I'm currently studying at Yale Divinity School, in large part drawn here by the Living Village, an experiment in ecological building design and community living. In this video essay I explore the tensions between eco-theological vision and praxis, and the moral complexities of working with, and in, large-scale institutions.

Climate change is widely understood as an environmental and economic threat, but new research from the University of Sydney shows it is also a growing social crisis, weakening the relationships people rely on to survive.

Published in Nature Human Behaviour, the international study found climate change is eroding social connection at a time when those ties are most needed, creating a feedback loop where disruption to relationships reduces people's ability to adapt and recover.

"Climate change isn't just something happening 'out there,'" said lead author Dr. Marlee Bower from the Matilda Center for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use. "It's reshaping how we live, how we connect, and ultimately who has support when things go wrong."

Text version: https://www.marystestkitchen.com/will-peanuts-cheese/

Join the Less Lawn More Life 2026 kickoff for a live conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer to launch 12 weeks of turning your outdoor space into something wilder and more alive.

Sign up for the free challenge: lesslawnmorelife.com

Gardiner, M. E. (2023). Make the Holocene Great Again! Or, Why Is Climate Change Boring?. Journal of Boredom Studies, 1. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8028125

Abstract: This article addresses the conundrum: if climate change is an “existential threat” to our species and the integrity of our entire planetary ecosystem, why is climate change “boring” for even informed, well-meaning individuals? Three main areas will be addressed. The first task is to discuss how “boredom” itself can be characterized as a relatively coherent and valid analytical concept, and how it might be linked to the climate crisis specifically, through sociology of emotion and psychoanalytical approaches. Second, climate change’s ontological status as what Timothy Morton calls “hyperobjects” will be examined – entities so complex, and extended across almost limitless time and space, they cannot be comprehended by our usual analogies, perceptions, and metrics. Boredom looms here as affective and libidinal disengagement protecting the psyche from the hyperobject’s unsettling effects of cognitive overreach and emotional dissonance. The third theme is “climate apocalypticism”: endless reiterations of our dystopian future, it is argued, evince a monotonous similarity, resulting in emotional exhaustion, melancholia, and morose resignation – and ultimately boredom. The article’s conclusion will focus on some of the ways in which “climate boredom” might prompt a more critical and engaged collective responses to the climate emergency.

Keywords: apocalypse, boredom, climate crisis, emotions, hyperobjects.

Imagine for a moment that you live in a small farming community in rural California. Your community has a long history of growing the food that people from all over the world eat, and lately there have been more and more advances in renewable agriculture technology that make your work less cumbersome and more rewarding. For you, the farmer, this means that the sensors you use, the seeds from which you grow your crops, the tools and equipment that you maintain, and all technology available to you are all ethically (and equitably) produced and sourced. The development of sustainable technology, like what you use to grow the food that feeds the world, is made possible by advances in carbon-free energy like wind, solar, and fusion. Your job, as a farmer in our Solarpunk world, is to support and enrich both land and people. Throughout this article we will discuss the ways in which we, as cultivators and supporters of student experiences in rural communities, endeavor to bring Solarpunk to rural STEM education.

Naturalism is a view of the world that includes those things which we can observe or directly conclude from observations. Naturalists’ conception of reality consists of the natural world as outlined by the latest scientific understanding. As for claims for which we have no evidence, we do not hold any beliefs in these and do not make any other claims about them. It is quite possible, even likely, that many things exist which we cannot detect, but we believe in a humble approach to knowledge. With humility, we can recognize that human beings are imperfect in their ability to know all things. Therefore, we are careful to limit our claims about reality to what we can experience and measure, as well as reproduce and show to others. On all else, we are content to admit “we don’t know”.

Spirituality is the other word in Spiritual Naturalism. For many, the word ‘spirituality’ has an association with the supernatural. However, we mean the term in its more general and original sense. The Latin root word spiritus meant ‘wind’ or ‘breath’, or the essence of something. As we might speak of the ‘spirit of the law’ or ‘school spirit’, the spiritual is that which is concerned with the essence of life – or the essential things in life. Thus, a person with no sense of spirituality would be a person that lives on the surface, always dealing only with the shallow or the mundane; perhaps even a materialistic person. But to have spirituality is to be concerned with the larger, deeper, and essential matters of life and to apply ourselves consciously toward them in a committed practice or ‘walk’. This includes, as Socrates put it, the ‘examined life’, and this is what we mean by spirituality.

In the Wild Ones National Webinar Rethinking Horticulture with Real Ecology, field botanist and science communicator Joey Santore, creator of Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t, examines how inherited design norms like straight lines, uniform spacing, tidy edges, and color-grouped plantings shape expectations for native landscapes.

Thanks to @greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net for posting a reminder a few days ago :)