Lyla Rothschild received a B.A. in psychology with a minor in French from Kalamazoo College. She worked as a research assistant in cognitive and social psychology labs, completing her senior thesis in Terror Management Theory (TMT). After college, she lived in France for two years, which had a formative impact and furthered her understanding of culture and culture-based conflict, while also allowing her to have a third-person perspective of America’s cultural worldview. Upon returning, she spent a year studying and researching TMT at the University of Arizona before joining our team here at the EBF, where she is helping us spread Becker’s ideas to broader audiences.

I arrived at the address and went up to the front of the building where I saw a sign that said “Earth Church.” I thought I must be in the right place. Outside they had a rack of old clothes and shoes, books, and a few other things, free for the taking. I went in and saw Billy at the piano and introduced myself. He invited me to play the piano, so I played a few notes. The immediate atmosphere of warmth and acceptance was palpable.

The building where they rehearse is a converted old bank, which you can still see remnants of in glass windows with the metal speakers embedded, the ones that tellers use to talk to customers. On the wall they have hung banners from a recent march, listing the names of trans people murdered by police or otherwise.

The choir trickled in and I helped set up a circle of chairs. Everyone was friendly and smiling. I sat behind a couple of women while I waited for rehearsal to begin. One of them turned around and insisted I join the circle, even though I was just there to observe.

Rehearsal started with a setting of intentions and a grounding exercise – breathing with eyes closed while Savitri spoke about mindset. Then more breathing exercises and vocal warmups. The plants inside seemed to sway with the music as the choir hummed.

The Church includes diverse people from all walks of life: younger, sprightly hippie types, older people with various mobility challenges, different ethnicities and accents, the list goes on. Eccentricity abounded in the best possible way. One older man had a long white beard dyed blue and green, with his nails painted to match (a blue and green stripe on each nail). The more I looked, the more I noticed another fun and unexpected detail. Many people rehearsed barefoot. Almost everyone seemed to wear clothes and shoes that were slightly worn or tattered in some way, fitting the “stop shopping” theme.

As they rehearsed, I listened to every lyric. The songs are gospel-esque in style and extremely catchy and musical. A few that stood out were “Extinction is real,” “Death makes the sun rise,” “We better say I love you before we disappear,” and “The opposite of a tree is a cop.”