Adamah's Bruce Spierer on grief, climate anxiety, and what Tisha B'Av teaches us about facing a warming world together.
Full episode description
This year, wildfire smoke made the climate crisis impossible to ignore — for entire communities, and for Bruce Spierer personally. As Director of Adamah's Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, Bruce spends his days thinking about the relationship between Jewish tradition and the environment. But this Tisha B'Av, that thinking got personal.
In this conversation, Adamah's Director of Marketing and Communications, Sarah VanderWalde, sits down with Bruce to talk about how he personally observes Tisha B'Av, what it's like to run climate work at a national Jewish organization during an active wildfire season, why so many people — especially young people — feel quietly overwhelmed by climate anxiety, and what this specific, dry, hard moment in the Jewish calendar has to teach us about grief, community, and hope.
In this episode:
- Bruce's personal Tisha B'Av practice, and why he calls it "a container" for grief
- How Adamah — with retreat centers, impact hubs, and programs across the country — is responding organizationally to this year's wildfires
- Why climate anxiety so often gets carried alone, and what ritual grief can do that a protest or policy campaign can't
- The connection between Adam and Adamah — person and earth — and why Tisha B'Av falls exactly when it does on the Jewish calendar
Resources mentioned:
- Adamah's source sheet, "Tisha B'Av in a Time of Climate Change" — [https://adamah.org/resource/tisha-bav-in-a-time-of-climate-change/]
- Adamah's Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition — [https://adamah.org/climate/coalition/]
- Adamah's Youth Empowerment program Jewish Youth Climate Movement — [https://adamah.org/youth/]
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Guest bio
Bruce Spierer is the Director of the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition at Adamah, where he works to bring Jewish organizations together to respond to the climate crisis. He is the co-author of the source sheet "Tisha B'Av in a Time of Climate Change."
Host bio
Sarah VanderWalde is Adamah's Director of Marketing and Communications.
About Adamah
Adamah is leading a burgeoning movement across Jewish life. We believe in the deep connection between people & planet, adam & adamah. Every day, we help people feel that connection, spark Jewish inspiration, and help build a more sustainable future for all. And because we are the link between our ancestors and our descendants, our generation is called to respond to the existential crises of our time with the full power of the Jewish spirit.
