“It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism,” said Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky. “Capitalism has created the limitation of choice to maximize value. For climate action, half the battle is the narrative, giving people a sense of being a stakeholder and change to reclaim their decisions. Psychedelics enable a disassociated context where you get a chance to rethink your relationship with these systems. Creatively, we can access two infinite sources: the universe and human imagination. Paul Stamets’ premise is that fungi was the first Internet; they had the sense of sharing the root systems of all resources far and advanced into our civilization—for 1.3 billion years, fungi have been there earlier than us.”

“We need to explore new directions like degrowth, mutualism, and participatory democracy,” said Daniel Pinchbeck, who writes a regular newsletter and directs Liminal Institute. He is the author of Breaking Open the Head, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, and How Soon Is Now. “We must engineer a deeper level of systems change to survive as a species. Collapse is probably not avoidable at this point, but we can still start to envision and build a post-capitalist reality rooted in mutualism, for a more fragile planet.”

“As we take these medicines out of their contextual and historical origins, how do we ensure we’re doing this respectfully, honoring and protecting the people and places of origin?” asks Angie King, Sr. Development Manager & Brazilianist, at the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT). “Intrinsic to the power of these plant medicines are the living value systems and ancestral wisdom of indigenous communities and the standing forests from which these medicines come.”

“Integrating psychedelic experiences is fundamentally about regeneration - of self, other, and world,” said Amánda Argot Efthimiou, Founder, Integra. “One of my key questions is how can we harness these profound insights from peak experiences to drive sustainable change. What if reconnecting with our inner nature could lead to more responsible stewardship of our planet? I believe that psychedelic integration is a whole being philosophy that examines our mind, body, and spirit as innately connected to the natural world around us. At Integra, we blend science, traditional wisdom, and nature-inspired practices to guide people toward self-reflection, community engagement, and a commitment to service. In particular, we embody the principles of reciprocity in our integration practice, we acknowledge that a shift in consciousness is not an individual process but a collective responsibility to sustain and nourish a healthier world.”

“Today’s polycrisis demands comprehensive and collaborative solutions, as each challenge exacerbates the others, creating a complex web of interrelated problems… there are four ways psychedelics affect cognitive thinking,” says Ross Sullivan, Co-Founder & Interim Executive Director of the Sustainable Futures Institute. “It can be characterized by enhanced feelings of interconnectedness, nature relatedness, enhanced cognitive flexibility, and the ability to navigate intensity while preserving agency. In a world of uncertainty, embracing tools that foster adaptive thinking and deepened connections is imperative.” Sullivan’s perspective is reminiscent of “ego to eco,” a popular study by Hannes Kettner, Sam Gandy, Eline C. H. M. Haijen, and Robin L. Carhart-Harris. This research offers “findings that point to the potential of psychedelics to induce enduring positive changes in the way humans relate to their natural environments.”

“For the past decade, I've worked alongside founders to advance organizations and initiatives in soil health, regeneration, Indigenous farmers' rights, and conscious leadership” said Julia Mande, Co-founder, Common Field, a nonprofit establishing Indigenous-informed frameworks for access and benefit sharing under the Nagoya Protocol. By integrating modalities like regenerative design and awareness-based practices with storytelling and traditional ecological knowledge, we hope to facilitate a re-orientation towards interconnection. Julia focuses on process, dimensional health, relationships, and sustainable growth.

Julia envisions systems of mutual regeneration for both people and the planet. Her direct impact includes designing and implementing Los Angeles's compost collection infrastructure and educational programs through L.A. Compost, co-creating a digital broadcast advocating for food sovereignty with A Growing Culture, and as the former Managing Director of the North Star Project, developed a principles-based community of practice for ethical business.

“While perceived as passive, mindfulness meditation is a superpower that makes our fight for climate change that much stronger,” says Nitin P Ron, MD, FAAP, baby doctor, TED speaker, author, neuroscience researcher, and Mt. Everest expedition physician. “We have the superpower of staying calm under pressure and being kind, loving, and compassionate.” Accessing inner peace in an era of eco-anxiety – such as when the sky turned orange last June – will be vital.

Our ability to take collective action as climate citizens will also be critical, whether in a supportive or leadership role. Isadora Tang, co-founder of Climate Hang, asks, “What happens when a collective group of people have a shared intention and an ineffable experience together? Whether you consider yourself a leader or not, we are all force multipliers.”

During our Meet the Psychedelic-Climate Leaders event, a satirical character named Shaman Sam, played by, dig differently co-founder Joe Leone, observed that “Creativity is human nature’s psychedelic.” Shaman Sam goes on to say that “This isn’t about climate change, it’s people change.” A psychedelic, science, and climate comedy trend is rising, with people like Shane Mauss educating while entertaining and riffing on topics like dung beetles. There is a Climate Comedy Collective as part of Climate Cafe. As Benjamin Nathan of All Of Us Films has said, some of his most successful environmental campaigns have used humor.

Many of us can shut down and look to change the channel when we hear how dire things have become with climate change. If we can laugh, we can engage people to open their hearts and minds to new perspectives, using play as a pathway for change.

Anyone who has experienced the power of psychedelics can describe a feeling of oneness with all beings. Can we integrate this awareness and maintain unity with Mother Earth, acknowledging she is part of us too? “From a spiritual perspective, we hear all the time that ‘We are all connected. We are all one,’” says Rei Chou, a pioneer in human potential through the art of experience design, convening and embodied leadership + innovation. In her podcast, she asks, “But what if we actually understood ourselves that way? What would it mean for how we create change? How we understand ourselves as the planet we are here to care for? How we connect with each other across spacial, personal, and ecological divides?”

“Tackling climate change requires a shift in attunement to one that recognizes the intrinsic interconnectedness of all things and beings, and the mutuality of the relationships supporting life.” According to says Bennet Zelner, PhD, PSYCA Spotlight Member, a University of Maryland professor working at the intersection of regenerative economics, leadership, and psychedelics. “This is the motivation for the Connected Leadership Study, which examines the effects of psychedelic experiences on decision-making by organizational leaders.”

“Emotionally, what’s happening is overwhelming,” said Michelle Farang Shofet, Founding Director, Nocturnal Medicine. “Creating spaces, places, rituals, means for us to sit with our feelings, process them, work through them, and come out on the other side where we can function and put our work towards something substantive is crucial.”

“There's a theory of education, which speaks to the three orders of education, and the third level of learning is the transformative experience,” said Larissa Belcic. “An example of this is experienced by astronauts; they leave Earth and see the planet for the first time. People who have seen this have just reported an entire shift in the way they understand themselves in relationship to existence. And that's what we need.”

Other thinkers are reflecting on the role of biomimicry. “We can cultivate a symbiotic relationship between nature and communities, similar to the mycelial bonds that strengthen and sustain a forest’s ecosystem,” says Tali Orad, Founder and CEO of 1treellion.org. “When we intertwine our branches with mycelium and community, we grow unimaginably. Let’s think of how we can be that mushroom in a human forest and try to be a little bit more of a mushroom to a tree.”

“Ayahuasca Diaries shows what's mind-bogglingly possible in terms of personal transformation to how Ayahuasca is helping to save the Amazon,” said Maxi Cohen, Filmmaker and Artist. “While it was important for me to interview people who recovered from addiction or suicidal ideation with Ayahuasca, it was also key to talk to people who had different careers, but by drinking ayahuasca, it changed their lives and moved them into helping to save these territories. Lynne Twist, for example, who wrote an extraordinary book called The Soul of Money, was inspired to start the Pachamama Alliance in Ecuador, which contributed to it being the first country to have constitutional rights for nature to have the same rights as humans.”

“The best way to affect change is with empathy which psychedelics can inspire, and the next best way is through art,” said Roger Wu, host of the first PSYCA gathering at his exhibition in partnership with ChaShaMa. “Part of ‘Thought Experience’ was to get people to think differently, but if we can get someone to react emotionally, it's exponentially more powerful than any rational reasoning.”

“People like psychedelics to experience the wonder and awe we had as children—my exhibit is about lion extinction, showing a children’s room 50 years in the future,” said Saryn Chorney. “This work was inspired by my writing for People Magazine when I went to South Africa to learn about the lion farming industry. Habitat loss is real—one such species only lives on 25% of its original habitat. We naturally feel wonder and awe when we're kids, and just learning about the world is wonderful. Part of my project is reconnecting us to how nature and animals inspire us.”

“To heal nature, we need to start with ourselves,” says impact storyteller and brand strategist Anna Konstantinova, PSYCA Member, on Climate Microdose. “If you’re depressed or in a bad mental space, there’s no way that you can pour from an empty cup to help others and the planet as well.”

“How can we have compassion for others if we don't have it for ourselves, and if we're not identifying as being creative, how can we be in touch with our source creator and Mother Earth?” asked Timothy Westbrook, Designer; Co-founder, Brooklyn Sewing Academy. “The beauty industry can lack compassion and say that you are not beautiful, but, plot twist, you are. You can start operating on a higher vibration when we recognize at a baseline that you're f*cking sexy already, right? We have this language around people, not just items—swipe left. But when you dress from an authentic place, you're operating at a higher frequency, so a creative exchange is happening, and it's healing. Let's start operating from that place.”