Last Tuesday, February 12th, I went to an event on campus called “Faith, Justice, and Global Warming: Discussing the Climate of Our Times.”

The event was in the Education Center (Lecture Hall 118) from 4pm-6:30pm and was hosted by Professor Todd LeVasseur and the Sustainability Literacy Institute. The discussion featured Peterson Toscano and Corina Newsome.

Toscano described himself as a “queer and quirky” individual from rural Pennsylvania, where evidences of wildlife were abundant. He grew up as a Quaker and explained how it was considered “against the grain” to be gay and come out as a young adult, in his church community. Due to his love and support for the LGBTQ community, he began to view the issues of climate change as one directly associated with civil rights. Therefore, Toscano took a year off and began to educate himself on climate science and got involved with citizens climate policies. He explained that he is now a Bible Scholar who has his own podcast, inviting different perspectives, ranging from everyday people with a story to tell to pastors and preachers from neighboring states. Toscano is interested in hearing what people have to say regarding what the Bible has to say about climate change.

Newsome explained that she grew up in the city of Philadelphia and experienced a very different childhood from Toscano, when it comes to nature. She discussed how she was never really exposed to animals until she went to visit them in zoos when she was older. This experience combined with learning about how so many species are endangered and threatened, instantly spiked Newsome’s interest in wildlife preservation and ultimately, climate change as well.

She explained that once she brought up this concern of climate change to her church community, she was immediately shauned. She was frustrated, but soon joined the Young Evangelicals for Climate Action in college.

Newsome explained that one big change she made in her life was beginning to participate more in her civil engagement duties. In other words, she encouraged us in the audience to become educated on what local and national individuals were running for office (i.e what policies they support) and vote! She said that this was a small, but great way to make your voice heard.

Newsome also explained that she has tried to “build bridges” where she can, when it comes to discussing climate change to others. We had a mini discussion during the event about how a large portion of the older generation simply dismisses the topic of climate change. Newsome gave advice of trying to build bridges that lead into the topic. She explained that by not beginning with the topic, but instead relating with the other person on another level, could eventually lead into them trusting your views and opinions moreso.

Similarly, Toscano discussed how he typically uses the strategy of letting his audiences come to him. He explained that he tries to come up with things that others are curious about and interested in. Once that connection is formed, he is able to able to form the bridge to how that important thing is affected by climate change. For example, he discussed how many people care about their pets and this is a great conversation starter. He explained that once you ask someone, “Have you ever wondered how climate change affects your pet?,” this makes them curious and ask you to tell them the answer.

Another main point that was discussed, was the fact that our world and those individuals within in, will see an increase in suffering due to this wicked problem of climate change. Toscano tied faith into this discussion by bringing up the fact that he feels churches will miss out on an integral way to gain more followers with this situation. He explained that with this suffering, individuals will need more guidance, empathy, and something to believe in; thus wanting to turn to religion. He believes that if churches do not choose to admit climate change is happening, they are missing an opportunity to help those in need.

Ultimately, many different points were touched on and brought up during the event regarding how faith, class, and race are all connected back to climate change in different ways. It was interesting to hear these perspectives, because I had never really applied this form of systems thinking prior to learning what it means in class and then attending the event to actually see it in action.