Field Notes

In the face of rising average global temperatures and the destruction of life on earth, how do we look after our mental health?

In this moving interview, Dr Stuart Blanch, President of A Rocha Australia, tells us about his personal experience of dealing with eco-anxiety, despair and anger in the face of the destruction of the natural world. He continues to hope and to love. Stuart grew up on the New South Wales Coast in a banana farming family and, alongside his role with A Rocha, now works in forest conservation policy for WWF-Australia. He is a conservation scientist, environmental campaigner and has trained in environmental law, and is passionate about God, people and the planet.

What does the Bible have to say about caring for creation in an age of industrialised agriculture and urban-dwelling?

Ellen F. Davis is Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School. The author of eleven books and many articles, her research interests focus on how biblical interpretation bears on the life of faith communities and their response to urgent public issues, particularly the ecological crisis and interfaith relations. She speaks to Peter and Bryony about her personal interest in the environmental content of scripture, the teaching of the church on climate issues and our interpretation of the opening chapters of Genesis.

This is an A Rocha Field Notes podcast bonus track. We asked Ellen Davis to walk us through one of her favourite Scriptures. This is what she shared.

What role does reconciliation, mediation and forgiveness have in tackling the climate crisis?

Dr Paul Kariya is Senior Policy Advisor for the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative, an alliance of nine British Columbia First Nations which aims to protect the Great Bear Rainforest, and was a trustee of A Rocha International for nearly a decade. 

By the end of the 1990s, forest and ocean resources of the area were being rapidly depleted by heavy industrial logging and commercial fishing. The Great Bear Initiative was envisioned to assert First Nations leadership in creating a new conservation-based economy. Paul talks to Bryony and Peter about his work with the Great Bear Initiative, the importance of conflict and reconciliation and how he holds hope for the planet.

Is nature conservation a luxury for those who live in such poverty that even their survival hangs in the balance? Dr Florence Muindi is a medical doctor and founding president of Life in Abundance International. As a young adult, Florence felt called to serve some of the most vulnerable communities in Africa. She soon learnt that if she and her colleagues were to make any impact on all the causes of deprivation then an integrated approach was essential. In this episode, she talks with Bryony and Peter about her life, how her thinking and her work has developed, and about the importance of nature conservation for some of the poorest places on earth.

For episode notes, please visit https://www.arocha.org/en/field-notes-podcast/

Dr Paula Banza talks to Bryony and Peter about moths and their little-known role as pollinators, and what it was like seeing her study site destroyed by fire only to recover before her eyes. She also shares insight from her 30 years living and working with the A Rocha Portugal community, and the parallels there are in the interdependence of human relationships and natural ecosystems.

 Find out more about Paula in this short film: 

https://www.arocha.org/en/resources/a-rocha-people-paula-banza/

A brief intro to our up-coming series Field Notes. We talk to people who are working to care for creation around the world