About this Podcast

There are a growing number of great climate change podcasts out there, offering all kinds of information about climate science, political responses, innovations, and protest activities. Many have high production values and include interviews with major players in the world of climate science, policy, and activism. I encourage you to check them out.

I’m not aiming to compete with these existing podcasts by trying to be a source of the latest information on the climate emergency, or by featuring high-profile interviews. Instead, I want this podcast to be a support to you as you strive to live your life, day by day, while facing the terrifying and mind-numbing prospect of the breakdown of earth’s natural life-support systems.

I want to explore questions like:

How do I face the truth of what’s going on without falling into despair?
How can I continue to connect emotionally with what I’m witnessing or hearing, without going numb?
Is there any way out of a sense of powerlessness with respect to the climate crisis?
Is there anything an ordinary person like me can do?
Can I relax and enjoy my life even though scientists are predicting a terrible future for our children and grandchildren?
How do I stay engaged with the whole climate issue when it’s so overwhelming and there’s no resolution in sight?

I’ll certainly mention practical and material aspects of our crisis on this podcast, but I’ll always bring it back to how they relate to you. My dream is that you will find yourself wanting to listen to this podcast on a weekly basis as a way to stay engaged with the climate crisis in a sustainable way.

About Me

I’m Domyo Burk, a climate activist, Soto Zen Buddhist teacher, and podcaster. My other podcast is the Zen Studies Podcast. You can read my priest bio here. I live on the West Coast of the United States, near Portland Oregon.

I’m no expert on climate science, policy, politics, activism, or the growing impacts of climate chaos on people all over the world. I am a Zen Buddhist priest who has spent the last 25 years immersed in a spiritual tradition which emphasizes awareness of your inner experience and the impacts of your actions of body, speech, and mind.

I believe we need to make a practice of living in a climate and ecological emergency – learning how to face the truth on an ongoing basis, learning how to stay strong and live a life with integrity and joy, and finding a meaningful way to contribute to the fight to save the life on this planet.

After getting my master’s degree in Wildlife Science in 1999, I decided we already knew everything we needed to know in order to take better care of life on this planet, but this knowledge was being ignored. Despairing, I entered full-time Zen monastic training. After ten years I felt better able to face the world, but since then I’ve been struggling to find the best way to respond authentically, sustainably, and generously in the midst of a climate and ecological emergency.

I hope you will share my journey as I continue to find the way to do this, and will benefit from some of the things I’ve discovered along the way.