Climate Coaching in 2025: Why We're Trading Our Individual Whisper Voices for Systemic Meg

Or: What Happens When 19 Climate Coaches Get in a (Virtual) Room and Start Telling the Truth

I'm writing this while still riding the high—and battling the inspired exhaustion—from yesterday's Zoom on our original climate-conscious coaching research by our 12 X 12 group. My brain feels like it just ran a marathon while simultaneously solving a Rubik's cube and trying to explain blockchain to my grandmother. In other words: it was everything.

But first, let me set the scene. Picture this: a Zoom room filled with pro climate coaches, facilitators, and change-makers who've collectively processed more climate grief than a therapist convention in a wildfire zone. We're talking about people who hold space for uncertainty, navigate complexity like seasoned sailors in a storm, and somehow maintain their authentic presence while the world feels like it's both literally and figuratively on fire.

And here's the beautiful, exhausting, hilarious truth: we're doing it. We're showing up with care, with integrity, and with the kind of emotional capacity that would make even the most stoic meditation teacher weep with pride.

The Great Pivot: From "Fix Yourself" to "Fix the System (But Make It Regenerative)"

Here's where things get juicy. We're witnessing a seismic shift in coaching—one that makes tectonic plates look lazy by comparison. The era of coaching in a hermetically sealed bubble is over, folks. Done. Finito. We're moving from "let's optimize your personal carbon footprint" to "let's dismantle the systems that made us think our personal carbon footprint was the problem in the first place."

Mic drop. Then pick it back up because we have work to do.

The Climate Coaching Alliance—shoutout to Annemarie Cross and Stuart Pickles for being the backbone of this movement with showing up being their superpower—is leading this charge. And the webinar made one thing crystal clear: we need our institutions (yes, I'm looking at you, International Coaching Federation) to catch up. We need them to prepare coaches not just to help individuals optimize their lives within broken systems, but to help transform those systems entirely.

Because here's the thing: you can't coach your way out of systemic oppression. You can't manifestation-journal your way out of climate collapse. And you definitely can't positive-affirmation your way past the fact that seven generations from now, our descendants are going to be either thanking us or seriously questioning our critical thinking skills.

The Pioneers Who Make Me Believe We Might Just Pull This Off

Speaking of critical thinking, can we talk about the absolute powerhouses who joined us? Silvia Tassarotti, Tania Hodgkinson, Stéphane RIOT, and Zoe Cohen—these coaches aren't just talking the talk. They're walking the walk, running the marathon, and probably doing a few cartwheels along the way for good measure.

These are the people on the ground, doing the tangible work, holding the complexity, and somehow not losing their minds in the process (or if they are, they're doing it with remarkable grace). Watching them share their wisdom felt like witnessing a masterclass in "how to save the world without completely burning out"—though let's be real, the burnout is always lurking in the wings like an uninvited party guest who knows where you hide the good snacks.

The Love-Hate Relationship We Don't Talk About Enough

Can I be vulnerable for a second? This work is exhilarating - and exhausting. There, I said it.

The sheer scale of what needs to be done, combined with the urgency of the climate crisis, creates this perfect storm of purpose-driven insomnia. I have a paradoxical relationship serving humanity in this way that would make any couples therapist raise an eyebrow. The challenge is immense—like, "rearranging the entire global economic system" immense. Yet the purpose is undeniable, and the satisfaction at each small win? Chef's kiss.

It's the delicious exhaustion of knowing you're part of something bigger than yourself. It's the inspired burnout of holding space for grief while simultaneously strategizing for regeneration. It's the beautiful mess of being human in a time of unprecedented AI-speed planetary transformation.

The Movement is Real (And It's Spectacular)

Here's what struck me most about yesterday's Zoom: the sheer number of coaches who are already doing this work. Not just interested. Not just curious. Actually out there, in the field, making tangible positive impact.

The momentum is real, people. We're talking about coaches who are:

1. Integrating 7th generation thinking into their practices
2. Working toward B Corp certification because capitalism should at least pretend to have values
3. Creating frameworks that balance being lighter, more connected, and genuinely interdependent
4. Navigating climate grief while facilitating hope
5. Holding the paradox of personal action and systemic change without their heads exploding

The Shift We're All Feeling (Even If We Can't Name It Yet)

Catherine nailed it in the chat: "It's the biggest challenge our world has ever faced and must be faced."

And here's what I'm noticing: the coaches showing up for this work aren't doing it for the Instagram likes or the speaking gigs (though those are nice). They're doing it because they can't not do it. Because they have kids. Because they love this planet. Because they want to be good ancestors.

Kate Ensor said it perfectly: "Because it is so needed—for my kids and future generations."

Laura Bordonaro echoed: "I want this planet being a better place for my kids and their kids and..."

This is the work of legacy. Of choosing to be part of the solution even when the problem feels overwhelming.

1. Anne-Marie Brest: "For the sake of future generations"
2. Stuart Pickles: "all about future generations - of all living things"
3. Lydia Stevens: "Be a good citizen and ancestor"

What if "inner net-zero" is the missing piece?

Jazz Rasool introduced the concept of "inner net-zero"—when people reduce their inner footprint of emotional toxicity, incoherence, and incongruence, they come alive. That vitality naturally extends outward to conserving energy and life in the wider world.

Mind. Blown.

The CEO question: What's the emotional toxicity level in your organization, and how much is it costing you—not just in engagement scores, but in the creative capacity needed to navigate unprecedented change?

The coach question: Are we addressing the inner climate crisis that makes people too depleted, fragmented, and overwhelmed to engage with the outer one?

Research & Development Opportunities Identified:

1. Academic partnership (Laura Bordonaro)
2. Client testimonials on climate action effectiveness (Rocky Rochelle)
3. Team coaching for 12 X 12 on rest/restore practices (Stuart Pickles)
4. Space satellite data + AI for climate change effects (Jazz Rasool - via UK government meeting)

What This Means for 2026 (Spoiler: Everything)

The energy in that zoom room was electric. People left feeling encouraged, connected, curious, inspired, creative, emboldened, grateful, committed.

But here's what I think is most significant: we're ready for something bigger.

Laura Bordonaro suggested an academic partnership—connecting the Climate Coaching Alliance's lived experience with universities hungry for applied research on behavior change and sustainability. Brilliant.

Rocky Rochelle proposed collecting testimonials from clients who've become more effective at climate action. Yes.

The suggestion for team coaching around how to "rest and restore whilst holding longer term possibilities"? Desperately needed.

The climate-conscious coach of today needs to be part therapist, part systems thinker, part futurist, and part comedian. Because if we can't laugh at the absurdity of trying to save the world while also remembering to drink water and process our own stuff, what are we even doing?

In breakthrough Zoom rooms we were asking ourselves:

1. How are we expanding from individual transformation to systemic regeneration?
2. How do we hold the weight of this work without collapsing under it?
3. What would it look like to coach as if the seventh generation were watching?

The Gratitude Part (Where I Get Mushy)

To the Climate Coaching Alliance, to the 12 X 12 team—Claire d'Aboville, Fran Smith, Padraic O'Donnell—and to every pioneer who's reimagining what coaching can be: thank you. Thank you for walking this path when it would be so much easier to stay comfortable. Thank you for holding the complexity. Thank you for bringing both rigor and humor to work that desperately needs both.

Co-facilitating this session felt like more than just a presentation. It felt like a true milestone in a movement that's just getting started.

The Call to Action (Because Of Course There Is One)

If you're a climate coach, a facilitator, or someone who's ever looked at the state of the world and thought "surely my coaching skills could be useful here"—you're right. And you're needed. Now.

The shift from individual to systemic isn't just coming; it's here. The need for coaches who can hold both the grief and the possibility? Urgent doesn't even begin to cover it.

So let's do this. Let's build our Climate Roadmaps. Let's expand our capacity for systemic thinking. Let's practice the art of laughing through the apocalypse while simultaneously working to prevent it. Let's make coaching a force for true planetary regeneration.

Because the future we want to create? It won't coach itself.

Are you ready to move from individual whisper voices to systemic megaphones? Drop a comment below with your biggest challenge in making this shift in your own life. Bonus points if you make me laugh while also making me think. Bring your own question that's keeping you up at night.

#ClimateCoaching #SystemicChange #Regeneration #PurposeDriven #CoachingEvolution #ClimateAction #FutureOfCoaching #ClimateCoachingAlliance #12X12 #FranSmithCoaching #GoodAncestors #CoachingEvolution #FutureGenerations #PluggedINChargedUP #Jazz Rasool