Faith and Sustainability

Rabbi Yonatan Neril is an interfaith environmental advocate and founder of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD), based in Jerusalem. He speaks internationally on religion and ecology, including at UN climate conferences, the World Economic Forum, and the Parliament of World Religions.

Dr. Richard Ezike of Argonne National Labs discusses his work in transportation and energy equity within the faith community.

Dr. Jairo Garcia of Georgia Tech and Urban Climate Nexus discusses his work with faith-based organization and their role in the urban climate action movement.

Professor and Associate Chair of Religious Studies at California State University Northridge, Dr. Amanda Baugh appears on this episode to discuss sustainability through the lens of various demographics as her research focuses on the intersection of religion and environmental concern.

Arun Agrawal, is the inaugural director of the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative at the University of Notre Dame. He joins the show to talk about how the Initiative aims to transform sustainability research and practice as well as seeking to transform the field of sustainability itself through high-impact, multidisciplinary research and knowledge creation, curricular innovations and global engagement.

Join Kat and Leonard in this special episode following the death of Pope Francis as we celebrate his legacy of Laudato Si and Laudate Deum and how it impacted our work in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. From the world's first Laudato Si Action Plan to this very podcast!

WRAP is a global environmental action NGO transforming our broken product and food systems to create Circular Living for the benefit of climate, nature and people. Natasha Dyer joins the show to talk about her role as the senior behavior chain specialist for food and textiles.

CBIS Part Two! There was so much information in last week's episode that we decided to bring Jeff McCroy and Tom Digenan of Christian Brothers Investment Services back!

Rev. Dr. Durley shares his inspiring journey from the civil rights movement to his current work in environmental justice.

Nathaniel Smith joins the show to talk about advancing racial equity through sustainability initiatives.

Sr. Joan Brown, OSF, is from the Sisters of St. Francis in Rochester, Minnesota, but she lives and works in New Mexico. The former Executive Director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light grew up on a farm in Kansas and still uses lessons learned from that time in her work in New Mexico.

Co-founder of Encounter Georgia, Drew Reynolds, joins the show to talk about his non-partisan and faith-based Catholic advocacy organization.

Leonard & Kat are joined on the show by Jalynn Webb of Imani Village, a Trinity United Church of Christ subsidiary, to discuss Imani Greenworks.

Jaime Lanier is a trustee of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. Jaime discusses how his faith and the influence of his father-in-law, Ray C. Anderson led him to promoting sustainability and environmental stewardship through the foundation.

John Mundell is the director of the Laudato Si Action Platform. John was asked by the Vatican to lead the initiative by the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, inspired by Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical Laudato Si.

Season 3 kicks off with Archdiocese of Atlanta Auxiliary Bishop Joel Konzen. Bishop Konzen is the chaplain for the Laudato Si Initiative and has a long history of love for the environment.

Joining the show this week is Francina Harrison, the founder of The Career Engineer. She talks about how important her faith is to her life and how it can inspire others in their career while also giving tips on how to find 'green jobs' that you've never thought about!

After this episode, we will take a break for Advent and Christmas and will have new episodes starting in 2025!

Kat and Leonard are joined by Christina Slentz, PhD, the Associate Director for Creation Care at the Catholic Diocese of San Diego. Dr. Slentz talks about how she works with catechists at the diocese to promote their creation care programs and her time in the US Navy!