Forum on Religion and Ecology: Spotlights: Recent Episodes
Sam Mickey
A series of interviews from the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, focusing on people and organizations working at the confluence of religious and ecological perspectives. Interviews cover four main areas: 1) new and forthcoming publications, 2) engagement in practice, activism, and advocacy, 3) teaching and curriculum, and 4) perspectives from environmental humanities. Our Vision is a flourishing Earth community where religious and spiritual traditions join together for the shared wellbeing of ecosystems, life forms, and people on our common planetary home.You can watch the video recordings of this podcast here: https://fore.yale.edu/Resources/Multimedia/Video/FORE-Spotlights-Archive/
This episode of Spotlights features Tyler Mark Nelson, a core team member for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. Tyler is an educator, eco-theologian, and artist exploring the ways that humans make sense of their creaturely existence in relation to the more-than-human world. Currently he is assisting with the launch of the exciting Living Earth Community project. We talk about his personal journey into the intersection of religion and ecology, as well as his key contributions to the Living Earth Community project. Tyler brings enthusiasm and creativity into his inquiries into the intelligences of nature, ecological worldviews, and Earth law. For more information about the Living Earth Community project, visit the website: https://livingearthcommunity.com/
In this short episode, our host Sam Mickey introduces the new season of the podcast for the Forum on Religion and Ecology. The episode covers some personal details about our host as well as some discussion of what is to come for this exciting new season. A big part of this new season will be attention to the new website that has emerged from the Forum team: Living Earth Community. https://livingearthcommunity.com/
This episode is about a very special issue of The New Ecozoic Reader that has just been released. This special issue, edited by the Forum's own Sam Mickey and Sam C. King, offers retrospective and prospective views on the field of religion and ecology: looking at where we've been, where things stand now, and how the field, and our work together, could evolve going forward. The issue is very intergenerational and includes essays by both esteemed and established figures in the field, and younger scholars, just emerging on the scene.
The issue includes a foreword by Iyad Abumoghli of UNEP Faith for Earth Coalition, a preface by Sam King and Sam Mickey, an Introduction by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, and contributions from: Heather Eaton, David Haberman, Elizabeth Allison, Whitney A. Bauman, Ibrahim Ozdemir, Jason Brown, Kim Carfore, Sarah Pike, Lisa E. Dahill, Nancy Wright, Jim Robinson, Melanie L. Harris, Christopher Key Chapple, Dan Smyer Yu, Charisma K. Lepcha, Philip P. Arnold, Sandra L. Bigtree, Graham Harvey, Russell C. Powell, Rachael Petersen, Terra Schwerin Rowe, and Larry Rasmussen.
More information is available here: https://ecozoicstudies.org/the-new-ecozoic-reader/
In this episode, our host discusses the new book by the British writer, Robert Macfarlane, Is a River Alive? It's an exciting contribution to the growing body of literature that expands our imaginations and our legal frameworks to account for the agency and liveliness of the natural world.
This episode features Rachael Petersen, a writer, thinker, and convener. We discuss her life and work at the confluence of philosophy, ecology, and transcendence. As Program Lead of Harvard’s Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative, Rachael guides interdisciplinary explorations into how cutting-edge plant science challenges our ideas of mind, matter, and meaning. She holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, where her research centered on panpsychism, pantheism, and the more-than-human world, with a special focus on German philosophy. You can learn more at her personal website: https://www.rachaelnpetersen.com/
This episode features Natalia Schwien Scott. She is an herbalist, wildlife rescue & rehabilitation apprentice, and Ph.D. candidate in the Study of Religion at Harvard University, where she recently completed a Master of Theological Studies degree with a focus on the intersection of ecology and spiritual practice. She researches relational ontologies, posthuman ethics, and diction on personhood in scientific discourse. She also serves as an Advisor and Program Associate for the Thinking with Plants & Fungi Initiative at the Center for the Study of World Religion, which we discussed in our previous episode. Learn more about her amazing work here: https://www.selkieprojects.com
This episode features Rachael Petersen and Natalia Schwien Scott, who co-launched the “Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative” at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University in fall of 2022. We talk about the initiative and its culminating conference, which took place in May of 2025. We discuss their interdisciplinary exploration into how plants and fungi help us rethink the nature of mind and matter and humans’ relationship to the more-than-human world. You can learn more about the initiative and conference here: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/research-programming/thinking-plants-fungi
Stay tuned in upcoming weeks for an episode featuring Natalia and another episode featuring Rachael. They're doing exciting work at the forefront of the sort of issues addressed at the intersection of religion and ecology.
In this episode, our host (Sam Mickey) reviews two books that engage with questions about the place of life, meaning, and purpose in the universe. First, he discusses the anthology, Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New Discussions and Interdisciplinary Views, edited by David Bartosh, Attila Grandpierre, and Bei Peng (Springer, 2024). It's notable for its interdisciplinary and transnational perspectives on the inherence of life in the universe. It includes a wonderful chapter by John B. Cobb, Jr. (1925-2024), a scholar of ecological civilization steeped in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Second, Sam discusses Cosmic Purpose, by Kagawa Toyohiko (1888-1960) (Wipf and Stock, 2014). Kagawa was a Japanese philosopher and Evangelical Christian who, similar to the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, sought to align theological understanding of meaning and purpose with scientific discoveries of the evolution of life and the universe. If you are interested in ideas of purpose (teleology), these books are definitely worth reading.
This episode features Yuria Celidwen, PhD, a native of Indigenous Nahua and Maya lineages from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. We discuss her work as a scholar, researcher, and writer working at the intersection of Indigenous studies, cultural psychology, and contemplative sciences. We focus in particular on her book, Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Wisdom for Collective Well-Being (2024). We also discuss some of the complexities involved with psychedelic research, including an article she co-authored, "Ethical Principles of Traditional Indigenous Medicine to Guide Western Psychedelic Research and Practice."
This episode features Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, a writer at the confluence of relationship to place with experiences of the sacred. She has a masters of theological studies from Harvard Divinity School, and she's worked as a staff writer and editor for Emergence Magazine. Her writings have been published in numerous venues. We talk about her personal and professional journey into the intersection of religion and ecology, particularly with reference to her new book, Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn from Nature's Mothers in a Time of Unraveling (Broadleaf Books, 2025). From microbes to megafauna and everything in between, the natural world is full of lessons about care, kinship, and mothering, lessons that ca provide support during our transitional time.
On this special Earth Day episode, we feature the work of three writers who focus on the wonderful world of trees: Beth Norcross, Leah Rampy, and Laura Pustarfi. Beth and Leah are the authors of the new book (released on Earth Day 2025), Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees. Laura is the editor of an anthology (co-edited with David Macauley), The Wisdom of Trees: Thinking Through Arboreality (forthcoming in June 2025). Enjoy this thought-provoking discussion about trees and the questions they raise about agency, value, intelligence, wisdom, and relationality.
This episode features Cathy Coleman, Ph.D., a former dean of students at California Institute of Integral Studies, president of Kepler College, and director of IONS’ EarthRise Retreat Center. We discuss her new anthology, Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness: The Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer. Cathy was Ralph Metzner’s wife of 31 years, and they worked closely together. We discuss the vast impact of Ralph Metzner’s healing therapies and wisdom on colleagues, students, clients, and the fields in which he worked. Renowned as a pioneering psychologist, psychedelic elder, alchemical explorer, and shamanic teacher, the late Ralph Metzner (1936–2019) contributed profoundly to consciousness research, transpersonal psychology, and contemporary psychedelic studies across his more than 50 year career. Metzner was also an influential teacher of our host (Sam Mickey), who contributed a chapter to this wonderful volume.
This episode features Russell Duvernoy, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy at King's University College at Western University in London, Ontario. We discuss Russell’s engagement with process philosophies, environmental philosophy, contemporary Continental philosophy, and comparative philosophy (including classical Daoism, Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, and world Indigenous philosophies). We touch on topics like attention, affect, tensions between speculative and existential philosophies, and the idea of ecological conversion. Some of these topics are covered in his monograph, Affect and Attention after Deleuze and Whitehead: Ecological Attunement (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).
This episode of Spotlights features the Rev. Dr. Lisa Dahill, Miriam Therese Winter Chair for Transformative Leadership and Spirituality and Director of the Center for Transformative Spirituality at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. We talk about her personal and professional engagement with ecological theology, her study of the German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the liturgical and ritual practices involved in rewilding Christianity, and much more.
This episode turns the spotlights onto our host, Sam Mickey. Kimberly Carfore came back on the podcast to interview Sam and talk about the way that his experiences, personal life, and religious commitments relate to his work in the field of religion and ecology. This podcast has been running for five years, and one of the frequent request we receive is to hear more about Sam's perspective, so we finally decided to have an episode where the interviewer becomes the interviewee.
This episode features the Rev. Dr. Nancy Wright, Pastor of Creation Care with the Evangelical Lutheran church in America. We discuss many facets of her life and work, from personal experiences with faith, interpretations of ancient scripture, the theology of Martin Luther, process theology, and much more, including attention to water stewardship, interreligious perspectives, and forest therapy. This episode is full of information and inspiration that provides a beacon of hope during our complicated times.
This episode features our host reviewing the latest book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, focusing specifically on the idea of a gift economy. The book invites us to transition from the extractive and exploitative market economy that is dominant around the globe to a gift economy oriented around abundance, reciprocity, and gratitude. It is an informative and inspiring book that works as a good introduction to Kimmerer's work for those unfamiliar with her while also adding more depth for those who have already read her previous works, like Braiding Sweetgrass.
This episode focuses on the enduring legacy of President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024). We feature a plenary address that Carter gave for the American Academy of Religion in San Diego on November 24, 2014. The Plenary Panel was called The Role of Religion in Mediating Conflicts and Imagining Futures: The Cases of Climate Change and Equality for Women. He led with comments on women’s issues as his book on women had just been published, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power. This was followed by an interview with Mary Evelyn Tucker and Steven Kepnes. He addressed many issues, including climate change, energy, China's approach to Ecological Civilization, nuclear issues, the Earth Charter, peace, and more.
This episode features Kimberly Carfore, PhD, co-chair of the religion and ecology unit at the American Academy of Religion (AAR). We discuss the religion and ecology events at this year's annual meeting of the AAR, including some of the panel presentations, receptions, overarching themes, and future directions for this unique unit. Hope, happiness, Indigenous values, and feminist theology are among the topics we cover. Many previous podcast guests are mentioned in the process, underscoring how much the field of religion and ecology is a community built on shared concerns and solidarity.
This episode features Ricardo Rozzi, PhD, a Chilean ecologist and philosopher who is a professor at the University of North Texas and the Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG). His research combines ecology and philosophy through the study of the interrelations between the ways of knowing and inhabiting the natural world, proposing a dynamic continuous reciprocal feedback between both domains. We discuss his work with biocultural conservation, field environmental philosophy, and liberation theology, with particular attention to the unique cultural, ecological, and political context of Chile and Latin America.
This episode features Beth Norcross, founder and director of the Center for Spirituality in Nature, which provides numerous programs that offer spiritual guidance for developing deep, sustained, loving relationships with nature. She is also the co-author (with Leah Rampy) of a forthcoming book, Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees, which will be published with Broadleaf Books on Earth Day (April 22) 2025. We discuss her perspective on the intersection of spirituality and nature, and her deep appreciation for the wisdom of trees.
This episode features Paul Waldau, an educator, activist and scholar who works at the intersection of animal studies, law, ethics, religion, and cultural studies. Former professor at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, where he is the senior faculty for the Master of Science program in Anthrozoology, he is an author and editor of several books on animal studies, including The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals (Oxford University Press, 2001), Animal Studies: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2013), and A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics, edited with Kimberey Patton (Columbia University Press, 2006). We talk about animals, sentience, dialogue between science and religion, and much more.
This episode Les Sponsel, PhD, Professor Emeritus in the department of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii. We talk about his transdisciplinary research and teaching as one of the pioneers in developing the field of spiritual ecology—a complex. diverse, and dynamic arena at the interfaces of religions and spiritualities on the one hand and, on the other, environments, ecologies, and environmentalisms with intellectual, spiritual, and practical components. Along with numerous journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia articles, monographs, and several edited and co-edited books, he is also the author of the highly acclaimed book, Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution (2012). You can learn more on his website, https://spiritualecology.info/
This episode features Philip Arnold, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion at Syracuse University, Director of the Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center, and President of the Indigenous Values Initiative. He is interviewed by John Grim, PhD, co-founder and co-director of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. They talk about many facets of Phil’s work, especially in light of his new book, The Urgency of Indigenous Values (Syracuse University Press, 2023).
Welcome to the beginning of the fifth year for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast. In this short episode, our host welcomes everyone to a new season, while also giving a brief refresher about what religion and ecology is all about. It is an academic field of study as well as a moral force for personal and social change, examining the problems and promise that religious traditions hold for facilitating the emergence of a sustainable and just Earth community.
This is the final episode of our fourth season. In this short episode, our host gives a quick summary of how the podcast has grown in the last four years. Then he gives a brief overview of a new book on climate change from the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, Prometheus’s Remorse: From the Gift of Fire to Global Arson. It's a good account of the cultural, ecological, and ethical implications of humanity's unique and complicated relationship with fire. The Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast will be back with a new season of episodes soon. Now is a good time to go through previous seasons to catch any episodes you might have missed, or enjoy some of your favorite episodes a second time.
This episode features Kathryn Lawson, PhD, lecturer in philosophy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. We discuss her new book, Ecological Ethics and the Philosophy of Simone Weil: Decreation for the Anthropocene, which was just released in the Environmental Ethics series at Routledge. We discuss her unique juxtaposition of the 20th-century French philosopher Simone Weil and the challenges that the Anthropocene poses for ecological ethics. Some of the topics covered include Weil's concepts of decreation, grace, attention, and ethical action, as well as Weil's reading of Plato as a non-dual thinker who affirms life and embodiment. This episode will surely be of interest to anyone concerned with the importance of spiritual practice for ecological ethics as well as anyone concerned with the way that the Western philosophical traditions bears upon contemporary ecological issues.
This episode features our host, Sam Mickey, discussing the new posthumous publication from the French philosopher Bruno Latour, If We Lose The Earth, We Lose Our Souls, in which Latour calls upon Christians to join the struggle to avert a climate catastrophe. It's a short text that examines connections between cosmology, ecology, and Catholicism, including discussion of Pope Francis, incarnation, redemption, apocalypse, preaching, the problem of anthropocentrism, and more.
This episode features Timothy Morton, PhD, Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University and author of several books on ecological thought. We discuss their new book, Hell: In Search of a Christian Ecology (Columbia University Press, 2024). Escaping global warming hell, this revelatory book shows, requires a radical, mystical marriage of Christianity and biology — the biosphere and the body of Christ — that awakens a future beyond the master-slave binary underlying racism, sexism, classism, and speciesism. We discuss the personal, poetic, political, and spiritual dimensions of this passionate, erudite, and playful book.
This episode features Missy Lahren, PhD, Chair of Board of Directors at Earth Law Center. Along with her work as a public interest lawyer, she is also a producer and writer. We discuss the many facets of her work, focusing in particular on her recent film, Last Stand: Saving the Elwha River's Legacy Forests. It premiered publicly at EarthX in Dallas on April 24, 2024. We had a chance to talk on the day of the premiere. Here is a short summary of the film from the Earth Law Center. "When a large, ecologically sensitive legacy forest in the heart of the Elwha River Watershed in Washington state was identified for harvest, the Earth Law Center, Keystone Species Alliance, and Center for Whale Research began using all legal means possible against the Washington State Department of Natural Resources in an attempt to halt the impending clear-cut. Through breathtaking cinematography and intimate interviews, witness the profound beauty and ecological significance of the watershed, as well as the dire consequences of unchecked deforestation."
You can watch the film on Earth Law Center's YouTube channel
Visit their Elwha Legacy Forests page to read more about the critical ongoing campaign to save these irreplaceable forests.
This episode features Sara Jolena Wolcott, an ecotheologian, minister, healer, ceremonialist, consultant, singer, and founder of Sequoia Samanvaya—an organization dedicated to harmonizing with ancient wisdom. She is also the host of The ReMembering And ReEnchanting Podcast. We discuss some of the many facets of her interdisciplinary but also cross-sector work. She addresses the crucial role that origin stories play in cosmovisions, and why it is so important for the climate leadership and religious leadership to take them seriously. She also focuses on decolonization as a critical and often-missing piece from ecospiritual discussions. She discusses her time at Union Theological Seminary, including her experience volunteering for a climate Justice conference hosted by the Center for Earth Ethics, led by Karenna Gore.
She has ongoing courses and boutique offerings for academics, spiritual/religious leaders, environmentalists, investors, and others who are being called forth to live courageously in these times of interconnectivity. These include a ReMembering Course, an Origin Stories course, and Circular Calendar courses. Listeners might also enjoy reading Sara Jolena's published work, including articles about circular time - The Deer at the End of the World and the Goddess of the Dawn and Reckonings with Time(s); her M.Div. thesis ReMembering the Story of the Anthropocene Age; and the From the Darkness.
In this episode, Kimberly Carfore returns to the podcast to talk about this year's Bioneers conference, which was held in Berkeley, California on March 28-30. Bioneers is a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization based in New Mexico and California. Founded in 1990 by Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons, Bioneers (a neologism for "biological pioneers") focuses on the value and wisdom of the natural world, emphasizing that responses to problems must be in harmony with the design of natural systems. The conference is broadly interdisciplinary and cross-sector, with academics, artists, activists, entrepreneurs, and social innovators meeting to address the pressing challenges facing life on Earth. Kim discusses her experience at the conference, focusing especially on some of the speakers who presented at the Indigenous Forum.
This episode features Clayton Crockett, PhD, Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion and the Director of the interdisciplinary Religious Studies program at the University of Central Arkansas. He has authored or edited a number of books at the intersection of theology, philosophy, science, and politics, including Religion, Politics and the Earth (with Jeffrey Robbins); The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion; Derrida After the End of Writing; and Radical Political Theology. We discuss his most recent book, Energy and Change: A New Materialist Cosmotheology (Columbia University Press, 2022), which develops a concept of energy as both physical and spiritual, integrating understandings of energy from a wide range of sources, such as thermodynamics, ecology, new materialist philosophy, political economy, Chinese traditions, Amerindian traditions, Vodou, process theology, and more.
This episode features Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner, Reconstructionist rabbi and interdenominational climate change chaplain based in New Haven, Connecticut. As a rabbi, meditation teacher, climate change chaplain, and educator, she founded Exploring Apocalypse to extend her pastoral care work to help individuals and groups navigate the complexities of living in a time of climate emergency. We talk about her work, the emotional and spiritual impacts of climate change, intergenerational trauma, the intertwinement of climate change with social, cultural, and political issues, and paths toward hope.
This episodes features Craig Patterson, a long-time activist and advocate weaving together multiple perspectives to address contemporary environmental issues. We talk about his commitment to integration and synthesis, seeking alliances and unity amidst difference. Some points of integration we discuss include science and spirituality, East and West, and theory and practice. He shares his formative experience in Auroville, the experimental city grounded in the integral thinking of the Indian philosopher and yogi Sri Aurobindo. He also talks about his dedication to issues of forestry in Oregon, where environmental science, policy, and management converge.
This episode of the FORE podcast features Chantal Forbes, PhD, and her partner Charlie Forbes. Chantal is a transdisciplinary scholar, storyteller, and educator at the intersection of ecology, spirituality, and culture. She is a visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Randolph-Macon College and Adjunct Faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Charlie is a cultural ecologist who employs a mixed-media approach to the study of ecology, spirituality, and religion. He currently serves as the program coordinator for the Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. We had a wonderful and wide-ranging conversation about the field and force of religion and ecology, touching on topics like interfaith/interreligious perspectives, Indigenous lifeways, decolonization, ethnographic and community-based methods, nonprofit management, and more.
This episode features Chad Baron, co-founder of a new organization, Degrowth California. Degrowth is a hotly contested and frequently misunderstood movement among advocates of environmental sustainability and social justice. We discuss degrowth and its relationship to faith, particularly in light of Chad’s graduate work at the intersection of degrowth and Catholic Social Teaching. Some of the topics we touch on include the ways that degrowth differs from green growth and from austerity, differences between degrowth in different countries in the Global North and Global South, and connections between degrowth and Catholicism, from early Christianity to Catholic Social Teaching and Pope Francis. You can learn more about Degrowth California here: https://degrowthcalifornia.org/
This episode features Mark Porter, PhD, research associate at the University of Erfurt, in Germany. With a background in ethnomusicology, his current work focuses on Christian musical innovation and changing ecological relationships, based at his university’s department for theology and religious studies. We discuss his work at the intersection of music, religion and ecology, particularly in light of his forthcoming book, For the Warming of the Earth: Music, Faith, and Ecological Crisis (due out in June 2024 with SCM Press). Some of the topics covered include climate albums, music and acts of protest, song festivals, ecological Requiems, and the future of ecomusicology. You can learn more about his work on his website: https://markporter.co.uk
Tis the season for reflecting on the past year and the year to come. Kimberly Carfore, PhD, came on the podcast to do just that, particularly in light of her role as the co-chair of the Religion and Ecology unit for the American Academy of Religion (AAR). We talk about some of the main topics and trends covered by the unit in this past year's AAR, and we discuss what's coming for this year's AAR, including more focus on decolonization and environmental justice, more consideration of questions about violence and nonviolence, more attention to activism and advocacy, and more research into the varieties of sentience in animals, plants, fungi, and more. Drawing on the field and force of religion and ecology, the Religion and Ecology unit is helping connect all areas of religious studies to the urgent and inspiring work of engaging with ecological issues.
This episode features Elizabeth Allison, PhD, Professor of Ecology and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, where she founded and chairs the graduate program in Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion (ESR). This year is the 10th anniversary of the program, so it was the perfect opportunity to reflect on ESR's past, present, and future. We discuss a wide variety of topics, including the relationship between religion and spirituality, environmental humanities, online and in-person teaching, transdisciplinary education, contemplative practice, and more. We also discuss the Religion & Ecology Summit series of annual conferences that ESR hosts. The 6th annual Summit will take place April 8-11 in 2024, with the theme of Queer Ecologies and Religions.
This episode features Kate Rigby, PhD, Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Environmental Humanities at the University of Cologne. We talk about her many contributions to environmental humanities and ecocriticism. Some of the topics we cover include her work with European Romanticism, decolonization, and the enduring legacy of the ecofeminist philosophy of Val Plumwood. We also discuss her most recent book, Meditations on Creation in an Era of Extinction(Orbis Books, 2023), where she reflects on the challenges of extinction through theological interpretations of the Biblical account of creation. She draws on an ancient genre of theological writing about the days of creation, the hexameron.
Welcome O'neil Van Horn, PhD to Spotlights. He's an Assistant Professor of Theology at Xavier University. We discuss the difference between theology and theopoetics, the ethical and political challenges of our current planetary situation, grounds for hope in these trying times, and the legacy of postmodern philosophers like Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida. Along the way, we talk about his book, On the Ground: Terrestrial Theopoetics and Planetary Politics (Fordham University Press, 2023).
Christiana Zenner, PhD, returns to the podcast (see episode 4.3) for a discussion about Laudate Deum, the Apostolic Exhortation that Pope Francis recently issued as an update to his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home. We talk about some of the similarities and differences between the encyclical and the new exhortation. Some of the main themes include Pope Francis' use of scientific argumentation to refute climate denial, his critique of the United States as the world's leading carbon emitter per capita, his critique of what he calls the "technocratic paradigm" currently dominant around the globe (especially in the Global North), and his call for a global politics of multilateralism to address the climate crisis. We also discuss the usual absence of women from citations in these sorts of documents, which is remedied in Laudate Deum with a very strange reference to a well-known feminist scholar of science studies, Donna Haraway, who grew up Catholic but has taken highly critical stances toward Catholicism throughout her career. National Catholic Reporter featured an interview profile of Haraway in response to the citation, which you can find here.
This episode features Will W. Adams, PhD, an ecopsychologist, psychotherapist, and meditation teacher who serves as a psychology professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We talk about many perspectives that he integrates into his ecopsychological work, including transpersonal psychology, phenomenology, Christian mysticism, and Buddhism. We touch on many themes, from hope to heartbreak, including the heartbreaking realities of mountaintop removal. All of these compelling ideas and topics are part of his book, A Wild and Sacred Call: Nature–Psyche–Spirit (SUNY Press, 2023).
This episode features Blair Nelsen, Executive Director of Waterspirit, a spiritual ecology nonprofit that informs, inspires, and empowers people of all beliefs to deepen their consciousness of the sacredness of water and the interdependence of all Earth’s systems. We discuss her journey in the world of spiritual ecology and nonprofit management, with particular attention to water issues. Reenchanting our relationship with water opens up possibilities for responding to environmental crises with gratitude, hope, and regenerative activism. Go to https://www.waterspirit.org to learn more.
Welcome Christiana Zenner, PhD onto the podcast, Associate Professor of Theology, Science and Ethics in the Department of Theology at Fordham University. She is a deeply interdisciplinary scholar and teacher, so we cover a lot of exciting topics, including her research into emerging and established fresh water ethics, religious ecologies, the Anthropocene, the ecological turn in Catholic social teaching (including Laudato Si', the ecological encyclical from Pope Francis), the tensions between the degrowth movement and ecomodernist advocates of green growth, our shared hope in the youth and their energy for communication and community organizing, citational politics, bingo games, and a whole lot more. Her book Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and Global Fresh Water Crises is on its second edition with Orbis Books (2018).
This episode of Spotlights features Joshua Duclos, PhD, Instructor of Humanities and Philosophy at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire. We talk about his book, Wilderness, Morality, and Value (Lexington Books, 2022), where he rethinks the ethical implications of wilderness in light of the complex conditions of life in the Anthropocene. We discuss issues around anthropocentrism, intrinsic value in nature, the religious significance of wilderness, and some of the moral conflicts that arise when the value of wilderness is juxtaposed with concerns for animal suffering. There are no easy answers when it comes to understanding wilderness, conservation, and animal welfare, but there are many ways to deepen our understanding of the questions involved in those issues.
This is the inaugural episode of the fourth year of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast. This episode features a prominent contributor to the field, Heather Eaton, PhD, professor of conflict studies in the faculty of human sciences at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. We talk about her numerous interdisciplinary contributions to the field of religion and ecology, including her engagement with the intellectual legacy of Thomas Berry (a teacher of hers), the enduring relevance of ecofeminism, the philosophy of new materialism, the role of nonviolence in facilitating social change, and the political problem posed by religious nationalism, and more.
In this episode of Spotlights, Sam Mickey reviews the newest book by the renowned scholar of comparative religion, Karen Armstrong, Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World (2022). It's an accessible and inspiring exploration of some of the ways that religious myths, practices, and disciplines can facilitate aesthetic and ethical appreciation of the natural world. The book also has some limitations, which compel further reflection on some of the main issues addressed by the field and force of religion and ecology. This is the final episode of the third season of the podcast. We'll be back with more episodes in a few weeks.
This episode of Spotlights features Freya Mathews, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Philosophy at Latrobe University, and author of several books, including The Ecological Self (1991, reissued with new intro in 2021), For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism (2003), Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture (2005), and her new book, The Dao of Civilization: a Letter to China (2023). We discuss her personal and professional path toward metaphysics, conservation ethics, and ecological civilization, with special attention to the unique role that Indigenous and Daoist principles can play in contemporary global society. This episode begins with a few verses from a poem, “Let the Mountain be your Temple,” by Freya Matthews.
This episode of Spotlights features Sigurd Bergmann, PhD, Sigurd Bergman, professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and founding contributor to the European Forum for the Study of Religion and the Environment. He discusses his transdisciplinary approach to eco-theology and the study of religion and ecology, taking a global perspective and crossing disciplinary fields of art, architecture, ethics, religion, and the environment. He also discusses some of his many books, including Weather, Religion and Climate Change (2021), Religion, Materialism and Ecology (2023, edited with Kate Rigby and Peter Manley Scott), and Sweden’s Pandemic Experiment (2023, edited with Martin Lindström), which is available to download free (open access) from the publisher's website here.
This episode of Spotlights features Terra Schwerin Rowe, PhD, Associate Professor in the Philosophy and Religion Department at the University of North Texas. We discuss her most recent book, Of Modern Extraction: Experiments in Critical Petro-theology (Bloomsbury, 2022), where she draws on energy humanities in an intersectional-feminist analysis of extractivism, exploring material and discursive intersections of oil, religion, white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism. A key take-away is that US citizens have not only made economic, technological, and infrastructural investments in oil, they've also made theological investments in oil that still inform 21st-century high energy culture. Consequently, in the pursuit of alternative energy imaginaries and more just energy cultures, these spiritual-theological investments will also need critical analysis and creative re-interpretation.
This episode of Spotlights features our host, Sam Mickey, discussing ecological existentialism, particularly in light of his book on the topic, Coexistentialism and the Unbearable Intimacy of Ecological Emergency (Lexington Books, 2016). Ecological existentialism (also called coexistentialism) extends insights from existential philosophy about meaning-making amid the paradoxes, absurdities, and uncertainties of mortal existence, applying those insights to living and dying in a time of mass extinction. Coexistentialism finds productive alliances and tensions amidst many areas of inquiry, including ecocriticism, ecological humanities, object-oriented ontology, feminism, phenomenology, deconstruction, new materialism, and more.
This episode of Spotlights features writer and scholar Beatrice Marovich, PhD, associate professor of theological studies at Hanover college. We talk a little about her path into theology through engagements with literature and journalism. Then we discuss her new book, Sister Death: Political Theologies for Living and Dying (Columbia University Press, 2023), diving into theological, philosophical, political, cultural, and ecological implications of the way we think, feel, and act about death and its relationship to life. The figure of Sister Death comes from St. Francis of Assisi, and the book engages with and beyond that image of death as a relative, challenging assumptions about death as the enemy of life and opening up new ways of cultivating accepting and meaningful relations with death.
This week’s episode of Spotlights focuses on metamodernism—an emerging cultural movement that recovers sincerity and big picture thinking following the postmodern focus on irony and skepticism. Our host Sam Mickey provides some context for thinking about metamodernism, especially as it relates to postmodernism. He notes how postmodern theory already includes metamodern ideas in several ways, both in constructive postmodernism (e.g., Alfred North Whitehead) and deconstructive postmodernism (e.g., Jacques Derrida). While there is much to praise about metamodernism, it is important not to perpetuate confused misreadings of postmodernism. Furthermore, it is important to continue attending to the postcolonial and postindustrial conditions that postmodern theory addresses.
This episode of Spotlights features Joerg Rieger, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Theology and the Cal Turner Chancellor’s Chair of Wesleyan Studies at Vanderbilt University. He is also the founding director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice. We discuss his latest book, Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity (Fortress Press, 2022), which explores the implications of the Anthropocene through theological inquiries into ecology, labor, capitalism, and intersectionality. We touch on topics of personal and planetary agency, new materialism, deep solidarity, the tension between transcendence and immanence, reparations, and the power of worker co-ops.
This episode of Spotlights features Gopal D. Patel, a faith-based environmental activist, campaigner, and consultant. He is co-Founder and Director of Bhumi Global, an international Hindu faith-inspired NGO that works to promote environmental care. He is also a senior advisor for the Center for Earth Ethics, co-chair of the United Nations Multi-faith Advisory Council, and an advisor to the World Wildlife Fund Beliefs and Values Programme. We discuss his personal experience of Hinduism, his background with multi-faith dialogue, and the challenges and opportunities facing religious environmentalism around the world, including some ways that religious environmentalism can facilitate constructive responses to climate grief and eco-anxiety.
This episode of Spotlights features Barbara Mahany, a freelance journalist, essayist, collector of stories, and author of five books. She discusses her latest book, The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text (Broadleaf Books, 2023). We talk about the myriad ways of reading the natural world and discovering its sacredness through practices of attention, including perspectives from religions, poetry, nature writing, and sciences.
More information can be found on the publisher's website: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506473512/The-Book-of-Nature
This episode of Spotlights features Mallory McDuff. She is an author, educator, and mother, teaching environmental education at Warren Wilson College outside Asheville, North Carolina. Her writing stems from ordinary life–raising children and teaching students–amidst the enormity of our uncertain times, especially our changing climate. She talks about her new book, Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50 Stories, and 50 Women United for Climate Justice (Broadleaf Books, 2023). The book tells stories about women of diverse ages, backgrounds, and vocations–one from each of the fifty US states–as inspiration for a new kind of leadership focused on the heart of the climate crisis.
More information about the book is available on the publisher's website. https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506464442/Love-Your-Mother
This episode of Spotlights features Matthew Segall, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Matt discusses a recent conference celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Center for Process Studies, which is a research center at the Claremont School of Theology at Claremont University, focusing particularly on the relevance of Alfred North Whitehead's process-relational philosophy. Whitehead has been a profound influence on environmental ethics and eco-theology for several decades. Matt also discusses his forthcoming book (to be released on Earth Day 2023), Crossing the Threshold: Etheric Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. He highlights the role of imagination in bringing science, spirituality, and philosophy into harmony with one another and with our planetary and cosmic context.
Recordings of the conference livestream are available through the following links:
Day 1 on Reimagining Religion
Day 2 on Science and Philosophy
Day 3 on Practical Applications
This episode of Spotlights features Larry Rasmussen, PhD, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, emeritus, at Union Theological Seminary. He discusses his new book, The Planet You Inherit: Letters to My Grandchildren When Uncertainty's a Sure Thing. The book is composed of a series of letters that he wrote for his grandchildren. The letters talk about the uncertain future that his grandchildren will live through, including the myriad challenges facing the Earth community during the Anthropocene, not least of which is the ongoing task of understanding the place of human beings in the universe. More information can be found on the publisher's website here.
This episode of Spotlights features Amber X. Chen, a freelance journalist from Southern California whose work focuses on environmental justice. She contributed to several publications, including the climate and culture magazine Atmos, where she recently wrote a piece about the relationship between psychedelics, climate change, and environmental justice, "Tripping for the Planet: Psychedelics and Climate Change." She discusses the problems and promises that psychedelics hold for the climate action toolkit, noting the particular importance of prioritizing the Indigenous communities for whom sacred plant medicines are part of their culture. You can read the full story here: https://atmos.earth/psychedelics-plant-medicine-climate-activism/
This episode of Spotlights features Michael S. Northcott, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Ethics at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He talks about his new book, God and Gaia: Science, Religion and Ethics on a Living Planet (Routledge, 2023), which explores the overlap between traditional religious cosmologies and the scientific Gaia theory of James Lovelock. The book engages with traditional cosmologies from the Indian Vedas and classical Greece to Medieval Christianity, including case material from Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, and Great Britain. He discusses how it is possible to repair the destabilizing impacts of contemporary human activities on the Earth community, particularly by drawing on sacred traditions and honoring the differential agency of humans and nonhumans.
This episode of Spotlights features Sam Mickey and Kimberly Carfore in conversation with a topic Sam has been researching recently: contemplative posthuman design, which is a way of bringing design thinking into dialogue with contemplative studies and the ecological sensibilities of posthumanism. It is a design approach that works with contemplative practices to envision ways of harmoniously integrating humans with the more-than-human world. Sam draws connections between these ideas and the work of the contemporary German philosopher, Peter Sloterdijk.
This episode of Spotlights features Kimberly Carfore, PhD, co-chair of the Religion and Ecology unit of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The annual meeting of the AAR happened at the end of November. Dr. Carfore talks about the various panels hosted by the Religion and Ecology unit this year, including a panel on Dr. Christopher Carter’s book The Spirit of Soul Food, which was featured on this podcast earlier in the year. Dr. Carfore also gives a preview of what the Religion and Ecology unit is putting together for the 2023 meeting of the AAR. Overall, they are continuing their efforts toward a more decolonial, international, and multicultural approach to studying the intersection of religion and ecology.
This episode of Spotlights features Rowan Deer, PhD, author of Radical Animism: Reading for the End of the World (Bloomsbury, 2020), which brings together literary, philosophical, and scientific perspectives to rethink animism for the Anthropocene. She discusses the way her book juxtaposes authors like Virginia Woolf, Lewis Carroll, and William Shakespeare with the Copernican Revolution, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious. She also discusses the the role of deconstruction in her writing, correcting some common misunderstandings of deconstruction and Jacques Derrida.
More information about her book is available on the publisher's website here.
Some other pieces of interest include her article on fungi and language, "Mycorrhizal Metaphors," available open access at Ecozona.
Another relevant essay is "Reading in the Dark," published by Orion Magazine.
This episode of Spotlights features our host, Sam Mickey, discussing eco-anxiety, which is generally defined as a chronic worry, distress, or fear concerning ecological devastation. Struggles with eco-anxiety have increased in recent years, and they have been exacerbated by the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic. Sam reflects on two recently published anthologies that he edited with Douglas A. Vakoch, Eco-Anxiety and Pandemic Distress: Psychological Perspectives on Resilience and Interconnectedness (Oxford University Press, 2022), and Eco-Anxiety and Planetary Hope: Experiencing the Twin Disasters of COVID-19 and Climate Change (Springer, 2022).
You can find more resources for understanding eco-anxiety at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website: https://fore.yale.edu/Resources/Eco-anxiety-Resources
This week's episode of Spotlights features a short behind-the-scenes look at a team meeting for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, with some brief remarks about the Forum from Tara Trapani, Elizabeth McAnally, Sam King, Anna Thurston, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and John Grim, including a final comment from our host, Sam Mickey. We hope you enjoy this little glimpse into our team meeting and get a better understanding of the way the Forum functions as a watershed for so many activities, projects, and resources that make up the field and force of religion and ecology.
This episode of Spotlights pays tribute to the French philosopher and social theorist, Bruno Latour (1947-2022). His work has been widely influence for science and technology studies, philosophy, and ecological thought. Religion also figures into his work, although it is not as well known as his writings on science and ecology. Several good overviews of his life and thought have been published since his passing. Here is one from The Guardian.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Daniel Scheid, PhD, the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University. We talk about his work with comparative theology and ecological ethics, including questions of interreligious dialogue, the cosmological context of religion and ecology, and the enduring value of Catholic Social Teaching. We also talk about his book where many of these questions are raised, The Cosmic Common Good: Religious Grounds for Ecological Ethics(Oxford University Press, 2016).
This episode of Spotlights features Andreas Karelas, the founder and executive director of RE-volv, a nonprofit organization that empowers people around the country to help nonprofits in their communities go solar and raise awareness about the benefits of clean energy. He is also the author of Climate Courage: How Tackling Climate Change Can Build Community, Transform the Economy, and Bridge the Political Divide in America. Andreas talks about new developments in renewable energy, particularly in light of the Inflation Reduction Act in the USA. Signed into law in August 2022, the IRA includes almost $400 billion in spending on energy and climate change. Along with the IRA, Andreas discusses some new projects he is working on, including a partnership with Green The Church and Interfaith Power & Light, aimed at accelerating the deployment of solar energy in underserved communities by assisting BIPOC houses of worship around the country go solar.
This episode of Spotlights features André Daughtry, an award-winning speculative social documentarian who explores contemporary expressions of the spiritual, mystical, and theological in the contexts of pluralistic democracies. He talks about his latest project, WILDERNESS, a speculative documentary photography, film and performance project that engages an integral ecological approach to sustainability and spirituality, specifically in relationship to Indigenous populations and their respective cosmologies and traditions. Captured in the Cauca region of southern Colombia, WILDERNESS attempts to share experiences that can bring us back to place.
Go here to learn more about this project and watch a visual travelogue that sets the tone, "Sketches for WILDERNESS": https://www.blackmountaincollege.org/andre-daughtry
You can also learn more about André's work here.
This is the beginning of the third year of the podcast for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology,. This new beginning intersects with another new beginning: the Religion and Ecology unit of the American Academy of Religion has two new co-chairs, Joseph Wiebe, PhD, and Kimberly Carfore, PhD. In this episode, Joe and Kim both reflect on the past, present, and future of the academic field and activist force of religion and ecology. We talk about the success of previous chairs and others who have contributed to the field, , especially the recent leadership of Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter. We also discuss some ways that the field of religion and ecology is opening to decolonial perspectives.
In this episode of Spotlights, Sam reflects on the another successful season of podcast interviews for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. We have released nearly 100 episodes, featuring a wide variety of scholars, activists, and artists who engage with the sort of issues addressed by the field and force of religion and ecology. We'll take a short break from new episodes for a few weeks, and we'll be back with more interviews and conversations toward the end of August. In the meantime, we hope that you are abiding in what Wendell Berry calls "the peace of wild things."
This is a clip from the episode of Spotlights featuring Jason Wirth, PhD, professor of philosophy at Seattle University, Soto Zen priest, and the founder and co-director of the Seattle University EcoSangha. He discusses his idea of "deep social ecology," which integrates the insights of two ecological philosophies often considered to be in opposition to one another: deep ecology and social ecology. You can learn more about it be reading his article, "Deep Social Ecology."
You can find the full episode here.
This episode of Spotlights features Jason Wirth, PhD, professor of philosophy at Seattle University, Soto Zen priest, and the founder and co-director of the Seattle University EcoSangha. We talk about his capacious engagements with Continental philosophy, Buddhism, ecological thought, indigenous lifeways, and more. We discuss some of his books, including Nietzsche and Other Buddhas: Philosophy after Comparative Philosophy (Indiana 2019), Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth: Reading Gary Snyder and Dōgen in an Age of Ecological Crisis (SUNY 2017), and Schelling’s Practice of the Wild (SUNY 2015). Incidentally, our conversation took place on a US National Holiday, July 4 (Independence Day), so our conversation naturally includes some political reflections, touching on topics of democracy, freedom, anarchy, and deep social ecology.
In this week's episode of Spotlights, Sam Mickey talks about the life and thought of a deeply influential figure in the field and force of religion and ecology, Thomas Berry (1914-2009). Sam draws on the book about Berry's life and thought, Thomas Berry: A Biography, by Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Andrew Angyal (Columbia University Press, 2019), and he concludes with a reading from one of Berry's books, The Great Work (Bell Tower, 1999), ending with the following quotation:
“We are not lacking in the dynamic forces needed to create the future. We live immersed in a sea of energy beyond all comprehension. But this energy, in an ultimate sense, is ours not by domination but by invocation.” (Thomas Berry, “The Dynamics of the Future,” in The Great Work, 175).
You can find more information about these and other publications at the Thomas Berry website here.
This clip is an excerpt of the Spotlights episode featuring Rabbi Ellen Bernstein. In this clip, she discusses her work with Shomrei Adamah (Keepers of the Earth), the first national Jewish environmental organization, which she founded in 1988. While Shomrei Adamah, the organization, closed in 1996, it touched the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of people, and its message continues to reverberate through its books and educational materials, and through the work of a new generation of Jewish educators, naturalists, environmentalists, farmers and artists. The Shomrei Adamah leadership believed that holiday celebrations, and in particular, Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish New Year for the trees, could provide opportunities for educating and organizing masses of people to care for the earth.
Details for the full episode are available here.
In this week's episode of Spotlights, our host Sam Mickey presents some brief reflections on Father's Day, which is celebrated in North America and many other places on the third Sunday of June. Along with giving some historical context about the meaning of Father's Day, Sam gives some personal reflections about the important role that his father (Robert Mickey) had and continues to have on his lifelong interests in religion and in the natural world.
This clip is an excerpt of the Spotlights episode featuring Rabbi Ellen Bernstein. In this clip, she discusses her ecological interpretation of the Bible, specifically the ecological implications of the first chapter of the book of Genesis. She wrote a wonderful book on the topic, The Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology (Pilgrim Press).
More information about the book can be found on the publisher's website.
Details for the full episode are available here: https://fore.yale.edu/blogs/entry/1654586300
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Rabbi Ellen Bernstein, a leader and pioneer in the field of religion and ecology. She discusses her work with Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth, the first national Jewish environmental organization, which she founded in 1988. She also talks about some of her work as an author and ecotheologian, focusing on the intersection of Judaism, Bible and ecology, including her ecotheology of Genesis 1 in The Splendor of Creation (2006), her ecologically centered Passover Haggadah in The Promise of the Land (2019), her ecological interpretation of the idea of dominion, her ecological guide for the Jewish New Year of the Trees (Tu B’Shvat) (1988), and more.
You can learn more about her work on her website, http://www.ellenbernstein.org
This week's episode of Spotlights is a short tribute to the memory of Rosemary Radford Ruether, who passed away on May 21, 2022, at the age of 85. She was a scholar of feminism and a Catholic theologian, well-known for her foundational work in feminist theology, including important work with ecofeminism and the field of religion and ecology. Obituaries and tributes are continuing to come out. Some noteworthy ones are from the National Catholic Reporter, NPR, and a tribute by Mary Hunt.
This is a clip from the episode of Spotlights featuring Huda Alkaff, the Founder and Director of Wisconsin Green Muslims, a grassroots group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin formed in 2005 to connect faith, environmental justice, and sustainability through education and service. In this clip, she talks about the cosmological and ecological orientation of Islam, particularly as expressed in the Quran and Hadith.
Details for the full episode are here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Huda Alkaff, an ecologist and environmental educator. She discusses her work as the Founder and Director of Wisconsin Green Muslims, a grassroots group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin formed in 2005 to connect faith, environmental justice, and sustainability through education and service. She talks about ecological values expressed in the Quran and Hadith, the cosmological orientation of Islamic practice, the importance of interfaith collaboration, solar energy development, protecting freshwater resources, and much more.
More resources about the intersection of Islam and ecology are available on the Forum on Religion and Ecology website.
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Dan Smyer Yü, PhD, Kuige Professor of Ethnology in the School of Ethnology and Sociology at Yunnan University and a Global Faculty Member at the University of Cologne. He discusses his groundbreaking work in trans-Himalayan studies, exploring the ways religion and ecology intersect in the mountains, valleys, plains, and rivers of regions in and around the Himalayas.
Details for the full episode are here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Dan Smyer Yü, PhD, the Kuige Professor of Ethnology in the School of Ethnology and Sociology at Yunnan University and a Global Faculty Member at the University of Cologne. He discusses his multifaceted, interdisciplinary work with religion and ecology, including his work with trans-Himalayan studies, Buddhism and ecology, ecological indigeneity, commoning, and the role of affect in responding to climate change. Along the way, he talks about some of his books, like Mindscaping the Landscape of Tibet: Place, Memorability, Eco-aesthetics (De Gruyter 2015) as well as some of his co-edited volumes, including Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China (Routledge 2014), Trans-Himalayan Borderlands: Livelihoods, Territorialities, Modernities (Amsterdam University Press 2017), and Environmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability (Routledge 2021).
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Simone Kotva, PhD, a research fellow in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, and an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. In this clip, she discusses the relationship between magic and ecology, particularly in light of the ways that the practice of magic is oriented toward skillful communication with the more-than-human world. Details for the full episode can be found here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Simone Kotva, PhD, a research fellow in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, and an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Kotva is also part of a multidisciplinary research project on the Nordic Anthropocene, ECODISTURB, and she is the author of Effort and Grace: On the Spiritual Exercise of Philosophy (Bloomsbury, 2020). She discusses mysticism, magic, the more-than-human dimension of spiritual practice, and many other facets of her work at the intersection of philosophy, theology and ecological thought.
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Samuel King, a Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and a graduate student in Religion and Ecology at Yale Divinity School. In this clip, Sam discusses a newly developed resource: a series of MOOCs (massive, open, online courses) oriented around the study of religion and ecology across the world's diverse traditions.
Details for the full episode are here.
Details about the Religion and Ecology MOOCs can be found here: https://fore.yale.edu/Resources/Yale-Coursera-Online-Courses
This week's episode of Spotlights features Samuel King, a Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and a graduate student in Religion and Ecology at Yale Divinity School. Sam discusses many facets of his work, including his experience teaching courses in philosophy, religion, and interdisciplinary humanities, his creative writing practice, and his time studying environmental practices in Sri Lanka and India. He also talks about his work with the Journey of the Universe project, including a podcast reflecting on developments in the last ten years since the film and book were released, "JOTU: 10 Years Later." He also elaborates on his contributions to the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Religion and Ecology.
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter, an Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego and a commissioned Elder within the United Methodist Church. In this clip, he discusses the challenge of decolonizing knowledge, which he addresses in his new book, The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, & Food Justice(University of Illinois Press, 2021).
Details for the full episode can be found here.
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter, an Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego and a commissioned Elder within the United Methodist Church. In this clip, he discusses his notion of Black veganism, particularly in light of his new book, The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, & Food Justice(University of Illinois Press, 2021).
Details for the full episode can be found here.
This week’s episode of spotlights features Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter, an Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego and a commissioned Elder within the United Methodist Church. Reflecting on his new book, The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, & Food Justice(University of Illinois Press, 2021), he discusses the profound importance of subverting industrial agriculture and creating food sovereign communities. He talks about soul food, the history of agriculture in the United States, the Transatlantic slave trade, environmental racism, food justice, the religious and cultural dimensions of food, and questions of vegetarianism and veganism.
This is a clip from our episode featuring Aaron Weiss, PhD, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA. He discusses the portability of Buddhism across cultures, as it has moved across landscapes and communities since its inception in India. Questions of cultural diffusion and cultural appropriation comes up along the way.
Details for the full episode are here.
This week's episode of Spotlights is a clip from our interview with Norman Wirzba, PhD, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University, and Senior Fellow at Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. He reflects on the problematic assumptions of transhumanism and the importance of discerning the appropriate limits of technological and economic development.
Details for the full episode are here.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Madeline Stevens, a graduate student in the Environmental Studies program at the University of Montana. She talks about the interdisciplinary work being done in her program as well as her personal and professional engagement with the intersection of religion and the environment, including the thesis she is completing on the relationship between faith and environmental education. We talk about the relationship between science and religion, Evangelical Christianity, curriculum development, personal transformation, and more.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Aaron Weiss, PhD, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA. He talks about Tibetan Buddhism and philosophical perspectives on place, particularly in light of his recently defended dissertation, Buddhist Topology and the Practice of Lama Orgyan Khandro Norlha. Along the way, he also discusses questions of translation, cultural appropriation, and the complex challenges and responsibilities facing scholar-practitioners of Buddhism. More resources for studying the intersection of Buddhism and ecology can be found on the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website.
In this week’s episodes of Spotlights, our host Sam Mickey discusses some of his work in the field of religion and ecology. While we normally put the spotlight on other academics, activists, and artists, some people have asked to hear more about the host’s perspective on things, so in this episode Sam discusses one of his books, On the Verge of a Planetary Civilization: A Philosophy of Integral Ecology(Rowman & Littlefield). Published in 2014, the questions and problems that book engages are still relevant to today’s theoretical and practical challenges for living peacefully and sustainably on Earth.
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Johnna Arnold, an artist, photographer, educator, and urban farmer based in Oakland, CA. In this clip, she discusses her meditation-based participatory art project, Expanding Space, which is currently on exhibit as part of Creative Attention: Art and Community Restoration at the Palo Alto Art Center, in Palo Alto, California.
Details for the full episode can be found here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Johnna Arnold, an artist, photographer, educator, and urban farmer based in Oakland, CA. Her work revolves around human beings, the environments we build, and the ways these systems affect our lives. She discusses her personal and professional journey toward the intersection of art and ecology, including a body of photographic prints that work with used motor oil, expressing the dynamics of the Capitalocene. It is extra special to have her on the podcast, since many of our videos (including this one) have a print of her artwork hanging in the background, with the phrase "Interconnections Abound."
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Dr. Pankaj Jain, Head of the Department of Humanities & Languages and Chair of The India Centre at FLAME University. We talk about the place of animals in Indian religion, culture, and ecology, including questions about vegetarianism, veganism, agriculture, and animal sanctuaries. Details for the full episode are available here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Pankaj Jain, PhD, an internationally recognized academic leader in sustainability, Jain studies, film studies, and diaspora studies. He is the Head of the Department of Humanities & Languages and Chair of The India Centre at FLAME University. We discuss connections between dharma and ecology in Hinduism and Jainism, with particular attention to three books by Dr. Jain, Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability (Routledge, 2011), Science and Socio-Religious Revolution in India: Moving the Mountains (Routledge, 2016), and Dharma in America: A Short History of Hindu-Jain Diaspora (Routledge, 2019). He tweets at @ProfPankajJain, and his podcast #DiscoverIndia is on Spotify, Apple, Google, YouTube, Gaana, and other platforms.
This episode of Spotlights features an audio excerpt from a conversation between Sam Mickey and Mirei Takashima Claremon. They discuss the the meaning of freedom and its relevance to contemporary social and environmental issues, concluding with some speculation about what a a transition to a more sustainable and just world might look like. For more information about Mirei's work, you can find the episode she did for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast here.
This week on Spotlights, we feature another clip from our episode about the new Ecojustice hub at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, with Tara C. Trapani, Liz Burkemper, Eun Young Choi, and Leah Snavely.
You can find the ecojustice hub here: https://fore.yale.edu/Ecojustice
Details for the full episode are available here: https://fore.yale.edu/blogs/entry/1639522612
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode about the new Ecojustice hub at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, with Tara C. Trapani, Liz Burkemper, Eun Young Choi, and Leah Snavely.
Details for the full episode are available here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features a new hub for EcoJustice research and advocacy at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology:
Our guests are the four people comprising the team that put these resources together, including the following: Tara C. Trapani, a graduate of Yale Divinity School (MAR ‘07) and the Chief Administrator of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology as well as the Coordinator for the Journey of the Universe multimedia project; Liz Burkemper, a Missourian and second year Master of Arts in Religion student at Yale Divinity School, concentrating in Religion and Ecology with interests in ecopoetry and sacred multispecies worlds; Eun Young Choi, a second-year Master of Arts in Religion candidate at Yale Divinity School, concentrating in Religion and Ecology; and Leah Snavely, a recent graduate of Yale Divinity School, where she focused her studies in religion and ecology on ecological ethics, forestry, and religion and ecology in Latin America. Leah is currently a Research Assistant at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and works as a Farmer at an organic vegetable farm outside of New Haven, CT.
Because the work of the Forum takes place at the intersection of religion and ecology, the majority of the resources and tools in this resource hub are related to the religious responses to environmental injustice. However, we do provide a few links below to some of the foundational, and primarily secular, material.
You can find the Ecojustice hub here: https://fore.yale.edu/Ecojustice
This is a clip from the episode of Spotlights featuring Mallory McDuff, PhD, a teacher and writer at Warren Wilson College. She discusses the importance of talking about death, reflecting on her latest book, Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love (Broadleaf Books, 2021).
The music at the introduction and conclusion of the clip comes from the song "You Carry My Love," by Elizabeth Teague.
You can listen to the full episode here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Mallory McDuff, PhD. She writes and teaches environmental education just outside of Asheville, North Carolina, at Warren Wilson College, a liberal arts school that integrates academics with work and community engagement. She's written many books, articles, and essays that examine the intersection of people and places for a better world. Weaving together personal stories and academic research, she talks about her latest book, Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love (Broadleaf Books, 2021).
This week's episode of Spotlights is a clip from last week’s episode, featuring the artist and educator, Nicole Dixon. In this clip, she talks about lessons that can be learned through attention to nature, specifically the nonjudgmental growth and resilience that redwoods teach us.
You can watch the full episode here.
You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or other places where podcasts are streamed. Links are available here.
You can learn more about Nicole's work here: https://nicoledixon.carbonmade.com/
This week's episode of Spotlights features the artist and educator, Nicole Dixon. Nicole uses art as an interactive medium, and vehicle for self-transformation, community bridge-building, and positive social change. She talks about the ways her work engages with intersections between race, culture, politics, ecology, and spirituality. As she says in the artist statement for Transcendent Iconography, "There is always something unseen: a life force in natural objects- charcoal, paper, feathers, wood in a technological age, an ancient human need for ritual and spiritual purpose in a secular society, a power in those who are most marginalized by institutional oppressions."
You can learn more about her work here: https://nicoledixon.carbonmade.com/
This week's episode of Spotlights is a clip from our interview with Dr. Mirei Takashima Claremon, a global citizen, behavioral scientist, and cross-cultural consumer insights expert based in Los Angeles. In this part of the interview, she reflects on the ways that Shinto and Buddhist values and animistic sensibilities shape Japanese culture and behaviors toward the environment.
For more details about her work, go to the full episode here.
This week, the Spotlights podcast welcomes Dr. Mirei Takashima Claremon, a global citizen, behavioral scientist, and cross-cultural consumer insights expert based in Los Angeles. She discusses her work leading the Behavioral Sustainability movement, reflecting on the limits of analytical thinking for ecology and sustainability. Emphasizing the importance of holistic and cross-cultural perspectives, she also talks about the role that Shintoism and Buddhism play in her life and work.
You can follow her blog and connect with her on LinkedIn.
This week's episode of Spotlights is a clip from our interview with Norman Wirzba, PhD, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University, and Senior Fellow at Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. He talks about a life of rootedness and the limits of what is "enough," reflecting on his new book, This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
Details for the full episode are here.
This week's episode of the Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast features Norman Wirzba, PhD, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University, and Senior Fellow at Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. He discusses his new book, This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World (Cambridge University Press, 2021), which gives a deep philosophical and religious articulation of humanity's identity and vocation by rooting people in a symbiotic, meshwork world that is saturated with sacred gifts. We reflect on numerous topics, including the Anthropocene, transhumanism, food, faith, farming, creativity, and much more.
This is a clip from the episode of Spotlights featuring Matthew David Segall, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Reflecting on his new book, Physics of the World-Soul: Alfred North Whitehead’s Adventure in Cosmology (SacraSage Press, 2021), he describes the role of worldly divinity in Whitehead's cosmology. You can listen to the full episode here.
This episode of Spotlights features Matthew David Segall, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He discusses his new book, Physics of the World-Soul: Alfred North Whitehead’s Adventure in Cosmology (SacraSage Press, 2021), describing the context and key concepts of Whitehead's process philosophy. We reflect on Whiteheadian contributions to debates on a variety of topics, including panpsychism, panentheism, environmental ethics, dialogue between science and religion, and the future of philosophy.
Welcome to a new season of Spotlights. This podcast began around a year ago, and since we’re starting our second year, this episode features our host, Sam Mickey, reflecting on the year and looking ahead toward the year to come. He talks about the aim, scope, and themes of the podcast, while also inviting suggestions for any new developments or potential interviewees. He also mentions the Religion and Ecology Early-Career Scholar reading group (REECS), which was launched on episode 17, featuring Russell Powell and Timothy Grieve-Carlson. For anyone interested in participating in that ongoing group, details can be found in the original episode here.
Thanks to everyone for participating in this podcast as guests or audience members so far. If you would like to watch this podcast instead of listening to audio only, you can find an archive of videos for episodes here.
This week’s episode of Spotlights is a remix of two previous episodes, featuring guests who work at the intersection of Buddhism and ecology. First, we hear from Dekila Chungyalpa, Director of the Loka Initiative at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She discusses her personal journey into the world of Buddhist environmentalism. Then we hear from Chris Ives, PhD, Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College. He discusses his teaching and research in Buddhist environmental ethics, specifically with a view to Zen Buddhism.
Links for their full episodes: Dekila Chungyalpa & Chris Ives.
More information on Buddhism and ecology can be found at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website.
This week’s episode of Spotlights is another short clip from our full episode with Dr. Todd LeVasseur, visiting assistant professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. We discuss the importance of integrating activism into academia in order to facilitate viable responses to the climate emergency. We reflect on this issue for academia in general and for the academic field and activist force of religion and ecology in particular.
You can listen to the full episode here.
This week’s episode of Spotlights is a clip from our full episode with Dr. Todd LeVasseur, visiting assistant professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Reflecting on his new book, Climate Change, Religion, and our Bodily Future, he discusses the profound importance of religious studies and academia getting climate change right.
You can listen to the full episode here.
This week’s episode features Dr. Todd LeVasseur, visiting assistant professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where he is also the director of the Sustainability Literacy Institute. We discuss his recently published book, Climate Change, Religion, and our Bodily Future (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), including topics related to posthumanism, queer ecologies, ecological animisms, indigenous knowledges, material feminisms, deep adaptation, and more. We also discuss “A (Tough) Love Letter to Religious Studies,” which he wrote for Religion Dispatches in February 2021.
You can find more information about religion and climate change at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website.
This week’s episode of Spotlights is another short clip from our episode featuring Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, PhD, Director of Inter-religious Studies and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia, Canada. In this clip, Rabbi Laura talks about the symbolic meaning of donkeys in the Bible as well as the question of animal agency or personhood, reflecting on her book, Mouth of the Donkey: Re-imagining Biblical Animals (Wipf & Stock, 2021).
Listen to the full episode here or watch it here.
This week’s episode of Spotlights is a short clip from our episode featuring Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, PhD, Director of Inter-religious Studies and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia, Canada. Reflecting on her book, Mouth of the Donkey: Re-imagining Biblical Animals (Wipf & Stock, 2021), she discusses questions of anthropocentrism, the ethical treatment of animals, and the order of creation.
Listen to the full episode here or watch it here.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, PhD, Director of Inter-religious Studies and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia, Canada. She discusses her professional and personal engagement in the intersection of religion and ecology, with particular attention to her newly released book, Mouth of the Donkey: Re-imagining Biblical Animals (Wipf & Stock, 2021). She provides a fresh, insightful, and accessible interpretation of humans, sheep, corvids, locusts, donkeys, and many more animals in the Hebrew Bible.
More information on Judaism and ecology can be found on the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website.
This week's episode is a remix of previous interviews with guests who have written books that explore religious perspectives on climate change. First, we hear from Andreas Karelas, executive director of RE-volv — a nonprofit organization that empowers communities to invest in solar energy — and author of Climate Courage: How Tackling Climate Change Can Build Community, Transform the Economy, and Bridge the Political Divide in America (Beacon Press, 2020). The next guest is David Haberman, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, and author of Understanding Climate Change Through Religious Lifeworlds (Indiana University Press, 2021). Third, we hear from Robin Globus Veldman, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Texas A&M University, and author of The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change (UC Press, 2019).
Links to each guest's full episode:
Andreas Karelas: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/6367405
David Haberman: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/8573558
Robin Veldman: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/8487135
More information on religion and climate change is available at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website.
This week's episode of Spotlights features clips from three scholars of Hinduism and ecology, each of whom has a recently published book on that topic. First, we hear from Vijaya Nagarajan, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and in the Program of Environmental Studies at the University of San Francisco. She talks about her book, Feeding a Thousand Souls: Women, Ritual and Ecology in India — An Exploration of the Kōlam (Oxford University Press, 2018). Second, we hear from David Haberman, PhD, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He discusses his latest book, Loving Stones: Making the Impossible Possible in the Worship of Mount Govardhan (Oxford University Press, 2020). Finally, we hear from Christopher Key Chapple, PhD, Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and founding Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He discusses his newest book, Living Landscapes: Meditations on the Elements in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Yogas (SUNY Press, 2020).
Links to full episodes for each guest can be found below:
Vijaya Nagarajan: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/7118623
David Haberman: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/8614509
Christopher Key Chapple: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/7970014
More resources are available on the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features clips from three of our previous episodes, with guests describing their work with environmental justice. First, we hear from Carl Anthony, co-founder and co-director (with Dr. Paloma Pavel) of Breakthrough Communities, an organization dedicated to building multiracial leadership for sustainable communities in California & the nation. He discusses his work with environmental justice, including some reflections on his book, The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race. Next, we hear from Paloma Pavel, PhD., President of Earth House Center and visiting faculty at the University of California, Davis. She discusses her path toward environmental justice. Finally, we hear from Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter, an assistant professor and the assistant chair of the Theology and Religious Studies department at the University of San Diego, in San Diego, California. He discusses his work with the field of religion and ecology, with particular attention to the ways in which ecological spaces impact black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC).
You can listen to the full interviews:
Carl Anthony: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/8175030
Paloma Pavel: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/8182744
Christopher Carter: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1269704/episodes/5824717
Critical theory and critical race theory are in the news a lot lately. In this episode of Spotlights, we feature clips from two of our previous episodes that address what these theories are, why they are important, and what they have to do with ideas and practices in the environmental humanities. First, we hear from Celina Osuna, PhD, Assistant Director of the Desert Humanities Initiative at Arizona State University's Institute for Humanities Research. She talks about critical theory, the power of language, and the challenges of avoiding gatekeeping and inaccessible jargon. Then we hear from Tyler Tully, doctoral candidate in religious studies at the University of Oxford. Tyler talks specifically about the importance of critical race theory for studies of religion and ecology.
For full episodes:
Celina Osuna's episode is available here.
Tyler Tully's episode is available here.
You can watch this episode here: https://youtu.be/gjk018AQ9Ac
This week's episode of Spotlights is about the theory and practice of environmental learning, featuring clips from three of our previous interviewees, Mitchell Thomashow, Jason Brown, and Kimberly Carfore. They present several ideas and practices for environmental learning, including some tips for how to bring ecological awareness into online education.
Details and links for each interviewee's episode:
1. Mitchell Thomashow, PhD, renowned educator and author of several books, including his most recent, To Know the World: A New Vision for Environmental Learning.
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Jason Brown, PhD, lecturer in the Humanities and the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.
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Kimberly Carfore, PhD, Adjunct Professor in the Environmental Studies program and Theology & Religious Studies department at the University of San Francisco.
This is the second part of a two-part interview with writer, artist, and scholar Celina Osuna, PhD. We get into more details about deserts, discussing some ideas, events, films, and books that define desert humanities. Celina also reflects on the role deserts play in the border politics between Mexico and the southwestern United States, the unsustainable water use in Arizona, and the importance of understanding deserts not as a homogeneous void but as complex life-sustaining places. You can listen to the first part of this interview here.
For more information:
Desert Humanities Initiative https://ihr.asu.edu/desert-humanities
Celina Osuna's contact info:
Twitter: @celina_osuna_
Email: Celina.Osuna [at] asu.edu
This week is the first part of a two-part interview with writer, artist, and scholar Celina Osuna, PhD. We talk about her perspective on desert humanities, including her writing and research as well as her work as Assistant Director of the Desert Humanities Initiative at Arizona State University's Institute for Humanities Research. We also discuss the meaning of critical theory and its role in the humanities. She brings in examples from philosophy, literature, art, and music to think with the human and more-than-human entanglements of desert places.
Contact information:
Twitter: @celina_osuna_
Email: Celina.Osuna [at] asu.edu
This week’s episode of Spotlights is the second part of a two-part interview with Susannah Crockford, PhD, author of Ripples of the Universe: Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona (University of Chicago Press, 2021), which explores intersections of religion, politics, race, class, and nature in Sedona, Arizona. We talk more about her book and its direct relevance to current events in United States politics, including the intersection of new age spirituality and conspiracy theories, as seen in people like Jake Angeli (QAnon Shaman).
You can watch this episode here.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Susannah Crockford, PhD, author of the exciting new book, Ripples of the Universe: Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona (University of Chicago Press, 2021), which explores intersections of religion, politics, race, class, and nature in Sedona, Arizona. Discussing the book, we touch on a wide range of topics, including new age cosmology, millenarianism, food, vortexes, aliens, conspiracy theories, the landscape and culture of Sedona, and much more. This is the first part of a two-part interview.
This week's episode of Spotlights is the second part of a two-part interview with David Haberman, PhD, Professor and former Chair in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Last week, we talked about his work with religion and climate change. This week, we discuss his research into the worship of stones, rivers, and trees in northern India, with particular attention to his book Loving Stones: Making the Impossible Possible in the Worship of Mount Govardhan (Oxford University Press, 2020).
This week's episode of Spotlights features David Haberman, PhD, Professor and former Chair in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. We discuss his wide-ranging work in the field of religion and ecology, with particular attention to his newly released anthology on religion and climate change, Understanding Climate Change Through Religious Lifeworlds (Indiana University Press, 2021). This is the first part of a two-part episode. In part two, we discuss his research into the worship of stones, rivers, and trees in northern India.
This week's episode of the Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast is the second part of a two-part interview with Robin Globus Veldman, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Texas A&M University, and an Associate Editor for the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture. She discusses more about her the research that went into her book on Evangelical Christian perspectives on climate change, The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change (UC Press, 2019).
This week's episode of the Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast features Robin Globus Veldman, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Texas A&M University, and an Associate Editor for the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture. She discusses her work at the intersection of religion, culture, and climate change, including the research that went into her book, The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change (UC Press, 2019). This is the first part of a two-part interview.
This week's episode of Spotlights is the second part of a two-part interview with Sandy Bigtree. She discusses more about her work with the Indigenous Values Initiative, and she talks about the ongoing impacts of the 1493 Doctrine of Discovery, which provided justification for Christian Europeans to explore and colonize places outside of Europe.
You can find more information about the Indigenous Values Initiative on their website:
More information about indigenous religions and ecology can be found here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Sandy Bigtree (Bear Clan), a citizen of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne. She discusses her work as a founding board member of the Indigenous Values Initiative, which fosters collaboration between the academic community and the Haudenosaunee to promote the message of peace that was brought to Onondaga Lake thousands of years ago. This is the first part of a two-part interview.
More information about indigenous religion and ecology can be found here.
This week's episode of Spotlights is the second part of a two-part interview with Dekila Chungyalpa, Director of the Loka Initiative at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She discusses how the Loka Initiative supports faith-led environmental and climate efforts locally and around the world by helping build capacity of faith leaders and culture keepers of indigenous traditions, and by creating new opportunities for projects, partnerships, and public outreach. She also talks about the meditations available on the Healthy Minds Program app.
This week's episode of Spotlights is the first part of a two-part interview with Dekila Chungyalpa, Director of the Loka Initiative at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She discusses the trajectory of her work with religion and ecology, including her experience founding and directing Sacred Earth, an acclaimed faith-based conservation program at the World Wildlife Fund from 2009 to 2014. She also discuss her contributions to Khoryug, a Tibetan Buddhist eco-monastic association in the Himalayas under the auspices of H.H. the 17th Karmapa.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Maria Jaoudi, PhD, artist, author, and Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies at California State University in Sacramento, California. She discusses her new book, Mindfulness as Sustainability: Lessons from the World’s Religions (SUNY Press, 2021). Drawing on specific teachings and stories from a variety of wisdom traditions, she talks about how mindfulness practice, applied both personally and politically, can help facilitate peaceful, just, and sustainable ways of being.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Paloma Pavel, Ph.D., President of Earth House Center and visiting faculty at the University of California, Davis, where she also serves on the Regional Advisory Council for the Center for Regional Change. She is also the co-founder of the Breakthrough Communities Project with Carl Anthony. She discusses some of the many ways that ecology, cosmology, spirituality, and social justice activism intersect throughout the storied trajectory of her life and work. Along with Carl Anthony, Paloma Pavel is the 2021 recipient of the Thomas Berry Award.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Carl Anthony, an architect, regional planner, and social and environmental justice activist. He discusses some of the many facets of his work, including a project of which he is the co-founder and co-director (with Dr. Paloma Pavel), Breakthrough Communities, dedicated to building multiracial leadership for sustainable communities in California & the nation. He also discusses his book, The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race, which is a memoir that integrates urban history, racial justice, and cosmology with personal experiences as an architect/planner, environmentalist, and Black American, connecting the struggles for social and racial justice to the universe story. Along with Paloma Pavel, Carl Anthony is the 2021 recipient of the Thomas Berry Award.
This week's episode of Spotlights features the artist, researcher, and writer Christina Conklin. She discusses the ways that her work integrates art, data, science, and spirituality, and she talks about her forthcoming book (co-authored with Marina Psaros), The Atlas of Disappearing Places: Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis, which will be released this summer.
More information on the climate emergency can be found at the website for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Sean Kelly, PhD, professor of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He discusses his new book, Becoming Gaia: On the Threshold of Planetary Initiation (Integral Imprint, 2021). He describes the interlocking emergencies of climate change, mass extinction, and planetary apartheid in terms of a collective near-death experience (NDE). We talk about the ecological, philosophical, and spiritual implications of this critical moment in human and Earth evolution.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Elizabeth Allison, PhD, Associate Professor of Ecology and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco. She talks about the graduate program she founded and chairs in Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion at CIIS, including a new online program that will launch this fall.
Dr. Allison also discusses the Religion & Ecology Summit series of annual conferences that she created in 2016. The 2021 Summit will be held virtually, March 15-19. Schedule and registration details are available HERE:
We also talk about a very special book she co-edited, After the Death of Nature: Carolyn Merchant and the Future of Human-Nature Relations (Routledge, 2018).
This episode features Christopher Key Chapple, PhD, Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and founding Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He shares his perspective as a scholar and practitioner of yoga, particularly with regard to the connections between yoga and ecology. He discusses his new book, which explores elemental meditations across different traditions of yoga, Living Landscapes: Meditations on the Elements in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Yogas (SUNY Press, 2020).
You can watch this episode here.
You can find more information about Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain perspectives on ecology at the Forum website.
This week, the Forum podcast welcomes back Kimberly Carfore, PhD. She discusses some of the strategies and practices she has used for teaching nature immersion classes online during the pandemic, including nature awareness practices, meditations, and reskilling. Although teaching nature immersion online sounds like a contradiction in terms, she discusses some of the unique opportunities it affords as well.
You can learn more about her work through her organization, Ecozoa.
You can watch this episode here.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Jason Brown, PhD., lecturer in the Humanities and the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. He talks about his research and teaching with trees and forests at the intersection of religion, anthropology, and ecology, including some strategies for teaching online. He also discusses his engagement with photography as an ecological and contemplative practice.
You can learn more about his work here: Holyscapes.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Timothy Harvie, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Ethics and Program Coordinator of Social Justice and Catholic Studies at St. Mary’s University in Calgary, Alberta. He talks about his work with eco-theology, animals, evolution, and philosophical foundations for the study of religion and ecology. He also discusses some of his writing projects, including the anthology of personal and theological reflections on animals, Encountering Earth: Thinking Theologically with a More-Than-Human World (Wipf & Stock, 2018), which he edited with Trevor Bechtel and Matt Eaton.
This episode of Spotlights features Susan Bratton, PhD, a Professor at Baylor University in the Department of Environmental Science. She talks about her work at the intersection of religion and environmental ethics, particularly in light of her exciting new book, Religion and the Environment: An Introduction, which provides a thorough and thoughtful introduction to the field. This new introductory text covers the religion-environment interface in pre- and post-industrial religious contexts, religious response to the impacts of contemporary industrialization, globalization, and urbanization, and examples of religious thought, leadership, policy formation, and grassroots activism relative to the environment.
You can find more information about Dr. Bratton's work here:.
More information about the book can be found through the publisher, Routledge.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Elizabeth McAnally, PhD, the newsletter editor and website manager for the Forum on Religion and Ecology. She discusses her work for the Forum and gives an overview of her book, Loving Water Across Religions: Contributions to an Integral Water Ethic(Orbis Books, 2018). We also discuss her ecologically oriented practices of yoga and Chinese internal arts (e.g., taiji and qigong). You can learn more here: https://integraltaiji.wordpress.com
For an archive of the Forum newsletter, go here: https://fore.yale.edu/Publications/Forum-Newsletters
This week's episode of Spotlights features Russell Powell, PhD, and Timothy Grieve-Carlson. Russell is a visiting professor of Environmental Theology and Ethics at Boston College, and Timothy is a doctoral candidate in Rice University's Department of Religion. They invite early-career scholars to participate in a newly emerging reading group, the Religion and Ecology Early-Career Scholars (REECS) Reading Group, which will host regular meetings (virtually) for scholars to share their work with one another.
If you're interested in participating in this reading group, you can email Timothy (trg4 [at] rice.edu) or Russell (powellru [at] bc.edu) for more information.
We will also have more information for you about this reading group in upcoming editions of the Forum on Religion and Ecology newsletter.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Vijaya Nagarajan, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and in the Program of Environmental Studies at the University of San Francisco. She talks about her teaching, research, and activism at the intersection of Hinduism and ecology, with particular attention to her book, Feeding A Thousand Souls: Women, Ritual and Ecology in India—An Exploration of the Kōlam (Oxford University Press, 2018). You can learn more about her book HERE.
More information about Hinduism and ecology can be found on the Forum website.
You can watch this episode HERE.
This week’s episode of the Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast features Tyler M. Tully, a doctoral candidate in religious studies and the Arthur Peacocke Graduate Scholar in Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He talks about his work at the intersection of Indigenous religion, critical race theory, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), secularism, and (post)humanism. He also discusses his dissertation, "Critical Materialisms: Power, Place, and Personhood in White and Black 'Red' Spaces."
Learn more about Tyler's work HERE.
You can find more information about Indigenous traditions on the Forum website.
You can watch a video of this episode HERE.
This episode of Spotlights features Dr. Sarah Pike, professor in the Comparative Religion & Humanities Department at California State University, Chico. She discusses her ethnographic and historical research at the intersection of religion and ecology, particularly with New Age and Neopagan communities. She also talks about her most recent book, For the Wild: Ritual and Commitment in Radical Eco-Activism(University of California Press, 2017). Since this is our winter solstice episode, she also provides some reflections on this seasonal event. You can find more information about her work here.
You can watch this episode here.
This week's episode of the FORE podcast features Jacob Erickson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics in the School of Religion at Trinity College Dublin. He introduces some of his work with theopoetics and queer ecology, and he shares some reflections on this year's virtual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, talking about some ways that nature, cosmology, ecology, bodies, and affect showed up in various panels and in the virtual media ecosystem of the conference itself. You can learn more about his work here. To watch a video of this episode, go here.
In this week's episode, Sam Mickey talks with Kimberly Carfore, PhD, who is an environmental studies professor at the University of San Francisco and a steering committee member for the Religion and Ecology unit of the American Academy of Religion. They reflect on the first week of this year's virtual meeting of the AAR, focusing specifically on ecologically oriented panels, including panels on animals and race, nature mysticism, eco-theology, Buddhism and animals, the work of the Buddhist activist Joanna Macy, Muslim environmentalisms, and case studies in religion and ecology. You can watch this episode HERE.
This week's episode of Spotlights is all about the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), which is taking place virtually this year, from November 30 to December 10. Our host (Sam Mickey) discusses the importance of the AAR for scholars of theology and religion, with specific attention to the AAR groups that focus on issues related to ecology, including the Religion and Ecology group as well as groups on Animals and Religion, Religion and Food, and Space, Place, and Religion.
Spotlights will return with reports on the event in our next couple of episodes.
A searchable version of the Program Book for this year's meeting can be found HERE.
Go HERE for a list of the main panels on religion and ecology this year.
You can watch the video of this episode HERE.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Whitney Bauman, PhD, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University, and co-founder and co-director of the nonprofit research center, Counterpoint: Navigating Knowledge.
Whitney discusses the personal and professional influences that shape his engagement with religion and ecology, and he talks about some ideas from his recent work, like uncertainty, wicked problems, Critical Planetary Romanticism (CPR), and the interruption of the chronological order of time during the pandemic.
Check out this recent essay from Whitney, "Sourdough Time and the Time of Protest: Reflections on the Pace of Planetary Becoming"
This week’s episode features Andreas Karelas, executive director of RE-volv — a nonprofit organization that empowers communities to invest in solar energy — and author of the new book, Climate Courage: How Tackling Climate Change Can Build Community, Transform the Economy, and Bridge the Political Divide in America (Beacon Press, 2020). Andreas discusses community-oriented solutions to climate change, including the role of wisdom traditions, faith communities, and virtues of courage, simplicity, and gratitude.
You can find more information about RE-volve here: https://re-volv.org/
Details about the book Climate Courage can be found here: https://climatecourage.us
This episode of Spotlights features Chris Ives, professor of religious studies at Stonehill College. He discusses his work with Zen Buddhism, ethics, and ecology, including teaching and writing as well as practice and activism. His latest book, Zen on the Trail, draws on his personal experiences with hiking and backpacking to describe the meditative power of walking and pilgrimage. You can find more information here: https://zenonthetrail.com
This week's episode features Mitchell Thomashow, renowned educator and author, with a brand new book coming out this week, To Know the World: A New Vision for Environmental Learning. The discussion covers some of the main themes and topics of the book, including the Anthropocene, memory, improvisation, and cosmopolitan bioregionalism. You can find more information about the new book and other aspects of his work on his website: https://www.mitchellthomashow.com
This week's episode of Spotlights features the chief administrator for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, Tara Trapani. She talks about her work with the Forum, including some exciting, new projects happening there, especially the freshly redesigned website. She leads us through the website, navigating the abundance and diversity of news, events, bibliographies, multimedia resources, and so much more. You can check out the new website for yourself: https://fore.yale.edu
You can also watch this episode HERE:
In this episode of Spotlights, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim talk with the host (Sam Mickey) about the new encyclical from Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti. They provide historical, religious, and ecological context for understanding what this encyclical means and how it is relevant for efforts to create a more loving, just, and open world.
You can read the encyclical here: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html
This episode features Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter, an assistant professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, in San Diego, California. He is also the co-creator of Racial Resilience, an anti-racism and anti-bias training program that utilizes the combined insights of contemplative practices and critical race theories. You can learn more about his work through the links below:
www.drchristophercarter.com
www.racialresilience.com
In this week's episode, I talk with Evan Berry about his teaching, research, and writing on topics of religion and ecology, climate change, and environmental humanities.
This episode of Spotlights features Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Regents Professor of History, Irving and Miriam Lowe Professor of Modern Judaism, and Director of Jewish Studies at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. She discusses the ways that Judaism and ecology intersect in her work.
This is the inaugural episode of Spotlights, a podcast from the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. This episode features the co-founders of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. Welcoming us into autumn, they discuss new partnerships and exciting developments at the Forum, including this new podcast. They also discuss some current news about religion and ecology, such as the upcoming encyclical from Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti.