Local Leader Spotlight

Sophia Kooy

Meet Sophia Kooy, a podcast producer and master’s student researching how religious communities are engaging with the challenges of climate change.

Sophia is a queer settler of European ancestry that grew up in the traditional lands of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee Nations and is currently living on the lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver). They are currently completing their master’s program at McMaster University and producing a podcast about people working to create positive change in their communities. Sophia is also an alum of Sierra Club BC’s Mother Tree Local Leaders Program (MTLLP).

Read on to learn more about Sophia and their inspiring work. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Meet Sophia Kooy, a podcast producer and master’s student researching how religious communities are engaging with the challenges of climate change. (Photo supplied by Sophia Kooy).

Can you tell us about the project or work you’re doing?

I’m just finishing a master’s thesis in Religious Studies. My research looked at the way religious communities are engaging with the challenges of climate change, specifically at the way contemplative traditions might help people today learn the practices of care and attention that are important for a meaningful relationship to place.

I am also on the production/social media team for a podcast called Earth Oasis, which launched this April. The podcast features stories of climate optimism, uplifting the work of people making change in their local communities. The philosophy motivating our work is that imagination is a crucial tool in bringing about the kind of future we want to see, and highlighting optimistic stories might help activate our listeners’ imagination to see what might be possible in their communities too.

What inspired you to take action?

One of the activating events for my master’s project was the Sierra Club BC (SCBC) Mother Tree Local Leaders Program cohort I was part of last summer. Meeting other young people interested in deepening their relationships to place and the kinds of conversations we had as a group helped give context and a sense of community to the research work I had previously been doing on my own. The Water Ceremony co-hosted by SCBC, and Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) Sacred Trust in particular, activated a vision of how important ceremony can be as a form of activism and resistance, and made me think about what bringing this dimension of ceremony into my own context would look like.

Co-working with SCBC Organizer Ascher Goodman on the Water Stories project, an audio collection of interviews with local faith leaders on their relationship to water, inspired me to look for more opportunities to get involved in environmental storytelling and excuses to interview people about their work. Joining the Earth Oasis podcast team was entirely motivated by my experience with the Water Stories project.

How did SCBC support you?

Ascher is a fantastic facilitator. The way they designed and facilitated the Mother Tree Local Leader Program sessions as welcoming and encouraging places to learn as a group and feel safe to be vulnerable, made for memorable group experiences and bonding which was so important for the kind of learning we were doing. The activities and topics we covered were thought provoking and stayed with me for a long time after the sessions.

Ascher’s support during the ins and outs of putting together the Water Stories project was so helpful. Their encouragement was generous and grounding and helped me do something that was totally new and sometimes overwhelming. It was also very helpful to have access to SCBC’s network to find interview subjects. Many of the connections I made through both the MTLLP sessions and the water project have stayed with me and have been important supports and influences in the work I’ve done since.

Are you looking for additional support?

Support with the podcast would be appreciated. We are looking for people to interview to help us tell a few of the stories we have in mind. We are also looking for ways to promote the podcast, and ways to fund it. We are not sure how to go about this, so any institutional help or suggestions on this front would be very helpful!

Do you have a message for folks who want to take action?

One thing that took down a barrier to taking action for me was realizing that I don’t have to go further than the communities that I am already a part of to start, and that I don’t necessarily have to do anything that is too far outside my comfort zone. Recognizing the interests and skills that are specifically yours and bringing them to the table where you are is already a meaningful contribution.

If you are someone doing cool work and interested in being interviewed, I would love to hear from you! You can email me at sophiakooy@gmail.com.