Students Protesting and Rebellion Extinction

We have entered an age of fierce and essential protesting. The #BlackLivesMatter Movement demonstrated the power of organizing and demanding to be heard on-line, in the media, and on the streets. Now in regards to climate change, we are witnessing a global uprising of young people and adults insisting they need to be heard by the powers that be.

Robin Boardman of Extinction Rebellion

While to many people much of these uprisings seem totally spontaneous and the leaders appear to have come out of no where, often there has been a great deal of thought, care, and strategizing by people who have been seriously engaged with these issues for awhile.

Hope Clark

In my latest podcast episode, I speak with one of these people, Robin Boardman, a university student in Bristol, England, who has taken some time off from his studies to organize actions with the group Extinction Rebellion. He shares what it is like to shut down a major bridge in London. Robin also reveals the values and principles that ground the work he and his colleagues at XR do. Finally, he tells us about future major actions in the works.

You will also hear from Hope Clark, a dancer who as been honestly and vulnerably exploring the role addiction has in her life–particularly her addiction to cigarettes. She connects these to our shared addiction to fossil fuels. Through dance and words, she is trying to make sense of it as she works through the climate grieving process that many of us feel even if it is deeply hidden and distracted by various comforts.

Below is a one-minute trailer for the show and then a link to the entire podcast.

Citizens Climate Radio Ep 34 Extinction Rebellion trailer from Peterson Thomas Toscano on Vimeo.

You can hear Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

On Radiolab and Sacred Tension podcasts

As someone who podcasts and does radio production, I am always excited to connect with other folks working in audio. This summer was I walked into the studios of WNYC for a 3 1/2 hour interview with Jad Abumrad, the host of Radiolab, a show I have been listening to for years. He had no need to apologize for taking so much of my time. What a thrill to sit there chatting with him and seeing him work. The large, busy studios was Disney World for an audio geek like me.

Jad helped produced the special podcast series, Unerased, which looks at the history of conversion therapy. The podcast came out along side the motion picture, Boy Erased, the story of a young man sent to the Love in Action program that I attended. Jad wanted to know about the history of conversion therapy leading up to that moment. Jad included episode four of Unerased in his Radiolab series.

I also recently sat down to chat with Stephen Bradford Long, the host of Sacred Tension podcast. He had me on a few months back to talk about conversion therapy, but then knowing I am obsessively engaged in climate change work, he contacted me for a second interview to talk down off the ledge. He read the recent UN report on climate change and was freaking out.

While it has been important to speak out about conversion therapy, it really gets me excited to talk about climate change and the justice issues connected to it. Having experienced the trauma of ex-gay ministries, I know it is important to move away from just talking about that experience. Part of recovery is moving onto new interests, passions, and issues.

Have a listen to my conversation with Stephen Bradford Long

What Does the Bible say about Global Warming?

At a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in rural central Pennsylvania, I brought the conversation to a sudden halt, when I mentioned I am a Bible scholar and lately I have been wondering what the Bible had to say about climate change. One woman at the table nearly lunged at me, “What does the Bible say about climate change?” She was genuinely curious as were the other people at the table.

I recently sat down with three Evangelical Christians, including a pastor in the rural town where I live. I asked them about the Bible and climate change. They shared Bible passages, stories, and testimony.

I pushed back a few times–Yeah, but you are always preaching about heaven. How can you care for the earth if you see it as your temporary home and you are just passing through to a God who will forgive you for any harm you have caused? They graciously shared their faith and how it leads them to care deeply about the earth and the people on it.

Hear Corina Newsome (pictured above with the fabulous owl!) Kyle Kyle Meyaard Schaap, National Organizer and spokesperson for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, and Pastor Josh Gibson from Emmanuel Bible Fellowship Church. Also, my character, Tony Buffusio, shares Joseph and the not so amazing climate adaptation story. PLUS a puzzler question: Climate Change–what’s faith got to do with it?

You can hear our conversation on SoundCloud or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Just look for Citizens Climate Radio Ep 30 What Does the Bible Say About Climate Change?

An Inconvenient Poof

At most festivals and conferences I attend, queer and straight, it’s like we are on a different planet–one that is not warming. Glad to see Greenbelt Festival 2018 is taking it on climate change and letting me do my quirky queer Quaker gay climate exposé.

One of the unfortunate consequences of climate denial both in the US and the UK, although it’s been less of an issue there, is that when someone does not deny climate change, they feel as if they’re somehow Progressive.

The bar is so low.

The reality is people who claim they’re concerned about climate change virtually put no thought into it. In fact, I think people who are dismissive of climate change end up talking and reading more about it than the average person who says they believe climate change is real.

I was just at a wonderful Festival in Ontario, Canada, and all of these incredibly earnest church leaders were asking questions about how they could make the church much more relevant, particularly to the young people. Yet nobody was talking about climate change. Whenever I brought it up, people’s response were typically, “Yeah it’s crazy that some people deny it exists.” Or something like, “We’re doing a lot to lower our carbon footprints.”

I rarely hear about a larger framework for understanding how to talk about this issue. I see no real curiosity to find out how.

Of course there are people who are beginning to wake up to this and becoming curious, but many want nothing to do with it.

I was the same way myself for a long time. I believed I had bigger fish to fry. Or I assumed big important people were taking care of it so I didn’t need to worry about it. But this is one of those issues that we need all hands on deck. And we each have something significant to contribute.

Mental Health and Climate Change

Dr. Lise Van Susteren

Dr. Natasha DeJarnett

I try to look at climate change from multiple angles. A few years ago I began to read about how climate change affects our mental health, especially for people who experience extreme weather events. I also got to thinking about climate advocates like me who do this work day in and day out. How does it affect us emotionally and psychologically. Lucky for me I produce a monthly podcast, so I turned to experts as my guests.

Dr. Lise Van Susteren, a leading expert in looking at the psychological effects of climate change, and Dr. Natasha DeJarnett, a policy analysis in environmental health at the American Public Health Association, join show me for a thought-provoking and insightful conversation.

Fritz Horstman

Another feature of my show is the Art House. This episode I feature Fritz Horstman.

Artist Fritz Horstman talks about his trip to the Arctic Circle to take underwater photographs. The visual landscape of the frozen and thawing North captivated him, but the sounds really inspired him. He asked his fellow artists on the voyage to recreate the creaks and groans of the glaciers for his video, Ice Voices.

Here is a link to the episode or click the play icon.

Ice Voices from Fritz Horstman on Vimeo.

You can hear Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

If you listen on iTunes, please consider rating and reviewing us!

Going To Greenbelt 2018!

So thrilled to be headed back to Greenbelt. I first presented at Greenbelt in 2006. I love the thought-provoking conversations and the artful presentations of justice issues that happen at this annual Arts Festival in England. While I go as a presenter, I attend as many talks and performances as possible. Some of the most memorable and moving performances I ever witnessed took place at Greenbelt. I also always meet beautiful, thoughtful, and interesting people there.

I am thrilled to return to Greenbelt for the fifth time. My hope is to deepen conversations around LGBTQ issues, faith, and climate change. I will mix scholarship with personal narrative, storytelling, and performance art. As a Quaker, I will contribute to the conversations about Quakerism, peace, and meditative worship.

See some of the amazing acts that will also appear at Greenbelt. Learn more here.

After Greenbelt I will lead a workshop at Woodbrooke Quaker Centre and then tour with Ruth Wilde. I would love to come to your community to present my work and engage in the conversations you are having there.

The Greenbelt Festival 2015 where Peterson performed, Does This Apocalypse Make me Look Fat?

Chatting with writer Claire Vaye Watkins

Claire Vaye Watkins

Ever since I partnered up with a writer, Glen Retief, my life has been enriched by the many writers that I meet. These days I attend readings with some pretty awesome folks sharing their work: Aminatta Forna, Karla Kelsey, Natalie Diaz, Lydia Davis, Claudia Rankin, Honor Moore, Carolyn Forché, and George Saunders.

I first met Claire Vaye Watkins and her partner, writer, Derek Palacio, when they lived nearby and worked at Bucknell University. It was only after they moved away, I learned Claire had been working on a climate changed-themed novel during her time at Bucknell. We never spoke about climate change at that time, but after hearing an interview of Claire on WNYC’s On the Media, I learned about her book, Gold Fame Citrus.

This past fall I sat down and chatted with Claire about the book and her musings around climate change. As a creative writer, she is free to imagine all sorts of scenarios; she let’s her mind go to deliciously creative places and some tight scary spaces. What she shared with me is powerful, moving, at time hilarious, thought-provoking, and challenging. I am pleased to feature this interview in the latest episode of Citizens’ Climate Radio.

If you listen on iTunes, please consider rating and reviewing us!

Bigger than a blockbuster movie — The Cape Town Water Crisis

As host of Citizens Climate Radio I chatted with two residents of Cape Town, South Africa about “Day Zero.” If it sounds ominous, it is because it is. Sometime over the next few months the city will have to turn off the water that is piped into homes.

Because of a climate change magnified drought, mismanagement, lack of preparation, overcrowding, and wasteful water practices by much of the middle class, there is not enough water in the dams.

Residents are in a panic as they prepare for Day Zero. In addition to figuring out how they will live within 25 liters of water daily, they are working hard to reduce water use right now in hope of holding off the crisis.

Listen to the entire episode of Citizens Climate Radio to hear more of what Helen Moffett has to say. Also meet Judith Abrahams, who shares her insights about the crisis.

Dig Deeper

Helen Moffett’s Blog about the Water Crisis and more
Industrial Development Corporation, Project Funding Company where Judy Abrahams works
Ten Good Things about Cape Town’s Drought by Patrick Dowling
Cape Town Water Crisis Wikipedia Page
Itzapala, Mexico City Water Crisis

If you listen on iTunes, please consider rating and reviewing the show.

Ingloriously Featured — Silly, Serious, Sick Mashup

Some podcasts are just too weird and wonderful to ignore. With the Inglorious Pasterds podcast, the weird comes so often and easily, it can be easy to miss the wonderful as I laugh at the crazy coming out of the hosts’ mouths. (News item: Eel extracted from anus, man wouldn’t say how it got there.)

Not what you might expect from a group of straight post-Evangelicals. But in the midst of the madness and mayhem, these guys talk about serious issues–faith, justice, and now even climate change.

Meet the hosts (and follow them on Twitter)

mjbaysinger

polleynamedmatt

polleynamedbrad

They recently had me on their show to talk about climate change as a faith issue and a queer issue. What does the Bible say about it and how can/should/might we respond? The conversation is a delightful mix of silliness, seriousness, and serious weirdness. Just my style.

And yes, there was an eel stuck up some guy’s butt. Oh, and I talk about my placenta! (I’m running a sale now–perfect Sunday School gift or for your favorite gender and sexuality professor with a sordid Evangelical Christian past.)

You can find their show on iTunes and a bunch of other places that distribute podcast magic.

Our latest episode dropped early so you can listen if you are traveling for the holiday!
We chat with @p2son about Climate Change!
Guest host: @polleynmdshore https://t.co/sPSsIsxrSv

— Inglorious Pasterds (@PasterdsPodcast) November 22, 2017

Or take a listen right here:

And follow their weird asses on Twitter

How my shallowness helped me become serious

There was nothing in my previous work as an LGBTQ human rights activist and as a queer Bible scholar to indicate that I would make a radical shift to climate action. These days I spend much of my time thinking, researching, writing, and talking about climate change. I lead workshops on climate communication, I perform on stage, and I produce a monthly podcast about it.

Here I am coming out at the People Climate March with the Queers for the Climate. See peeking in the bottom of the frame.

So what happened? How did I go from being aware and concerned but not engaged to someone who can’t stop talking about climate change? Did I receive a Al Gore into my heart? Did I have an encounter with a polar bear? Did I get abducted by environmentalists? Nope, none of the above.

It was love that drew me into climate work, love for my husband, Glen Retief, who suddenly felt gripped by the reality of climate change and initially powerless to do anything about it. His distress triggered something in me that led me to learn more. But what ultimately woke me up to the reality of climate change was not any of the normal triggers. No, my climate story is definitely queer. It had nothing to do with polar bears and everything to do with pasta.

In this video I break it down for you. Yes, I am shallow, but that shallowness got me engaged, so that’s something.

Coming Out Again? This time as a climate weirdo. from Peterson Thomas Toscano on Vimeo.

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Tag: climate change

Here is a link to the episode or click the play icon.

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