Grounding: A Chorus of Voices from Season Four

As in every episode of Climate Changed, this reflection begins with a grounding. This time, the grounding comes from Susan in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a longtime friend of The BTS Center.

Susan reflects on Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and remembers the immediate, collaborative response of downtown churches. Before regional infrastructure could fully respond, local faith communities met to list their assets—sharing kitchens, vans, space, and volunteers to care for thousands of displaced residents.

Following the voicemail, Nicole highlights the phrase “listing our assets,” pointing out that adaptation begins by asking what relationships, skills, and resources are already present in a community. Peterson and Ophelia build on this, noting that in times of crisis, essential gifts—like active listening, presence, or playing with children—often do not appear on traditional inventories but are priceless.

Listener Voices & Practical Adaptation

This episode features several voicemails from listeners sharing how Season Four moved into their daily lives, congregations, and communities.

• Michael from Maine responds to teachings from Sherry Mitchell and Norma Wong, reflecting on the call to be a good ancestor. He invites listeners not to treat the concept as a temporary catchphrase, but to slow down, stretch their imaginations across generations, and consider our deep connection with all creatures across time.
• Katie shares how the podcast helped build her “muscles of imagination and hope” during a congregational vote to install solar panels—which she calls a “dream seed” for the future. She also describes sharing an immersive soundscape episode with her grandmother (Nonnie), creating a nostalgic moment of connection.
• Peter from New Hampshire reflects on disaster response and the idea that climate change is not only a threat multiplier, but an “opportunity multiplier”—offering a wider, longer view that turns everyday challenges into possibilities for coming together.
• Oliver, a retreat director, connects the season’s conversations on imagination to Joanna Macy’s Active Hope and Ignatian spirituality. He shares a prayer from Joseph Whelan: “What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.”

Main Conversation:

Nicole Diroff: Growing Hearts and Two Strong Wings

Nicole, inspired by Season Four guest, Katie Mears, reflects on how loss, struggle, and disaster can grow our “grinchy hearts” a size larger. Recalling the passing of her mother-in-law two years ago, she notes that while loss is painful, going through it together can deepen family and community closeness. She observes the duality of human nature—contrasting stories of harm with a neighborhood child setting up handmade “turtle crossing” signs to protect nesting turtles near the road.

Nicole also shares a metaphor introduced by Passamaquoddy language keeper Dwayne Tomah during a BTS Center program on the Doctrine of Discovery. Dwayne noted that rather than political “left wings” or “right wings,” what we need is a “bird with two strong wings”—one built on honesty, truth-telling, and a growing heart, and the other holding its head high as we fly in unison together.

Ophelia Hu Kinney: Grace for Separation & The More-Than-Human World

Ophelia addresses the subtle feeling of guilt or shame that can arise when realizing how separated we feel from our neighbors or the earth. She invites listeners to hold grace for themselves, noting that this isolation is often engineered by extractive economic systems designed to exploit land and people.

Drawing inspiration from the more-than-human world, Ophelia shares how tree stumps—seemingly dead—are often sustained and fed underground by neighboring trees through interconnected root networks until new growth can emerge. This natural reciprocity offers a model for human community, mutual aid, and care.

Peterson Toscano: A Legacy of Connection & Trust

Peterson reflects on the power of relational cross-pollination across the season. He notes how the podcast acts as a stepping-off point that moves into liturgy, preaching, family conversations, and community organizing.

Looking back at the whole season, Peterson highlights that the work ahead in a climate-changed world is not merely technical or political; it is relational, imaginative, and deeply spiritual.

Themes in This Episode

• Asset Mapping & Community Adaptation: Susan’s memory of Hurricane Katrina illustrates that adaptation is not an abstract policy word, but a practical process of mapping local gifts, relationships, and assets before crisis hits.
• Growing Hearts Through Loss: Reflecting on Katie Mears’ episode, the hosts explore how navigating shared loss, grief, and hardship can expand human empathy and bring communities closer together.
• A Bird with Two Strong Wings: Drawing on indigenous perspectives, the episode calls for moving beyond political division to build a culture rooted in truth-telling, large-heartedness, and collective alignment.
• Becoming Good Ancestors: Michael’s voicemail grounds a core season theme: stretching our moral and spiritual imaginations to consider what we owe to past, present, and future generations.
• Dream Seeds & Practical Action: Katie’s story of a congregational solar panel vote highlights how spiritual hope translates into practical, logistical, and financial commitments for a just future.
• Opportunity Multipliers: Listening to Peter from New Hampshire, the hosts discuss how holding a wider, longer view allows us to see climate challenges as catalysts for new ways of being and deep community connection.

Next Steps

• Share this season with someone: If an episode made you think of a friend, colleague, family member, clergy person, teacher, artist, organizer, or community leader, send it to them with a personal note explaining why.
• Host a listening party: Choose one episode from Season Four and gather a few people from your congregation, neighborhood, or community group to listen together.
• Use the discussion guides: Each episode comes with a discussion guide with questions, activities, and suggested next steps to help your group reflect and respond.
• Share an episode in your community: Include a link in a church bulletin, newsletter, community email, Reddit thread, Slack community, Discord server, or Facebook group.
• Use the videos: The BTS Center offers full-length video episodes, short clips, and bonus material on YouTube. Consider playing a short video during a class, meeting, or worship service.
• Tell people why you are sharing: Add a sentence about what the episode helped you see—whether about adaptation, imagination, climate grief, or local action.

People and resources mentioned:

The BTS Center YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@TheBTSCenter

Joanna Macy and Active Hope:
https://www.activehope.info/

Tory Stephens and Grist’s climate fiction work
https://grist.org/author/tory-stephens/

Sherry Mitchell:
https://www.sacredinstructions.life/

Norma Wong
https://normawong.com/

Connect with us

• Climate Changed Podcast:
  https://climatechangedpodcast.org/
• The BTS Center:
  https://thebtscenter.org/
• Email: podcast@thebtscenter.org
• Find transcripts, discussion guides, full-length video episodes, short videos, and bonus materials through The BTS Center website and on The BTS Center’s YouTube channel.

Meet Our Hosts

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.

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.

Ophelia Hu Kinney is The BTS Center’s Strategic Communications Director. She is the child of immigrants and lives in Scarborough, Maine, with her wife and daughter. Her family of origin strictly adheres to disorganized religion, but she took a more scandalous route of Christian curiosity. Prior to joining The BTS Center’s staff, Ophelia served on The BTS Center’s Board of Trustees and was a grateful participant in its community and programs. She previously served as Director of Communications for Reconciling Ministries Network, an organization working for the full participation of LGBTQ+ people in the life and leadership of The United Methodist Church. One throughline of Ophelia’s work and writing is the provocation of spiritual imagination. She is part of HopeGateWay in Portland, Maine.