Couple write 'Wake Up, World' curriculum

By Catherine Ferguson SNJM

While driving through rural Arizona in the winter of 2020, a retired Methodist pastor, Robert Dygert-Gearheart, and his wife, Anita, were listening to podcasts, as they often did on their trips. They heard author-activist Terry Patten interviewing futurist Peter Russell.

It became a moment of conversion for Bob and Anita.

They were, as they say, "introduced to the idea that the earth is on a collision course with destruction without much hope"—the climate crisis.

It was their "wake-up" call that led them to publish a curriculum, "Wake Up World," to make lifestyle changes and to help 350 Spokane start Eco-Anxiety Cafes.

They heard the same message from others like author Margaret Wheatley and ecotheology advocate Michael Dowd.

Then, as the lockdown for COVID 19 began, they studied the situation by themselves and with book groups of their friends. They devoured books, podcasts, documentaries, hungry for understanding to help them sort the science from the politics.

Three books shaped their understanding and choice of how to respond:  William Catton's Overshoot: the Ecological Basis of Evolutionary Change, Mike Berners-Lee's There is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years, and Leslie Crutchfield's How Change Happens: Why Some Social Movements Succeed While Others Don't.

These books and other research convinced them of the seriousness of the climate crisis and the need to change human behavior. The third book convinced them that major social change required building understanding that would activate large numbers of ordinary people at the grassroots level.

Anita explained their approach to building this grassroots understanding.  "It seemed like faith-based and interfaith groups would be the people to understand the needed change and to talk with each other about what they saw," she said.

As they explored what was happening in churches, they found that leaders in most were saying nothing about it. Only Pope Francis in the Catholic Church addressed the issue in his encyclical Laudato sì and they found his critical analysis crucial in their conversations.

They began building grassroots understanding among the people of the churches by teaching classes in various states and talking with many congregations.

In 2022, they published a curriculum, "Wake Up World: Hope through Understanding," addressing the climate crisis for faith and community groups. It is available in a 102-page book and online at wakeupworld.earth.

The book gives detailed lesson plans for people who want to facilitate the six lessons and an additional optional one. The lessons are geared to people of faith. Additional interfaith resources are available on the website.

The website was designed by James Little, a retired medical researcher and clinician in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Seattle. He read their curriculum in 2022 and was impressed.

He was particularly concerned about the world his grandchildren could be facing.

"He told us we needed a website and he worked with us to design one that makes all of the material in the book accessible and even added some contributions of his own," said Anita.

On the site, in addition to what is in print, Bob narrates short videos of which he and Anita are particularly proud. They are called "Minutes for Mother Earth."

Each of the one- or two-minute clips explains one aspect of the climate crisis in easy-to-understand sound bites, which follow the content of the classes.

Both Anita and Bob had careers of service in their communities in Indiana prior to their retirement. Anita was the CEO of Campagna Academy in Schererville in northwestern Indiana, a child welfare agency that provides therapeutic foster care, substance abuse treatment, day and residential services. Bob is a retired United Methodist pastor who served 42 years.

"Before that podcast, we were among the ordinary people living an exuberant life," said Bob. 

Since then much in that lifestyle has changed as they make changes that favor Mother Earth.

Although the new home they purchased in Spokane about five years ago had a lawn, they were concerned about the chemical fertilizers it took to maintain that lawn and the amount of water they needed to keep it green. So, they tore up the lawn and put in a garden of native plants to attract pollinators.

"These don't require fertilizer or watering as our lawn did, and this year we saw so many pollinators visiting the garden," Anita commented. 

She admits that she is still learning the names of all the plants in the garden.

"In Indiana, my parents loved nature and knew the names of every wildflower," she said. "The ones here are different, and I haven't learned them all yet."

They have taken steps to electrify their home as much as possible putting in a heat pump electric hot water heater. They have become vegan to do their part to offset the contribution of animal-raising to greenhouse gas.

Since their study deepened their understanding about the climate crisis they no longer fly.

"If there were an emergency with our son's family in Chile, we would go," Anita explains, "but we don't fly otherwise."

Although their professional lives kept them in cities, both Bob and Anita grew up loving nature on farms in Indiana and admit that has predisposed them to a sensitivity to the damage the climate crisis is doing to earth.

"When I was young, being out in nature was my happy place," Bob said.

Now both of them spend time each day hiking on the trails near Spokane and love especially the hikes along the Spokane River.

Since coming to Spokane, Bob and Anita joined 350 Spokane and its Interfaith Committee, a volunteer-run organization that works to build the movement for climate action in the Spokane area.

Through 350 Spokane, they have helped partner with other groups to offer a program of Eco-Anxiety Cafés, aware from a recent survey by the American Psychiatric Association, that about 67 percent of Americans experience climate-related anxiety or depression.

Eco-anxiety refers to a fear of environmental doom that can lead people to feeling isolated, helpless or overwhelmed, they said.

With three other organizations, 350 Spokane is sponsoring Eco-Anxiety Cafés—see related news article—to provide a space for people to talk about their anxiety and depression and continue to build the momentum for climate action.

For information, email adygertgearheart@hotmail.com.