In this blog post, Author Nancy Flinchbaugh discusses her recent interview with Author Leah Rampy, author of Earth and Soul: Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos. Leah writes to reweave earth and soul on the edge of loss. Listen to Nancy’s interview with Leah on YouTube.
Recently, I interviewed Leah Rampy, a writer, speaker, retreat leader and educator. In her work, Leah weaves ecology, spirituality, personal stories, and practices to help others deepen their relationship to the natural world.
I first asked Leah about her background. She told me her past careers have included teaching and working in the corporate world. She led training and development departments as an executive coach and also did leadership development as an entrepreneur. Then, she led the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation for six years as the executive director. Now, in addition to her writing, she leads retreats and a monthly gathering of the Church of the Wild Two Rivers. She lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia with her husband in a cohousing community. She’s also active in a local group called “Save our Soil.”
Leah has been very concerned about climate change for the past few decades and wondered what she could do about it. In 2013, she and her daughter attended Al Gore’s Climate Reality Training in Chicago which is based on an updated version of his book and movie An Inconvenient Truth.
While living in the DC area, she connected with the group “Biodiversity for a Livable Climate.” She learned more about how carbon dioxide is causing warming in the world and how detrimental this has been. She became aware of the challenges of ecosystem and species loss as well as the impacts including melting ice, rising oceans, increased storms, droughts, and floods.
She told me, “We can go on and on with that, because we know we’ve really changed the world significantly from the time that we were young. And then I became more aware or the incredible impact to lose all of these beautiful, wonderful, wild places.”
She began weaving the Earth issues into her retreats, inviting people into practices that would help them connect more deeply. She taught, “Love more. Love the earth more.”
Gradually she became clearer on what she wanted to say and began to write. She explained, “When you write, you have to put it on the page and that helps you clarify.” Her goal became offering spiritual practices to deal with the climate change situation that would also help people discern what is theirs to do.
Leah talks about spiritual practices involving both the inward and outward approach. The outward practices help us connect more deeply, more fully, with the world around us.
Leah laments that Western culture teaches that Earth is other, leading us into deep loneliness. We’re lonely for connections to the living Earth, but don’t even realize it.
Therefore, she advocates for practices that invite us to reconnect with the Earth.
One approach is to use our senses to connect, gazing and listening more deeply to the Earth, and opening to the senses of smell and touch. We can be aware while eating that we are actually eating the natural world. These very basic practices require slowing down and dropping from our head to our heart.
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” [i] Leah recommends going outside and focusing on a very small area in nature, thinking about all that is happening and evolving in that little space. Whether you understand exactly what is happening scientifically or not, you can still be amazed. The call is to pay attention, seeking not only connection but communion.
We must also engage inward on the journey to heart and soul. She teaches us to cultivate openness and spaciousness, to listen in discernment for Wisdom deep within, for a true sense of who we are and who we’re called to be.
She explained, “In going out into the living world we become more deeply attuned to ourselves. And in becoming more deeply attuned to the essence of our soul, we are more open and available to that living world. So, it’s woven together. It’s not an either/or journey.”
We talked about grief. As we become more in tune with the living world, we are subjected to grief because the world is changing. We have changed the world, and also change is part of the natural cycle. She noted we are tempted to shut down and not connect, because we are afraid of the loss. Yet she explained, “When we dull ourselves to loss, we also dull ourselves to joy and beauty and wonder. I think those live together. As we bear witness to the losses and grieve for the many things that are no longer what they once were — for lands, for us, for waters, then I think we also need to be attentive to the beauty that is still around us, and the beauty that is within the losses. That helps sustain us.”
Mr. Rogers used to say that we can look for helpers when something is really difficult. She suggests we need support for our heart and soul when it’s breaking.
One of the spiritual practices Leah recommends in her book is to take a long strip of paper and on one side to write everything that you love about the Earth. On the other side, write your grief about climate change and the loss of the natural world. Then tape them together, like a mobius strip, to see that the joy and the grief are interconnected.
Leah talked about how each of us must find what is ours to do. We must ask: “How are we being called?” She believes our answers will evolve as spend time listening to the Earth.
Rather than making a list of 10 or 100 things to do, she encourages us to take the time in discernment to find what is written within us, what gifts are calling us to action in this time. A daily walk can be a good time to listen.
She cautioned, “We have such good intentions about things we want to fix, and try to move into fixing something, but this is human-centric.” We may think we are here to fix the earth, but the Earth has age and wisdom. Instead, we must listen for what wants to unfold and match that to our gifts and our calling. And it’s so important to join in community, particularly with our friends and neighbors. “I’m not suggesting that’s an easy process,” she added. “But this leads to helping birth what’s waiting to be born.”
She suggests that we are hospice workers and midwives asking the Earth, “How can we to help?” Perhaps a forest or woods nearby need guardianship, so protect it from being cut down. Or perhaps they need someone to weed out invasive plants, such as garlic mustard?
Keep listening for what the Earth is telling you about what’s invited. Some are invited to big things on the world stage. Many are invited to things that are very near home. Plant a garden. Give some food to the pollinators. Save the dandelions for the bees in spring. There are myriads of things that we can do when we are attentive, available and present.
Leah and some of her neighbors have started a group called “Save our Soil,” as they realized the importance of soil health. They support regenerative farming, raising awareness of those farms around them that are engaged in that practice. They support both growing and buying local food. They work at composting and encouraging others to do likewise. They plant native plants for pollinators. In the cohousing community where she lives, they have very small yards, so it’s easy to plant food of some sort, food for people and the critters, rather than grass. They give tours and presentations. She found these things to do very close to home, with friends, and they support one another.
She talked about the concept of biomimicry which involves asking what would Earth do here? You let the Earth be a model and a teacher as you observe the incredible things that Earth is already doing. For example, watch beavers bringing water back to the land. They can go into a place that seemingly has no water anywhere and go to work. All of the sudden there are streams everywhere. Look for how Earth would solve these challenges. Ask what the Earth wants to flourish.
Leah also seeks to give encouragement to people who work so hard in the environmental area and don’t see changes. She tells us that it’s okay to say that in our lifetimes we can’t do it all, but remember the Earth has miraculous ways to heal herself. This is not an invitation to do nothing, but to do what we can. We plant the seeds but may not live to see them harvested. We lay steppingstones to a future where there is more of a sense of mutual well-being and flourishing and less othering.
Leah reminds us that we are part of a huge history where the cosmic story is so important. We’re a part of that 13.8 billion years, not just this little hair on the timeline and not the end of the story. It’s still very important to do what we can, as we are called, and to not lose hope. There’s more that is possible beyond what we now know or understand. Leah explained that this is not a Disneyland sort of hope with beauty and balloons, but rather an active hard hope, knowing that you know we are doing everything that you believe you were called to do, in collaboration with the living world, for the collective well-being of all.
Leah is co-authoring another book with Beth Norcross, Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees, to be released in spring of 2025. This book grew out of a class they led together. Broadleaf Books approached them about writing it into a book. Leah said that she loves trees and that it’s a joy to be learning more and writing more about them with Beth.
Leah Rampy began the Church of the Wild Two Rivers five years ago, part of the wild church network extending across the United States and Canada. These churches have a common theme of inviting people into deeper spirituality in the living world. They meet once a month with people from different denominations and no denomination. People may have different religious traditions, but together they are focused on spirituality in the living world, connecting more deeply to the land, the trees, and the water around us. Leah explained, “We meet and connect around a theme for a little bit. For the sermon, we go for a forty-minute silent walk within nature. Then they come back together to share what they observed and noted during their walk. They might have a song or a dance. People share their own gifts. The important part is we’re in this practice together, connecting and learning from being open to the world around us.”
I am so grateful for Leah Rampy’s work in bringing this teaching to us. My life has been enriched by reading her book Earth and Soul: Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos, listening and learning from her as I continue to live what is mine to do in these late days of the changing climate.
I encourage you to connect with Leah through her website at leahmoranrampy.com where you can sign up for her newsletter, find a link to purchase her book and find her upcoming events. For more information about Save our Soil, visit their website at https://www.saveoursoilwv.com/and learn more about the Church of the Wild Two Rivers at: www.churchofthewild2rivers.com. If you would like to listen to our full interview, you can find the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon or Apple Podcast.
And if you are also writing for the Earth, please do contact me at nancy.flinchbaugh@gmail.com so I can interview you about your work. Find out more about my own writing for change and the Earth on my website at nancyflinchbaugh.com.
[i] This quote is often attributed to the Irish poet, William B. Yeats.