In this episode of the Forum podcast, our host performs a reading of “The Meadow Across the Creek,” a well-known essay by a very influential figure in the field of religion and ecology: Thomas Berry. It speaks to the importance of having meaningful connections to our embodiment and embeddedness in a living Earth community and an evolving universe. As we approach the end of the calendar year, a new year is returning, giving us time to re-read works that mean a lot to us. You can find this piec...
This episode of the Forum podcast follow a years-long tradition of giving a review of the place of religion and ecology at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). In this episode, our host Sam Mickey talks with the co-chair of the religion and ecology unit of the AAR -- Kimberly Carfore -- to discuss the present and future of this field of study. You'll hear about important attention to Indigenous traditions, interreligious dialogue. religious practice, extractivism, and...
This episode of Spotlights features Tyler Mark Nelson, a core team member for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. Tyler is an educator, eco-theologian, and artist exploring the ways that humans make sense of their creaturely existence in relation to the more-than-human world. Currently he is assisting with the launch of the exciting Living Earth Community project. We talk about his personal journey into the intersection of religion and ecology, as well as his key contributions to the Livi...
In this short episode, our host Sam Mickey introduces the new season of the podcast for the Forum on Religion and Ecology. The episode covers some personal details about our host as well as some discussion of what is to come for this exciting new season. A big part of this new season will be attention to the new website that has emerged from the Forum team: Living Earth Community. https://livingearthcommunity.com/
This episode is about a very special issue of The New Ecozoic Reader that has just been released. This special issue, edited by the Forum's own Sam Mickey and Sam C. King, offers retrospective and prospective views on the field of religion and ecology: looking at where we've been, where things stand now, and how the field, and our work together, could evolve going forward. The issue is very intergenerational and includes essays by both esteemed and established figures in the field, and younge...
In this episode, our host discusses the new book by the British writer, Robert Macfarlane, Is a River Alive? It's an exciting contribution to the growing body of literature that expands our imaginations and our legal frameworks to account for the agency and liveliness of the natural world.
This episode features Rachael Petersen, a writer, thinker, and convener. We discuss her life and work at the confluence of philosophy, ecology, and transcendence. As Program Lead of Harvard’s Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative, Rachael guides interdisciplinary explorations into how cutting-edge plant science challenges our ideas of mind, matter, and meaning. She holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, where her research centered on panpsychism, pantheism, and the more-...
This episode features Natalia Schwien Scott. She is an herbalist, wildlife rescue & rehabilitation apprentice, and Ph.D. candidate in the Study of Religion at Harvard University, where she recently completed a Master of Theological Studies degree with a focus on the intersection of ecology and spiritual practice. She researches relational ontologies, posthuman ethics, and diction on personhood in scientific discourse. She also serves as an Advisor and Program Associate for the Thinking wi...
This episode features Rachael Petersen and Natalia Schwien Scott, who co-launched the “Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative” at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University in fall of 2022. We talk about the initiative and its culminating conference, which took place in May of 2025. We discuss their interdisciplinary exploration into how plants and fungi help us rethink the nature of mind and matter and humans’ relationship to the more-than-human world. You can learn...
In this episode, our host (Sam Mickey) reviews two books that engage with questions about the place of life, meaning, and purpose in the universe. First, he discusses the anthology, Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New Discussions and Interdisciplinary Views, edited by David Bartosh, Attila Grandpierre, and Bei Peng (Springer, 2024). It's notable for its interdisciplinary and transnational perspectives on the inherence of life in the universe. It includes a wonderful chapter by John B. Co...
This episode features Yuria Celidwen, PhD, a native of Indigenous Nahua and Maya lineages from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. We discuss her work as a scholar, researcher, and writer working at the intersection of Indigenous studies, cultural psychology, and contemplative sciences. We focus in particular on her book, Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Wisdom for Collective Well-Being (2024). We also discuss some of the complexities involved with psychedelic research, including an article she co-a...
This episode features Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, a writer at the confluence of relationship to place with experiences of the sacred. She has a masters of theological studies from Harvard Divinity School, and she's worked as a staff writer and editor for Emergence Magazine. Her writings have been published in numerous venues. We talk about her personal and professional journey into the intersection of religion and ecology, particularly with reference to her new book, Mother, Creature, Kin: Wha...
On this special Earth Day episode, we feature the work of three writers who focus on the wonderful world of trees: Beth Norcross, Leah Rampy, and Laura Pustarfi. Beth and Leah are the authors of the new book (released on Earth Day 2025), Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees. Laura is the editor of an anthology (co-edited with David Macauley), The Wisdom of Trees: Thinking Through Arboreality (forthcoming in June 2025). Enjoy this thought-provoking discussion about trees and the questions...
This episode features Cathy Coleman, Ph.D., a former dean of students at California Institute of Integral Studies, president of Kepler College, and director of IONS’ EarthRise Retreat Center. We discuss her new anthology, Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness: The Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer. Cathy was Ralph Metzner’s wife of 31 years, and they worked closely together. We discuss the vast impact of Ralph Metzner’s healing therapies and wisdom on colleagues, students, clients, ...
This episode features Russell Duvernoy, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy at King's University College at Western University in London, Ontario. We discuss Russell’s engagement with process philosophies, environmental philosophy, contemporary Continental philosophy, and comparative philosophy (including classical Daoism, Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, and world Indigenous philosophies). We touch on topics like attention, affect, tensions between speculative and existential philosophies, a...
This episode of Spotlights features the Rev. Dr. Lisa Dahill, Miriam Therese Winter Chair for Transformative Leadership and Spirituality and Director of the Center for Transformative Spirituality at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. We talk about her personal and professional engagement with ecological theology, her study of the German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the liturgical and ritual practices involved in rewilding Christianity, and much more.
This episode turns the spotlights onto our host, Sam Mickey. Kimberly Carfore came back on the podcast to interview Sam and talk about the way that his experiences, personal life, and religious commitments relate to his work in the field of religion and ecology. This podcast has been running for five years, and one of the frequent request we receive is to hear more about Sam's perspective, so we finally decided to have an episode where the interviewer becomes the interviewee.
This episode features the Rev. Dr. Nancy Wright, Pastor of Creation Care with the Evangelical Lutheran church in America. We discuss many facets of her life and work, from personal experiences with faith, interpretations of ancient scripture, the theology of Martin Luther, process theology, and much more, including attention to water stewardship, interreligious perspectives, and forest therapy. This episode is full of information and inspiration that provides a beacon of hope during our compl...
This episode features our host reviewing the latest book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, focusing specifically on the idea of a gift economy. The book invites us to transition from the extractive and exploitative market economy that is dominant around the globe to a gift economy oriented around abundance, reciprocity, and gratitude. It is an informative and inspiring book that works as a good introduction to Kimmerer's work for t...
This episode focuses on the enduring legacy of President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024). We feature a plenary address that Carter gave for the American Academy of Religion in San Diego on November 24, 2014. The Plenary Panel was called The Role of Religion in Mediating Conflicts and Imagining Futures: The Cases of Climate Change and Equality for Women. He led with comments on women’s issues as his book on women had just been published, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power. Thi...