Spirit of Place
A Hudson Valley Climate Training
Friday, June 13 - Saturday, June 14, 2025
Community-Building for the Journey Ahead
The Center for Earth Ethics is thrilled to bring our faith, spirituality and climate training to the Hudson Valley this June. The Center has hosted Faith and Climate trainings since 2016. When both nature and society face many threats, community, spiritual connection, and bioregional knowledge are indispensable. This convening is a vital opportunity to come together, learn from leaders and one another, and renew our commitment to the challenging work ahead.
This training, designed for leaders and active members of all faiths and traditions, will support participants in responding to the climate crisis, with a focus on ecology and biocultural heritage of the Hudson Valley. The program will address climate science and policy, bioregionalism, local watershed and foodshed issues, and environmental justice initiatives. We will share skills to offer spiritual support and pastoral care, co-create ritual and ceremony, communicate science through an ethical lens, and learn from the land and water. The program will run from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening with an optional stay through Sunday morning.
The training will be held at The Ashokan Center, New York State’s oldest environmental education center. Adjacent to the Ashokan Reservoir in the Catskills foothills, The Ashokan Center hosts cultural, educational and community programming in its historic buildings powered by 100% renewable energy. Our program will integrate the outdoor classroom, forest and stream of this special site. Miles of hiking trails, kayaks, and a wood-heated sauna are available to participants, alongside a fully vegetarian, high-quality menu. Participants may stay onsite or commute from home. Learn more about the Center’s facilities
The training is open to all who feel called to apply; preference will be given to people connected to faith and spiritual communities in the Hudson Valley,
By application; apply at the link below.
In person only; onsite lodging available. Please contact us at info@centerforearthethics.org with any questions.
Although the application deadline has passed, limited seats are still available and applications will continue to be accepted.
Details & Location
Friday, June 13 – Saturday, June 14, 2025
The Ashokan Center
477 Beaverkill Road
Olivebridge, NY 12461
$75 + Lodging (more details below)
We gratefully acknowledge the support and collaboration of New York Disaster Interfaith Services.
Presenters and Facilitators
Erin Lothes
Sarah Nahar
Del Orloske
Shannon Roback
Thia Reggio
Sister Carol DeAngelo
(Religious Organizations Along River)
Tory Field
(Center for Earth Ethics)
Amy Gillingham
(Wild Roots Farm)
Wes Gillingham
(Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, Catskill Mountainkeeper)
Karenna Gore
(Center for Earth Ethics)
Tim Guinee
(Climate Reality Project)
Poppy Jones
(Phytotherapy for Land and Soul, Ouroboros)
Victoria Loorz
(Church of the Wild)
Rachel Marco-Havens
(Butterfly Movement, Woodstock Chamber)
Imam Adé Mendes
(Yoruba, International Sufi School of Peace and Service)
Dr. Sarah Nahar
(The Work That Reconnects, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry)
Del Orloske
(The Ashokan Center)
Kenny Perkins
(Native Food Hub Alliance)
Veronica Raya
(Cetiliztli Nauhcampa Danza Mexica)
Rev. Thia Reggio
(Second Presbyterian Church NYC)
Michael Richardson
(Third Act Upstate NY, Rivers & Mountains Greenfaith)
Dr. Shannon Roback
(Riverkeeper)
Jeanne Shenandoah
(Onondaga)
Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk
(Ramapo Munsee Lenape)
Rev. Dr. Gregory Simpson
(Center for Earth Ethics, Nauraushaun Presbyterian Church)
Key Training Areas
Place-Based Understanding
Deepen your connection with land and waterways, understand local advocacy and conservation efforts, and expand what your community can do.
Pastoral Care & Spiritual Support
Practice your skills for supporting individuals and communities through the range of emotions that many are experiencing, including eco-grief and climate anxiety.
Ethical Communication
Engage the prophetic tradition and other truth-telling modalities, drawing on sacred texts and teachings, storytelling, and learning from the land.
Key Training Areas
The training will address three key areas.
Practical Action
Practical action sessions will focus on disaster preparedness and resilience efforts.
Pastoral Care & Spiritual Support
Spiritual support sessions will focus on those aspects of leadership that some faith traditions categorize as “pastoral care,” with attention to the ways in which many people process this crisis through the lens of their faith traditions.
Ethical Communication
Ethical communication sessions will engage the prophetic – or truth-telling – aspects of faith traditions, including the exploration of sacred texts and teachings, storytelling and application of moral reasoning.
The Ashokan Center
Eligibility
The training is open to all who feel called to apply. Preference will be given to applicants with a strong connection to a community based in or near the Hudson Valley that is grounded in a faith, religious, spiritual and/or ethical tradition, and preferably hold a leadership role in their community. Attendance will be limited in order to create an intimate environment that allows for more candid and meaningful discussion.
Application Process
Although the application deadline has passed, limited seats are still available and applications will continue to be accepted.
Application decisions will be communicated on a rolling basis.
Cost and Lodging
The cost of attendance is $75. Applicants may request to waive the fee. We welcome commuter (day) participants. Guests may also stay onsite at The Ashokan Center on Friday and Saturday nights. The fee for tenting is $16 per person and the bunkroom fee is $50 per person, per night (single and mixed-gender options available; rooms of 8-12 bunks). Lodging choices will be confirmed closer to the event date.
On Food and Faith
Our 2019 training explored climate change's impact on farming and food security, empowering participants to take action in a ways that align with their deepest values.
On Water and Faith
Our 2018 training examined cycles of water that give life to our planet are in distress due to climate change, mismanagement, and pollution.
A Multi-Faith Approach
Our 2017 training explored how faith traditions view the Earth and how different communities have confronted the ecological crisis.
The Gospel in the Ecological Crisis
Our 2016 training addressed the role of Christian churches, clergy and communities in addressing the climate crisis and a changing world.
