Key Themes and Conversations:

• Processing the “Slipstream”: Nicole and Autumn discuss the somatic experience of living through the “polycrisis” and the importance of recognizing our own nervous system’s response to systemic duress.
• Breaking the Construct of Individualism: A reflection on how Western “hyper-individualism” creates a sense of isolation during crisis and the invitation to return to a more foundational “source way” of being.
• Accompaniment in Action: Nicole shares a powerful personal narrative about owning her place in a destructive system and how naming that harm in a personal way offered a step toward healing.

Next Steps & Practice

• Somatic Check-In: When you feel the “panic” of collapse—whether in a personal crisis or global news—take a moment to notice where that feeling lives in your body. Practice the “Breath of Resonance” discussed in Episode 5.
• Identify Your “Source Way”: Reflect on the practices that help you feel connected to the whole of life. Is it singing? Storytelling? Silence? Find one way to prioritize that “beingness” this week.
• Practice Radical Presence: Look for a moment this week where you can offer presence rather than a solution. How does it change the energy of the interaction when the relationship is the first response?

People and resources mentioned:

• Norma Wong, Zen Master, teacher, and author.
• Who We Are Becoming Matters by Norma Wong (North Atlantic Books, released February 2026).
• The BTS Center

Connect with us

What stirred you in this conversation? We love to hear your voices and reflections.

• Email: podcast@thebtscenter.org
• Voice Message: 207-200-6986
• Video: Find full-length video episodes and bonus clips on The BTS Center’s YouTube channel.
• Website: Visit www.climatechangedpodcast.org for transcripts and discussion guides.

Blessing: May you be fed, may you be watered. May you grow towards the sun. Feel held in love, worthy of love.

Coming Up Next: Join us next week for a conversation with Katie Mears as we explore how we communicate risk and build collective solutions in a changing world.

Meet Our Guest

Norma Ryuko Kaweloku Wong Roshi is a Native Hawaiian and Haka Zen teacher. She serves as the Abbot of Enko Inn, an independent branch temple of Daihonzen Chozenji. An 86th-generation Zen Master, she has spent over 40 years applying Zen and indigenous values to transformational change. Her career has spanned community work, the Hawaii state legislature, and policy strategy, including leading negotiations over Native Hawaiian land and water rights. Today, she brings grounded wisdom to global ecological and spiritual crises.

Meet Our Host

Autumn Brown (she/her) is an artist, facilitator, mother, and theologian. The front woman of the eponymously named soul-pop band, AUTUMN, she is a queer, mixed-race Black woman, a gifted facilitator and orator, and a freedom worker who grounds her approach to building movements for liberation in her belief in the innate capacity for healing that emanates from the human heart.

Meet Our Co-Host

Rev. Nicole Diroff (she/her) is ordained in the United Church of Christ. She holds expertise in facilitation, data management, and strategic planning. Nicole is a certified Maine Master Naturalist, serves as Chair of the Spiritual Formation Committee at Williston-Immanuel United Church and is Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Committee for the Scarborough Public School District.

Meet Our Producer

After spending 17 years and over $30,000 on three continents attempting to “de-gay” himself through conversion therapy, Peterson Toscano came out a quirky queer Quaker concerned with human rights. He also produces other podcasts including Citizens Climate Radio, Bubble & Squeak, and the Bible Bash Podcast. Peterson has been featured in People Magazine, The Times of London, the Trya Banks Show, and NPR Morning Edition. He lives in Pretoria, South Africa with his husband, Glen Retief.