Wisdom for a Time of Crisis -- Our New Season of No Place Like Home

I have an offering for you -- wisdom on facing a crisis from the great spiritual traditions. "Bring the Light" is our new season of No Place Like Home, my podcast with Anna Jane Joyner. Since last year, we've been tenderly crafting these conversations about spirituality and climate change. Now, the season is ready just as we all face a global pandemic, alone together, an immediate crisis that has us all reeling -- a time when we need all the wisdom we can get.

These conversations have been a balm for my heart, and I think they will be for you, too, whether or not you have a spiritual tradition of your own. Our guests brought us gems of wisdom from Islam to Christianity, from witchcraft to Buddhism, to Native American spirituality and more. Listening back to them now in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, these conversations offer lightning bolts of insight, and are giving me great comfort, solace, and strength.

Every time I was in the middle of my busy schedule and paused to record one of these conversations, it felt like a gift. I'm so honored to share that gift with all of you as our new season launches. The breakdown of systems that we're now experiencing is laying bare the inequality at the heart of those systems, making the imperative to center social justice as we tackle climate abundantly clear. The wisdom of our traditions -- and of our these brilliant guests -- have so much to offer on how to navigate these times.

Our first two episodes feature my Muslim friend Ibrahim Abdul-Matin talking about the world as a place of worship, and Science Mike, aka Mike McHargue of The Liturgists, on finding hope and determination even in the darkest times against the most impossible odds.

Our newest episode features @ibrahimSalih, author of a beautiful book called “Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet.” @annajanejoyner and @maryannehitt talk to him about what Islam can teach us about facing climate change. Listen at https://t.co/g17txhzm04 pic.twitter.com/NfEivN75XQ

— No Place Like Home (@nplhpodcast) March 28, 2020

I'm grateful to the Sierra Club for supporting this project, to my wonderful team that includes Anna Jane and a new producer that joined us this season, Allison Wilson, who hails from the great state of Missouri and is an amazing addition to our rural and/or Southern lady climate podcast team. And we're so excited to be distributed this season on Critical Frequency, the podcast network of Amy Westervelt, host of the great podcasts Drilled and, with my friend Mary Annaïse Heglar, Hot Take. Most of all, I'm grateful for our listeners -- you're the reason we make this show.

If this season moves and inspires you, we'd be grateful if you'd share it on social media and with your friends, and even leave a review on Apple Podcasts. That's how people find the show. You can listen and subscribe here: fanlink.to/noplacelikehome.

I want to leave you with these words from Mary Heglar, in her recent New Republic piece:

Both the coronavirus crisis and the climate crisis reveal that our world is inextricably interconnected, and it’s as strong or as fragile as those connections. We have to strengthen those connections. It is our only choice. 

I hope these conversations on our new season of No Place Like Home will help weave those connections for us all, at a time when we need them so much. Wishing you grace and peace, my friends.