In this conversation, Debra Rienstra, PhD, author of Refugia Faith and professor of English at Calvin University, joins Victoria Loorz to explore refugia, a biological term for small pockets of life that survive widespread environmental stress and become sources of regeneration after collapse. Debra invites us to imagine these protected pockets are also in our communities as forms of sanctuary amid increasingly uninhabitable social, spiritual, and ecological conditions. Together, they reflect on how small gatherings rooted in love for the land can counter paralysis in the face of global crisis and rewild our sense of vocation and voice. They explore the spiritual risk of loving places we may not own or keep, while naming how restoration begins through intimate, connected acts of care that allow life to persist and return.
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Timestamps:
- 00:00 — Introduction
- 03:48 — Refugia
- 08:58 — Finding My Small Work
- 11:44 — Deciding the Work Based on Context
- 14:33 — Examples of Human Refugia
- 20:21 — From Passivity to Citizenship
- 24:21 — Loving Places That Are Only Yours for a Time
- 29:36 — Choosing to Belong
- 31:59 — Grieving Reality Together
- 34:18 — Mitigation and Adaptation
- 40:02 — A Kalo Farmer in Relationship With the Land
- 43:04 — The Book of Nature & Pantheism Paranoia
- 46:30 — The Wild Edge
- 50:03 — Wild Invitation
- 53:24 — Credits
What is The Holy Wild with Victoria Loorz?
Join author and founder of the Center for Wild Spirituality, Victoria Loorz, as she explores the possibilities of restoring beloved community and sacred conversation with All That Is: human and more-than-human.