The Climate Collective: York’s First Climate-Focused Student Club

The climate crisis is not just a scientific issue. It’s emotional, cultural, and personal. At York University, a new kind of student response is taking shape: The Climate Collective (TCC).

Founded by students in the Global Health program, and supported by the Wellness Impact Lab and the Dahdaleh Institute, TCC is York’s first student-led climate club centered on climate emotions, mental wellness, and community dialogue. Chaired by Sadra Toossi, with Lisa Freire as Vice Chair, the Collective was formed to address what so many students feel but rarely speak about, the emotional weight of living through climate collapse.

TCC’s flagship project, the Gentlemen’s Climate Café (GCC), began as a space for reflection. It has since developed into a structured, research-informed initiative that functions as both a safe space and a student-led lab. Co-led by Dr. Harvey Skinner and Sadra Toossi, the GCC invites male and male-identifying students to explore their climate emotions through guided conversation, mindfulness practices, and creative tools like the Climate Emotions Wheel and reflection cards.

What makes the Café different is its dual purpose: it creates a supportive peer space, while also generating insight into how stigma, masculinity, and silence shape emotional engagement with the climate crisis. The GCC now serves as a live setting for qualitative reflection, producing empirical knowledge to inform broader work on youth mental health and climate anxiety.

This lab-style approach reflects the wider mission of the Climate Collective. Beyond the Café, TCC is developing storytelling circles, creative media projects, student-led research, and interdisciplinary collaborations. All initiatives are built to reflect how students are actually experiencing the climate crisis, not just intellectually, but emotionally and socially.

TCC is open to students across all faculties. Whether your interest is in public health, art, environmental science, communications, or community organizing, there is a place for you in the Collective.

The Climate Collective is more than a club. It’s a community for students who want to reflect, connect, and act.

And it’s just getting started.

"The Dahdaleh Institute has played a pivotal role in supporting the Climate Collective and Gentlemen’s Climate Café, turning them into meaningful student-led contributions to global health. Through the leadership and mentorship of Dr. Harvey Skinner, I gained guidance that was both practical and inspiring. His emphasis on blending research with lived experience helped me grow as a student leader, shaping the Café into not only a safe space but also a setting for empirical learning about climate emotions, stigma, and resilience.

I also owe much to my partner and co-chair, Lisa Freire, whose dedication, insight, and teamwork have been essential in every step of this journey. Together, we were able to design and deliver initiatives that reflect both academic rigor and genuine student needs.

The DI provided space, mentorship, and credibility, allowing our work to go beyond conversation. The GCC, hosted at the Institute, became a student-driven lab for exploring the cultural and psychological dimensions of climate change. Feedback collected from participants has given us valuable data that will inform both research and practice in the climate-health field.

This experience has been transformative for me personally. It showed me how research, mentorship, and community engagement can come together in ways that are impactful, inclusive, and hopeful. The support of the DI, Dr. Skinner, and my co-chair Lisa has made this work possible, and has given me opportunities that continue to shape my path in global health."

— Sadra Toossi, Dahdaleh Global Health Intern

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