By Peterson Toscano
Producer, Climate Changed podcast

When I first heard Pax Ressler’s Woven Again, I didn’t imagine looms or spinning wheels. I heard something more internal, more human—a sense of a frayed connection, of kinship lost with each other and all living things. I also heard a lament, not only a sorrowful one, but a furious one.

Woven Again is a song that names our failure to love Earth and each other well, while holding onto the radical hope that we can still be restored. This tension—between rupture and repair—became the visual spine of the video I created. It doesn’t follow a literal narrative. Instead, it flows like a liturgy of images, inviting the viewer into the spiritual and emotional terrain of the song.

 

A Theology of Kinship—and Estrangement

 

The song begins with a theological claim: we were knit together by the Divine. But we’ve torn at the fabric. We’ve imagined ourselves cut from a different cloth—separate from one another, from creatures, and from the Earth.

In response, I incorporated images of humans disconnected from one another, distressed, disoriented, and in despair. These people may be in a natural setting, but are not integrated into it. One man in a hospital bed in what looks like a windowless room looks directly at the camera, lost and longing. 

I chose not to rush to reconnection—much of the song dwells in lament. When Mother Earth cries out, my first choice included the image of a young woman screaming in rage. Colleagues at The BTS Center shared that they wanted to see more imagery depicting the beyond-human world. The estrangement from the natural world I displayed disturbed them, and that image of the anguished, angry woman felt especially raw. Instead, I inserted a video of a massive overflowing landfill, followed by cows sitting on piles of garbage: visceral images of the despair and defeat many of us doing climate work often feel. 

 

Gender, Power, and Environmental Harm

 

One theme that emerged for me was the gendered reality of climate collapse. In the video, the early visuals show more women and femme-presenting people—straining, yearning, and grieving. Later, more male-presenting figures appear during scenes of rupture and remorse. This was intentional.

Men have historically held disproportionate power in systems that harm land and people. Women and non-binary folks often lead efforts of ecological restoration and care. It’s a pattern I see at climate events, on college campuses, and in the stories we rarely tell. It’s also deeply theological and political: how we treat the Earth often mirrors how we’ve treated women.

 

The Turning Point

 

The most moving moment for me comes when the music softens and shifts: “Oh God, we vow to be woven now… We won’t be afraid, not one more day… Until our end, we’ll strive to mend the harm that we caused, the kinship we lost.”

That’s the turning point—from confession to vow. It’s more tender than triumphant and is followed by the reminder: “We’re tied to everything.” The song moves to a message of embracing kinship with determination.

From there, I bring in images of devotion and movement from solitude to community. It’s not so much repentance but a reweaving.

 

A Visual Act of Witness

 

For everyone participating in BTS Center programs in this season, I hope they feel stirred by Pax Ressler’s song and the video I produced. I want viewers to feel the weight of what human pollution—material and spiritual—has done. But I also want them to hear the invitation to be woven again.

This work is part of our collective prophetic witness. It asks us not only to grieve, but to imagine. To live into a different story—one of reconnection, humility, and resolve.

. . .

 

Here’s the video once again.

 

 

About the Author

 

Peterson Toscano is a writer, creativity coach, queer Bible scholar, and audio engineer. His work weaves together storytelling, spirituality, and creative collaboration to help people express their deepest insights and boldest ideas.

He guides individuals and organizations in developing their creative voice—whether through writing, teaching, or the spoken word. As a trained audio producer (and the producer of Climate Changed), he provides clients with everything they need to create compelling audio and video podcasts, radio features, and short films.

At the heart of all Peterson does is the belief that imagination and story have the power to transform lives and communities.

About Pax Ressler

 

Pax Ressler (they/she) is a transfeminine performer, devisor and composer based in Philadelphia, an F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Award Finalist and a Barrymore Award-winning composer. Their theatrical work can be described as a Trojan horse—given as a seemingly harmless gift, but sickeningly subversive once the audience’s guard is down. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and works as a creator, performer, music director, composer, designer and educator at Philadelphia Theatre companies, including Arden Theatre Company, Bearded Ladies Cabaret, FringeArts, Nicole Canuso Dance Company, People’s Light, Theatre Exile, Theatre Horizon, Simpatico Theatre, Shakespeare in Clark Park, Wilma Theater, 11th Hour, 1812 Productions and more. Pax is a gardener of community-focused projects, including Rise Choir and Genderfunk Philly. To see more of what Pax has been working on, visit the Project History tab. After releasing Change (2020), an album of non-binary love songs, she recently released dreams, a concept album based on half-awake voice memos.