On June 5th at Folk U Talk Show, Karen Mahon Carrington joined host Manda Aufochs Gillespie to talk about her climate hope: what it is and how it inspired a new organization and movement. 

Karen defines hope as: “the refusal to give up on love.” This idea inspired an essay I wrote called The Alchemy of Hope (https://mandagillespie.com/hope/)

Karen was recently ordained as a minister and she talks about her path mixing her activist background and her new ordination in hope.  “As we bear witness to the increasing severity of the climate crisis, we are faced with questions that cut to the very nature of who we are, and the ultimate fate of our human species. Most of us have little or no framework to process the emotional and spiritual intensity of living through this time. Unsupported, we may move into grief, anxiety, or disengagement. Seemingly powerless in the face of a constant flow of difficult information, we may become numb or gorge ourselves on distractions. Living in denial and overwhelm is difficult and doesn’t allow us to be present to the gift of our own lives, neither does it help us engage with the problems or build solutions. Climate Hope is an invitation to explore another path, to build our spiritual and emotional resilience so that we are able to engage with the climate reality from a place of resilience and productivity.” Learn more at climatehope.earth

Karen’s talk ranged from her work with Deep Adaptation and the paper by Jem Bendell that started a movement. Read or listen to this paper here: https://jembendell.com/2019/05/15/deep-adaptation-versions/  Deep Adaptation starts with the premise that we are in societal collapse from overshoot, including climate collapse. 

Karen also discusses economic racism and the systems that must be understood to begin work of resilience. 

This week in the Garden: Tammy Collingwood clinical herbalist, massage therapist, and gardening enthusiasts discusses what she is growing in  her garden and her plans for an herbal plant stand.