Earthkeepers: A Circlewood Podcast on Creation Care and Spirituality

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In this episode we’ll be talking to Randy Borman, a respected leader among the Cofán  indigenous people of Ecuador. Randy was born at the headwaters of the Amazon; he grew up among the Cofán  people, speaking their language and living life in the forest as any young Cofán does. However, he also learned American culture from his missionary parents, and later pursued a Western university education before returning to his home and his people in Ecuador. Today, Randy is a respected leader among the Cofán, and is also well-known internationally among global environmental advocates. In our conversation we talk about indigenous worldviews, the unseen world, protecting the rain forest as a defense against climate change, and the need for a global cooperative approach to earthkeeping.

Notes:

Guest: Randy Borman - Head of Fundación Sobrevivencia Cofan

Cofan Survival Fund webpage

Randy Borman bio

Washington Post interview

Cofan Facebook page

Cofan people - Wikipedia page

Cofan and ecotourism program

If you would like to support the work of Cofán earthkeepers in Ecuador, you’ll find a link to the Cofán Survival Fund in this episode’s notes section. And please note that Randy’s dream of a coop approach to carbon offsetting is still just an idea. If you or someone you know would be interested in further conversation about putting such a plan into action, we would love to be in conversation with you. Please send an email with your ideas and questions to [email protected].

Key words:

Amazon rainforest, Ecuador, indigenous, Cofan, carbon offsetting, carbon coop, forest management, carbon sequestration, river turtle, environmental exploitation, Cofán

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Forrest Inslee and  James Amadon talk with Victoria Loorz, founder of the Wild Church Network and author of a forthcoming book called Church of the Wild. The Wild Church Network is a broad association of religious communities that practice faith life in ways that foster connectedness to all of creation. A key practice of a wild church is holding some or all of their community gatherings in the outdoors, encouraging and guiding people to sense God’s presence in the natural world. You might recall from a previous episode with Lenore Three Stars, that an essentially indigenous value is seeking to be a “good relative” among all the myriad beings that make up the family of creation. In a similar way, Wild Churches seek to cultivate this dynamic of relationship that they call “KIN-dom”.

Keywords: Wilderness, revelation in creation, spirituality, reimagined church, multi-faith, religion, millennials, "Dones"

Guest: Victoria Loorz: Leader of a Bellingham Wild Church and founder of Wild Church Network

• Echoes Church - Bellingham, WA
• Wild Church Network 
• Seminary of the Wild

Definition of numinous 

St John of the Cross' poem Dark Night of the Soul

Kids Vs Global Warming - nonprofit Victoria started with her son

Thomas Merton - mystic, monk, author -  Thomas Merton Center and Wikipedia

Terra divina--example

Definition of Fr. Richard Rohr: Centering Prayer

Quote: "All great truths the opposite is also true" in Niels Bohrs' writings

Quote: "The universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects." Thomas Berry “Petrochemical Age” in Evening Thoughts p. 96

Quote: "We don't protect what we don't love..." Richard Louv, The Nature Principle p. 104

Biography of activist Julia Butterfly Hill

Prof. Ryan Bolger,  Fuller Seminary

Fr. Richard Rohr -  Center for Action and Contemplation

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In this episode we talk with Christi Renaud, Director of Marketing and Development for an organization called Plant with Purpose. Plant with Purpose works with impoverished communities around the world, helping people to build strong local economies by encouraging good agriculture and financial management practices. What sets Plant with Purpose apart from many other international development agencies though is their emphasis on ecology and environmental health. In essence, they help farmers to become better earthkeepers. Importantly though, Plant with Purpose doesn’t teach earthkeeping in a way that dismisses or dishonors what farmers already know. Instead, they work alongside them, offering ideas and resources, but also asking questions that respect local knowledge. Join us as we discuss the importance of local knowledge in community development, the connections between environmental justice and social justice, and creation care’s rootedness in yearning for God.

Notes:

Christi Huizenga-Renaud -Director of Marketing and Development at Plant with Purpose
https://plantwithpurpose.org/our_team/christi-renaud/

Plant with Purpose
https://plantwithpurpose.org/about-plant-with-purpose/

NAACP
https://www.naacp.org

Democratic Republic of Congo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

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Lenore Three Stars is a member of the board for Circlewood—the larger creation care community to which the Earthkeepers belongs. In many ways, Lenore has had a shaping influence on the priorities and values of this podcast. In particular, as a member of the Lakota people, she has helped us to understand and embrace elements of an indigenous world view. In this episode we discuss a kinship model of creation care, as a corrective to a dominant Western worldview that views people as separate from, and dominant over, creation.

Notes:

Lenore Three Stars
https://www.circlewood.online/people

North American Institute of Indigenous Theological Studies
https://www.naiits.com/

Richard Twiss. One Church, ManyTribes
https://bookshop.org/books/one-church-many-tribes/9780800797256

Wendell Berry: "There are no unsacred places, only sacred and desecrated places."Given https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/146152.Given

 Standing Rock Water Protectors
https://psmag.com/magazine/standing-rock-still-rising
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Access_Pipeline_protests

Albert White Hat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_White_Hat

Dr. Randy Woodley. Shalom and the Community of Creation https://bookshop.org/books/shalom-and-the-community-of-creation-an-indigenous-vision/9780802866783

Key words: Native American, First Nations, creation care, ecology, environment, Lakota, environmental justice, kinship, dualism, indigenous world view, Richard Twiss, Randy Woodley, Standing Rock

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In this episode we’ll be speaking with Leah Kostamo. Leah and her husband Markku co-founded A Rocha Canada, and today she provides leadership and spiritual direction at A Rocha’s Brooksdale Environmental Center in the greater Vancouver, BC area. We’ll be talking about her work, and also about a book that she wrote, called Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling, and Community. Leah explains the work of A Rocha worldwide, an organization that is in great part focused on education—on helping people to understand the spirituality of creation care, but also the science of it—and importantly, on the interconnectedness of both realms. We also touch on themes of hospitality, children and nature, spiritual practices, eco-justice and our “ecological footprint”, and environmental science.

Guest: Leah Kostamo https://arocha.ca/who-we-are-a-rocha-canada/team/

Book: Planted: A story of creation, calling and community
https://arocha.ca/who-we-are-a-rocha-canada/our-story/

A Rocha, Canada
https://arocha.ca/

Peter & Miranda Harris, founders of A Rocha
https://www.arocha.org/en/people/?filters[position]=founder

Professors Loren & Mary Ruth Wilkinson, Regent College https://www.regent-college.edu/faculty/retired/loren-wilkinson
https://www.regent-college.edu/faculty/part-time-and-visiting/mary-ruth-wilkinson

 Dr. Frank Richardson, ornithologist, and Dorothy (Frank’s obituary)
https://academic.oup.com/auk/article-abstract/103/4/812/5191568?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder,1965.
https://books.google.com/books 

Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods
http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/

Eva Selhub, Your Brain on Nature
http://www.yourbrainonnature.com/

Dr. Steven Bouma-Prediger
https://hope.edu/directory/people/bouma-prediger-steven/index.html

Hebrew Passover prayer: Dayenu
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/dayenu-it-would-have-been-enough/

Ecological footprint calculator
http://www.footprintcalculator.org

Semiahmoo People
https://www.surreyhistory.ca/semipeople.html

Dr. Cheryl Bear
https://cherylbear.com/

Dr. Terry LeBlanc
https://naiits.com/faculty/

Ronald Wright, A Short History of Progress
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Wright

Joanna Macy, on active hope
https://www.joannamacy.net/main

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In this episode we talk to Matt Ryan, and urban farmer in Chicago whose makes it his mission to educate the community about the social and environmental justice dynamics of growing food. The conversation includes crucial topics such as the intimacy of a farmer’s relationship to the land; the sustainability of small-scale farming; urban and backyard farming; the global food supply chain; and winter gardening.

Our Guest:
Matt Ryan bio
https://www.thetalkingfarm.org/company/team/matt-ryan/

The Talking Farm
https://www.thetalkingfarm.org/

The Talking Farm's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/ttfarm/

Mentions:
Wendell Berry. Bringing it to the table: Writings on farming and food

market gardens/farms
https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/market-garden/
http://www.themarketgardener.com/
https://www.growingformarket.com/categories/MarketFarmingBasics

regenerative agriculture
http://www.regenerativeagriculturedefinition.com/
https://agfundernews.com/regenerative-agriculture-is-getting-more-mainstream-but-how-scalable-is-it.html

California's 10-year drought: https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-latest-drought/

 Actions:
“look at the source of the food, pay right price for a food item, even just 10% of your total food purchases spent this way helps” 

CSA (community supported agriculture)
https://bountyfromthebox.com/csa-directory/find-a-csa-farm/
https://www.localharvest.org/csa/

humanely raised animals (example organizations)
https://forceofnaturemeats.com/
https://joyce-farms.com/

independent rating system for ethically-raised animals
https://globalanimalpartnership.org/

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In this episode, contemplative author and gardener Christine Aroney-Sine offers a perspective from the Global South, and from an Australian point of view in particular. Drawing from her books The Gift of Wonder and To Garden with God, as well as from her blog Godspacelight, she shares her thoughts about the connection between gardening and community, and explains lectio tierra--the practice of sensing the presence of God in nature. We speak as well about the ways in which all of these things found expression in ancient Celtic traditions--an historical European indigenous worldview that is finding new relevance today among people who care about community development and creation care.

Notes

Guest: Christine Aroney-Sine: https://godspacelight.com/about/

Website: https://godspacelight.com/

Book: The Gift of Wonder: https://godspacelight.com/the-gift-of-wonder/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/To-Garden-With-God-177821975582936/

Book: To Garden with God: https://godspacelight.com/shop/to-garden-with-god/

Book: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring: https://www.rachelcarson.org/SilentSpring.aspx

Wendell Berry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry; http://www.wendellberrybooks.com/

Norman Wirzba: https://normanwirzba.com/

Australian wildfires: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/3/21048891/australia-wildfires-koalas-climate-change-bushfires-deaths-animals-damage

Carbon offsets: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/sep/16/carbon-offset-projects-carbon-emissions or https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/carbon-offset.htm

Garden blessing: https://godspacelight.com/2010/09/27/garden-blessing-for-earth-day/

Quote: "The fastest pace for noticing is a walk." ― Wendell Berry, Our Only World: Ten Essays

Our Only World: https://www.counterpointpress.com/dd-product/our-only-world/

Lectio tierra: https://godspacelight.com/2016/08/25/listening-to-the-life-of-jesus-in-a-tree/

Psalm 1: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+1&version=NIV

Professor John McQuarrie: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jun/05/guardianobituaries.religion

Poet Mary Oliver: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-oliver

Mary Oliver's book Dog Songs: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17707772-dog-songs

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In this episode Tahmina Martelly of World Relief explains the connections between social and environmental justice, and how they play out in her work with immigrants and refugees. As a community developer, she prioritizes the voices of the poor and marginalized, and collaborates with them to create solutions to food deserts, the absence of greenspaces, and the challenges of being landless. The community garden that they have built together has become a center for multicultural community, where people celebrate ethnic, cultural, economic, and religious diversity. Tahmina also addresses resistance among some religious folks to matters of global warming and climate change, and challenges us to think about the sort of grace it takes to model a different approach to creation care.

Notes

 Tahmina Martelly - Director of Resiliency & Empowerment programs at World Relief:  https://worldreliefseattle.org/leadership-team

Community garden website: https://worldreliefseattle.org/garden

 Seattle Globalist article on the opening of the community garden; https://www.seattleglobalist.com/2018/04/16/refugees-and-immigrants-grow-homeland-foods-at-kent-community-garden/73140

 Latin phrase, Nihil de nobis, sine nobis: Nothing about us without us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_About_Us_Without_Us

 Article that exemplifies Nihil de nobis, sine nobis: https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/01/detroit-tree-planting-programs-white-environmentalism-research/579937/

 Hillside Church in Kent: http://hillsidechurchkent.com/ 

 Definitions

raingarden: https://www.groundwater.org/action/home/raingardens.html or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_garden

bioswale: http://nrcsolutions.org/bioswales/ or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioswale

food forest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_gardening

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In this episode Forrest Inslee, Earthkeepers Podcast host, and James Amadon, Executive Director of Circlewood, talk about what the podcast is about, and what to expect in future episodes. Both tell their stories of how they sense and understand God in nature, and how creation care eventually became a core element of their respective callings. They speak of the need for community among people who believe that earth care is connected to spiritual practice. Only by finding support in one and other, and by learning in global community from a diversity of perspectives, can  ecologically-minded people begin to shape a movement--a movement to combat climate change, to mobilize for environmental restoration, to advocate for environmental justice, and to restore right relationship between people and the rest of creation of which they are a part.

Notes

 Circlewood Vision & Mission Statement: https://www.circlewood.online/about

James' & Forrest's bios: https://www.circlewood.online/people

Author Wendell Berry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry

Find us on our website: Earthkeepers
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