Here you'll find all of the videos in the first season (2020-2021) of our weekly video/podcast series, FORE Spotlights. You'll find Season 2, here.
You can also view all of the videos on our YouTube channel.
Or go here to listen to these episodes as audio podcasts.
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. Information for their full episodes is below. Dekila Chungyalpa: https://youtu.be/oUDAiy9cZWs Chris Ives: https://youtu.be/L6VhwaVONUk.
Posted 09/20/2021
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. 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 learn more about his work here: https://toddlevasseur.wordpress.com You can watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/LAn0KBt2mH4.
Posted 09/13/2021.
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 learn more about his work here: You can watch the full episode here. Posted 09/06/2021.
This week’s episode of Spotlights 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 learn more about his work here. You can learn more about the book at the publisher’s website. You can find his Religion Dispatches piece here. Posted 08/30/2021.
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. 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). Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/OCY5Tl7_EBE. You can learn more about her work here: https://vst.edu/people/laura-duhan-ka… You can find more information about the book on the publisher’s website: https://wipfandstock.com/978172525905… This episode was posted 08/23/2021.
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. Watch the full episode here. You can learn more about her work here. You can find more information about the book on the publisher’s website. This episode was posted 08/16/2021.
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. You can learn more about her work here. You can find more information about the book on the publisher’s website. Posted 08/09/2021.
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://youtu.be/I0e-xIzWKW0
David Haberman: https://youtu.be/xnonKkOL6go
Robin Veldman: https://youtu.be/0FDglcseT5Y
More information on religion and climate change is available at the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website: https://fore.yale.edu/Climate-Emergency
Posted 08/02/2021
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 here: Vijaya Nagarajan, David Haberman, Christopher Key Chapple.
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 watch the full interviews:
Carl Anthony, Paloma Pavel, Christopher Carter
Posted 7/19/2021
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 Celina Osuna's episode. For Tyler Tully's episode:
To listen to this episode (audio-only), go here.
Posted 7/12/2021
This week's episode 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. 2. Jason Brown, PhD, lecturer in the Humanities and the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. 3. Kimberly Carfore, PhD, Adjunct Professor in the Environmental Studies program and Theology & Religious Studies department at the University of San Francisco
Posted 7/5/2021
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. For more information: Desert Humanities Initiative. Celina Osuna's website. Posted 6/28/2021.
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. For more information: Desert Humanities Initiative . Celina Osuna's website. Posted 6/21/2021.
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). This podcast is also available to listen to (audio-only) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or other podcatchers. Details and links are available here. Posted 06/14/2021.
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. Posted 06/07/2021.
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 recent book, Loving Stones: Making the Impossible Possible in the Worship of Mount Govardhan (Oxford University Press, 2020). You can find more information about his work here. More information about the book can be found on the publisher's website.
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. You can find more information about his work here: https://religiousstudies.indiana.edu/…More information about the book is available on the publisher's website: https://iupress.org/9780253056047/und….
Posted 05/24/2021.
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 book on Evangelical Christian perspectives on climate change, The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change (UC Press, 2019). You can find more information about her work here: https://robingveldman.wixsite.com/mysite More information about her book is available on the publisher's website: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/97805203… This episode was posted 05/17/2021.
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. You can find more information about her work here: https://robingveldman.wixsite.com/mysite More information about her book is available on the publisher's website: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/97805203… This episode was posted 05/10/2021.
This week's episode of Spotlights is the second part of a two-part interview with Sandy Bigtree (Indigenous Values Initiative). 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 episode was posted 05/03/2021.
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. You can find more information about the Indigenous Values Initiative on their website: https://indigenousvalues.org/.
This episode was posted on 04/26/2021.
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 some of the ways that 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. You can find more information about the Loka Initiative by navigating here.You can find details about the Healthy Minds Program app here. Posted 04/19/2021.
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. More information about Sacred Earth can be found here. You can learn more about Khoryug here.
Posted 04/12/2021
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. More information about her art, writing, and teaching can be found here. Posted 4/5/2021.
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. Posted 3/29/2021.
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. Posted 03/22/2021.
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. For more about her work, go here. More information on the climate emergency can be found at the website for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. Posted 03/15/2021.
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. Posted 3/8/2021.
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. Go here for details. 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). More details are available on the publisher’s website. Posted 03/01/2021.
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). More information about the book can be found 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. Posted 2/15/2021.
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 Jason Brown's work here. Posted 2/8/2021.
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 research in eco-theology, animals, evolution, and the philosophical foundations for the study of religion and ecology. He also discusses some of his writing projects, including an anthology that integrates 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. You can learn more about his work here. You can find details about Encountering Earth here. Posted 2/1/2021.
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. For more information about the book, go here. Posted 1/25/2021.
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). You can find more information about the book here. We also discuss her ecologically oriented practices of yoga and Chinese internal arts (e.g., taiji and qigong). You can learn more here. Posted 01/18/2021.
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 new reading group in upcoming editions of the Forum on Religion and Ecology newsletter. Posted 1/11/2021.
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: https://feedingathousandsouls.com/.
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. This episode was posted on 12/28/2020.
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. Posted 12/21/2020.
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. Posted 12/14/2020
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. Posted 12/7/2020.
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. Go here for a list of the main panels on religion and ecology this year. A searchable version of the Program Book for this year's meeting can be found here. Posted 11/30/2020.
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 coronavirus pandemic. Check out this recent essay from Whitney, “Sourdough Time and the Time of Protest: Reflections on the Pace of Planetary Becoming.” Posted 11/23/2020.
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. Posted 11/16/2020.
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, interdisciplinary thinking, improvisation, adaptive and perennial learning, 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. Posted 11/02/2020.
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. Posted 10/26/2020.
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. Posted 10/19/2020.
This week’s episode of Spotlights features 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 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. His work focuses particularly on the ways in which ecological spaces impact black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC)—a topic particularly relevant this week, following the second Monday in October, which is celebrated across the United States as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. You can find more information about his work through the following links: http://www.drchristophercarter.com/
https://www.racialresilience.com/
Posted 10/12/2020
This week's episode features Evan Berry, an assistant professor of environmental humanities in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Sam and Evan discuss a variety of topics related to the field of religion and ecology, including the role of religion in the environmental humanities, religious responses to climate change, and the place of religion in the public sphere. Posted 10/5/2020.
You can also listen to an audio podcast of this episode here.
Scholar Hava Tirosh Samuelson, of Arizona State University, speaks about her work and the intersection of Judaism and ecology in our second episode of FORE Spotlights. This episode was posted 09/28/2020.
You can also listen to an audio podcast of this episode here.
In the inaugural video of our new Spotlights series, founders and directors, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, speak about recent developments in the field of religion and ecology, recent developments on the global stage, and all of the Forum's new projects, with a focus on the Forum Advisory Group–a collaborative project composed of 72 of the top scholars in their fields. This podcast was posted on 9/21/2020.
