Climate Changed

Flipping the Script: Loons, Butterflies, and the Courage to Begin Again

In this second bonus episode from Climate Changed, we return to the 2025 BTS Center Convocation, where participants were invited to flip the script—shifting climate conversations away from data and debate and toward lived experience, spiritual insight, and imagination.
Co-hosts Peterson Toscano and Ben Yosua-Davis introduce two deeply personal stories from members of the BTS Center community: Tyler Mark Nelson and David Arfa. Their stories explore mental health, vocation, migration, lineage, wonder, and responsibility in a climate-changed world—offering listeners not solutions, but companionship, honesty, and renewed attention to the wisdom of place.
About This Mini-Series: Convocation Stories
At the 2025 BTS Center Convocation, participants were invited to share climate-centered stories grounded in their own lives—stories shaped by courage, vulnerability, and spiritual practice. Rather than expert lectures or policy analysis, these stories center on imagination, grief, hope, and relationships.
In this mini-series, Peterson Toscano and Ben Yosua-Davis share two of those stories in each episode, offering listeners a glimpse of how ordinary people are integrating climate concern with faith, creativity, and daily life. These episodes are especially suited for seasons when exhaustion, uncertainty, and longing coexist—and when stories can help us breathe again.
How These Stories Were Made: The Story-Making Process
To bring these stories to life with care and craft, The BTS Center partnered with Stellar Story Company. Months before Convocation, community members were invited to submit story “seedlings” connected to the Convocation theme. From more than twenty proposals, seven storytellers were selected.
Each storyteller worked closely with an experienced storytelling coach over several months, meeting multiple times to shape, revise, and rehearse their narratives. The goal was not polished performance for its own sake, but faithful storytelling—stories lovingly and prayerfully crafted for a shared community.
As Associate Director Nicole Diroff explains in the episode, this process was itself an act of “flipping the script”: centering voices from within the community and trusting that lived experience can open pathways to courage and connection.
Stories in This Episode
“Teach Me the Ways of the Loon” – Tyler Mark Nelson
Tyler Mark Nelson begins his story seated on a warm rock along the north shore of Lake Superior—a place he returns to when his mental health falters, and his vocational path feels uncertain. Living with long-term depression and anxiety, Tyler finds himself one year away from graduating from Yale Divinity School and questioning everything.
As he watches loons dive and resurface in the cold inland sea, Tyler recalls another moment years earlier when he stood at this same shoreline after dropping out of college. The loons become unexpected spiritual companions, offering a metaphor for nourishment, patience, and survival beneath the surface.
A simple prayer—“God, teach me the ways of the loon”—marks a turning point. Tyler does not emerge with easy answers or dramatic healing, but with breath, presence, and a renewed commitment to care for his body, spirit, and community. His story reframes vocation not as certainty or ordination, but as learning how to swim alongside others in deep water.
Tyler Mark NelsonTyler Mark Nelson is a community educator, ecotheologian, activist, and artist. He currently serves as a Research Associate with the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and is involved in projects exploring kinship and public ritual in a time of planetary crisis. Raised in Minnesota, Tyler’s work is deeply shaped by place, contemplative practice, and the more-than-human world.
“What Migrations Have You Been On?” – David Arfa
David Arfa’s story begins with a childhood encounter with a snake in a Detroit backyard—an early moment of exhilaration and curiosity rather than fear.
As David studies ecology, wrestles with family expectations, and searches for spiritual grounding, he finds unexpected resonance in Jewish ritual, prayer, and lineage. A formative experience with monarch butterflies in California—hundreds falling frozen from eucalyptus trees and lifted back into flight by human breath—becomes a moment of awe and ethical clarity.
Weaving together migration stories of butterflies, ancestors leaving Warsaw, and his own vocational journey, David invites listeners to consider what migrations—spiritual, emotional, generational—have made their own lives possible. His story holds wonder and responsibility together, asking what we are creating now that may not come to fruition for generations.
David Arfa coordinates bereavement services and offers grief counseling at Baystate Hospice. A storyteller and educator rooted in Jewish tradition, David’s work weaves together ecological awareness, spiritual lineage, and narrative as tools for meaning-making, wonder, and ethical responsibility.
Reflection and Response
Following both stories, Ben Yosua-Davis and Peterson Toscano reflect on the craft and impact of climate storytelling. They note the power of spaciousness, the refusal to rush toward solutions, and the way sound, image, and silence can carry meaning.
Together, they suggest that climate storytelling works best when it trusts listeners—when it offers images rather than explanations and allows sorrow, humor, holiness, and resilience to coexist.
Next Steps
Share the episode with someone who may need it. Stories create connection, and connection creates courage.
Tell your own story. Consider where land, body, memory, or ritual shape your climate story.
Practice storytelling as spiritual practice. Begin with image, place, or breath rather than argument or data.
Learn more about The BTS Center and upcoming programs at TheBTSCenter.org.
Explore storytelling coaching at StellarStory.com.
Announcing Season Four of Climate Changed!
In Season 4, incoming co-hosts Nicole Diroff and Autumn Brown will explore what it means to live, love, and lead with faith and imagination in a climate-changed world. We are especially honored to welcome Autumn—a visionary artist, theologian, and co-host of the acclaimed podcast How to Survive the End of the World with her sister adrienne maree brown—whose profound expertise in community resilience and speculative fiction brings a rare, transformative perspective to these essential conversations.
Season Four Guests
Francis Weller: francisweller.net (Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow).
Norma Wong: Institute of Zen Studies (Zen Master and leader).
Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner: Climate Change Chaplain
Tory Stevens: Climate Narrative Project (Climate storyteller).
Katie Mears: Episcopal Relief & Development (Disaster response leader).
 

Convocation Stories, Part One: Walking for Peace, Listening for Song

In this special bonus mini-series, Climate Changed returns to the 2025 BTS Center Convocation, where participants “flipped the script” and stepped forward to share climate-centered personal stories—not lectures, not data, not policy, but lived experience. Co-hosts Peterson Toscano and Ben Yosua-Davis introduce two powerful stories of walking, vision, and spiritual practice from BTS Center community members June Zellers and the Rev. Sara Hayman.
About This Mini-Series: Convocation Stories
At the 2025 BTS Center Convocation, participants were invited to share climate-centered stories grounded in their own lives—stories shaped by imagination, vulnerability, and courage. In this mini-series, Peterson Toscano and Ben Yosua-Davis share two of those stories in each episode, offering listeners a glimpse of how ordinary people are integrating climate concern with spiritual practice, community, and daily life.
This end-of-year series is designed for a season when many of us are carrying questions about justice, the environment, and the future of our climate-changed world. Reflection, exhaustion, hope, and uncertainty often intermingle. These stories offer a companion for that moment, reminding us that one of the most powerful tools we have is our own voice and our own lived experience.
How These Stories Were Made: The Story-Making Process
To bring these stories to life with care and craft, The BTS Center partnered with Stellar Story Company. Months before Convocation, the BTS Center staff invited participants to propose story “seedlings” connected to the Convocation theme. More than twenty community members responded.
From those proposals, seven storytellers were selected. Each worked with an experienced storytelling coach from Stellar Story Company over several months, meeting in multiple sessions to develop, revise, and rehearse their stories. Together they shaped deeply personal narratives—rooted in faith, place, and embodied experience—designed to be shared in a plenary setting rather than as expert lectures.
As Associate Director Nicole Diroff explains in the episode, the intention was to “flip the script”: to center not headline keynotes, but the voices of people sitting at the tables, taking the leap to tell stories they had “lovingly, prayerfully crafted” for this community. The hope is that these stories will not only move listeners but also spark new stories in all of us.
Stories in This Episode
“When the Earth Sings” – A Vision Quest with June Zellers
Attorney and long-time BTS Center participant June Zellers takes us back 32 years to Eagle Song Camp in western Montana, where she joined 27 women and Indigenous teacher Brooke Medicine Eagle for a three-week physical and spiritual training culminating in a two-day vision quest.
Sitting within a carefully prepared medicine circle on a grassy mountainside, June seeks “soul-level answers” to why her outwardly successful law career feels so soul-crushing. What follows is a night of galloping horses, a mountain lion stalking a fellow participant, and the unsettling choice to break the rules in order to move toward another’s distress.
The second morning, as she wakes, June hears what she can only describe as the earth itself singing—a three-syllable chant carried first by stillness, then by warm rain, and finally by a brook she has crossed many times before. Tone-deaf and unable to reproduce the melody, she nonetheless carries this silent chant as a mantra through decades of difficulty, sorrow, and grief, a reminder that “regardless of my circumstances, the spirit of life is so incredibly joyful. And my soul, our souls, are designed to be radiant.”
“Walking for Peace and Friendship” – A Long Walk with Rev. Sara Hayman
The Rev. Sara Hayman, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ellsworth, Maine, describes how intentional walking has become a primary way she gets grounded amidst overlapping crises, ministry demands, and the weight of liberal religious leadership. From the Camino de Santiago in Spain (500 miles, no blisters—though bedbugs made an appearance) to the wild coasts of Newfoundland and a sheep-covered Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, walking renews her spirit. It reconnects her to land, ancestors, and gratitude.
When Penobscot spiritual leader and activist Sherri Mitchell invites her to help organize a “Journey for Peace and Friendship”—an 82-mile, eight-day prayer walk from Indian Island (Penobscot Reservation) to the State House in Augusta—Sara says yes without asking her congregation’s permission. Alongside Wabanaki leaders and a diverse group of walkers, she experiences ceremony, risk, hostility from passing traffic, unexpected welcome (church bells, homemade chocolate-zucchini muffins, cold sparkling water), and the daily discipline of simply putting one foot in front of the other.
On the State House steps, exhausted and unprepared with formal remarks, she finds herself moved into a litany of gratitude—for Sherri, for fellow walkers, for the chance to remember that she is “from here,” deeply rooted in relationships that change her from the inside out. Six months later, her life has not been transformed in dramatic ways. She is still overwhelmed, still entangled, still wrestling with the demands of leadership. But every time she laces up her boots and walks the local mountain, 17 minutes from her house, she again touches the soul nourishment and connection that walking makes possible. And no matter what, she always feels “a little bit better when I’m walking.”
Season Four Preview: Welcoming Autumn Brown
This bonus episode also offers listeners a first look at Season Four of Climate Changed. Ben and Peterson announce that there will indeed be a fourth season—and that it will bring something new: writer, musician, and organizer Autumn Brown will join Nicole Diroff as a guest host.
Autumn is the recipient of the 2025 Margaret Brent Award from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and a 2020 Auburn Seminary Lives of Commitment honoree. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College who continued her theological studies at the General Theological Seminary in New York, Autumn is a speculative fiction and creative nonfiction writer whose work appears in journals, anthologies, and collected volumes. Her band, also named Autumn, released two EPs in 2024, produced by Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards. Many listeners will also know her as co-host of the podcast How to Survive the End of the World, created with her sister adrienne maree brown.
Season Four will continue to explore what it means to live, love, and lead in a climate-changed world, now with Autumn’s voice and experience adding new depth to the conversation.
Next Steps
Tell your own story. If these stories stirred something in you, consider sharing your reflections with someone in your community, in a sermon, newsletter, social media post, or small group gathering. Your voice matters more than you may think.
Practice climate storytelling as spiritual practice. Try noticing where your own stories begin with land, body, and ritual rather than with data or arguments.
Connect with The BTS Center. Explore upcoming programs, resources, and past events at TheBTSCenter.org.
Learn more about Stellar Story Company. Discover their coaching and storytelling offerings at StellarStory.com.
Meet the Storytellers
June Zellers June Zellers is an attorney and long-time member of the BTS Center community. An active member of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Augusta, she also regularly practices with the Kennebunk River Zen Sangha. June’s story in this episode draws on an earlier chapter of her life, when—newly divorced and a partner in a respected law firm—she traveled to Eagle Song Camp in western Montana seeking “soul-level answers” about work, vocation, and joy. Her ongoing spiritual practice weaves together Earth-based ritual, contemplative listening, and a commitment to keeping the earth’s song alive as a silent chant in daily life.
The Rev. Sara Hayman The Rev. Sara Hayman has served for over fourteen years as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ellsworth, Maine. A “justice mover and shaker” in the region, she works at the intersections of faith, public witness, and solidarity with Indigenous communities. Sara was part of the planning team for the “Journey for Peace and Friendship,” an 82-mile, eight-day prayer walk from Indian Island (Penobscot Reservation) to the Maine State House in Augusta, shaped daily by ceremony led by Wabanaki and other spiritual leaders. Long walks, local mountains, and a persistent practice of gratitude nourish her ministry.

Small Experiments with Radical Intent with Allen Ewing-Merrill and Rev. Nicole Diroff

What does it mean to take faithful action in a climate-changed world—especially when the problems feel impossibly large? In this final Behind the Scenes episode of the Climate Changed Podcast, host Jessica David sits down with Allen Ewing-Merrill, Executive Director of The BTS Center, and Rev. Nicole Diroff, Associate Director, to explore a defining BTS Center phrase: “small experiments with radical intent.”
Together, they reflect on how this deceptively simple idea invites spiritual leaders and communities to take creative, courageous steps—grounded in curiosity, rooted in discernment, and open to transformation. Through stories of congregations testing new practices, the BTS Center’s own experiment with reading weeks, and even Nicole’s family’s choice to replace disposable napkins with reusable ones, they reveal how small, intentional acts can lead to profound shifts in culture and worldview.
Jessica, Allen, and Nicole discuss what it means to lower the stakes, embrace failure as a learning opportunity, and approach faith work as experimentation rather than perfection. They unpack the “radical” in radical intent—not as extremism, but as a return to our roots—to what nourishes and sustains life. The result is a conversation that reimagines leadership and community as living laboratories for hope, spaciousness, and renewal.
Key Quotes
Allen Ewing-Merrill:
“The root of the word radical is radix, meaning root. What if being radical is really about sinking deeply into our roots—into our essence, our source of life and nourishment and vitality? It takes real discernment to know what that is, but once we do, transformation follows.”
Rev. Nicole Diroff:
“For me, small experiments with radical intent build the muscle of curiosity. They’re manageable but meaningful, and they keep our hearts open in uncertain times. Without curiosity, our hearts can harden—and that’s when transformation stops.”
Allen Ewing-Merrill:
“We’re more likely to act our way into a new way of thinking than to think our way into a new way of acting. A small experiment—taken with radical intent—helps us step toward that new way of being.”
Meet the Guests
Allen Ewing-Merrill Allen Ewing-Merrill serves as Executive Director of The BTS Center and is a pastor, writer, and father of three daughters. With a background in ministry and community leadership, he brings deep commitment to cultivating spiritual imagination for a climate-changed world. He lives in Portland, Maine, with his family and continues to find joy in the small experiments that keep faith active and alive.
Rev. Nicole Diroff Rev. Nicole Diroff is Associate Director of The BTS Center and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. A mother, an amateur naturalist, and a self-described “pet collector,” Nicole brings warmth and curiosity to every conversation she leads. Her work focuses on developing programs that nurture spiritual leadership, curiosity, and awe as pathways toward ecological and cultural transformation.
Join the Conversation
Have you tried a small experiment with radical intent in your own life or community? What did you learn?
Share your reflections by email at podcast@thebtscenter.org or leave a voicemail at 207-200-6986.
The Climate Changed Podcast is a project of The BTS Center in Portland, Maine. Produced by Peterson Toscano.
Discover more episodes, transcripts, and resources at climatechangedpodcast.org.

Ash Temin and Ben Yosua-Davis Explore Curiosity as a Spiritual Practice

What does it mean to approach a climate-changed world with rigorous and reverent curiosity? Inthis special Behind the Scenes Edition of the Climate Changed Podcast, host Jessica David sits down with Ben Yosua-Davis and Rev. Ash Temin of The BTS Center. Together, they explore how curiosity—paired with imagination—can become a spiritual practice, a way of meaning-making, and a pathway toward more faithful responses in a climate-changed world.
From maple sap and chickens to contemplative practices and ecological grief, Ben and Ash share both the practical and the profound ways they cultivate curiosity in their own lives. They also reflect on how The BTS Center’s programs encourage spiritual leaders to slow down, pay attention, and imagine new ways of living and leading.
Key Quotes
Ash Temin: “Curiosity as a quiet, contemplative stance doesn’t make it any less alive. It might not be as visible, but it’s there fomenting the change that comes.”
Ben Yosua-Davis: “If you want to change, you have to slow down. You have to create spaciousness to ask big, open-ended questions that don’t have a one-to-one correspondence with your to-do list.”
Ash Temin: “Taking curiosity with rigor and reverence moves us out of selfishness and into an ecology of relationships, where growth and flourishing become possible.”
Meet the Guests
Ben Yosua-Davis
Ben Yosua-Davis is Director of Applied Research at The BTS Center, where he leads projects rooted in rigorous and reverent curiosity. A graduate of Drew Theological Seminary and Colby College, Ben previously co-planted a missional church and hosted the podcast Reports From the Spiritual Frontier. He lives with his family on Chebeague Island, Maine.
Rev. Ash Temin
Rev. Ash Temin is an ordained minister and Communications Manager at The BTS Center. She also offers spiritual direction in Portland, Maine. A graduate of UVA, Trinity College Dublin, and Harvard Divinity School, Ash brings her passion for ecological theology and grief work into her ministry and writing.
Join the Conversation:
Where do you fall on the hope spectrum? What practices do you use to cultivate hope — or maybe you don't?
Share your reflections via email at podcast@thebtscenter.org or leave a voicemail at 207-200-6986.
Climate Changed Podcast is a project of The BTS Center in Portland, Maine. Produced by Peterson Toscano. Visit climatechangedpodcast.org for more episodes of the Climate Changed podcast.

Claiming Your Call: Navigating Spiritual Leadership in a Climate-Changed World

What does it mean to have a calling in a climate-changed world?
In this episode, Jessica David is joined by Alison Cornish and Allen Ewing-Merrill from The BTS Center team to explore the idea of “calling.” How do we know what our deepest purpose is, especially when the world is shifting beneath our feet? Through personal stories, reflections on chaplaincy, congregational life, and ecological crisis, this conversation models how calling is not just a destination—it’s an ongoing dialogue between joy and need, self and world, spirit and action.
“My calling is to be an agent of God's love, healing, justice, and peace in the world.” — Allen Ewing-Merrill
“My specific calling really came when I heard the earth calling directly.” — Alison Cornish
✨ Highlights from the Episode
Alison and Allen reflect on their personal callings—from a childhood love of carpentry to a life of teaching and pastoring
The BTS Center’s unique framing of vocational discernment: spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world
A theological and interfaith understanding of calling as active, evolving, and collective
How congregations and chaplains are responding to climate change in ways that are embodied, compassionate, and spiritually grounded
An invitation to discern not just what you are called to do, but who you are called to be
🧭 Resources Mentioned in the Episode
Frederick Buechner’s Definition of Calling: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” https://www.frederickbuechner.com/
Refugia Faith by Debra Rienstra – framing congregations as spiritual refugia in a climate-changed world https://debriarienstra.com/refugia-faith/
Claiming Your Call for a Climate-Changed World — A program led by The BTS Center in collaboration with: Creation Justice Ministries, Anabaptist Climate Collaborative. https://thebtscenter.org/claiming-your-call-for-a-climate-changed-world/
Chaplaincy Innovation Lab (Partnered with BTS Center on climate chaplaincy programming) [https://chaplaincyinnovation.org]
📣 Share Your Calling
We want to hear from you!
📞 Call or text: 207-200-6986 📧 Email: podcast@thebtscenter.org 🌐 Learn more and explore past episodes: climatechangedpodcast.org
 

Lists and Lima Beans: A Tactile Practice of Grief and Gratitude

Grounding:How do we make space for both sorrow and joy?
In this tender and tactile episode, Jessica David steps out of her hosting role and into practice leadership, guiding listeners through a deeply personal ritual that blends lamentation and gratitude — with help from candles and beans. Drawing inspiration from her love of list-making, Jessica offers a sensory-rich experience for naming griefs and exaltations, helping us hold the complexity of life in a climate-changed world.
Main Practice:This episode’s practice invites listeners to physically express emotions using small, everyday objects. With humor and heart, Jessica guides us through a sequence of lamentations and exaltations — statements of grief and gratitude — placing one object down for each.
Through this embodied ritual, we’re reminded that:
Grief and joy often coexist
Tactile practices help us stay grounded in the moment
Honoring loss is itself a sacred, healing act
Even impermanent gestures can hold deep meaning
This practice is accessible, creative, and well-suited for individuals, groups, and even children — with plenty of room for improvisation and personalization.
What You’ll Need:
A candle and lighter (optional but recommended)
A flat surface (floor, table, ground)
Two types of small objects (8 of each)
One type represents grief or lamentation
The other represents gratitude or exaltation (Examples: beans, stones, buttons, leaves, shells)
 
Next Steps:
Try the practice using what you have on hand: beans, buttons, shells, or stones
Explore it alone or with a group
Consider bringing it to your faith community, youth group, or a climate-related gathering
Share your experience with us:Email: podcast@thebtscenter.orgText or Call: 207-200-6986
Revisit the earlier practices in this series, offered by Madeline Bugeau-Heartt, Ash Temin, and Peterson Toscano.
Meet the Guest / Host:Jessica David is a Harvard Divinity School student and intern at The BTS Center. She is a curious and courageous spiritual leader who finds meaning in honest conversations, tactile rituals, and community-based exploration of climate, faith, and care. She’s also an excellent list-maker and lover of beautiful beans.
Meet the Guest / Host:
Peterson Toscano is the producer of the Climate Changed podcast and a longtime collaborator with The BTS Center. A skilled storyteller, performance artist, and climate communicator, Peterson brings creativity and depth to every episode. Learn more at his website, PetersonToscano.com
This episode concludes our Behind the Scenes mini-series — four practices for spiritual grounding in a climate-changed world.Learn more at: thebtscenter.org

Embracing Climate Change Uncertainty: A Practice for Impossible Questions

How do we hold space for what feels unanswerable?
In this episode of the Behind the Scenes Edition, host Jessica David welcomes Madeline Bugeau-Heartt, Program Associate at The BTS Center, to guide us through a contemplative practice. This episode isn’t about solving anything — it’s about embracing what feels impossible.
Main Practice:Madeline shares a guided meditation that invites listeners to sit with the “impossible questions” — the ones that don’t have tidy answers, especially in the face of climate uncertainty. Born from personal experience and deep spiritual reflection, this practice reframes uncertainty as sacred, not something to be avoided, but something to be honored.
Key themes include:
Holding profound uncertainty with reverence
Embracing not-knowing as a spiritual act
Honoring the questions that shape us
Cultivating bravery, not certainty
Listeners are encouraged to move outside (if possible), settle their bodies, and gently bring their impossible questions into presence, not to “figure them out,” but to tend to them as holy.
Next Steps:Try this practice again — or share it with a friend.Reflect on your impossible questions: What are they whispering?Journal. Walk. Breathe. Notice what unfolds.
Share your experience with us:Email: podcast@thebtscenter.orgText or Call: 207-200-6986
Keep journeying with us — the next episode in this series features a practice led by Jessica David.
Meet the Guest:
Madeline Bugeau-Heartt is a Program Associate at The BTS Center. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and NYU Tisch, she brings her background in experimental theater, farming, and caregiving into her work. Madeline is passionate about creating spaces for radical imagination, deep embodiment, and joyful resistance, especially as we navigate life in a climate-changed world.
Meet Our Host:
Jessica David is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School, founder of Local Return, and President & CEO of Rhode Island Community Investment Cooperative. With 20 years of experience working at the intersection of people and place, Jessica focuses on the intersection of spirituality and money, supporting community wealth-building and strategic organizational development.
This episode is part of our Behind the Scenes edition — a mini-series offering spiritual and embodied practices from The BTS Center’s team.Learn more at: thebtscenter.org

PROMO Embracing Climate Change Uncertainty w/ Madeline Bugeau-Heartt

Guest: Madeline Bugeau-Heartt
 How do we hold space for what feels unanswerable?
In this episode of the Behind the Scenes Edition, host Jessica David welcomes Madeline Bugeau-Heartt, Program Associate at The BTS Center, to guide us through a contemplative practice. This episode isn’t about solving anything — it’s about embracing what feels impossible.
Main Practice: Madeline shares a guided meditation that invites listeners to sit with the “impossible questions” — the ones that don’t have tidy answers, especially in the face of climate uncertainty.
Born from personal experience and deep spiritual reflection, this practice reframes uncertainty as sacred, not something to be avoided, but something to be honored.
Key themes include:
Holding profound uncertainty with reverence
Embracing not-knowing as a spiritual act
Honoring the questions that shape us
Cultivating bravery, not certainty
Listeners are encouraged to move outside (if possible), settle their bodies, and gently bring their impossible questions into presence, not to “figure them out,” but to tend to them as holy.
Next Steps: 🌀 Try this practice again — or share it with a friend. 💬 Reflect on your impossible questions: What are they whispering? 🪶 Journal. Walk. Breathe. Notice what unfolds.
📲 Share your experience with us: Email: podcast@thebtscenter.org Text or Call: 207-200-6986
🧭 Keep journeying with us — the next episode in this series features a practice led by Jessica David.
Meet the Guest:
 Madeline Bugeau-Heartt is a Program Associate at The BTS Center. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and NYU Tisch, she brings her background in experimental theater, farming, and caregiving into her work. Madeline is passionate about creating spaces for radical imagination, deep embodiment, and joyful resistance, especially as we navigate life in a climate-changed world.
This episode is part of our Behind the Scenes edition — a mini-series offering spiritual and embodied practices from The BTS Center’s team. 🌿 Learn more at: thebtscenter.org

Listening Deeply in a Climate-Changed World with Peterson Toscano

Grounding:How do you stay grounded when facing climate chaos? For many, the journey begins with listening.
This episode opens with Jessica David reflecting on how grounding practices can help us remain present and compassionate in a world shaped by climate disruption. She’s joined by podcast producer and longtime BTS Center collaborator Peterson Toscano, who invites listeners into an immersive sonic experience. Through a guided soundscape meditation, Peterson helps us attune our ears — and our hearts — to the world around us.
Main Practice:In this practice-based episode, Peterson shares his love of sound and his approach to listening as a grounding ritual. He encourages us to let go of labeling, to listen without judgment, and to experience sound as connection — to place, to others, and ourselves. By tuning in to the textures and rhythms of daily life, we can awaken to the more-than-human world and our role within it.
Key themes include:
Reframing “background noise” as presence and meaning
Listening as an act of compassion and embodied awareness
How recording sound (even casually) heightens attention
Soundscapes as spiritual companions
This episode features a short soundscape, recorded and led by Peterson, to help listeners practice listening deeply. Whether you’re familiar with contemplative practices or new to them, this is an invitation to pause, notice, and reconnect. 
For the best experience, we recommend using headphones or earbuds. 
Next Steps:Try your own soundscape meditation — no fancy equipment required. Sit still and listen. Or take a gentle walk with your phone’s voice memo app.
Share your experience with us:Email: podcast@thebtscenter.orgText or Call: 207-200-6986
Explore additional grounding practices in the upcoming episodes with Madeline Bugeau-Heartt and Jessica David.
Meet the Guest:Peterson Toscano is a performance artist, climate communicator, and the producer of the Climate Changed podcast. He brings playfulness, vulnerability, and storytelling to conversations about faith and climate. Through sound, satire, and personal narrative, he helps listeners discover unexpected ways to connect with the climate-changed world. Listen to more experiments with sound on Peterson’s personal podcast, Bubble and Squeak.
This episode is part of our Behind the Scenes edition — a mini-series offering spiritual and embodied practices from The BTS Center’s team.Learn more at: thebtscenter.org

Practicing Groundedness in a Climate-Changed World

How do we stay grounded in a time of climate disruption? In this special Behind the Scenes Edition, host Jessica David invites listeners into a conversation with three BTS Center colleagues—Ash Temin, Madeline Bugeau-Heartt, and Peterson Toscano. Together, they explore the importance of spiritual and embodied practices that help us stay connected, present, and resilient in our climate-changed world.
Each guest shares how they engage in grounding practices, what works for them (and what doesn’t), and what these practices offer us in the midst of fear, grief, and uncertainty. The episode features a beautiful, nature-based practice led by Ash, with more practices to come in the next two episodes.
In this episode:
Ash invites listeners into a practice of creaturely communion.
Madeline offers reflections on holy noticing and joyful disruption.
Peterson talks about reclaiming the power of deep listening.
Jessica opens up about moving beyond words into embodied presence.
Whether you’re seasoned in spiritual practice or just starting to explore, this episode offers a taste of what’s possible when we make time to slow down and notice the world around—and within—us.
🎧 Plus, stay tuned for upcoming practices led by Peterson and Madeline.
Meet the Guests
Rev. Ash Temin Ash serves as the Communications Manager at The BTS Center and offers spiritual direction through her independent practice in Portland, Maine. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Ash is passionate about ecological theology and exploring the experience of ecological grief. She finds joy in coastal walks, creaturely companionship, and practicing connection with the more-than-human world.
Madeline Bugeau-Heartt Madeline is a Program Associate at The BTS Center. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and NYU Tisch, she brings her background in experimental theater, farming, and caregiving into her work. Madeline is passionate about creating spaces for radical imagination, deep embodiment, and joyful resistance, especially as we navigate life in a climate-changed world.
Peterson Toscano Peterson is the producer of the Climate Changed podcast and a longtime collaborator with The BTS Center. A seasoned podcaster, performance artist, and climate communicator, he helps audiences see climate change from fresh angles. Through storytelling, satire, and sound, Peterson fosters empathy and sparks curiosity. 
💌 We’d love to hear from you! Tell us about your own grounding practices. Email: podcast@thebtscenter.org Call or Text: 207-200-6986
🌐 Learn more: climatechangedpodcast.org 🔗 Visit us: thebtscenter.org

Joerg Rieger and Vanderbilt’s Wendland-Cook Program: Faith Beyond False Solutions

In this special episode of Climate Changed, we’re delighted to share an episode from Religion & Justice, a podcast produced by our partners at the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School.
Hosted by Gabriella Lisi (she/they/he) and George Schmidt (he/him/ours), Religion & Justice explores the intersections of class, religion, labor, and ecology. In this featured episode, titled “Deep Solidarity and Moralizing”, they sit down with theologian Dr. Joerg Rieger to discuss the relationship between economic power structures, ecological devastation, and the role of religion in building alternative systems grounded in deep solidarity.
Dr. Rieger introduces key distinctions between privilege and power, critiques individualistic approaches to climate action, and invites us to imagine economic and spiritual solidarity that moves from the grassroots upward. He explores how worker co-ops, solidarity economies, and faith-rooted organizing might form the foundation of a more just and life-giving future.
🌱 To learn more about the Wendland-Cook Program and their offerings—including their Solidarity Circles for faith leaders—visit: https://www.religionandjustice.org
📖 Read Dr. Rieger’s article “Theology in the Capitalocene”: https://www.religionandjustice.org/interventions-forum-on-privilege-and-power-in-the-capitalocene
We invite you to reflect on how this conversation resonates with your work in a climate-changed world. Share your thoughts with us by text or voicemail at (207) 200-6986 or by email at podcast@thebtscenter.org.

Climate Change and The Power of Lament

In this deeply personal episode, Harvard Divinity School student and BTS Center intern Jessica David hosts a heartfelt conversation with BTS Center leaders Rev. Nicole Diroff and Rev. Alison Cornish about lament's essential, uncomfortable, and ultimately connective role in our climate-changed world.
Together, they explore the collective practice of ecological grief — not as something to fix or diagnose, but as a sacred response to real, ongoing loss. They reflect on lament’s roots in ancestral spiritual traditions, its embodied and communal expressions, and its relevance for today’s spiritual leaders navigating climate breakdown.
Guests
Rev. Nicole Diroff is Associate Director of The BTS Center. Ordained in the United Church of Christ, she is a Maine Master Naturalist, a facilitator, and a DEI leader. She brings heart and strategic insight to the Center’s public programming.
Rev. Alison Cornish coordinates The BTS Center’s Chaplaincy Initiative and has long practiced ecological theology and interfaith facilitation. She draws from traditions such as Joanna Macy’s The Work That Reconnects and community grief rituals to support climate spiritual care.
Main Themes
Ecological Grief Is Real and SacredEcological grief encompasses present and anticipated losses from disappearing ice rinks to contaminated farmland. It's not a problem to be fixed, but a response rooted in love.
Lament Is Embodied, Collective, and AncestralThe guests draw on ancient practices—from ripped cloth and psalms to community rituals—to normalize grief and reclaim lament as a spiritually rich, communal act.
Grief Connects Across TimeGrief opens connection channels: across communities, generations, species, and histories. When practiced communally, it fosters honesty, solidarity, and renewed purpose.
Lament Is an Act of Witness and TurningThe movements of lament include naming harm, expressing sorrow, repenting of complicity, and stepping into something larger — sometimes praise, sometimes action.
"How will your heart break? Will it break into a thousand pieces, or will it break open?" — Shared by Alison, from a rabbi friend
Resources & Reflections
Referenced in the episode:
Words for a Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church – edited by Hannah Malcolm
Season 1, Episode 6 of Climate Changed featuring Hannah Malcolm
The Work That Reconnects – from Joanna Macy
The Many – “Is This How the World Ends?” (song featured in Lament with Earth)
Lament with Earth – Seasonal online grief gatherings hosted by The BTS Center
Earth Hospice Rites – A twice-monthly global grief space led by Alison Cornish
Teachings from Vincent Harding, Johnson (unclear exact reference; likely Howard Thurman or Luke Powery-adjacent figures)
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross – pioneer in grief studies
“Terraforming” – discussed in context of climate manipulation and river systems, detailed in The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis by Amitav Ghosh
Spiritual practices like the psalms, lamentations, public ritual, and intergenerational liturgies
Join the Conversation
How do you practice lament? How does grief show up in your life and leadership?Email us: podcast@thebtscenter.orgLeave a voice message: 207-200-6986
 
About the Podcast
Climate Changed is a project of The BTS Center, a spiritual leadership organization based in Portland, Maine.Produced by Peterson Toscano. Music by EpidemicSound.com.
Find more episodes and transcripts at climatechangedpodcast.org

Climate Change Hope? It's Complicated

In this thoughtful second interim episode, host Jessica David talks deeply and candidly with The BTS Center team members Ben Yosua-Davis and Madeline Bugeau-Heartt about hope's complex and nuanced nature in our climate-changed world. They explore what it means to hold hope amidst uncertainty, loss, and the ongoing climate crisis.
Meet the Host and the Guests:
Jessica David is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School, a community consultant, and an advocate for local investment and social change.
Ben Yosua-Davis is the Director of Applied Research at The BTS Center, shaping their research agenda to support climate-informed spiritual leadership. Ben previously founded innovative spiritual communities and is passionate about building communities and promoting climate resilience.
Madeline Bugeau-Heartt serves as a Program Associate at The BTS Center. With a background in experimental theater and filmmaking, Madeline brings creative imagination and community organizing expertise to exploring how we navigate a radically changing world.
Main Conversation and Themes:
1. Redefining Hope Beyond Quick Solutions
Guests discuss shifting perspectives away from oversimplified solutions towards a deeper understanding of hope.
Ben Yosua-Davis challenges traditional views:
"If by hope you mean am I hopeful that there is a technological or political solution that will fix climate change... the answer is no. But do I believe life can be full of meaning, beauty, and joy regardless? Absolutely."
Madeline Bugeau-Heartt expands the concept:
"Hope isn't an antidote to despair... but I am hopeful that the mystery of the day, spontaneous beauty, and love between people can always be found."
2. Hospicing Endings, Midwifing Beginnings
Ben and Madeline explore embracing change through metaphors of hospice and midwifery, recognizing endings and nurturing new beginnings.
Madeline Bugeau-Heartt articulates the dual practice:
"What are we choosing to hospice, and what are we choosing to midwife into being?... It's about being part of what the world is already doing."
Ben Yosua-Davis reflects on communal acceptance:
"When people hit the point [of hospice], there's peace and joy that leads to hope—focusing on living, enjoying, appreciating those closest to us."
3. Hope as a Communal Practice
The conversation emphasizes hope as fundamentally collective and relational.
Ben Yosua-Davis emphasizes community:
"I don't think you can practice hope individually... humans were not built to be hopeful without community."
Madeline Bugeau-Heartt underscores collective action:
"In community, hope gains muscle… I hope for different things in collective than when I'm by myself, longing for things way beyond myself."
Additional Resources:
The BTS Center's Research Collaborative – Exploring how faith communities can authentically respond to the climate crisis through grounded, applied research.
Reports From the Spiritual Frontier – Ben’s podcast chronicling new forms of spiritual community and innovative leadership.
Join the Conversation:
Where do you fall on the hope spectrum? What practices do you use to cultivate hope—or maybe you don't?
Share your reflections via email at podcast@thebtscenter.org or leave a voicemail at 207-200-6986.
Climate Changed Podcast is a project of The BTS Center in Portland, Maine. Produced by Peterson Toscano. Music comes from EpidemicSound.com. Closing song: Home by Ludlow. Visit climatechangedpodcast.org for more episodes of the Climate Changed podcast.

Spiritual Leadership in a Climate-Changed World: What and Why?

In this special interim episode, guest host Jessica David sits down with Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill, Executive Director of The BTS Center, and Debra Coyman, Chair of The BTS Center's Board of Trustees, to explore what spiritual leadership means in a climate-changed world. Together they unpack critical questions around faith, community action, and ecological responsibility.
Meet Our Guest Host:
Jessica David is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School, founder of Local Return, and President & CEO of Rhode Island Community Investment Cooperative. With 20 years of experience working at the intersection of people and place, Jessica focuses on the intersection of spirituality and money, supporting community wealth-building and strategic organizational development.
Meet Our Guests:
Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill serves as Executive Director of The BTS Center. Ordained in the United Methodist tradition, Allen previously co-pastored HopeGateWay in Portland, Maine, and founded Moral Movement Maine. He has a longstanding commitment to social justice advocacy, faith-based organizing, and progressive Christianity, with extensive experience addressing issues such as climate justice and immigrant solidarity.
Debra Coyman has served on The BTS Center Board since 2017, including roles as Treasurer and Vice Chair. With an extensive background in business strategy and human resources leadership at IDEXX Laboratories, Debra brings significant nonprofit governance experience. She actively volunteers for conservation and animal welfare organizations, serves on multiple boards, and passionately engages in outdoor recreational activities.
Join the Conversation:
What do you think is the most important contribution spiritual leaders can make in responding to climate change?
Share your reflections via email at podcast@thebtscenter.org or leave a voicemail at 207-200-6986.
Climate Changed Podcast is a project of The BTS Center in Portland, Maine. Produced by Peterson Toscano. Visit climatechangedpodcast.org for complete show notes, transcript, and more.

Letters from the Ecotone: Interconnectedness in Ecology and Theology with Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd and Rev. Andy Nagy-Benson

In this special episode, Nicole Diroff introduces a thoughtful exchange between Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd, an ecologist and theologian, and Rev. Andy Nagy-Benson, her pastor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they explored deep connections between ecological science and Christian theology through heartfelt letters. These letters are now compiled in their book, Letters from the Ecotone: Ecology, Theology, and Climate Change.
Main Conversation:
Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd and Rev. Andy Nagy-Benson engage in a thoughtful dialogue about the ecological and theological definitions of self-interest versus the common good. Key discussion points include:
Ecological interconnectedness and the relational essence of all life.
Complexities of defining "the common good" in environmental and theological contexts.
Reflections on human behavior, ethical reasoning, and moral responsibilities in environmental conservation.
Insights from theologians and ecologists on self-interest, self-love, and community solidarity.
Personal stories illustrating the tension between self-centered actions and caring for the common good.
Next Steps:
Participate in the Listener Survey: Share your feedback about the podcast and suggest future topics. Take the survey here.
Engage with Reflection Questions: Consider your understanding of self-interest and the common good. Leave a voicemail or text your reflections to +1 207-200-6986.
Explore The BTS Center's Resources: Visit thebtscenter.org to learn more about spiritual leadership and ecological stewardship programs.
Additional Resources:
Book: Letters from the Ecotone: Ecology, Theology, and Climate Change by Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd and Rev. Andy Nagy Benson
Book: Journey to the Common Good by Walter Brueggemann
Westminster Catechism: Reflection on purpose and interconnectedness
Meet the Guests:
Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd is an ecologist and professor whose work bridges ecological science and Christian theology. She explores ecological interconnectedness and moral responsibility in the context of climate change.
Rev. Andy Nagy-Benson serves as a pastor deeply engaged in theological explorations of community solidarity, ethical responsibility, and ecological consciousness, reflecting thoughtfully on the intersection of personal spirituality and ecological ethics.
Next Month:
Join Jessica David, BTS Center intern and divinity school student, as she steps behind the mic for a special mini-season of Climate Changed. In this behind-the-scenes series, Jessica explores big questions about spirituality, hope, grief, and imagination—diving deep into how we navigate a complex world with curiosity and compassion.