Forum on Religion and Ecology: Spotlights

 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 po...

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...

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 treat...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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 Ari...

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&...

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 o...

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...

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 polit...

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, v...

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 atte...

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 U...

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 pe...

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,...

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 Indige...

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 par...

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 creat...

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....

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...

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,...

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 & th...

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...