Alumni journalists’ ‘Shifting Climates’ podcast enters second and final season

The second season of “Shifting Climates” podcast, produced by three Eastern Mennonite University graduates, has launched. New episodes will be released weekly each Tuesday through July. The podcast is sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions, which offers a wide variety of programs for current students and recent graduates interested in the intersection of faith and climate.

The podcast streams online at www.shiftingclimates.com or on Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or any other podcast app.

Produced by 2018-19 fellows Michaela Mast, Harrison Horst, and Sarah Longenecker, “Shifting Climates” aims to “re-humanize the conversation” on climate change by talking about climate justice and the church. The podcast explores a wide variety of stories and topics, from farming and food to waste to community, but all are centered around connecting the Christian faith to climate justice.

The second and final season took the trio across the United States, from New Haven, Connecticut, to Flagstaff, Arizona, where they talked with individuals from many backgrounds about climate change and its intersections with their lives.

From farming and coal mining to theology and social justice, their conversations follow this framework:

Any discussion about climate change should have three empty chairs in the room: One for future generations, one for all other species, all non-human life, and one for the poor and marginalized in our world today.

In these conversations, an Anabaptist theological framework is used to connect the often controversial topic of climate change and action to the church community.

The first season of 10 half-hour episodes concluded in early March.

The fellows have also engaged with others in conferences and schools and will be presenting their work at the Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship Annual Meeting and the MCUSA Convention this year. The podcast has been featured by Green Seminary Initiative and Peacing It All Together.

The Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions (CSCS) is a collaborative effort of Eastern Mennonite University, Goshen College, and Mennonite Central Committee. CSCS advances thinking and action in Anabaptist and other faith communities to mitigate climate change. Our goal is to make climate change the moral equivalent of war and violence in the Anabaptist community and to change hearts and minds around climate change in the church.