Tending the Tenders: Spiritual Care for Those on the Ecological Front Lines
Tuesday, November 10th, at 10 am Pacific | 1 pm Eastern
Park rangers watch glaciers retreat from former visitor overlooks. Wildlife biologists count fewer nests and report on species they may be the last to study. Red Cross volunteers repeatedly return to flooded towns and burned neighborhoods. These frontline eco-workers bear unnamed grief, witnessing loss up close and often alone while expected to remain professional, hopeful, and productive.
This talk names workers’ ecological grief and solastalgia—the homesickness of watching their places change—alongside compassion fatigue from repeated disasters and moral injury when budgets, staffing, or policy prevent them from protecting what they were called to protect. Much of this grief goes unrecognized by employers, the public, and sometimes the workers themselves.
Drawing on my work as a Buddhist eco-chaplain, I’ll describe how chaplains accompany grief rather than fix or reframe it—offering presence, bearing witness, and making room for sorrow, anger, and love. I’ll share practices that help workers stay connected to their purpose without being consumed by it, and explore how Buddhist teachings on impermanence, interdependence, and compassion ground this work.
Ram Appalaraju is a caring Buddhist practitioner, teacher, and contemplative eco-chaplain whose inspiring work connects meditation, service, and social care. Ram also contributes as a faculty member of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, enriching contemplative education on eco-chaplaincy. Ram has worked as a jail chaplain and eco-chaplain since 2020, offering spiritual care and a comforting presence to incarcerated individuals, those facing ecological loss and eco-anxiety, and people experiencing homelessness. As the Executive Director of Insight World Aid, Ram passionately leads efforts to provide Buddhist-inspired support and resources to marginalized communities, extending the dharma beyond traditional settings and into the core of human need.