Religion & Peace

Before I started my journey towards chaplaincy through Hartford International University, I had no idea what a chaplain was. I’d never met one, nor can I recall hearing the term before a conversation with a friend. As we spoke, I reflected on the deep need for spiritual care in the human and the more-than-human world. There is so much suffering from eco-grief, eco-anxiety, climate injustice, and more. My hope was to use my gift of presence to hold people as they wrestle with their pain, find meaning in their lives, and offer dignity to our desecrated Earth. 

Her response?
“You’re talking about chaplaincy.” 

Dumbfounded and excited that what I yearned for already existed, I dove into research. As I did, I noticed the traditional model of chaplaincy offered only half the equation for me. I found little about spiritual companionship that included care for and with Nature. I needed to find a way to marry the two to satisfy my vocational calling. 

Chaplaincy Care for and with Nature

Several years into this journey, I’m now seeing many more articles, blogs, and webinars on the subject, thanks in large part to the non-profit organization The BTS Center and its Climate Conscious Chaplaincy initiative. 

I was blessed to have been accepted to a chaplaincy internship with The BTS Center for my field education class at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (HIU). The proposed project for the semester was a newsletter specifically designed to offer education, connection, and inspiration to current and aspiring climate-oriented chaplains. To do this, it was vital to capture the wildly diverse stories of those actively blazing the trail of this work. I first spoke with Pastor Jennifer Lessard, who divides her time between serving as a Baptist minister in upstate New York and working as an international chaplain in Ecuador. Abroad, she supports a group of women on the front lines who are fighting companies destroying their sacred lands for resource extraction. 

I also interviewed a college chaplain who sees the stress of the climate crisis in students, a maritime chaplain who wants to expand his work to include healing ecological grief through storytelling circles, and a minister who educates congregations on how to weave meaningful conversations about climate disruption into worship.  

Through research, interviews, and meaningful conversations with my internship advisor, I discovered that my personal vision for this work is just one tiny slice of what’s needed in the field. 

Eco-Chaplaincy – A Budding Field

While terminology in this budding branch of chaplaincy has yet to be clearly defined, one might consider my desire to offer nature-based interventions to human and non-human careseekers for spiritual care, specifically focusing on the direct and indirect impacts of the climate crisis, to be eco-chaplaincy. This work may include offering forest meditations to ease anxiety, holding a vigil to honor the loss of a species, or supporting a community after a devastating wildfire. 

But aren’t we all living on an ailing planet, experiencing to different degrees the disorientation and upheaval that comes with now-annual 100-year storms, year-round fire seasons, and terrifying Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports? 

Perhaps not every careseeker will mention these types of stressors during a spiritual assessment. Still, they have unavoidable impacts on us all. Therefore, all spiritual care providers need to be aware of the symptoms that may present, the potential language used, and be able to offer context, education, and interventions for their careseekers dealing with grief, anxiety, and moral injury associated with our warming planet. 

In essence, all chaplains in this climate-changed world, regardless of whether they work in a hospital, hospice, university, military, prison, or less traditional setting, need to be climate-informed. 

The BTS Center newsletter, which launched April 1, 2025, is called Murmurations. The aim is to provide pathways to fill knowledge gaps for spiritual care providers, inspire chaplains to include climate justice and Earth ethics in their care, and promote a community of like-minded individuals – because we can’t, and are not meant to, do this work alone. 

Climate-Informed Education and Care at HIU

HIU is also promoting the importance of climate-informed care. In fact, it’s one of the reasons, after much discernment, I chose HIU for its MA in Chaplaincy program. New academic programs are advancing education for spiritual care providers for our rapidly changing world. There are now Religion and Ecology specializations in both HIU’s Master of Arts in Interreligious Studies and Doctor of Ministry, and a specialization in Eco-Chaplaincy in the Master’s in Chaplaincy (MAC). These degree programs are paving the way for climate-informed education, equipping our future leaders with skills and competencies useful in all spiritual care settings. Whether promoting interfaith and interreligious dialogue or advocating against climate injustice, HIU is actively and authentically engaged in this critical work.

Read Murmurations Volume 1 HERE.And sign up for future newsletters on The BTC Center’s Homepage.

Tags: eco-chaplaincy