From Climate Anxiety to Community Action - Swissnex in San Francisco

Join Us

Envision the next steps toward a sustainable future at our showcase event during SF Climate Week 2025.

As climate change accelerates, so does the emotional and psychological toll it takes on individuals and communities. Feelings of fear, helplessness, and uncertainty – often described as climate anxiety – are increasingly prevalent, particularly among younger generations and those directly impacted by environmental disasters.

Keep it CO₂OL by focusTerra ETH Zurich, the winning project of the 2023 Agora Prize awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) proposes an exhibition focused on CO2, its role in climate change, and the need for sustainable solutions reducing CO₂ emissions.

In collaboration with SNSF and focusTerra, Swissnex in San Francisco is showcasing part of the exhibition in our space at Pier 17 from April 22 to May 30, 2025. This opening event will take place during SF Climate Week 2025 and builds on the discussions and insights from the Earth Out of Balance event at Swissnex in San Francisco earlier this year.

The goal is to keep raising awareness about the climate urgency while simultaneously aiming to empower both the local community and the broader climate-tech ecosystem to turn anxiety into meaningful action.

Encouraging collaboration between science, education, innovation, and public engagement, our event not only highlights climate solutions, but also creates a space where people feel supported in envisioning and realizing the next steps toward a sustainable future – together.

From Climate Anxiety to Community Action reflects the Swissnex for the Planet initiative by recognizing that responding to planetary crises demands not only technological and scientific solutions, but also emotional resilience, community engagement, and new forms of relationship between humans and the Earth. By addressing climate distress and exploring pathways for collective, grounded action, the event contributes to “planetary diplomacy” by translating scientific insight into emotionally intelligent, socially inclusive dialogue and practice. The event encourages a shift from human-centered narratives toward a more relational, interdependent understanding of life on Earth – directly supporting Swissnex’s aim to recalibrate the human-nonhuman relationship in the Anthropocene.

*due to limited space, this is a closed event. You can request an invite via Luma.

If you are based in Switzerland and you would like to join the event virtually, please reach out to Pascale Speck.

Speakers

Bio

Dr. Simona Meiler
Postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University
Simona is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Mobility Fellowship. She previously held postdoctoral and doctoral research positions at ETH Zurich in the Weather and Climate Risks Group, where she focused on understanding and quantifying uncertainties in global tropical cyclone (TC) risk assessments.

Her research spans probabilistic climate risk modeling, uncertainty quantification, human displacement modeling, and decision theory. She works at the intersection of academic research and real-world applications, contributing to open and impactful climate risk models used in sectors such as reinsurance, global finance, and humanitarian efforts.

Before her academic career, Simona competed internationally as a professional snowboarder, representing Switzerland at three Olympic Games.
Bio

Henna Hundal
Medical Scholars Research Fellow with CIRCLE at Stanford University School of Medicine
Henna Hundal is a medical student at Stanford University and a Medical Scholars Research Fellow with the CIRCLE initiative at Stanford Psychiatry. She is a four-time delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conferences. At the 2022 edition of the conference (COP27), she was named a Key Opinion Leader for the COP27 advocacy campaign and generated content about climate change and health for the official COP27 social media channels. She has provided on-air analysis of climate news for CNN, MSNBC, BBC, France 24, ABC (Australia), Deutsche Welle (Germany), and other outlets. Her writings on climate and health have been published in The World Economic Forum Agenda, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Newsweek. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and a master’s degree from McGill University.
Bio

Dr. Ulrike Kastrup
Director focusTerra, ETH Zurich
Dr Ulrike Kastrup has been director of focusTerra since 2009. After completing her doctorate in geophysics at ETH Zurich on earthquakes, Ulrike turned her attention to the many facets of natural hazards.

She has worked at the United Nations University on flood management, at RMIT on wild and bush fires and as a Corporate Risk Manager at the Swiss Federal Railways. The aim of her work has been to promote knowledge transfer between science, society and decision-makers through targeted communication.

Today, Ulrike’s work continues to focus on communicating and empowering people to better understand and act responsibly in their natural and man-made environment. At focusTerra, she is dedicated to communicating scientific knowledge with a strong focus on its social relevance. Through exhibitions and a variety of activities, she and her team succeed in inspiring a broad and diverse audience. Ulrike has also been a mentor for female PhD students at ETH in the field of outreach and communication to foster equality.

Ulrike served on the scientific committee of the European Environment Agency EEA and Ecsite Board (the European Network of Science Centres and Museums). From 2021-23 she has been the Vice-President of Ecsite.
Bio

Kerstin Bircher
Science Communicator at ETH Zurich, focusTerra
Kerstin Bircher is a science communication expert and museum pedagogue at focusTerra, the Earth & Science Discovery Center of ETH Zurich. She uses her Master’s degree in Earth Sciences and a geography teaching degree to combine scientific knowledge with educational skills for public outreach. Over her ten years at focusTerra, she has developed expertise in exhibition development, creating educational materials and museum operations – all of which are critical for realizing an exhibition such as KEEP IT CO2OL.
Bio

Mary Ellen Hannibal
Author
Mary Ellen Hannibal is an award-winning environmental journalist. Her books include The Spine of the Continent: The Race to Save America’s Last, Best Wilderness, and Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction.

Dr. Simona Meiler
Postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University
Henna Hundal
Medical Scholars Research Fellow with CIRCLE at Stanford University School of Medicine
Dr. Ulrike Kastrup
Director focusTerra, ETH Zurich
Kerstin Bircher
Science Communicator at ETH Zurich, focusTerra
Mary Ellen Hannibal
Author

Climate Resilience Activity by Dominique Cowling

Dominique (she, her) is a tender hearted dreamer dedicated to collective liberation. She is a Bay Area native who has been devoted to a healing path for the past decade. Her former work supported queer and Trans marginalized survivors of intimate partner violence, hate violence and police violence in San Francisco. She currently teaches Restorative Yoga, somatic healing workshops and community trainings on Ohlone Territory (Oakland,Ca). Her relationship to spirit and the natural world guides her life. As the founder of Black Seeds Project, she provides individual and group sessions in ritual with the earth. Each offering invites emotional intimacy and meaningful connections to people and land.