Category: Newsletters

CEE Update – Climate & Health Webinar, PM Sanna Marin and more for these times

Watch, Listen, Learn, Love

UN World Interfaith Harmony Week of 2020 – ‘Holy Land, Living Water’ 

Let the Parliament of the World’s Religions take you on a journey through story, videos and photos of an interfaith pilgrimage to remember the Sacredness of Water & the power of connecting with Sacred Sites of every faith.

World Water Day

For these times…

Rev. William Barber II – Spiritual Virtues in a Time of Viral Crisis

CEE Fall 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

In this week of Giving Thanks we invite you to join the Center for Earth Ethics in our aspirations and our successes towards a more just world. CEE Director Karenna Gore shares her personal experiences participating in the “Faith in Climate” interfaith event and youth side events of the Brazilian Climate Conference. We are also excited to share about our new affiliations with Columbia’s Earth Institute and consultative status through ECOSOC. There is something that happens in the work of Movement Building, a kind of alchemy that amplifies the work we do together. We hope this #GivingTuesday you will support us in that endeavor. As the legendary movement-builder and author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paolo Friere, also from Recife wrote: “It is necessary that the weakness of the powerless is transformed into a force capable of announcing justice.”

The Team at the Center for Earth Ethics

FIREDRILL FRIDAYS SNAPSHOT! 

CEE’s Catherine Flowers joined the 6th week of #FireDrillFriday marches for climate in Washington DC spearheaded by Actor and Activist, Jane Fonda. Also marching were Osprey Orielle Lake, Director of WECAN (Women’s Environmental and Climate Action Network) and Kari Ames and Adrien Nichol Lee, Tlingit delegation visiting DC advocating for the protection of nine million acres of Alaska’s rainforest.

Original Caretakers Update

Standing for the Amazon and Protecting Forests Worldwide:

CEE’s Mindahi Bastida and other members of the ‘Guardians of Mother Earth’ Alliance Advocate for the Recognition of Forests as Sanctuaries

  

Addressing Inter-Generational Trauma
Brings About Both Healing and Policy Change

In a multi-year relationship, CEE’s Original Caretakers Initiative worked with community members in St. Petersburg, FL. This year Mindahi Bastida joined them to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day with an OPEN conversation about Indigenous People’s rights, the consequences of the Doctrine of Discovery, original caretaker’s wisdom, history & connection to the land.

EJ&CE Update

Closing the Water Gap: Spotlight on Senior Fellow
Catherine Coleman Flowers

Access to clean water continues to be a top priority in human rights and environmental justice advocacy. Catherine Flowers is partnering locally and globally to bring about the awareness for the systemic changes we need.

This fall, Catherine launched CREEJ: the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice whose mission is to reduce health and economic disparities and improve access to clean air, water, and soil in marginalized rural communities. CREEJ does this by influencing policy, inspiring innovation, catalyzing relevant research, and amplifying the voices of community leaders, all within the context of a changing climate.

In a November 2019 Op-Ed in the Montgomery Advertiser, Catherine and George McGraw wrote about the recent report released by DIGDEEP and the US Water Alliance on the emerging water crisis. Researchers found “there are at least two million Americans without hot and cold running water, a tap, shower, a working toilet, or basic wastewater service in their homes.”  Details of the report and what organizations like CREEJ are doing across the country, can be found here at Closing the Gap.

Sustainability & Global Affairs Update

Image result for ecosoc logo png"Center for Earth Ethics joins UN Consultative body via Union Theological Seminary and ECOSOC

 

CEE adds Earth Ethics lens to Advanced multi-disciplinary conversation on Global Sustainability at Columbia University’s Earth Institute

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CEE November Update and Upcoming Events

Dear Friends,

CEE Director, Karenna Gore participated in a landmark climate event just weeks ago in Recife, Brazil.  In the context of the Brazilian Conference on Climate Change, a historic meeting brought together Catholic, evangelical, Jewish, Afro-Brazilian and indigenous leaders, in an interfaith event, in defense of the environment in the oldest Synagogue of the Americas – Kahal Zur Israel. In the lead up to the event, Karenna was interviewed by Sérgio Xavier for Diario Pernambuco.  Please enjoy this enriching conversation on what exactly are Earth Ethics, the deepening value of inter-religious dialogue and our changing climate.

CEE has joined the many excellent organizations participating in #GivingTuesday this year. We invite you to join us and continue to support the evolution of our work. Also, please keep an eye out for our Fall Newsletter which we’ll send next week.

In Joy –
The Center for Earth Ethics Team

ANNOUNCEMENTS and UPCOMING EVENTS…

CEE’S Mindahi Bastida to attend COP 25
December 2-13, 2019 in Madrid, Spain

Learn More…

Photo of CEE’s Original Caretakers Program Director, Mindahi Bastida
on a panel at COP 24 in Katowice, Poland by Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition
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CEE Readies for our first
West Coast Regional Minister’s Training!
December 2019

CEE’s Andrew Schwartz and Genie Cooper will join with the Climate Reality Project, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, and Claremont School of Theology to host the training of faith leaders in Oregon.
Stay tuned for reports!
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Union Theological Seminary Scholar in Residence and CEE Original Caretakers Fellow Geraldine Ann Patrick Encina will join the Brooklyn Public Library’s Series on Climate for
‘Parenting in the Age of Climate Change‘ this Wednesday, November 20th, 7 – 8:30 pm.

 

 

The Center for Earth Ethics is pleased to announce we are co-sponsoring a new series
Climate Commitments Project: Global Conversations.
The first conversation is scheduled for December 5th, 10:30 am CST / 11:30 EST.
Please Register

 

 

 

 

CEE’s Director Karenna Gore to give Keynote Address at
Mount Sinai School of Medicine 2nd Annual Climate Conference in 2020

 

Climate Strike! CEE joins September 20th march and Karenna Gore delivers evening service on climate at Temple Emanu-el

Strike for Climate!  The Center for Earth Ethics will be among the many participating in the September 20th Climate Strike in New York City.  This landmark action will happen three days before the UN Climate Summit. Young people and adults will strike together all across the US and the world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis.

In NYC, we will gather at Foley Square and take to the streets to march to Battery Park. The event will conclude with speakers and performers, including Fridays For Future movement starter Greta Thunberg and NY-based youth leaders.  RSVP Now on Action Network to #StrikewithUs. Global Strike Website for Sept. 20-27

The Center for Earth Ethics team stands with the Union Theological Seminary community marching for climate justice.  We will meet at UTS in the morning before the march, in connection with students, faculty and staff along with members of the Ecological Caucus and travel together to Foley Square.

“We must do right by the Earth.

We cannot deprive the coming generations of the source of life.

I strike with the youth in solidarity with all our relations.”

-Davis Ogima Logan
Union Theological Seminary student,
CEE Field Ed 2019, member of the Ecological Caucus

Please join CEE Director Karenna Gore at Temple Emanu-El
for a special Friday evening service
on the occasion of climate week and for our Earth.

September 20th at 6 pm following the Climate Strike

The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center
One East Sixty-Fifth Street, New York, NY

This event is free and open to all, reservations are requested.

Climate Week in NYC has served as a dedicated time of convergence for all those working for the benefit of our earth and all those relying on us to provide conditions for clean air and clean water for generations to come.

As a pre-cursor to Climate Week, Karenna will join the Temple Emanu-El community’s Shabbat services to discuss our moral and religions obligations of protecting the earth.

“One generation goes and another generation comes, but the Earth remains forever” – Ecclesiastes 1:4

MORE EVENTS in honor of CLIMATE WEEK…

Social Good Summit
92nd Street Y, NYC
Sep 22, 2019

Catherine Flowers joins engineers, scientists, artists, chefs, policy advisers, media figures and youth climate leadership to address issues of climate protection, conservation and change.

 

Choose Us – Youth Climate Strike Demands Solutions & Action Now!
Sep 23 at 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  Join us for an evening of conversation with youth climate leaders to learn how to move their demands forward with the urgency required by the global climate crisis. The New York Society for Ethical Culture 

 

CEE Summer Newsletter 2019

Dear Friends,

At Union Theological Seminary, the fall semester is getting underway and we are delighted to welcome new and returning students to our campus.  We will be working with a group of students this semester on bridging scholarship and climate justice activism, with lots of movement-building opportunities, including the Climate Strike on September 20th. We are thrilled that the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg arrived in New York City and will be standing with the great youth climate activists that have been working so hard here in this city. One such NYC-based youth activist, Xiye Bastida, happens to be the daughter of CEE Scholar in Residence Geraldine Ann Patrick Encina and CEE Original Caretakers Director Mindahi Crescencio Bastida Muñoz and so it was a special honor for us that Geraldine and Xiye were among those to greet Greta in person when her boat arrived. The UN Climate Action Summit is September 23rd  and we all must do our part to build support for global leaders to take concrete actions towards the systemic change that is necessary to face this existential crisis. Finally, I would like to share an essay I wrote for the New York times about a woman in history I have long admired for her work on public health, human rights and earth ethics: Alice Hamilton.  Looking forward to a historic year for our work together.

Sincerely,
Karenna

 


Greta Thunberg and her father Svente Thunberg arriving in NY being greeted by youth climate activists Alexandria Villaseñor and Xiye Bastida. 

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During the summer, the Center for Earth Ethics participated in The Poor People’s Moral Action Congress at Trinity Washington University, June 17-19, 2019.  Nearly one thousand people impacted by poverty, moral leaders, activists, and advocates from over 40 states across the country convened in Washington, D.C., for three days to strategize, learn, and build power together.  Continuing that work, the Center for Earth Ethics joins William Barber, III in Virginia for the Virginia Climate Crisis Forum on September 17th.

Learn More

2019 Kofi Annan Faith Briefings:

Report from The Parliament of the Worlds Religions

On Monday July 15th, 2019 the UN Task Force on Religion and Development and the Multi-Faith Advisory Council (CA) gathered for the Annual Kofi Annan Faith Briefings in New York.

In 2019, the program focused on the theme of Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality: The Role of UN and Multi-Faith Collaboration and included keynotes from high-level experts and five panel discussions. The panel discussions focused on issues like multi-faith collaboration, inter-generational dialogue, the rights of children, and climate change.

Read the Parliament’s Full Report

Council on Foreign Relations:

CEE’s Karenna Gore presides over Combating Climate Change Conversation

Closing plenary session at the Council on Foreign Relations Religion and Foreign Policy workshop on the topic Combating Climate Change. Moderator: CEE’s Karenna Gore (left).

Panelists:  Brenda Ekwurzel, Senior Climate Scientist and Director of Climate Science, Union of Concerned Scientists; Jason Bordoff, Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs; Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change, National Security Council; and Kanta Kumari Rigaud, Lead Environmental Specialist and Regional Climate Change Coordinator in the Africa Region, World Bank Group.

EARTH ETHICS / ORIGINAL CARETAKERS / SUSTAINABILITY & GLOBAL AFFAIRS

Earlier this month, CEE’s Mindahi Bastida visited Brazil to gather with other indigenous voices to discuss conservation and protection of Water Resources at this threshold of a Decade dedicated to Water.  Since that time, the world has seen reports of unprecedented fires across the Amazon rainforest.  This causes great concern over the already devastating issues we face globally of aggressive deforestation, carbon levels in the atmosphere, bio-diversity loss and species extinction.

Facing Devastation in the Amazon

by Guest Contributor, Alfredo Sirkis, Executive Director of the Brazil Climate Center / Climate Reality Project

The Remarkable Life of the First Woman on the Harvard Faculty

Alice Hamilton, an expert on public health, foresaw the rise of fascism in Germany.

NY Times Op-Ed by CEE Director, Karenna Gore for Aug. 29, 2019

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The Story of Poverty, as told by one Alabama County on PBS News Hour.

CEE’s Senior Fellow on Environmental Justice and Civic Engagement, Catherine Coleman Flowers,
was among those interviewed by PBS.
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CEE Spring / Summer Update

WORKING TOGETHER TO CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME:

Dear Friends,In Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis wrote, “It is essential to show special care for Indigenous communities and their cultural traditions. They are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed.”

Inspired, the Center for Earth Ethics partnered with the Indigenous Environmental Network and Forum 21 to host an intimate dialogue between Indigenous leaders and a representative from the Vatican. Read more…

The CEE Team

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT:

On May 17 and 18, Virginians from all across the state will unite in common cause to oppose unjust and unneeded fracked-gas pipelines anywhere in the Commonwealth, and to stand in solidarity for environmental justice and the climate.

On Friday, May 17, continuing the work of bringing people together for good, William Joseph Barber III, Co-chair of the N.C. Poor People’s Campaign Ecological Justice Committee, Karenna Gore (Center for Earth Ethics) and Pastor Paul Wilson (Union Grove Baptist Church) will join local leaders to march across the Robert E. Lee Bridge where 51 years ago, almost to the day, civil rights activists marched during Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic Poor People’s Campaign for economic justice. We’ll end at the Oregon Hill Overlook for a concert and rally.  May 18th events will happen in Leesburg.  More information…

Join us for this important event! #noMVP #noACP

ORIGINAL CARETAKERS EVENTS DURING EARTH WEEK:

Indigenous leaders from around the world gathered at the United Nations Headquarters and at events throughout New York City during Earth Week.

Delegates from the Mapuche Nation and Likanantay brought awareness to Human Rights Violations at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

ECO-MINISTRY UPCOMING EVENTS:

Special Evening Event
Wednesday, May 22, 7 pm

An Evening with Karenna Gore
Director, Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary

The intersection of religion and the environment reflects on faith and love for the earth.
A reception follows.  

Throughout the Easter season, St. Bart’s is excited to present a variety of programs focusing on stewardship of the earth.  Other Upcoming Events in the series include: May 19th, Keep it Local: Addressing Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Climate Justice with Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director, Uprose; and June 2nd, In the Garden: St. Bart’s and The Rooftop of the Waldorf-Astoria with Leslie Day, naturalist and author of Honeybee Hotel.

“We are Easter People and Hallelujah is Our Song”, Taking a Moment for Bees & Earth Week Events Announced

 

Dear Friends, Please enjoy “We are Easter People and Hallelujah is Our Song” – a gorgeous conversation on faith, spirituality, climate change and more with CEE Director, Karenna Gore hosted by Mary Anne Hitt & Anna Jane Joyner and produced by Zach Mack.  No Place Like Home is a podcast that gets to the heart of climate change through personal stories. CEE is proud to participate in the most recent NPLH conversation about climate & hope you will take time in the celebration of Earth, the beauty of Spring, and the very miracle of life to tell your stories with friends, family and neighbors!

– The CEE Team

We Love Pollinators!

As part of our preparation for the upcoming Minister’s Training: On Food and Faith, and in sync with Earth Day 2019’s focus on preservation of species, we take a moment for the most beloved of pollinators: the bees.

Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared,
“man would have only four years of life left”.

The die-off happening around the U.S. and some parts of Europe is serious for beekeepers, farmers and all us. Since the 1980s, the number of bees has diminished, but the recent die-offs have been severe. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was reported from at least 24 states as early as 2007.

In a recent study, “researchers found that the American Bumblebee’s area of occurrence has decreased by about 70 percent and its relative abundance fell by 89 percent from 2007-2016 compared to 1907-2006.”  Bees are important allies for humanity in supporting the restoration of Bio-Diversity on Earth.

Intergenerational Community Blessing of the Bees ~ Bees and Permaculture

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Earth Week Events

Global Perspectives on Indigenous Knowledge, Mental Health and Well-being: A Different Paradigm

Parallel Event for UN PFII 2019:
April 22nd, 1:15 – 2:30 pm
Room S-1521 in UN Headquarters: 405 East 42nd St, 1st Avenue, NYC
(Visitor’s Entrance, 46th St. & 1st Ave.)
The event will consist of a panel of speakers from various parts of the world. They will discuss the different approaches used by their communities to address growing issues of mental health and personal well-being.

CEE’s Geraldine Ann Patrick Encina to participate.
Organized by: Health Subcommittee of the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, American Psychological Association, and Sunray Meditation Society.Co-sponsored by: NGO Committee on Mental Health, International Public Policy Institute,
and the International Federation of Social Workers.
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Indigeneity & the Defense of Mother Earth:
April 22, 6:15 pm – 8:15 pm UL104, University Center 63 5th Ave, NYC

With Tom BK Goldtooth (Dine’ & Dakota): Ex. Dir., Indigenous Environmental Network

Indigeneity & the Responsibilities of Scholar Activism:
April 23, 4-6 pm Kellen Auditorium, 66 5th Ave, NYC

Mindahi Crescencio Bastida Muñoz: Director of the Original Caretakers Program at CEE, Coordinator of the Otomi-Hñahñu Regional Council, Mexico and steering committee member of the Indigenous Peoples’ Biocultural Climate Change Assessment Initiative and Geraldine Ann Patrick Encina: Scholar in Residence for the Center for Earth Ethics and Professor of Ethnoecology will join the panel in the April 23rd panel on Scholarly Activism as part of Earth Week at The New School.

With Manari Ushigua Santi, Akameno: Traditional healer & leader of the Sapara Nation in Ecuadorian Amazon;  Eduardo Kohn: Associate Professor of Anthropology at McGill University, specializing in the indigenous knowledges of Quichua (Quechua) speaking Runa of Ecuador’s Upper Amazon; Ronald Suárez Maynas: President of the Shipibo Conibo Xetebo Council of the Peruvian Amazon; Abou Farman: Assistant Professor of Anthropology, The New School for Social Research; Suzanne Benally (Dine’): Executive Director of Cultural Survival; and Jaskiran Dhillon: Associate Professor of Global Studies, The New School.  More…

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