The Nutmeg’s Curse
A Book Study
Tuesdays 4:00pm - 5:15pm (Eastern) • Online
March 4, 2025
March 11, 2025
March 18, 2025
March 25, 2025
April 1, 2025
$35 per person
Note: Participants should plan to get their own copy of the book.
As climate crises continue to intensify, local community organizations and mutual aid structures are often the first, and most responsive, entities at the nexus of disaster. At the same time, our political and economic structures remain devoted with almost idolatrous fervor to the status quo of capitalist, extractive systems. We know that what we have built over the past several hundred years does not serve life, yet divesting ourselves and our communities from the death-dealing systems in which we find ourselves requires understanding the choices and mechanisms which have brought us to this point.
In The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis, author Amitav Ghosh delves into the roots of climate change as a product of colonizing and extractive economic systems which view beings — human and other-than-human — as resources from which to profit. This failure to see ourselves as part of a great web of interbeing, and to understand all life as sacred, is at the basis of the climate chaos we are experiencing today. Utilizing histories, mythologies, parables, and stories, Ghosh invites us to re-animate our understanding of the world and of our place in it, recognizing that doing so is a step toward healing and possibility, even in these drastic times.
This spring, The BTS Center invites you to participate in a book study of The Nutmeg’s Curse. Meeting once weekly for five weeks, and guided by facilitators Nicole Diroff and Blair Nelsen, this group will offer a deep dive into the text, in the context of supportive community. Our sessions will be woven with contemplative space and practice to allow for integration and presence, as well as time for sharing, conversation, and exploration.
Praise for The Nutmeg’s Curse:
“In The Nutmeg’s Curse, Amitav Ghosh presents a sweeping historical perspective of the interwoven crises of our times, showing us that our problems are structural, global, and deeply rooted. We can’t say “It’s just capitalism” or “It’s patriarchy” or even “It’s racism.” It is everything about how we have organized this society that is based upon extracting labor and resources from people and places that we have rendered into things.” ― Resilience
“What do you do when the subject matter of life on this planet seems to lack . . . life? You read The Nutmeg’s Curse, which eschews the leaden language of climate expertise in favor of the reanimating powers of mythology, etymology, and cosmology. Ghosh challenges readers to reckon with war, empire, and genocide in order to fully grasp the world-devouring logics that underpin ecological collapse. We owe a great debt to his brilliant mind, avenging pen, and huge soul. Do not miss this book — and above all, do not tell yourself that you already know its contents, because you don’t.” — Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
“Ghosh connects colonialism’s brutal biopolitical wars against Indigenous peoples to our current climate catastrophe’s unprecedented omnicide. Countering the basic tenets of the European scientific revolution and its justification of extractive exploitation economies, he retrieves and retells the saving story of an enduring subterranean tide of vitalism.” ― The Christian Century
A Warm Invitation from The BTS Center:
“Throughout The BTS Center’s programs, we aim to better understand the ways in which colonization — and the related offenses of domination, extraction, and consumption — lie at the very core of our present ecological crisis. Perhaps no one pursues this question with as much insight, clarity, and courage as Amitav Ghosh. We’ve passed this book, The Nutmeg’s Curse, around our team, and now we’re eager to bring it to you, The BTS Center community, for exploration in this reading group. We hope you’ll join us for rich discussion, open-hearted reflection, and deepening insight.” — Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill, Executive Director, The BTS Center
Meet Our Facilitators
Blair A. R. Nelsen has served as Executive Director of Waterspirit since the founder retired in 2019. Blair received her Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School and her BA with honors in Environmental Studies from Brown University. She brings a multi-faith, international perspective to this work after living in Venezuela and Brazil for many years. She currently represents Waterspirit’s sponsors, the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, at the United Nations in addition to her Waterspirit ministry duties in New Jersey. In 2022, Blair co-authored the Climate Pastoral Care Course, available on Waterspirit’s website. She is a Good Grief Network Community FLOW Facilitator and has been trained in climate café facilitation by the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America. Additionally, she also holds a certificate in Climate Psychology from the California Institute for Integral Studies. Blair is a frequent writer and speaker about water, climate change, biodiversity, nature, climate anxiety, spirituality, religion, mindfulness, and contemplative practices. She is fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Rev. Nicole Diroff is ordained in the United Church of Christ. Having served as Program Director for The BTS Center since 2020, with primary responsibility for coordinating the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the Center’s programmatic offerings, Nicole recently assumed a new role as Associate Director, effective July 1, 2024. 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 Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Committee for the Scarborough Public School District. She lives with her family in Scarborough, Maine.
Prior to her work with The BTS Center, Nicole served as the Associate Director at Interfaith Philadelphia, where she coordinated the Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia and directed the creation and expansion of the organization’s many Dare to Understand initiatives.
Nicole is a graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and Ohio Wesleyan University. When she’s not leading programs or facilitating meetings, she can be found exploring tide pools with her son, hiking with her dogs, or reading a memoir at a local coffee shop.
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