On December 1, Erik German, a producer with RetroReport, called MCCN seeking Anabaptist people to interview. If you feel you can help with the request below, please contact Mr. German at egerman@retroreport.com. 

I’m working on a documentary project that’s looking to highlight people with unique images of the future; ones that help them cope with disruptive change. For this segment, I’m specifically researching ways that climate change may affect how we grow food.

I’m interested in reaching out to members of the Anabaptist community because the reading I’ve done suggests they often have a more sophisticated relationship with incoming change than much of the wider culture. That is, members of the wider consumer culture often passively accept whatever changes the market imposes on them, at whatever speed the changes come. Many of the Anabaptists I’ve interviewed seem to take a more active stance towards incoming change. They have a specific image of their future way of life in mind. And they’re willing to take serious steps to preserve it. This has been a lesson for me as I raise two daughters in a technology-saturated age.

Now to the question. I’m trying to find examples of what I see as an admirable Anabaptist mindfulness about change as it applies to climate. Past work I’ve done on agriculture and climate change has shown me it’s rare to meet a farmer who describes the issue the way scientists do. But I’ve yet to find a weather denier.

I’m looking for people in parts of the world that have seen seen shifts in weather — or changes to available groundwater, or rapidly depleting top soils — people who see these changes as possibly disruptive to their way of life, and who are taking real steps to cope. Any stories you’ve heard about individuals or groups reacting to climate shifts on the ground, changing how they raise crops or animals, changing what they grow or where they grow or where they live entirely — I’d be eager to hear them. I understand that examples like these, if they exist at all, aren’t likely to be the norm. But my hope is finding and highlighting them could be an opportunity for the broader culture to learn from the Anabaptist example.

Many thanks for your help,

Erik German      egerman@retroreport.com