Make It Sacred

Christina is interested in the intersection of research and creativity. She is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, where she hardened her skills improving food security and teaching small business development. Christina earned a Masters's in Global Management in Creative Industries and Design Thinking and is switching careers from marketing to being an art teacher. She loves being outside and spending time with people. 

In this episode, we discuss her work in Malawi, what sustainable global development looks like, the lessons she learned from the Malawian people, and how kindness and compassion fuel change. 

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Brooke McDonough is a Richmond, Virginia-based storyteller. She uses text, photography, and video to share conservation and natural history stories. Brooke is a National Geographic Explorer and a recipient of National Geographic’s Second Assistant grant. She also works with the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP). 

In this conversation, we discuss factors affecting insect decline, photographing insect decline with David Liittschwager, the history of lawn culture in the United States, and how to optimize your yard for insect health and diversity. 

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The Earth Charter is a document with sixteen principles that drive a global movement towards a more just, sustainable and peaceful world. 

Amanda Bennett is the Project Assistant and Youth Programme Coordinator at the Earth Charter Secretariat and the Center for Education for Sustainable Development at UPEACE. She was born in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, and grew up in South Carolina, United States. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Experimental Psychology at the University of South Carolina, and a Master’s in Public Policy at the University of Maryland. While studying in Maryland, Amanda interned at the National Center for Healthy Housing and the Fundred Dollar Bill Project. After graduating, she moved back to Costa Rica and taught English in San José and briefly in Cusco, Peru. Amanda is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Environment, Development, and Peace at the University for Peace.

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We discuss Sam's religious journey, the cosmic christ, biodiversity and species loss, Thomas Berry, Harvard, creative writing, and Jurassic Park. One of those items is not in this episode, but you'll have to listen to find out which.

Sam King is an environmental educator, public speaker, writer, and activist. He serves as Director of Sustainability for the United States Marist school network and Project Manager for the Journey of the Universe film and multimedia project. He has also worked as a Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, assisting Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim in creating six online courses on religions and the environment. A former teacher in Peru, Sri Lanka, and Connecticut, he holds a Master of Arts in Religion and Ecology from Yale Divinity School with a certificate in Educational Leadership and Ministry. Sam is passionate about bridging science and spirituality to inspire a more just and sustainable world.

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Nicole is a Somatic Healer & Coach and a CranioSacral Therapist in Frederick, MD. She loves diving into all things Body. She was brought to her work as a healer through her own journey of healing from chronic illness and trauma. She did this by tapping into her inner wisdom through her body, which guided her toward health, purpose, and love.

As a Coach, she specializes in working with women entrepreneurs, using somatic healing to regulate the nervous system, generate embodied self-trust, plug in to that inner wisdom/intuition, and increase their capacity for being calm, confident, and receiving abundant money for offering their gifts to the world.

Nicole loves nature, gardening, food, art, music, and writing. She believes in living co-creatively in community with the divine and the earth.

In this episode, we discuss Nicole's work and how the healing of the planet begins with the healing of us. She also leads us through a somatic practice.

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“Evolution has given us the wisdom of our origin; ecology has given us the wisdom of our integral unity; and spirituality will give us the experience of clear guidance and wisdom to joyously transform ourselves and the world.”

— Tom Pliske

To this day, the Amazon remains the most endangered rainforest on the planet.

Fire in the Forest is a role-play simulation designed to stimulate a fresh and wider understanding of the global significance of the Amazon and the urgent need to address its problems. The simulation delivers a transformative experience, empowering players to take on local or global problems and devise effective policies and courses of action.

This episode discusses how Fire in the Forest catalyzes engagement in diverse, interconnected, and pressing challenges, facilitating global impact via local action.

Twenty years as a teacher and counselor equipped Martha Keys to translate this goal into numerous educational programs. Tom Pliske has spent fifty years as an ecological researcher and environmental educator with decades working in Latin America and with indigenous peoples. His two recent books, Light, Truth and Nature, and A Himalayan Hope and a Himalayan Promise focus on exploring the role of humanity in global ecosystems from the viewpoints of major spiritual traditions — East, West, and Indigenous.

In this conversation, we learn more about Tom and Martha's backgrounds and involvement in creating Fire in the Forest.

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“We want to help people connect to their home, to their food, and to their neighbors. Our mission is to create a space for all people to connect to their local farmers, producers, and artisans.”

Camden is the co-owner of Neighbors, a local market in Leesburg, Va. She’s deeply passionate about food, especially growing it. In this conversation, we talk about the sustainability of shopping locally (what’s good for us is good for the earth), how healing our planet begins at the community level, and the importance of gathering.

Camden loves gathering with friends & sharing meals with homegrown veggies. You can typically find her dancing or practicing Jiu Jitsu in her “free” time. Camden is a joyful, energetic, and passionate young woman, infusing her values into all she does. We hope you enjoy this inspiring conversation.

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You can't separate the science from the lived experience and you can't separate the theology from the science. They're all intertwined.

This is a conversation about environmental justice, activism, historical oppression, spirituality, and how you can't talk about one of these things without talking about the others. Gregory Simpson is a scientist, pastor, theologian, (STEM) consultant, and friend of the Spirituality and Sustainability Global Network. 

ENGAGE WITH THE SSGN

Sarah creates purpose-driven gardens that provide inspiration, wildlife habitat, food, and medicine through her ecological gardening business, Living Landscapes Design. She sees us all as active members of our ecosystem that give and take from the land on a daily basis to meet our needs. For her, the phrase, “ecological gardening” reminds us that we are part of the garden and the garden can be woven into wild nature herself.

Over the past ten years, she’s studied and worked in horticulture, permaculture, sustainable agriculture, and herbalism. As an avid gardener with a passion for encouraging others to cultivate a deeper relationship with the earth, she wants Living Landscapes Design to offer something for everyone.

Through Living Landscapes Design, Sarah aims to provide the knowledge and tools to harmonize the rhythms of nature with her client’s vision to cultivate gardens that are both beautiful and functional. The materials she uses are always high-quality, organic, and holistically supportive. she selects plants that are well-adapted to grow at your site and primarily focuses on perennial species that require less maintenance and give more return over time.

She’s local to the northern Virginia area, but if you live elsewhere and can’t utilize her services, you’ll learn a lot from Sarah in this episode! 

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A scholar with wide-ranging interests, César "CJ" Baldelomar is a Ph.D. candidate in Theology and Education at Boston College. In this conversation, we discuss imagination, the hopefulness of hopelessness, creativity, the book of Ecclesiastes, and 2Pac.

CJ’s research blends critical theory and decolonial thought, exploring how knowledge production and consumption inform the formation of identities. His work seeks to find different ways to imagine and talk about the self and about justice in an effort to envision personal, social, and educational ethical paradigms that could serve as possible sites of resistance.

He holds two law degrees from St. Thomas University School of Law and two master’s degrees from Harvard.

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