Earthkeepers: A Circlewood Podcast on Creation Care and Spirituality

Send us a voice note In this episode Forrest talks with John Wayne Seitzler and Nick Rubesh, leaders of the Wilderness Ministry at Bethany Community Church in Seattle. The Wilderness Ministry fosters experiences in nature that transform hearts and minds--and that help people to grow in their understanding of God and of the whole community of creation. Recently, in partnership with Circlewood, they...

Send us a voice note In this episode Forrest talks with Jerry Cappel and Collin Cornell from the Center for Deep Green Faith. Their work is grounded in the belief that the global problems of environmental degradation, climate change, violence, and injustice, are rooted in a crisis of spirit and of faith. The Center for Deep Green Faith then aims to help individuals and communities to  cultivate a...

Send us a voice note In this episode Forrest talks with David Pott and Daniel Rutland, two friends from Durham in the UK. Both share wisdom  from experiences of pilgrimage—which we define as the practice of purposeful walking guided by a particular goal or sacred destination. They explain how pilgrimage can help us to more deeply understand and love the earth— to open ourselves to a sense of God’s...

Send us a voice note In keeping with a focus on the environmental, political, and economic struggles of the Haitian people, Forrest talks with Ryan Robinson and David Sanon of Konbit Haiti. Konbit Haiti was founded jointly by a group of Americans and Haitians; they continue to work together to support family health, local business development, and environmentally sustainable practices to meet need...

Send us a voice note At the time of recording, the country of Haiti is in the midst of a socioeconomic and political crisis.  In this episode, Forrest talks with Ron and Carla Bluntschli, Americans who have lived and served in Haiti for nearly four decades. They share their views on the roots of the unfolding humanitarian crisis, and also offer insights about environmental issues that are only bec...

Send us a voice note In this episode, Forrest talks with Wesley Willison about his experiences at the Farminary—which, according to Princeton Seminary, is “a place where theological education is integrated with small-scale regenerative agriculture to train faith leaders”—leaders who care about ecology, sustainability, and food justice. Wesley is that kind of leader, and we’ll be discussing how his...

Send us a voice note In this episode, Forrest talks with Scott Sabin, Executive Director of the organization Plant with Purpose — an international faith-based organization that empowers the poor in rural areas around the world where poverty is connected to deforestation. Importantly, their approach to community development includes not just the planting of food-producing trees on farms, but also t...

Send us a voice note In this episode Forrest talks with Dr. Edward Olara, a farmer and educator in Uganda. Edward was once Forrest’s student in the community development program at Northwest University. As friends, they’ve worked together in Uganda to encourage and empower development professionals. Among other things, Edward spends his days teaching about sustainable agriculture, community develo...

Send us a voice note In this episode, we launch season four of the Earthkeepers podcast. The last three years have been an amazing time of growth for us, both in terms of expansion of the Earthkeepers community around the world, and also in terms of establishing the ethos and vision of the podcast as a whole. Forrest and James  share a bit about lessons learned in season three, and we look ahead t...

Send us a voice note In this episode Forrest talks with Dr. Randy Woodley who, with his wife Edith, leads Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice. They’ll be talking about that work, and about Randy’s recent book, Indigenous Theology and the Western World View: A Decolonized Approach to Christian Doctrine .  Randy challenges mainstream Western churches to embrace and be changed by diverse persp...

Send us a voice note As we move towards solstice, and look ahead to holy days and seasonal celebrations, do you find yourself feeling disconnected sometimes from the usual songs and ceremonies? What about your personal spiritual practices? The truth is, there are times when our meditations, prayers, and even journaling feel a bit worn out, and at times we find ourselves just going through the moti...

Send us a voice note Listeners to this podcast care a lot about caring for creation, and about working against the unfolding climate crisis. However, as worthy as those aspirations might be, many of us don’t have a clear sense of how our distinctive abilities and passions translate to climate action. And when we don’t have a sense of our unique role to play in solving climate issues, it makes it t...

Send us a voice note In this episode Forrest and James talk to Norman Wirzba, professor and author of a book called Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land. In this book, Dr. Wirzba makes the case for a kind of spirituality that is grounded in deep awareness of creation. Among other things, this sort of humble, earthy spirituality that he encourages us to practice stands agains...

Send us a voice note In this episode, Forrest cohosts with Victoria Loorz, author of the book Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred . Together they’ll be in conversation with Nina Simons, cofounder of Bioneers—an organization that amplifies the voices of innovators who are coming up with practical and visionary solutions for the world’s most pressing environmental and social ch...

Send us a voice note In this episode Forrest talks with Jessica Zimmerle, Advocacy Director at Earth Ministry. Earth Ministry, part of the Interfaith Power & Light network in the US, aims to inspire and mobilize people of faith from diverse traditions, to advocate for strong environmental policies, and offer guidance to faith communities working toward environmental justice. Importantly, they...

Send us a voice note In this episode, Forrest talks with Dave Montgomery and Anne Biklé about their new book,  What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health. The authors aim to raise our awareness of the community of life in the soil beneath our feet—or more importantly, the soil on the farms that grow our food. They make a compelling case for changing the ways that food is grown...

Send us a voice note Carbon Costs: Understanding Offsetting with Brittany Michalski of Carbon Stewards  In this episode, Forrest talks with Brittany Michalski of Climate Stewards, USA. The aim of Climate Stewards is to make the world a healthier, fairer place for all creation. They do this by helping individuals and communities to become more aware of the planet-warming carbon emissions that they...

Send us a voice note In this episode I’ll be talking to Peter Fargo, co-founder of the Climate Vigil movement, and Isaac Wardell, co-founder of the Porter’s Gate arts collective.  We’ll discuss the collaborative project created by these two organizations--a new Christian worship album called Climate Vigil Songs. This album (which we’ll sample in this conversation) invites us to respond to climate...

Send us a voice note In this episode, Forrest sits down with Timothy Beal  to talk about his new book, When Time is Short: Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene. His work is unlike most books in the realm of environmental issues or earthcare, because it challenges readers to truly engage the possibility that irreversible  climate damage to the planet is already upon us, and only going to get worse—a...

Send us a voice note In this episode, Forrest talks with Zach Stein, co-founder of Carbon Collective. Carbon Collective is the first online investment advisor that is 100% focused on combatting climate change. They help individuals and organizations to invest in diversified, low-fee, climate-focused portfolios. By helping investors to know which companies are truly operating in ways that are in ke...

Send us a voice note In this episode we talk to Joel Pontius, Associate Professor of Sustainability and Environmental Education at Goshen College. Joel shares with us how place-based formational experiences—especially encounters with the natural world—help people to become more attuned to their contexts, and more aware of their unique role in caring for creation. He explains how this approach impa...

Send us a voice note In this episode we talk with Abigail Fehrsen and Liesl Stewart—two women in South Africa who gathered together a small community of people in order to purchase food in bulk, directly from local farmers. From that initial small, alternative food network, the Food Club movement was born—and now there are many such groups throughout the country—communities of people seeking a mor...

Send us a voice note In this episode we talk with Tanya Machabeli, Director of the Nehemiah Project in Ukraine. Tanya is one of the courageous Ukrainians helping to provide shelter, food, and medical care to those who have been displaced by Russian aggression. Speaking to us from her war-torn country, she explains that some of the most profound costs of the war in Ukraine have to do with damage to...

Send us a voice note In this special encore of a recent webcast, we’ll be in conversation with Brian McLaren about his book called Do I Stay Christian: A guide for the doubters, the disappointed, and the disillusioned . I’ll be cohosting with Victoria Loorz of the Wild Church Network, and Kate Davis from the Center for Transforming Engagement at The Seattle School. Together we’ll pay particular at...

Send us a voice note In this episode we talk to Dominic Frongillo, a young climate advocate, politician, and teacher from New York State. Dominic was the youngest person ever elected to serve on the City Council in Caroline, New York, and one of the youngest deputy mayors in the U.S. He is also the cofounder and executive director of Elected Officials to Protect America—an organization whose missi...