Having been educated in ecology and resilience sciences, Stephen Woroniecki has worked in the past with climate change adaptation, specifically on ecosystem-based approaches. In his PhD he sought to understand the social effects of these type of adaptation approaches, using lenses of power and empowerment. At Linköping University Tema Environmental Change Stephen will work in The Seed Box Programme, on the project ‘Ontological security in a transforming world‘, which will work with project partners in Fiji and New Zealand. Using the environmental humanities the project team aims to understand how climate change affects people’s inner life worlds through impacts on society and everyday life, on health, well-being, risk, loss and harm, and how such effects shape societal responses. We will use sense-making and phenomenological approaches to analyse focus group and interview data, both in indigenous communities in Fiji and with Pacific Island leaders. Our work aims to provide more nuanced picture of agency in a changing planet and inform Loss and Damage and Transformation debates.