India, home of more than 1.4 billion people, wants to increase its overall prosperity. Presently, its citizens consume, per person, one tenth of what is consumed by Americans. If India were to take an intense fossil-fuel burning, CO2 producing path to prosperity, the effect on the planet would be catastrophic. So leapfrogging to a higher, more sustainable level of technology is a sane and sustainable way forward for India.
Oct 22, 2024•8 min•Season 5Ep. 12
It is astounding how much energy Americans use - especially compared to people elsewhere. The per capita consumption of each person in the U.S. is roughly 11,000 watts every moment of every day. And yet, we today have technology - like the 24 solar panels on my roof that can begin to change the carbon emissions which come from the burning of fuel to make those 11K of power I and every other American consume each day.
Oct 21, 2024•9 min•Season 5Ep. 12
Today it's about the same, important word repeated three times. We are reminded that with the shift to a renewable energy focused economy, there are new jobs which will grow from the need for labor to build the new infrastructure. And, as followers of Christ, we are also called to build a just, inclusive world in which all of the creatures within Christ's creation are respected. Any so-called "Christian" who wants to build an authoritarian nation founded on demonizing or scapegoating others, res...
Oct 20, 2024•8 min•Season 5Ep. 11
We begin with the ending quote from the text for letter "I" - "The I.R.A. was called 'historic,' 'transformational,' and 'the best news anyone who cares about the fate of the planet had heard in a long time'" In contrast, just today, Politico reported that an influential oil & gas industry lobbist group 'has drafted detailed plans for dismantling landmark Biden administration climate rules after the presidential election." So much hangs in this election - continued progress with addressing c...
Oct 19, 2024•7 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Just three letters ago we had "D is for Dispair." Now it's "H is for Hope." Which of these two seemingly opposite postures/attitudes is it? Recall the bluntness of "Despair is a sin." Along with faith and love, hope is a core virtue of the Christian tradition. And there's evidence - if we are awake to it, that there's reason to be hopeful that change - with the climate and, well hopefully, with our politics too can come.
Oct 17, 2024•8 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Of the many human-made things we take for granted, concrete may be near the top of the list. As it's the building block of nearly every structure we construct - it's always nearby - yet often overlooked. Did you know though that the way traditional concrete is made today accounts for nearly 8% of the global total of carbon emissions in 2023 -which is more than what aviation and shipping combined produced! So, we must make concrete differently. Fortunately, there are scientists working on precise...
Oct 16, 2024•8 min•Season 5Ep. 8
It's Indigenous People's (as it's officially named where I live in Columbus, OH) Day. Or perhaps, as an Atlantic article today suggests, we should celebrate this day as Explorer's Day to honor those of all cultures who boldly set out for new frontiers. In this spirit, it's a good day for "F is for Flight." Check out the Alia electric aircraft featured today - at www.beta.team - and prepare to have your mind blown by the versatility plus sheer coolness. It will take hard work to make passenger pl...
Oct 14, 2024•7 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Today's letter, our second vowel, is so great it gets a double letter. The cost of capturing renewable energy has dropped in price -especially from the sun - even since 2010 - such that generating carbon-free electricity is almost the same price as the cost of what is made from burning fossil fuels - that also make CO2. Wind power - especially - off shore - uses blades so big that one sweep of the blade can power a home for a day! Christ, when he walked among us, had no idea about turbines or el...
Oct 13, 2024•8 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Today is stark - "D is for Despair" The text we are pondering in the book "H is for Hope" is brief, pointed & the opposite of the title. It brings to mind a related "D" - doom. It's on my mind as I was feeling a sense of doom about this election before Biden stepped down. And I've been pondering it as I read the 2024 book by Brian D. McLaren "Life After Doom: Wisdom & Courage for a World Falling Apart." How do we navigate a sense of doom? Christ's own words give us a pathway within this ...
Oct 11, 2024•10 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Letter "C" is a tough one for most of us to hear as it's for Capitalism. In the foundational text we're using for this series, this sums it up: "Climate change can't be solved with the tools of capitalism, because it is a product of capitalism." And don't forget that in the U.S. corporations have been granted the same rights as people. The followers of Christ have a different model though - and one which could guide us as we look beyond this laye-stage capitalism. All four gospels share one illu...
Oct 10, 2024•9 min•Season 5Ep. 4
If yesterday's "A" was for someone you didn't know, today's "B" comes from someone you likely do - Greta Thunberg. In late 2021, she spoke in Italy and used a refrain of "Blah. Blah. Blah" to point out the hypocrisy of political leaders thus far on true reduction of carbon and other climate changing gases. Jesus the Christ, also a truth-teller, had pointed words for the hypocrites of his time. I imagine, he - like Greta would have similarly strong words for political leaders and candidates today...
Oct 08, 2024•9 min•Season 5Ep. 3
A is for Arrhenius - Who? What? We start our trip through the alphabet as we have 28 days (and change) to the U.S. election. Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius, starting in 1894, constructed the first climate model which showed the effects that CO2 has on the atmosphere. It's a good place to start as everything on and enveloping earth connects to carbon. And Christ, "through who all things were made" is there in the midst of the "building blocks" that are carbon connected molecules.
Oct 07, 2024•9 min•Season 5Ep. 2
With just 29 days until Election Day, I'm keeping my mind off of polls, horse races and general catastrophizing by pivoting this podcast to the climate crisis. The centerpiece is the 26 letters of "Climate Change A to Z" written by Elizabeth Kolbert and illustrated by Wesley Allsbrook - "H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z" https://a.co/d/bREBnLb . I give a snapshot of the letter - and interpret it through the emerging experience of the Cosmic Christ. Let's vote early and encourage others ...
Oct 06, 2024•7 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Are you, right now, facing a time of change and uncertainty? I was, exactly two years ago. Please listen as I share how I wrote and prayed during June 2021. And how my life has unfolded in amazing ways from then until now. God - The MORE - moved & worked in my story. I believe that The MORE is moving & working in your own story right now too.
Jun 10, 2023•10 min
Do you know how to use Microsoft One Drive? I kind of do. On Memorial Day I Zoomed with my 83 year old dad and showed him how to use this often confusing computer tool. I was surprised to experience The MORE (how I am growing to know God) in this mundane act of service. It got me wondering about the deeper more in a child teaching and/or supporting their aging parent - especially as the child does so in far more expansive ways than how I served my dad and helped him to figure out (at least a bit...
May 30, 2023•6 min
I listen to Peter Gabriel - an artist who has inspired me for 35 years now - sing as I walk my pooch on a beautiful Saturday AM. In his new song "I/O" he declares a truth "I'm just a part of everything." So much of the world around us shows this to be true. Listen as I ponder how even one H2O molecule in the saliva in your mouth reveals this truth.
May 07, 2023•6 min
I finish listening to the outstanding 24 hour long audiobook of King's newest novel "Fairytale". The simple, yet engaging telling of a familiar tale allows me to go deep into the more it holds. Like the 'Fairy Stories" about which Tolkien spoke this fairytale illuminates the light and dark in our world. The MORE ultimately dispels the darkness, yet in this not yet time, the shadows within each of us remain. Learn more at https://presenceexperiencingthenearnessofgod.wordpress.com/
May 04, 2023•6 min
I return to a theme which is at the center of hundreds of prior episodes - experiencing God - The MORE. Today I reflect on how my dog Lucy, with her intense focus on a patch of grass as we walked in the rain, reminded me of how I can use my senses to ponder any sliver of the world I encounter as a go about my day. By finding the deep more to everything, I experience The MORE who creates and sustains it all.
May 02, 2023•6 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Screwtape celebrates how The Enemy's own self-identified followers are facilitating his Dark Father's cause as these Reds claim that they and their boy Prince Chaos are the actual victims. ST21 is pleased that dark history was again made on April 4th like it was made on January 6th (Epiphany.) Yet, he relishes the irony of how it might have taken place a day later on Spy Wed. - the day Judas' betrayal is remember during Screwtape's "Profane Week."
Apr 06, 2023•6 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Screwtape is excited that the first ever indictment of a former US president will take place as a spectacle and thus distraction for the faithful during what he calls "Profane Week".
Apr 03, 2023•6 min•Season 3Ep. 8
It's Code Yellow when Wormwood tells ST21 that Fr. Steven Bell, a thoughtful and authentic priest is coming for a three day mission. ST21 commands that Wormwood must prevent his Patient from attending and being drawn closer to The Enemy and his warm embrace.
Mar 26, 2023•5 min•Ep. 7
Screwtape encourages Wormwood to guide his Patient to find pleasure and doom in one of the greatest inventions by The Agency of Enticement to Obsession -- online sports betting.
Mar 21, 2023•6 min•Season 21Ep. 6
ST21 explains to Wormwood the risk and potential reward for their Dark Father on the U.S. day of Thanksgiving. While the Seven Slippery Slides - gluttony, greed and envy - are there at the table, so too is the risk that The Patient may feel the vilest of attitudes - that of gratitude. ST shows WW how he can deploy two of their most effective tools - distraction and entitlement to keep the man away from the generosity their Enemy is always showing to His creation. And to lead the man ever closer ...
Nov 24, 2022•5 min
ST21 speaks to Wormwood for the first time in the week since the 2022 election. He encouragea WW to "keep his chins up" as The Prince of Chaos has announced that he is running again for president in 2024. ST21 extoles the vices of this remarkable figure and prepares for the decisive chaos ahead on the road to 2024.
Nov 16, 2022•4 min
ST21 explains to Wormwood what it means that "democracy is on the ballot today." ST21 recounts the dark reality of how some of the same people who fought for democracy 80 years ago and in decades since, will today vote for candidates who boast of how they will ignore the will of the people when votes are cast. This makes ST21 proclaim - "Truly this is Our Dark Father's century!"
Nov 08, 2022•5 min
Screwtape brings Wormword out of exile and gets his nephew up to speed with smartphones and other aspects of the 21st century. WW's "patient" - a white middle aged American Evangelical Catholic is preparing to vote. ST21 tells Wormword of the delicious hypocrisy this man and others like him show as they hurt those whom Christ identified as "my little ones."
Nov 07, 2022•8 min
"The Screwtape Letters," written by C.S. Lewis and published in 1942 is one of the most remarkable novels ever written about good and evil. What would the character Screwtape have to say about our world and the U.S. in 2022 and beyond. Listen and follow along at www.ST21century.com.
Nov 07, 2022•4 min
The Church begins the age old "O Antiphon" prayers on Dec 17th? Learn about these centuries old prayers and how they connect with the hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel. Today we pray for the coming of God's Wisdom to come upon us. Learn more at EdTechEmergent.com.
Dec 17, 2020•7 min•Season 5Ep. 17
Its the rose-colored Third Sunday of Advent and we hear St. Paul's exhortation to "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing!" How do we do this in the brutal 2020 though? By remembering that Emmanuel - God with is - is here even in the midst of the mess. Find more at EdTechEmergent.com
Dec 13, 2020•8 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Its the first weekday of Advent 2021 and the Church remembers Saint Andrew the Apostle. For the readings of the day and a video about St. Andrew, visit EdTechemergent.com
Nov 30, 2020•8 min•Season 5Ep. 4
