101 episodes

The Earthkeepers Podcast promotes global connection among ecological-minded people who believe that earth care is an integral part of spiritual life. Through conversations about topics like ecology, climate change, gardening, farming, social enterprise, theology, environmental justice, outdoor recreation, conservation and community development, we aim to inspire a movement of ordinary earthkeepers who will help heal the world.

Earthkeepers: A Circlewood Podcast on Creation Care and Spirituality Forrest Inslee

    • Religion & Spirituality
    • 5.0 • 33 Ratings

The Earthkeepers Podcast promotes global connection among ecological-minded people who believe that earth care is an integral part of spiritual life. Through conversations about topics like ecology, climate change, gardening, farming, social enterprise, theology, environmental justice, outdoor recreation, conservation and community development, we aim to inspire a movement of ordinary earthkeepers who will help heal the world.

    Turning the Tables: Forrest Gets Interviewed, on the Think Global podcast

    Turning the Tables: Forrest Gets Interviewed, on the Think Global podcast

    Recently, Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke asked Earthkeepers host Forrest Inslee  to be a guest on THEIR podcast, called Think Global, Do Justice. Among other things, they wanted to ask about a book he edited recently with Angel Burns, called Re-Imagining Short-Term Missions. They also talked about COP 28, evangelical attitudes toward creation care, poverty and environmental justice, Star Trek, and even the story of how Forrest came to adopt his daughter. So, for a change of pace, here is an abridged version of Phil and Brandon’s interview of Forrest.
    Find us on our website: Earthkeepers
    Support the Earthkeepers podcast
    Check out the Ecological Disciple

    • 35 min
    100. Youth in Climate Action: Launching a New Circlewood Podcast

    100. Youth in Climate Action: Launching a New Circlewood Podcast

    This is the 100th episode of the podcast! In keeping with this landmark episode, we’ll be doing something special: We’re launching a NEW Circlewood podcast called Youth in Climate Action! As you might imagine, this podcast will focus on the needs and questions of younger folks about earthcare and the climate future. Importantly, it will also feature young voices, and highlight innovative approaches to inspire a new generation of earth activists and advocates. In this episode of the Earthkeepers podcast, James and Forrest will be in conversation with the two founders of the Youth in Climate Action podcast—Michael Matchell and Kinsley Rawson. 
    Guest: Kinsley Rawson 
    Cocreator of the Youth in Climate Action podcast LinkedIn Instagram Design and Environmental Science student at Biola University  Guest: Michael Matchell 
    Cocreator and cohost of the Youth in Climate Action podcast LinkedIn Instagram Director of Strategic Initiatives & Recruitment at Biola University Mentions: 
    Faith. Climate. Action Workshop at Westmont College COP 28 Youth in Climate Action Podcast Instagram Email: youthinclimateaction@circlewood.online Available wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 1 is out now! Keywords: environment, youth, climate action, creation care, podcast, community, climate change, climate crisis, UN, climate change conference, COP 28, fossil fuels, stewardship, faith, religion, Christianity, environmental advocacy, stories, hope 
     
    Find us on our website: Earthkeepers
    Support the Earthkeepers podcast
    Check out the Ecological Disciple

    • 38 min
    99. Poverty and Earthcare in Tension: A Ugandan Perspective, with Victor Ochen

    99. Poverty and Earthcare in Tension: A Ugandan Perspective, with Victor Ochen

    This special episode features  a guest host from Uganda, Dr. Edward Olara, who Forrest interviewed in episode 71. Edward was once Forrest's student and has become a friend; they’ve worked together in Uganda to encourage and empower development professionals. Recently, Edward published a book called The Elephants and the Farmers. 
    As the HOST of this episode, Dr. Olara interviews a Ugandan friend and colleague, Mr. Victor Ochen, the founder and Executive Director of the African Youth Initiative. Born in northern Uganda, he spent his first 21 years surviving a violent conflict that in the end displaced over three million people. In that conflict, the Lord’s Resistance Army forcefully recruited or abducted 60,000 children to serve as soldiers—and among them was Mr. Ochen’s own brother, who has never been returned.  

    Since then, Mr. Ochen has worked for peace and healing—especially for victims of the war. In 2015, Forbes Magazines named him one of the ten most influential men to give new hope for Africa, and in that same year he became the youngest-ever African to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. More recently, he was awarded Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s prestigious African Young Leaders Award for his role in promoting the culture of dignity, peace and reconciliation.  
    Guest Host: Edward Silas Olara 
    Book: The Elephants and the Farmers Guest: Victor Ochen 
    Director for African Youth Initiative Network Facebook Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Accomplishments  Mentions: 
    LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) Shea trees Wangari Maathai  Keywords: environment, youth, politics, policy, war, conflict, trauma, healing, social justice, hate, intergenerational trauma, sustainability, tolerance, government, poverty, hope, education, information, society, inclusivity, resources, peace, conflict resolution, coexistence, farms, climate change, activism, economy, green energy, future, global cooperation, faith 
    Find us on our website: Earthkeepers
    Support the Earthkeepers podcast
    Check out the Ecological Disciple

    • 29 min
    98. Fighting Fast Fashion: Knowing the Stories We Wear, with Kathleen Audet

    98. Fighting Fast Fashion: Knowing the Stories We Wear, with Kathleen Audet

    In the last episode, we talked about the enormous impact that relatively mundane choices like what we eat have on the health of the planet. In this episode, we talk about another part of our everyday habits that we might not normally think about in earthkeeping terms: what we wear—and the impact of the clothing choices we make on the planet as a whole. To get us thinking about our OWN fashion habits, let me ask you a couple of questions: First though, pick just one item of clothing you are wearing right now. Do you know where that garment was made, and how far it had to travel to get to you? Or let me ask this: Do you know anything about the people who actually made the fabric this item is made of . . . . or anything about the people who stitched all the pieces together . . . or how much they were paid to do it? Do you even know what this item of clothing is made of—or importantly, what impact the making of that material had on the environment?  
    I think a lot of us would be hard pressed to answer even one of those questions. But for those of us who long to become better at loving and caring for all creation, these are the kinds of questions we need to ask of ourselves and of our habits. And that is why we talked with Kathleen Audet, owner of an image consulting firm called Allegory. She has made it her mission to promote awareness about the things we wear—and to think about social and environmental justice when it comes to buying, owning, and even getting rid of clothing. Also, as part of our focus on “greening all vocations” in this season of the podcast, Kathleen shares the story of how she has found ways to do good for people and planet through her work as an image consultant.” 

    Guest: Kathleen Audet 
    Allegory Styling LinkedIn Mentions: 
    The True Cost  Rana Plaza collapse Stewards of Eden by Sandra L Richter James Speth For Days Allegory Resource Page Keywords: image consulting, sustainability, spirituality, religion, style, fashion, fashion industry, personal image, pollution, waste, consumers, affordability, ethics, fair labor, child labor, traceability, social justice, awareness, fast fashion, greening, scripture, creation care, capsule wardrobe, environment 
    Find us on our website: Earthkeepers
    Support the Earthkeepers podcast
    Check out the Ecological Disciple

    • 46 min
    97. Eating Like Earthkeepers, with Nutritionist Leslie Aaron

    97. Eating Like Earthkeepers, with Nutritionist Leslie Aaron

    While most listeners to this podcast have found ways to make changers in their lives in order to live in more earth-sustaining ways, how often do we pay attention to what we eat as a critical factor for an earthkeeping lifestyle? Think about the foods that made up the last meal you ate: Do you know where those foods came from? How they were produced? How those foods impacted your carbon footprint?  
    In this episode, Forrest talks to nutritionist Leslie Aaron—a person who helps people answer such questions for a living. Leslie works to promote community nutrition in places all around the world. She and her husband Douglas also work as contractors with global nonprofits in disaster relief and have their own organization called Fulcrum Missions, which supports local churches and ministries through context-appropriate projects. In one of their most recent endeavors,  they’ve been working in Nicaragua  to set up aquaponics systems—an approach to farming both fish and vegetables in sustainable, environmentally sound ways.    

    Guest: Leslie Aaron 
    Nutritionist Fulcrum Missions LinkedIn  Mentions: 
    Bastyr University USDA Organic Certification Monocropping Circlewood Ecological Christian Leadership Cohort Find us on our website: Earthkeepers Keywords: food, nutrition, community, diet, local food, vitamins, creation care, harvesting, greening, simplifying, organic, globalization, availability, childcare, child nutrition, traditional diets, herbicides, pesticides, whole foods, processed foods, ultra processed foods, ingredients, monocropping, animal products, cage free, free range, imports, social justice, environmental justice 



    Find us on our website: Earthkeepers
    Support the Earthkeepers podcast
    Check out the Ecological Disciple

    • 44 min
    96. Coffee for the Common Good: TJ Fittis of Camano Island Coffee Roasters

    96. Coffee for the Common Good: TJ Fittis of Camano Island Coffee Roasters

    In this episode, we talk with TJ Fittis, owner of Camano Island Coffee Roasters. I became a fan of Camano Island Coffee way back in 2006, when I asked the company’s founder, my friend Jeff Ericson, to come lecture in a course I was teaching. This course was all about social entrepreneurship—and for those not familiar with that term, a social enterprise is a business that exists not just for financial profit, but also for social benefits that somehow make the world a better place. Jeff was a great person to help me teach social entrepreneurship because, in the year 2000, he had founded Camano Island Coffee Roasters as a means of supporting ethical farming practices, fair pricing and wages, and most importantly, the production of great tasting, all-organic coffee. To accomplish these social and environmental objectives, he partnered early on with a nonprofit called Agros—and organization that helps the very poor in Central America to gain access to land for farming, and to establish new cooperative villages. Eventually, Jeff sold the company to his son-in-law, TJ—who continues to pursue these founding values of making the world a better place by practicing good—and profitable—business principles.  
    But even if you aren’t a business person, there is wisdom in this conversation that can help us to make more earth-wise choices as consumers. That’s where we started our conversation, in fact—with the ways in which Camano Island Coffee uses their subscription-based model they call the Coffee Club, to provide a high quality, organic product that is better for the coffee consumer, for farmers, and for the environment.

    Guest: TJ Fittis 
    Camano Island Coffee LinkedIn Mentions: 
    Camano Island Fair Trade Certification Find us on our website: Earthkeepers 
    Support the Earthkeepers podcast 
    Check out the Ecological Disciple 
    Keywords: coffee, coffee roasting, fair trade, Camano Island, farming, farmers social justice, environment, small business, local business, organic, sourcing, decentralization, community, consumers 
    Find us on our website: Earthkeepers
    Support the Earthkeepers podcast
    Check out the Ecological Disciple

    • 27 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
33 Ratings

33 Ratings

froggy 5 Stapelman ,

Looking back to look ahead

This was a fun truthful, open and informative pod cast. Thank you

mama in labor ,

Love the diverse perspectives

One of my favorite podcasts! I always gain insights as well as often practical ideas about how to be a better “earth keeper.” I appreciate the diverse perspectives that share on this platform and the many angles that approach caring for nature…and each other! I also appreciate that they end each episode with hope, the antithesis of a lot of environmental content. The episodes where people read their responses I find harder to stay engaged with (usually the younger people who are featured do this). Encourage people to speak freely and from the heart!

MaaaaaattK ,

A Critical Voice

A vital organization and critical voice about Christian environmentalism.

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