Online | Freedom to Be: Perspectives on the 2022 UN Report on Indigenous Peoples and the Concept of Freedom of Religion or Belief
2023-12-06 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
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On Wednesday, December 6 at 3 p.m. EST, join the Center for Earth Ethics for Freedom to Be, a conversation about the intersection of Indigenous issues, the concept of freedom of religion or belief, and the climate crisis. This virtual discussion will feature Indigenous voices who will explore how international Indigenous communities are affected by the same extractionist industries, domination mindset, and land removal policies that drive climate change.
Confirmed speakers include Pavel Sulyandziga of the Udege people in Russia, Laulani Teale of the Kanaka Maoli people in Hawai’i, and Åsa Larsson Blind of the Sámi Peoples in Sweden. Roberto Múkaro Borrero, strategic advisor to CEE, will moderate. CEE Executive Director Karenna Gore will introduce and close the program.
The conversation will investigate how Indigenous spirituality’s intrinsic connection to the environment and earth can support an ecologically balanced future.
This conversation is another in a series of CEE events that build off the 2022 report on Indigenous communities by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Confirmed Speakers:

Åsa Larsson Blind is vice-president of the Sámi Council, of which she has been a member since 2008, having served as president from 2017 to 2019. She was the first woman to chair the National Sámi Association in Sweden, serving from 2019 to 2021. Between 2011 and 2015, she represented the Sámi Council at the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat, while also serving as the Head of Department for the Sámi Council at Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) council meetings. She has been active in several Sámi organizations in Sweden, including the National Sámi Association (2007-2011), the Sámi Educational Center in Jokkmokk (2007-2009), and Sáminuorra, the Sámi youth organization (2002-2007). Larsson Blind was born and raised in a reindeer herding family and holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management and Development from the University of Umeå.

Pavel Sulyandziga is the founder and president of the Batani Foundation, an Indigenous rights organization representing the Indigenous peoples of the Russian Far East. In the late 1980s, he became a leader of the Udege people. Between 2001 and 2010 he served as the first vice-president of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON). Between 2005 and 2010 he performed duties as a member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and was a member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights between 2011 and 2017. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Laulani Teale is the coordinator of Hoʻopae Peace Project. She is an Indigenous Kanaka Maoli peacemaker, activist, musician, teacher, artist and writer. She is culturally trained in laʻau lapaʻau (traditional herbalism) and hoʻoponopono (traditional peacemaking), specializing in Indigenous health issues related to activism and colonization. She has been a front-line activist in major Kanaka struggles and serves the Kanaka movement in many capacities. She is a cultural bard and haku mele (songwriter), training under Liko Martin, a master bard and long-time force in the Hawai’ian movement. She is a spiritual practitioner involved in the hands-on restoration and protection of sacred places and waters, as well as a minister and birth worker, protecting and reviving religious practices of birth, death, healing, aloha ‘āina (love for the land) and sovereignty. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Hawaiʻi School of Public Health.

Roberto Múkaro Borrero is a long-time advocate for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, a chief of the Guainía Taíno Tribe, president of the United Confederation of Taíno People, and a special advisor for the Center for Earth Ethics. He has a distinguished and diverse background in policy and program development, and human rights advocacy, including a specialization on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. He has more than 25 years of experience actively engaging the United Nations system in thematic areas such as sustainable development, climate change, the Information Society and the Organization of American States. He served on the staff of the International Indian Treaty Council and the American Museum of Natural History and was a consultant for UNESCO, UNDP, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and PBS. A published writer, an accomplished artist and musician, he is a member of the Taíno Tribal Nation, an Indigenous people whose traditional homelands extend through the Greater and Lesser Antilles to the southern tip of Florida. In 2012, he was traditionally sanctioned a kasike (chief) of the Guainía Taínotribal community. He has an educational background in communications and cultural studies. In 2013, Borrero was awarded an honorary doctorate in humanities from Kayiwa International University, Kampala, Uganda.

Karenna Gore is the founder and executive director of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Karenna formed CEE in 2015 to address the moral and spiritual dimensions of the climate crisis. She is a visiting professor of practice of earth ethics at Union Theological Seminary, an ex officio faculty member of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, and an expert in the United Nations’ Harmony with Nature Knowledge Network. She serves on the boards of the Association to Benefit Children, Pando Populus, the Sweetwater Cultural Center and Riverkeeper.

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Conference | The Religious Origins of White Supremacy: Doctrine of Christian Discovery
2023-12-08 08:00 - 2023-12-10 17:00 | Syracuse University, 900 S Crouse Ave, Syracuse, New York, 13244, United States
In the 1823 US Supreme Court decision, Johnson v M’Intosh, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote,”…discovery gave title to government…[and] the sole right of acquiring the soil from the natives.” This decision underpins US property law. Marshall’s deliberate use of the word “discovery” is an intentional reference to 15th-century Catholic papal bulls, which stated that any Christian who “discovers” a land populated by non-Christians has superior title, or rights of ownership, over that land. In essence, Johnson codifies into US law the principle of Euro-Christian domination over Indigenous peoples. In the most devastating sense, the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (DoCD) legitimized exploitation, extraction, and enslavement globally and enshrined these practices as the basis of U.S. property law still cited today as recently as 2005 (in Sherrill v. Oneida) and 2020 (McGirt v. Oklahoma).

In Johnson’s 200th year, there is an urgent need for global recognition of the decision’s implications as reifying the DoCD and its exploitation of Indigenous peoples and their connection to land, regarded as a living being (Mother Earth in English.) This conference builds on the history of collaboration at Syracuse University with Indigenous communities across Central New York by expanding dissemination of the pernicious ideologies of DoCD and Johnson, leading to further repudiation of these ideologies and towards healing and repair.

Brigid's Day | Global Pause for Peace
2024-02-01 12:00 - 12:30
Solas Bhride Centre for Spirituality and the Brigidine Sisters in Kildare, Ireland home to Brigid’s perpetual flame, call people from around the world to join in a global Pause for Peace on St. Brigid’s Feast Day, Thursday, February 1, 2024. The Pause for Peace movement invites people for one minute of silence and reflection at noon at your local time.

“This new Pause for Peace movement is a unique event which breaks new ground in recognising the cultural and historical importance of St. Brigid beyond boundaries and aims to form a spirit of solidarity and peace in societies all over the globe.” President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, February 2023

It is part of Lá Fhéile Bhríde, the celebration of Bride’s Day or Brigid’s Day which is an annual week long event centered in the town where Brigid, patroness of Ireland built her monastery and where the flame of Brigid was lit for over 1000 years before the monasteries were closed. The Flame was rekindled in 1993 where it continues to burn at Solas Bhride under the care of the Sisters. Kildare is English for Cille Dara (The Church of the Oak) so named for Brigid’s original church. 2024 marks the second year Brigid as Saint and pre-Christian Goddess will be celebrated with a national holiday as well as the 1500th anniversary of the Saint’s passing.

This global Pause for Peace movement was launched jointly by Solas Bhride Centre and Into Kildare – Kildare Tourism Board, at Solas Bhride Centre in Kildare, Ireland, on January 12, 2023.

Book Launch | "Gu'ahia Taíno: We Speak Taíno"
2024-02-29 18:15 - 20:00 | Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway, New York, New York, 10027, United States
Join CEE as we celebrate the publication of “Gu’ahia Taíno: We Speak Taíno” by human rights advocate, consultant, cultural adviser, writer, and artist Roberto Múkaro Agueibaná Borrero. Compiled in collaboration with the United Confederation of Taíno People’s Taíno Language Committee, Borrero’s classical Taíno dictionary and grammar guide contributes to the important work of Indigenous language preservation.

The launch will be held in Room AD30 at Union Theological Seminary, Broadway at 121st Street, in New York City.

This event is free and open to the public, but guests are encouraged to R.S.V.P. via the link below.

Copies of the dictionary will be available for sale.

Online | Rights of Nature – From Anthropocentrism to Ecocentrism
2024-03-12 18:00 - 19:00
In this webinar organized by Riverkeeper, CEE Executive Director Karenna Gore, a Riverkeeper board member, will be joined by Thomas Linzey of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights and Riverkeeper Advisory Board Member Steven “Owl” Smith of the Ramapo Munsee Nation to discuss the movement for the “Rights of Nature.” This movement is focused on securing legal standing for natural entities such as rivers, forests, and whole ecosystems in a way that provides a necessary counterbalance to the legal doctrine of corporate personhood.

Freedom to Be: Indigenous Perspectives on How Development Models Affect Their Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief
2024-04-24 09:00 - 10:30
On Wednesday April 24th at 9 a.m. EDT, join the Center for Earth Ethics for “Freedom to Be: Indigenous Perspectives on How the Mainstream Development Model Affects Their Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief,” a conversation about the intersection of Indigenous issues, the concept of freedom of religion or belief, the development paradigm and the ecological crisis. This virtual discussion will feature Indigenous voices who will explore how international Indigenous communities are affected by the same extractionist industries, domination mindset and land removal policies that damage the biosphere as a whole. This conversation will also dive into the sustainable development paradigm and challenge its tendency to elevate economic development and devalue biocultural heritage and Earth-honoring ways of life.

Taily Terena of the Terena Indigenous peoples in Brazil and Yolanda Teran of the Kichwa Nation of Ecuador will join us for this panel. Roberto Múkaro Borrero, Guainía Taíno, strategic advisor to CEE, will moderate. CEE Executive Director Karenna Gore will introduce and close the program.

This conversation is another in the Freedom to Be series that builds on the 2022 report on Indigenous communities by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. This event is a virtual side event to the 2024 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Dr. Yolanda Teran is from the Indigenous Kichwa Nation of Ecuador. She obtained her doctorate degree at the College of Education at the University of New Mexico, with a concentration in Language, Literacy and Socio-Cultural Studies. In recognition for her educational work done for Indigenous education at local, national and international levels, she achieved two postdoctoral fellowships from 2014 to 2016 under the sponsorship of the University of New Mexico’s Division of Equity and Inclusion and the Native American Studies Department. She is currently researching Indigenous peoples, languages and biodiversity. Her goal is to create awareness among students, teachers and Indigenous communities about international issues that affect Indigenous peoples’ life and rights, and to build a bridge between the community and academia based on mutual respect and understanding.

Taily Terena is an indigenous woman from the Terena Nation in the pantanal the wetlands of Brazil. A land defender and climate advocate, she has being working for many years for the rights of indigenous peoples. As an anthropologist, she has studied the history of her people through intergeneration knowledge and through the lens of decolonization. Part of the Terena youth collective, Inamatí Xâné, she currently works with Environmental Health and Food Soverty at the IITC – international Indian Treaty Council.

World Peace and Prayer Day
2024-06-18 08:00 - 2024-06-21 17:00
Established in 1996, World Peace and Prayer Day was initiated by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, a spiritual leader and keeper of the Sacred Pipe of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Sioux Nation. The gathering first brought together Indigenous Peoples of North and South America, but spread to the rest of the world.

On June 21st—the summer solstice—everyone, regardless of origin, nation, religion or belief, is encouraged to gather at sacred sites to pray: “All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer.”

There will be in-person programming centered in Pipestone, MN. Events will be live-streamed on the 19th and 20th. Speakers include CEE’s Karenna Gore, Steve Newcomb, Sikowis Nobiss, Lisa Bellanger, Morning Star Gali, Kanahus Manuel and Faith Spotted Eagle.

For a full list of events and programming, visit the event website.

Science and Spirituality: An Ethical Stocktake Dialogue to Inspire COP30
2025-11-05 13:00 - 14:30
Why do we deny or ignore what both science and other ways of knowing teach us about the climate crisis? How can we learn from spiritual traditions and practices to live in balance with nature?

Join the Center for Earth Ethics and Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology online on Wednesday, November 5, at 1 p.m. (ET) for “Science and Spirituality: An Ethical Stocktake Dialogue to Inspire COP30.” Part of the Global Ethical Stocktake—an initiative of the COP30 presidency led by Minister of the Environment and Climate of Brazil, Marina Silva—this dialogue will inform the GES report for COP30 and amplify the newly released Living Earth Community website.

Key Questions

The Global Ethical Stocktake seeks answers to five strategic questions. Each dialogue must address at least one of them:

Why, even when aware of the risks, do we deny or ignore what science and traditional knowledge tell us about the climate crisis?

Why do we maintain models of production and consumption that harm the most vulnerable and contradict the goals of Mission 1.5°C?

What can be done to ensure that wealthy countries accelerate their transitions and contribute financially to the most vulnerable?

What cultural or spiritual traditions and practices from your community teach how to live in balance with nature?

How can we mobilize more people, leaders, businesses, and nations to support fair and ethical change? What values can inspire this mission?

Host: Karenna Gore | Executive Director of Center for Earth Ethics

Moderator: Mary Evelyn Tucker | Co-Director of Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, Living Earth Community

Participants:

Lyla June Johnston | Musician, scholar and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages

Ursula Goodenough | Professor Emerita of biology at Washington University in St. Louis; Author of “Sacred Depths of Nature.”

Melanie Harris | Professor of Black feminist thought and womanist theology at Wake Forest School of Divinity; Director of Food Health and Ecological Well-Being Program

Mirian Vilela | Executive Director of Earth Charter International Secretariat, Executive Director of the Center for Education for Sustainable Development at University for Peace

Steve Kolmes | Editor of Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development; Professor Emeritus of environmental studies at University of Portland
