean to embody that commitment more explicitly in my work.The topic of climate anxiety was another important thread. It can feel overwhelming — this sense of planetary crisis — but I appreciated the shift in our group toward a more micro and practical approach: small, positive, hopeful actions. That felt empowering. The framework of active hope offered a way to transform anxiety into energy for change.
What really landed for me was the growing evidence of a positive feedback loop between nature connection and pro-environmental behaviour. It’s not just that we go into nature and feel better (though that’s important). It’s that when we feel more connected, we are more likely to act for the natural world. That feels like a calling. Nature needs help. And I want my work and life to be more in service of that.
I was inspired by the behavioural science shared from Williamson et al., which affirms that individual behaviours do matter. Reflecting on my own life, I’ve taken steps towards sustainable living — from building a low-emissions house that relies on natural shade, insulation, and rainwater capture, to installing solar panels and using minimal energy to heat or cool the home.
However, I can see a tension around our rental properties, which don’t yet reflect the same environmental standards. I’d like to revisit that, not with guilt, but with curiosity — to see how those spaces might become more regenerative or educational for guests. There’s opportunity there.
And here are some of the future Actions I’m Committed To
– Be with nature regularly, as a grounding and energising practice
– Align my coaching and consulting work more explicitly with the planet’s needs
– Explore the role of activist, perhaps in a gentle and locally-rooted way (tools like Count Us In and climate SME feel relevant here)
– Reduce my carbon footprint, and find ways to measure it more clearly
– Give back more meaningfully, whether through volunteering or through hands-on environmental work
– Engage more with the climate coaching community, and continue learning through the materials from this courseI also feel energised by the idea of building community where I live, starting with small steps and gradually moving toward a bigger vision — particularly the Sa Mola Gran project, which could become a beacon of community, nature connection, and regeneration on the island. It feels like the right time. This module has helped clarify both my intention and my role — not just to coach, but to contribute.
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The session is timely as I have been traveling and visiting some beautiful places in nature. I am currently reading The Light Eaters (amazing facts about plants and yes, I agree they have intelligence). I’ve found myself paying more attention to plant life and where it grows, arrangement of growth, etc. It’s true that you appreciate things more when you understand more about them.
Today we walked to Epic Glacier near Seward, Alaska. They have signs marking where the glacier has been and where it is now. What a visual on the retreat of the ice over the years. I have a picture of where it was in 2005 that also shows where it is now in the distance. I’m very particular about facts and not just believing what I hear and this was quite a reality check.
Some of my favorite aspects of this module are the ways the facts are presented in easy to embrace, forward focused, positive actions. This makes the connection from appreciation of nature to what can we do as individuals feel more actionable and beneficial.-
Good to hear about the connections you’re making to these places, Ellen, and yourself. And must be very powerful to see glaciers in retreat…
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I went to a “listening to the land” course this week, which is about getting yourself into the heart space (into a state of grace) to allow you to be receptive to the world around.
It was run by two “land whisperers” who specialise in working with land, farms and people. They have a highly intense practice with the world around them, through energetics.
It is interesting that come to compassion for the land and nature from two different routes – land whispering and nature based coaching. It would be interesting to encourage the two disciplines to converse.
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Compassion is a felt sense that I only have started to grasp in the past 5 years – for myself, others, and the world – I can see how powerful is its promise. I am at the begining of this journey and some of the language doesn’t fully resonate with me yet (the Global Charter). Yet I know that when the language is simple and feels right with me, things are shifting inside.
This makes me want to attend the compassion events that Heather and others are running under the CCA.My approach to ‘protecting what we love’ has been fueled by the do no harm principle so far. I have never thought of myself as an activist, and yet maybe activism could just be a way of living or a way to be. One question that came for me after our class on M5 was ‘what if I was an activist?’ I have been playing with this counter proposition to one of my strong beliefs to see what emerges.
Something that could be added to 3.2 is ‘Reduce Consumption’, which the carbon footprint does not fully capture. While changes regarding housing, energy, transport, IT/Internet/Digital/AI etc make the biggest difference re CC at individual level, investigating what we consume, when, from where and how is an invitation to do with (much much much) less, to want less, and therefore to do less, so that we can ‘be’ more.
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thanks Laetitia – interesting question, and thanks for suggesting ‘reduce consumption’ as not being a clear element 🙂
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