Climate Conversations bring members of your faith community together to talk about what we know about and how we are experiencing climate destabilization. We surface and honor the challenging feelings that come up, and we identify the skills and resources we can draw upon to take action.
In 2024, we will be facilitating Climate Conversations with congregations in the Detroit area, coaching each congregation to develop a project, and providing them with $2,500 to carry it out!
Want us to facilitate a Climate Conversation in your community?
What is an Eco Chaplain?
In short, we understand Eco Chaplaincy as: the work of providing emotional and spiritual support to communities trying to figure out how to live in a world ravaged by environmental devastation and climate disruption.
Drawing from the work of Sarah Vekasi and others (scroll down for suggested readings), we define Eco Chaplains as people who:
- Engage ecological devastation as a spiritual crisis and opportunity.
- Bear witness, provide empathy, and help people honor their pain for the world.
- Help communities develop resilience by connecting them with the ecological wisdom of their own spiritual traditions and cultivating deeper allyship with other communities and all of Creation.
- Provide structure/ritual for communities to explore their unique abilities to respond to environmental degradation (locally, systemically, and relationally), grounded in the creative potential and power of God/Spirit/Life.
Fill out the form below to get a copy of the Eco Chaplain Directory, including contact information for individuals, emailed to you.
For details about fees, services, and availability, please reach out directly to the Eco Chaplain/s you're interested in working with.
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Rev. Dr. Ventra AsanaDetroit, MI |
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Religious/spiritual background: Christian Services offered:
Experience: "As ecominister I created and directed many programs, including St. Timothy UMC (Detroit) '2nd Thursdays: Ecology Talks' at Metropolitan UMC (Detroit)..." For complete listing and contact information, fill out the form below. |
Group conversation facilitation
Video calls
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Baba Oluwo Ifabayowa
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Religious/spiritual background: Isese'lagba (Yoruba Traditional Religion) Services offered:
Experience: "I've been initiated into this spiritual/ancestral cultural tradition for six years and have assisted hundreds of people with spiritual grounding..." For complete listing and contact information, fill out the form below. |
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Dr. James PerkinsonDetroit, MI |
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Religious/spiritual background: "Christian (seeking to embrace challenges from indigenous and folk cultures)" Services offered:
Experience: "I have lived for 35 years as a settler on Three Fires land in inner city Detroit, currently teaching as Professor of Social Ethics at the Ecumenical Theological Seminary..." For complete listing and contact information, fill out the form below. |
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Workshops
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Baba Owólabi AboyadeDetroit, MI |
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Religious/spiritual background: New Afrikan Spiritual Mindset (Yoruba Traditional Religion) Services offered:
Experience: "I am a long term community organizer with experience helping people connect holistic change-making to the healing of body-mind-emotions-soul-ancestry so that our destiny (Ori) is fulfilled..." For complete listing and contact information, fill out the form below. |
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Rabbi Moshe GiventalWest Bloomfield, MI |
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Religious/spiritual background: Jewish Services offered:
Experience: "I am a former psychotherapist (MA in Clinical Psychology) and an ordained Rabbi. I am a trained facilitator of a process called Work That Reconnects..." For complete listing and contact information, fill out the form below. |
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Rachel KoesonGrand Rapids, MI |
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Religious/spiritual background: "I was raised Christian but no longer identify as a Christian. There are many parts of Buddhism I appreciate and study but I do not practice any one specific religion." Services offered:
Experience: "My primary training and certification is in the Hakomi Method. I have facilitated groups on grief, mindful anger..." For complete listing and contact information, fill out the form below. |
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Rev. Ruth MoerdykKalamazoo, MI |
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Religious/spiritual background: "Ordained in the United Church of Christ, pastor in the Church of the Brethren (which comes from a pacifist, simple living tradition)." Services offered:
Experience: "Training in spiritual direction and pastoral care, some familiarity with The Work That Reconnects..." For complete listing and contact information, fill out the form below. |
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If you would like to be considered for inclusion in the directory, fill out our Eco Chaplain Directory Application.
Suggested reading
- A Rabbi's Reflection on Being an Eco-Chaplain, by Rabbi Moshe Givental (Michigan IPL Board member)
- A Call for a New Kind of Chaplain, by Rabbi Katy Allen
- Eco-Chaplaincy: Creating and Tending our NEW story, by Rev. Lauren Van Ham
- Sustainable activism: managing hope and despair in social movements, by Paul Hoggett and Rosemary Randall
- Apocalypse Fatigue, Selective Inattention, and Fatalism: The Psychology of Climate Change, by Damaris Zehner
- Rebecca Solnit on Hope in Dark Times, Resisting the Defeatism of Easy Despair, and What Victory Really Means for Movements of Social Change, by Maria Popova
- Transforming Despair: An Interview with Joanna Macy, by Mary NurrieStearns
- Beyond Hope, by Derrick Jensen
Legal disclaimer
This directory is meant to be a public resource. The individuals listed are not Michigan IPL employees and Michigan IPL cannot be held legally liable for their work.
Fill out the form below to receive the Eco Chaplain Directory by email.