Events and Updates

On January 15, 2026, the Loka Initiative relaunched our four course program “Psychology of Deep Resilience; Addressing Ecoanxiety and Climate Distress for Individual, Social and Ecological Well-being.” This program introduces learners to key environmental and climate threats and their root causes, in order to explore how these issues impact us emotionally, psychologically and socially. 

Updates to the 2026 version of PDR include five new contemplative practices, new lectures, and an array revisions that align with the latest research findings on eco-emotions.

Those interested in Psychology of Deep Resilience can sign up on EdX, an online learning platform available in 70+ countries. Though there is a paid certificate option, we continue to ensure minimal barriers to learning by offering the entire course for free. This way, anyone who wishes may build resilience for themselves, their communities, and the planet. The course is asynchronous—sign up now!

The Loka Initiative is thrilled to share that its newest course offering, Preparing Religious Environmental Plans, launched on January 5, 2026. This 10-week online experience for faith leaders is designed to provide the knowledge necessary to design environmental and climate projects that are specific to their geographies, communities, and faith traditions.

PREP has welcomed over 40 participants of diverse faith traditions, including Buddhists from Thailand and Cambodia, Muslims from Indonesia and Pakistan, Christians from Brazil and Ghana, to name only a few. PREP features a faith-based homeroom that allows learners to congregate with other participants of the same faith, and a live weekly lecture and Q&A session with one of the instructors.

From March 23-27, 2026, Loka convened 29 participants where specialized training beyond the scope of the online course was provided. Visit our PREP webpage to learn more, and stay tuned for more updates!

“Sacred Wisdom Sacred Earth,” our documentary four years in the making, was screened on November 19 at UW-Madison. Indigenous tribal members from across the Great Lakes region, along with 250+ other community members, traveled to campus for an evening both reflective and celebratory.

Throughout the event, Wild Bearies provided locally sourced food, and musicians immersed the audience in traditional soundscapes. After the screening, Culture Keepers and Knowledge Holders held a meaningful panel conversation.

The “Sacred Wisdom Sacred Earth” team remains committed to using the film as both a teaching tool and an offering of hope, illuminating Indigenous knowledge as a guide for collective healing and environmental stewardship. This evening will live on in our hearts and guide us onward.

We are overjoyed to show you a glimpse into the first premiere of Sacred Wisdom, Sacred Earth—a living, collaborative documentary project that began as a shared dream shaped through deep dialogue with Native elders, knowledge holders, and artists across the Great Lakes. The documentary has grown through years of deep listening, heartfelt dialogue, and community care. From the forming of our Indigenous Advisory Council in 2021, to the creative partnership with Bravebird Film Productions in 2022, and the path we have forged together with Wisconsin’s Tribal leaders and Indigenous culture keepers since 2019 when Loka was launched, this documentary showcases what is possible when community, collaboration, and Indigenous wisdom lead the way.

The Loka research team is excited to announce a new paper being published next month titled, Mother Earth kinship: Centering Indigenous worldviews to address the Anthropocene and rethink the ethics of human-to-nature connectedness.

This paper challenges Western worldview and perspectives by offering a new relational ontology, stating it is time to recognize land, water, animals, and plants as relatives (e.g., rather than resources), thus promoting an ethic of care, responsibility, and respect.

The paper is currently available online and will be part of a forthcoming special issue of the Current Opinion in Psychology Journal; Community and Nature to be released in June 2025.

We completed filming the Sacred Wisdom Sacred Earth documentary in the fall and winter of 2024! In the Spring of 2025, we screened the 70% complete draft version with all knowledge holders who participated in this project, as well as elders and advisors who gathered to give us feedback, and completed editing following their advice, changes, and recommendations.

The documentary will premiere in key places around Wisconsin this summer and fall starting with our first launch on the Menominee Reservation in July 2025.  We are so grateful for the guidance, involvement, and participation of all the Tribal elders, knowledge holders, and young emerging leaders who have worked on this project alongside us! Stay tuned for announcements!

The Loka team published our first paper on Deep Resilience, an approach that pursues inner, community, and planetary resilience equally and simultaneously. The open access paper, titled A Framework for Deep Resilience in the Anthropocene, is available online and will be part of a forthcoming special issue of the Humanistic Management Journal; Awakening to One Another and the Planet: Awareness Practices and Systems Change; and will be released in April. 

“Deep resilience invites us to lean into the principle of interdependence and learn from Indigenous ways of knowing and doing and Tibetan Buddhist teachings that embody and translate this principle into practice. We offer three pathways to Deep Resilience at the individual, community, and planetary scales; working with contemplative practices towards positive neuroplasticity among individuals, investing in connection, community, and justice in our societies, and downscaling growth to reach systems coherence at the institutional level.”

Many of you have accompanied us on our five year journey, working with Evangelical church leaders on creation care and climate change, as part of the Creation at the Crossroads project, which is facilitated by Reverend Ed Brown and Dekila, Loka’s director. We successfully completed our fifth(!) convening in September 2024, bringing together a diverse group of leaders from all around the United States to examine creation care through theological and scientific lenses and to learn about and rigorously debate current environmental and climate policies and strategies. The 2024 cohort will continue to meet as part of our partner, A Rocha’s pilot program - Churches of Restoration - in the next couple months. Our teams look forward to evaluating the impact of this program going forward in 2025.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of a brand new online 4-course program, “Psychology of Deep Resilience; Addressing Ecoanxiety and Climate Distress for Individual, Social and Ecological Well-being” on edX, an online learning platform available in 70+ countries! The course program is designed to help participants meet the environmental and climate crises we are in with courage, determination, and a fierce reclamation of communal joy. We built it for everyone who is at the forefront of environmental and climate impacts, including youth, environmental professionals, and people from marginalized communities, but it is accessible to all. The courses bring together root cause analysis, systems-thinking, intersectional and justice-based solutions, community-building and contemplative practice skills to help participants face eco-anxiety and climate distress and move towards building resilience for themselves, their communities, and the planet.