Miriam Silverman Israel, MTS '24

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Miriam Silverman Israel, MTS ’24, is bridging the worlds of international climate policy and religion. As a dual-degree student pursuing a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, Israel wants to bring an understanding of religion to work addressing climate change. “Considering the religious dynamics of displacement and loss caused by climate change is really important,” she says. “How can we design policies or international responses that meet the priorities and needs of indigenous communities in Alaska as well as religious minorities in the Middle East?” In addition, religious communities are uniquely poised to help mobilize around climate change, in part because of their transnational nature. Israel explains, “Religious groups have community members, they have leadership, they have trust. What could we accomplish if we worked through those channels more effectively? There is a lot of potential and a lot that is already happening.”

Religion—specifically Judaism—has always played a role in Israel’s life. Growing up in a Jewish community and spending time in Israel/Palestine sparked an early interest in interfaith dialogue and conflict resolution in the Middle East. Following her graduation from high school, Israel completed a yearlong U.S. State Department fellowship in Oman where she lived with a Muslim host family and learned Arabic. Jewish values continue to inform how she thinks about her work today: “I’m often motivated by Jewish ritual that's time bound and related to natural cycles. I find it to be meaningful that Jewish tradition has a connection to agricultural cycles and a sense of place, and I think about how that relates to climate responses.”

Now, as an MTS candidate, Israel is learning how to bring religious resources to bear on environmental issues. “There are a lot of ways that HDS teaches people to think in a more creative and expansive way, and this kind of thinking can be really helpful in policy spaces,” she shares. “I hope to bring a lot of lessons from HDS when I work on climate change issues in the future.” One HDS course that Israel found especially influential was “Ecotheology,” taught by Professor Dan McKanan, which looks at theological understandings of ecology across religious traditions. For her final project in the course, Israel developed an interactive climate-grief workshop to support her peers at the Fletcher School and beyond—people who have dedicated their careers to working on climate solutions. “I came to HDS wanting to learn about spiritual care and counseling so that I could better be a resource for people who might be experiencing anxiety or grief around climate,” says Israel. “My goal is to take some of that knowledge from HDS and make it more accessible to people working in that field who need it but don’t necessarily know how to access it.”

Israel notes that financial aid has been crucial in making her HDS education possible. With appreciation for that support, she says that her time at HDS is equipping her with important skills and perspectives that complement her education at The Fletcher School. For Israel, learning about the role of religious communities in advocating for better climate policies and the importance of religious literacy in ensuring justice for vulnerable communities is key to her professional aspirations. These lessons will not only enable Israel to work effectively in the multifaceted field of climate policy, but also help her care for herself and others as they navigate the grief and the hope of ministering to a changing planet.

—by Sarah Rubin; Photo courtesy of Miriam Silverman Israel