Season 3, Episode 27: Abhay

Host John Whidden welcomes Abhay to Climate Action Figures, beginning with Sophia’s Quick Fix on guerrilla gardening using indigenous plants. Abhay, a CBC What on Earth contributor on climate change and mental health, describes how a Students on Ice expedition to the Arctic and Greenland shaped his understanding of climate impacts, Inuit mental health challenges, and climate justice tied to colonialism. He explains how that experience led to founding Break the Divide, which began as high school video-call exchanges with northern youth and expanded into international connections, an art competition, and curriculum-based programming with mental health practitioners. Break the Divide now runs workshops and a Climate Education and Resilience program, training young facilitators and scaling across the prairies in September 2026. Abhay discusses naming climate emotions, building community, taking realistic local action, bikes in Regina, and finds hope in community across generations.

00:00 Welcome and Intro

00:31 Quick Fix Gardening

01:02 Meet Abhay

01:27 EcoStressSask Connections

02:42 CBC Column Origin

04:24 Arctic Trip Roots

06:34 Climate Anxiety North

08:33 Break the Divide Begins

12:07 Program Growth Worldwide

15:11 How to Get Involved

16:50 Naming Climate Emotions

19:18 Turning Feelings to Action

22:14 Small Actions Matter

24:00 Rebuilding Youth Connection

25:31 Personal Action Biking

26:25 Hope and Wrap Up

https://ecostresssask.ca/

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-429-what-on-earth/clip/16215089-how-kids-save-climate-anxiety

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/1.7032612

https://soifoundation.org/en/

https://breakthedivide.net/

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