It goes without saying that science and technology play key roles in the formation of climate solutions. Yet they are not panaceas: in order to solve climate change, we need more than science and technology. Climate change and environmental destruction are all-encompassing—they impact all sectors of our realities, from our physical and mental health to our communities and societies, and the species and ecosystems that surround us. As a result, any actionable set of solutions must be as interconnected and diverse as the crises themselves.
This is the fundamental insight that I seek to bring forward with my new podcast, DoveTale. This project was germinated at both my home institution, Union Theological Seminary (where I will soon graduate with a master’s degree in divinity), and Columbia Climate School, where I have interned this academic year. Over the course of my studies, I have been fascinated to observe the ways in which the challenge of climate change and environmental destruction is being engaged in the humanities: How is climate change tied with the history of coloniality? What are the ethical, moral, and spiritual contexts and implications for these crises? How do we form a robust response to the mental and emotional challenges associated with our climate crisis?
As I immersed myself in this layer of the climate conversation within the academy, I became increasingly curious about the ways in which these questions are being engaged on the ground. What better way to find out than in conversation? On DoveTale, I converse with psychologists, religious leaders, artists, and Indigenous stewardship practitioners, scientists, and more. In speaking with this broad range of conversation partners, I seek to explore the various ways in which community climate and environmental leaders are interconnecting ethical, spiritual, psychological, moral, artistic, and historical dimensions with their work in community.
In Episode 1, I speak with Karen Blondel, a climate and housing justice advocate in Red Hook, Brooklyn, about the importance of fostering “social infrastructure” in developing a community response to ecological disasters, as well as the real-time impacts of environmental racism.
In Episode 2, I speak with Jen Robohm, Peter McDonough, Hayley Blackburn, and Rachel Williamson, who constitute a climate-and-mental-health affinity group at University of Montana, about the many levels of mental health impacts of climate change.
In Episode 3, I speak with Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, the vice president of the Evangelical Environmental Network, about the importance of appealing to people’s value systems when organizing around climate and environment in communities that may not be immediately receptive to hearing an environmental message.
DoveTale is available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. New episodes are released on a biweekly basis. Join me for this world tour of creative and intersectional climate solutions!
