Liz Burkemper
Liz Burkemper on Multispecies Attention, Sacred Ecology, and the Extraordinary Ordinary
Liz Burkemper
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
2025
“It’s not about solving everything. It’s about showing up with sacred attention.”
In this episode of Reflections on Religion and Ecology: Yale Alumni Speak from the Field, Liz Burkemper joins host Tali Anisfeld to explore the everyday poetics of ecology, spiritual depth, and what it means to live awake to the world. A 2022 graduate of Yale Divinity School with a concentration in Religion and Ecology, Liz now serves as Program Coordinator for the Life Worth Living Program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture.
From her rural roots in Missouri to the halls of Yale, Liz shares a tender, thoughtful journey through peace studies, Thich Nhat Hanh, multispecies consciousness, and the practice of cultivating beauty as a form of resistance.
In this episode, we explore:
– How spiritual longing led her from Peace Studies to Religion & Ecology
– Why multispecies attention is a sacred act
– The influence of Thomas Merton and the contemplative imagination
– Why noticing the extraordinary in the ordinary helps us survive despair
Liz Burkemper on Peace Studies and the Spiritual Turn Toward Ecology
Liz Burkemper
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
2025
“What started as a search for justice became a longing for spiritual clarity.”
Liz Burkemper shares how her early work in Peace Studies opened a door to deeper questions about meaning, belonging, and spiritual ecology. This moment marks her journey toward the Religion and Ecology program at Yale—and the sacred questions that keep calling her forward.
Liz Burkemper on Multispecies Attention and Trees Being Themselves
Liz Burkemper
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
2025
“Part of the sacred is letting trees be themselves.”
Liz Burkemper reflects on her work with the International Thomas Merton Society and her workshop, “Attending to Multispecies Worlds.” She explores how slowing down and observing the more-than-human world can be a sacred, ethical, and deeply human act of kinship.
Liz Burkemper on Noticing the Extraordinary in the Everyday
Liz Burkemper
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
2025
“Attending to beauty is not a distraction—it’s a form of resistance.”
Liz Burkemper speaks to the power of noticing what’s beautiful, alive, and surprising in everyday life. In the face of climate grief and despair, this spiritual attention becomes a quiet but radical act of love.