Sister Joan Brown talks about the power of interfaith efforts to address climate change. Hear the full In Good Faith episode IGF045 at aNunsLife.org.
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Sister Joan Brown is Executive Director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light. Previously, she ministered as a journalist, director of Pikes Peace Justice and Peace Commission, and co-director of Tierra Madra, a sustainable strawbale self-help housing project that she co-founded. Sister Joan grew up on a farm near Olpe, Kansas, in the Bluestem Prairie region. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in Religion and Cosmology. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester, Minnesota.
Sister Maxine
This podcast is brought to you by A Nun's Life Ministry. This is Sister Maxine of A Nun's Life Ministry, and my guest, Sister Joan Brown, Executive Director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, working with people of faith and conscience in education, action, and policy advocacy around climate change and care of Earth. Sister Joan, what faith traditions are part of this work?
Sister Joan
Yeah, it is so rich. It is every tradition. We have folks who are Buddhist and Baha’i and indigenous and Catholics and the Protestant denominations, and Jewish and Muslim, I mean, all of those traditions. On our board, we have representatives from most of those traditions. So that's been very rich, and in terms of learning about each spiritual tradition, but also working together in a collective way, where often we see religious traditions in conflict. And some of our wars throughout the world are because of conflicts with religious traditions. So this is setting also a model of healing in the process of our work together.
Sister Maxine
As we're talking, I can't help but think, with the work of climate change, it's climate in a big way. It is climate, the climate in our world, how we are with each other, is connected with how we are with the earth.
Sister Joan
Yes, that is very true. And you know what I say, Maxine? I say the biggest climate change that has to happen is a climate change of the heart, a climate change of our souls, a climate change of how we work together. And so this very drastic situation that we find ourselves in, where people are suffering all over the planet, and are continuing to by the droughts, the fires, the floods--it's also a call to us for a transformation and for deeper loving and deeper working together. And that is a climate change of the heart.
This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.
