We are excited to share with you the next interview in our “Beyond the Page” series featuring Arianne Weiner.
How do we coach clients through a climate crisis that affects their career decisions, life planning, and mental wellbeing? Arianne Weiner, PhD, PCC, shares her journey from business coach focused on bottom lines to recognizing the profound impact climate anxiety has on clients across generations.
The awakening came when Arianne’s Gen Z nieces visited—both highly educated environmental professionals carrying an emotional weight about climate that manifested in existential questions about homes, children, and whether their efforts would matter. This eye-opening conversation made her realize she had been “coaching around climate without naming it” despite working with clients in environmental fields.
Arianne offers practical approaches for bringing climate consciousness into coaching conversations without hijacking clients’ agendas. Rather than direct questioning, she suggests exploring what might be “lingering in the background” when clients express anxiety or overwhelm. This subtle approach often unlocks profound revelations as clients connect their feelings to broader world concerns.
The generational divide in how climate anxiety manifests is striking. For Gen Z, climate change shapes identity, career choices, and sense of purpose—it’s not a distant threat but an immediate reality affecting life planning. For Gen X and Boomers, it might appear as stress around business sustainability or systemic frustrations. Understanding these differences helps coaches attune to emotional undercurrents.
Building resilience emerges as the cornerstone of climate-conscious coaching. “Resilience isn’t about being unshakable—it’s about being movable and renewable,” Arianne explains. This means helping clients embrace adaptive thinking, strengthen emotional intelligence, align actions with values, and cultivate community support. Sometimes resilience is as simple as “choosing to make dinner and not falling into a doom scroll.”
Ready to incorporate climate consciousness into your coaching? Join communities like the Climate Coaching Alliance, engage in cross-generational conversations, and reflect on your own ecological footprint. The changing world affects how our clients experience life and work—by creating space for these conversations, we help them navigate uncertainty with greater awareness and purpose.
In this episode, I talk with Arianne about her article published in our March 2025 issue.
Know of an author we should interview? Send me an email to podcast@choice-online.com
Let’s continue the conversation by connecting with your colleagues on our Facebook page
If you are not already, click here to subscribe to choice magazine.
