Gore Addresses Faith and Spiritual Leaders at Brooklyn Summit

Executive Director Karenna Gore delivered the morning keynote address at “Climate Change, Disasters & the Vulnerable Communities We Serve,” the Fall 2022 New York City Faith Sector Preparedness Summit on Wednesday, September 28, at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

In her address, “The Climate Emergency: Why Faith and Spiritual Communities Matter,” Gore noted that “faith and spirituality are themselves important to how many people respond to extreme weather events.” People understand their relationship with nature “in the context of their relationship with God or some divine being or beings.” Faith traditions teach about “caring the most vulnerable and those who have been harmed.” And “faith and spirituality call people to a deeper sense of shared values that can transcend and transform politics and change systems that perpetuate harm.”

In the end, “faith and spiritual communities matter in the climate emergency because the climate emergency is about more than data, science, and technology” Gore said. “It is about people, communities, and the values we hold most dear.”

Jacqueline Patterson, executive director of the Chisholm Legacy Project, delivered the afternoon keynote address. Patterson is also a member of the CEE Advisory Board.

Hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, the summit was organized by New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS) in collaboration with the Faith Sector Community Preparedness Program and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response. The Center for Earth Ethics and the Chisholm Legacy Project were co-sponsors.

This day-long summit provided full-day, in-person, “climate resiliency training, tools, and networking opportunities” for New York City “clergy and religious lay leaders who are serving disinvested communities disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.”

Watch Gore’s keynote address on Facebook.