Book chapters for “Coronavirus, Climate Crisis, and Eco-Anxiety: Psychology of Pandemics, Global Heating, and Planetary Hope”

Deadline: April 10, 2020
Contact: Douglas Vakoch, PhD, Professor Emeritus, California Institute of Integral Studies
Email: dvakoch@ciis.edu

Chapter proposals are invited for an edited book called Coronavirus, Climate Crisis, and Eco-anxiety: Psychology of Pandemics, Global Heating, and Planetary Hope. Chapter proposals should explore the psychological dimensions of the threats to human health and survival posed by pandemics such as the coronavirus, as well as by the accelerating global climate emergency. Chapters might address questions like
• “How can individuals continue to work together at a time when prudent policies of social distancing may lead to a sense of isolation and loss of community?”
• “How can psychotherapists develop new approaches to counseling, such as telehealth videoconferencing when face-to-face sessions aren’t advised, or through explorations that help clients work with their anxieties in the face of an unknown future?”
• “How can self-quarantine create an opportunity for increased engagement with the natural world?

Interested authors should send a 300-word abstract, 200-word biography, and sample of a previously published chapter or article to Douglas Vakoch, PhD, at dvakoch@ciis.edu by April 10, 2020. Authors will be informed about whether their proposals have been accepted by April 15, 2020, and final chapters are due June 15, 2020. The book targets an academic and professional audience, and all chapters should include scholarly references. Chapters that draw on the author’s direct experiences as a therapist, researcher, or educator are especially welcome. Preference will be given to authors who have completed their doctorates. Only previously unpublished works will be considered. The book will appear in the series Environment and Society.

Confirmed contributions include:
• “It’s About Time: Mother Earth Joins the Time’s Up and #MeToo Movements,” Merritt Juliano, JD, LCSW, Co-President, Climate Psychology Alliance North America
• “Green Stuff: Towards a Phenomenology of Eco-anxiety,” Eva-Maria Simms, PhD, Adrian van Kaam Professor of Psychology, Duquesne University
• “Youth Activism, Climate Change, and Eco-Anxiety,” Caroline Hickman, Department of Social & Policy Sciences, University of Bath
• “Hope and Rejection: Moving from Hope, Anxiety, and Depression to Openness and Engagement,” John V. Davis, PhD, Professor and Director of Transpersonal Psychology and Ecopsychology (retired), Naropa University
• “Cultivating Belonging: Healing Dissociation and Defensive Anxiety,” Jan Edl Stein, MFT, Director, Holos Institute
• “From Eco-Anxiety to Ecoresilience: Toward a Psychology of Care,” Craig Chalquist, PhD, Professor of East-West Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies, and Linda Buzzell, MA, LMFT, Adjunct Faculty, Pacifica Graduate Institute
• “Atmospheres of Anxiety: Doing Nothing in Ecological Emergency,” Sam Mickey, PhD, Adjunct Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Francisco

Though this book focuses on the psychological dimensions of our response to pandemics and global heating, proposals for introductory chapters that provide broader scientific and cultural context for these threats are also invited. To cover the global scope of these threats, we seek contributions from around the world.

The editor of Coronavirus, Climate Crisis, and Eco-Anxiety, Douglas Vakoch, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, as well as Director of Green Psychotherapy, PC, a private practice that helps clients coping with anxieties about the climate catastrophe and the coronavirus. He also serves as general editor of Lexington Books’ Ecocritical Theory and Practice Series. Vakoch’s other edited books include Ecofeminism and Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Sex, Technology, and Discourse (2011), Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective (2011), Feminist Ecocriticism: Environment, Women, and Literature (2012), Ecopsychology, Phenomenology, and the Environment: The Experience of Nature (2014), Ecofeminism in Dialogue (2017), Women and Nature?: Beyond Dualism in Gender, Body, and Environment (2017), Literature and Ecofeminism: Intersectional and International Voices (2018), and Transecology: Transgender Perspectives on Environment and Nature (2020).

Posted on March 25, 2020