Center for Earth Ethics

CLIMATE BILL PACKAGE: Organizing to Pass Major Climate Law in 2021
2020-12-16 12:00 - 13:30 UTC
Join the network organizing A Climate Bill Package and seeking co-sponsors in all 435 House Districts. Goal: Pass Major Climate Legislation in 2021.
JOIN AAD & POLICY SECTOR TEAMS: Adopt-A-District. Join Policy Sector Team.
Meetings WEDNESDAY (every 2 weeks).
Next General Meeting Wed. 12/16. Noon-1:30 ET.
Focus: Adopt-A-District & follow up from the Climate Convergence Symposium, Dec 9 -10
Adopt-A-District Today. Already 66 Adopted in 20 States
Register
A “Climate Bill Package” Creates Unified Front for Climate Movement, Preparing Now for Nationally Coordinated Effort in 2021
For Climate Week 2020, a nationwide network has launched a ”Climate Bill Package” campaign, uniting 12 bills spanning key policy sectors. Designed to unite the underlying movements, the bills are collectively supported by over 1200 organizations.
The Climate Bill Package tackles regenerative agriculture, fracking, fossil fuel subsidies, plastics, refrigerants, confined animal feeding operations, toxic pesticides, planting billions of trees, restoring wetlands, environmental justice, and just transition, with additional bills pending that protect international forests, and ban new fossil fuel infrastructure, among others.
Collectively, these have a myriad of climate, environmental and structural benefits, and serve as a strong starting point for core elements of a more comprehensive legislative agenda in 2021.
“Strategically, the package unites movements to increase the political power needed for victory, said Todd Fernandez, Director of Climate Crisis Policy, a digest of climate solutions covering 150 reports and laws. “If we work together, climate activists can defeat the triumvirate of Big Oil, Big Ag & Big Pharma and reclaim our democracy. But we have to be ready.”
The Climate Bill Package network will target all 435 Congressional Districts with an “Adopt-A-District” effort where local organizations form mini-coalitions to secure co-sponsorship of the package. In 2020, the network will target 100 Districts, led by local leaders with Climate Reality, Project Drawdown, Unitarian Universalists, Sierra Club, 350, and more.
Among the many NGOs leading legislative efforts, the network collaborates with the Center for Biological Diversity, Mighty Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Food & Water Action, Family Farm Alliance, Environmental Investigation Agency, Climate Justice Alliance, The Center for Earth Ethics, and The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University.
Expectations are high that 2021 will present the first opportunity for huge climate action in Congress. To prepare, the network aims to grow nationwide coalition capacity and infrastructure so that civil society writ large is ready to seize this moment and save our planet from ecological disaster.
The network hosts opening meetings on Wednesday, every two weeks, featuring experts on the legislation and action, with past meetings available on YouTube. They are also reviewing the U.S. House Climate Action Plan to identify what’s good, bad, and missing, to prepare for action in 2021.
2020 CLIMATE BILL PACKAGE
(See: Sponsors, Summaries, Text, Support)
Materials

Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act of 2020 (H5845 – 2020):

Phases out most common single-use non-recyclable plastic products by 2022

Reforms waste and recycling programs, and establishes nationwide bottle return refund program

Holds corporations responsible for cleaning up plastic pollution

American Innovation & Manufacturing Act (H5544 – 2020)

Bipartisan bill to replace environmentally harmful hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in refrigeration and air conditioning with more efficient cooling products

Creates 33,000 manufacturing jobs and an estimated 2.5M industry jobs by 2027

Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act (H7940 – 2020)

Bans pesticides shown to cause significant harm to children, adults, and the environment, some which are already banned or restricted in Europe & Canada

Bans insecticides that lead to pollinator collapse

Protects frontline communities directly impacted by pesticide exposure

Farming & Forests

Farm System Reform Act (H6718 – 2020)

Phases out concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and large factory farms that produce enormous waste and harmful pollution

Offers buyouts to help farmers transition from CAFOs to regenerative practices

Food & Agribusiness Merger Moratorium Act (H2933 – 2019)

Halts the corporate consolidation of the farming industry, which traditionally thwarts efforts on regenerative farming and devastates independent farmers

Climate Stewardship Act (H4269 – 2019)

Supports programs to reduce or offset one-third of agricultural emissions by 2025

Plants 16 billion trees, including 400 million in urban areas

Restores and protects 2 million acres of essential coastal wetlands

Invests in regional food systems, helping small and medium sized farms provide fresh, nutritious food to more people via local systems

Agriculture Resilience Act (H5861 – 2020)

Rewards farmers for promoting healthy soil and carbon sequestration

Supports farmers for practicing pasture-based livestock systems

Provides financial incentives to help farms transition to green energy

New federal programs aimed at reducing food waste

Fossil Fuels

Fracking Ban Act (S.3247 / H5857 – 2020)

Bans fracking nationwide by 2025 and prioritizes transition of fossil fuel workers into good-paying jobs in their communities

Immediately bans new federal permits for fracking-related infrastructure and bans fracking within 2,500ft of homes

End Polluter Welfare Act (H7781 – 2020)

Eliminates up to $150B in federal subsidies to fossil fuel companies over 10yrs

Environmental Justice & Just Transition
10. Environmental Justice for All Act (H5986 – 2020)

Addresses disparities in environmental and public health, particularly impacting underserved communities and communities of color

Provides economic assistance for communities that depend on the fossil fuel industry, ensuring a fair and just transition for workers and local economies

JOIN AAD & POLICY SECTOR TEAMS: Adopt-A-District. Join Policy Sector Team.

Let’s get ready for 2021!
#ClimateCRISIS #ClimatePOLICY
Materials and more info: www.climatecrisispolicy.org
Questions: ClimateCrisisPolicy@gmail.com

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

The Institute for Studies in Eastern Christianity (ISEC) Conference
2020-12-11 09:00 - 18:00 UTC
The Institute for Studies in Eastern Christianity (ISEC) of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (formerly the Sophia Institute of Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Studies) is happy to announce the upcoming fall 2020 conference on the theme of

Evil and Spiritual Combat in a Time of Pandemic
The global pandemic has destroyed lives and ravaged society. It has revealed systemic patterns of inequity, violence and neglect, and has lent urgency to address the ecological damage that intensifies fires, floods, and storms. What happens to Orthodox theology, liturgy and practice in these circumstances? How does the church respond to natural and human disaster ? Where do we turn for guidance and how do we serve the people and majesty of God’s Creation?
The Conference will take place on Friday, December 11th 2020 via Zoom. Please register if you plan to attend.
We call on scholars, religious leaders and social activists to offer academic papers related to the conference theme. Please email us a short abstract (200 words), email address and mailing address before November 15.
A day-long gathering (9.00 am to 6.00 pm—with registration beginning at 9), will focus on the various ways the Eastern Orthodox Church, over past centuries and in recent times, has theologized on the questions of the meaning, origins and significance of evil in the modern world and on the role of physical and spiritual combat of evil. This conference will thus address the central topics of ethics, spirituality and asceticism.
We believe that this conference topic will be of great interest to scholars, religious leaders and social activists because of its enormous significance for the life of the world and the meaning of life that is faithful to authentic sources of Christian ethics and spirituality.
The conference conveners plan to produce a scholarly volume of papers presented that will continue the ground-breaking approach characteristic of previous conferences.
The Rev. Dr. Conrad Fischer, Chair of ISEC

Center for Earth Ethics Director, Karenna Gore will participate in the
FIRST SHORT PRESENTATION SECTION: 9:30 – 10:45
THE ASSEMBLY PANEL: SPIRITUALITY AND MYSTICISM IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC (IN ENGLISH)
Virtual James Chapel

John A. McGuckin, Oxford University, UK
Being Locked up, Locked in, Locked out, and ‘Locked and Loaded’ in the Time of Pandemic

Clair McPherson, General Theological Seminary, NYC
A Distant Pandemic Mirror: The Great Plague of the 14th Century and the Mystical Response

Karenna Gore, Center for Earth Ethics. Union Theological Seminary. NYC
Social Distancing, Spiritual Connection and the Return to Earth

John Behr. University of Aberdeen, UK
Respondent: Conrad Fischer, Touro College. NYC
MODERATOR: DANIEL BUDA, UNIVERSITY OF SIBIU. ROMANIA

Read On…

A Climate Convergence: Uniting for Victory 2021
2020-12-09 12:00 - 2020-12-10 20:00 UTC
A Climate Convergence: Uniting for Victory 2021
What is the Strategy for National Climate Legislation?
How Can We All Unite in Common Cause for Success?Register Today!
Wed. Dec 9 & Thurs. Dec.10, 2020
Six Sessions. Noon-2. 3-5. 6-8 pm. ET
Closing Climate Cabaret. Thurs @ 8 pm ET
Featuring
Over 25 Organizations!

1. Sascha von Bismarck, Executive Director, Environmental Investigation Agency
2. Navina Khanna, Director, HEAL Food Alliance
3. Nigel S. Savage, President & CEO, HAZON
4. Niaz Dorry, Executive Director, National Family Farm Coalition
5. Alfred Meyer, Board of Directors, Physicians for Social Responsibility
6. Chad Frishmann, Vice-President & Director of Research, Project Drawdown
7. Rev. Michael Malcom, Founder and Executive Director of the People’s Justice Council & Executive Director, Alabama Interfaith Power & Light
8. Kieran Suckling, Executive Director, Center for Biological Diversity
9. Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Director, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary; & Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
10. Mark Reynolds, Executive Director, Citizens Climate Lobby
11. Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith
12. Lise Van Sustren, Steering Committee, Climate Psychiatry Alliance
13. Jacqui Patterson, Sr. Director, Environmental and Climate Justice Program, NAACP
14. Michelle Deatrick, Chair, DNC Council on the Environment & Climate Crisis
15. Ken Berlin, President and CEO, Climate Reality Project
16. Shantha Ready Alonso, Executive Director, Creation Justice Ministries
17. Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers
18. Rise & Resist, Climate Team
19. Rania Batrice, Executive Director, March for Science
20. Roberto Mukaro Borrero, President, United Confederation of Taíno People
21. Bob Perkowitz, Founder & President, EcoAmerica
22. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action
23. May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org
24. Christine See, Extinction Rebellion NYC
25. Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director, Federation of Southern Coops
26. Tia Nelson, Managing Director Climate, Outrider
27. Peggy M. Shepard, Executive Director, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
28. Jim Walsh, Senior Energy Policy Analyst, Food & Water Action & more!

Register – Share on Facebook
SIX SESSIONS
WED. DEC. 9. & THURS. DEC. 10.
WED. NOON-2. LEGISLATIVE PLANS & CONGRESS
WED. 3-5 PM. MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ORGS
WED. 6-8 PM. NATIONAL COALITIONS
THURS. NOON-2. POLICY COALITIONS
THURS. 3-5 PM. FAITH ORGANIZATIONS
THURS. 6-8 PM. DIRECT ACTION & YOUTH
THURS. 8-9 PM. CLOSING CLIMATE CABARET

CLIMATE CABARET ★ Featuring Stars of NY Cabaret!
★ Barbara Brussell ★ Matt Berman ★ Mark Arthur Miller ★ Marissa Mulder
★ Karen Oberlin ★ Christine Pedi ★ Meg MacKay ★ Billy Philadelphia
LET’S TALK STRATEGY! WHAT’S THE DEMAND & PLAN!

HOW ARE WE GOING TO SAVE OURSELVES?
Please Share on FB
THANK YOU SYMPOSIUM CO-HOSTS!
Climate Crisis Policy ★ Climate Reality NYC ★ Drawdown NYC ★ Organic Consumers Association ★ Family Farm Action ★ 350 Kishwaukee ★ Hazon ★ Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light ★ Mighty Earth ★ Loretto Earth Network ★ Climate Nashville ★ Climate Chattanooga ★ Climate Reality Project Peconic Region ★ Climate Reality Project Suffolk County ★ Students for Climate Action ★ Climate Reality Project Capital Region ★ Climate Reality Project Westchester ★ Climate Reality Project Rockland ★ Climate Reality Project Finger Lakes ★ Climate Reality Project Chautauqua County ★ Climate Reality Project hudson Valley & Catskills ★ Protect All Children’s Environment ★ Center for Biological Diversity ★ Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy ★ 350 Central Massachusetts ★ Pesticide Action Network ★ 350 Chicago ★ Earth Day Initiative ★ Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community ★ Hugelrado Farms ★ Climate Action Iowa ★ Climate Reality Project Greater NJ Gateway Chapter ★ United Confederation of Taíno People ★ Rise & Resist
Questions for Presenters: Contact@ClimateCrisisPolicy.com
LET’S GET TOGETHER & SAVE THE WORLD!

Register – Share on Facebook

Faith Communities and the Biden-Harris Transition Team
2020-12-08 12:30 - 14:00 UTC
Join us on December 8, 12:30-2 pm Eastern for the first of a series of important conversations with faith communities and the Biden-Harris Transition team.
For this first roundtable, we’ll be talking about building bridges with multi-faith communities, climate change, police reform, anti-racism, poverty, immigration, and refugees.
We’re excited to be joined by Josh Dickson (Biden-Harris Transition) with Rev. Dr. Serene Jones (Union Theological Seminary), Eboo Patel (Interfaith Youth Core), Dean Jonathan Walton (Wake Forest Divinity School), Rev. Liz TheoHaris (Poor People’s Campaign), Tatiana Torres (Faith 2020), Rev. Frederick A. Davie (Union Theological Seminary), Karenna Gore (Center For Earth Ethics), Rev. Adam Nicholas Phillips (Faith 2020)
RSVP: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Kva9H8raTSemMiDcNKqbXw

2020Visions, The New City: Navigating the Future
2020-12-03 - 2020-12-05
Navigating the Future, a How-To
Hosted by the forward-looking initiative 2020Visions, The New City: Navigating the Future, December 3–5, will feature a wide range of noted speakers including Andrew Yang, Sir David Adjaye OBE, Matthew Ryder, and Karenna Gore. The virtual conference will explore how technical innovation and imagination can help us rethink urban spaces.
Most events will be free to the public. In addition to film screenings, artist videos, and direct encounters with conference participants, attendees will have an opportunity to imagine alongside some of the most creative minds and global world changers. Also available is a membership model available allowing year-round involvement in the 2020Visions community. Just completing its first year of operation, the bi-coastal 2020Visions is dedicated to deploying the imagination as a lever for global change. Central to 2020Visions’ mission is harnessing the artistic imagination to create new paradigms for society.
***
Join Moderator: CEE Director, Karenna Gore and Speakers: Kartik Chandran, Catherine Coleman Flowers, & Paul Gallay for
SUSTAINABILITY AND ETHICS:
ALL ABOUT WATER
What imaginative solutions are arising to provide clean water, air, and land for all? How do we ensure that lower-income neighborhoods don’t become repositories for toxic waste and other environmental hazards?
Saturday, December 5th at 2 pm
Sign up for the conference and learn more here.

Reckon South hosts 'Be Better at Activism' with Catherine Coleman Flowers
2020-12-01 13:30 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
Join Reckon South as they talk with 2020 MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Catherine Coleman Flowers about how activism starts in your own backyard. Reckon Women reporter Abbey Crain will talk with Flowers and take your questions.

Register Here!

Flowers received the Genius Grant for her work in founding the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ), bringing national attention to disease-breeding wastewater issues in rural Alabama.

And, Flowers is a proud country girl from Alabama’s Black Belt.
She grew up with Black Power movement giants such as Stokely Carmichael, who founded the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, as well as her own parents, both local activists. This independent political group mobilized Black people to vote and run for office at a time when white mobs threatened them for registering to vote. The LCFO and its logo, which featured a crouching big cat, inspired the creation of the Black Panther Party in California.

Bring your questions and curiosity about what it takes to advocate for our own causes and how to make change in our communities.

Share on Facebook via Reckon South

About Be Better:
This Reckon Women Monthly Speaker Series, hosted by Abbey Crain, is a resource that allows women access to accomplished thinkers, doers, and builders in their communities. Each month, a speaker that has wisdom to share about a particular topic or life path meets virtually with the Reckon Women Group in an intimate setting that allows for one-on-one questions and deep conversation. This is more than a speaker series, it’s more like a casual conversation with women who are rock stars in their various fields to help foster connection and create community.

Ecological Thinking for Civilizational Change: Beyond the Anthropocene and into a New Future
2020-11-19
Society needs to change at a level far deeper than most people realize. Solar panels, electric cars, and carbon taxes get nowhere close to addressing the underlying causes of our complex social-environmental challenges. The interconnection of our world’s biggest problems requires a paradigm shift—a transformation of our social and economic organization that is guided by a change in values and worldviews. Taking a stand against extractivist and exploitative modes of being is important, but equally important is the articulation of an alternative way of thinking and living. That’s the purpose of this international conference. Change the story, change the system, change the world. Join us, as leaders from around the world come together (online and in Seoul), to begin constructing an alternative vision for a more peaceful, sustainable, and equitable world—what we are calling an ecological civilization. Sessions will focus specifically on shifting paradigms, reconceiving the good life, and redirecting economies for wellbeing.
Co-Organizers:
This conference is being co-organized by the Institute for Ecological Civilization and the Korea Green Foundation.

Prophets and Power: Compelling Congress to Act
2020-11-18 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
The need for action does not stop with Election Day. Whether our nation rises to the occasion in the face of the climate crisis and environmental injustice depends significantly on how much organized pressure is brought to bear on members of congress. In congressional districts across the country, faith-rooted advocates have enormous potential to be the moral and spiritual force needed in this moment. In this webinar, we will hear from panelists on how faith advocates can successfully advocate for climate legislation in Congress.
The featured panelists will be:
-Todd Fernandez, Executive Director of Climate Crisis Policy
-Shantha Ready Alonso, Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries
-Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Executive Director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
This webinar is co-hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt of the United Church of Christ Environmental Justice Ministry and the Rev. Michael Malcom of Alabama Interfaith Power & Light and the People’s Justice Council.

Environmental Activists Erin Brockovich and Catherine Coleman Flowers in Conversation
2020-11-14 16:00 - 16:45 UTC
Saturday, November 14, 2020

4:00 pm – 4:45 pm

RSVP

Erin Brockovich (Superman’s Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It) and 2020 MacArthur Fellow Catherine Coleman Flowers (Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret) illuminate—in a conversation about sustainability and environmental justice—the failures and dangers of our water and water-management systems and policies, from California to Appalachia.

Moderator: Mose Buchele, KUT environmental reporter
Format: This is a free, live, virtual event.
Q&A: Please direct questions to the authors and moderator with CrowdCast’s “Ask a Question” button and not the chat box. Questions will be shared with the moderator, and the moderator will attempt to get to as many audience questions as possible toward the end of the session.
Chat: Feel free to use the chat box to share your thoughts and virtually cheer for and share kudos with the session’s participants! Disorderly comments will be removed immediately. Please refer to the code of conduct.
Books: Please consider clicking the “Buy the Book(s)” button below the video feed, which leads to BookPeople, Texas Book Festival’s partner bookseller. Your purchase helps support the author(s), independent bookselling, and the Texas Book Festival. Thank you.

RSVP

Zero Summit
2020-11-12 - 2020-11-14
ZERO SUMMIT 2020, together with WELCOME TOMORROW 2020, promises content and solutions on how to invest in a transformative and global movement.

Center for Earth Ethics Director, Karenna Gore will join a roster of speakers and panelists from business services, technology, agriculture and sustainability sectors to discuss how we can best move forward together towards a zero carbon future.

This three day event will feature panels, interviews and a livestream from Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, Brazil.
Learn More and Register at Zero Summit.

Founding Partner

Partners

Union Theological Seminary Announces Inaugural James H. Cone Lecture
2020-11-11 18:00 - 20:00 UTC
Union is pleased to announce the Inaugural James H. Cone Lecture. This annual lecture, in honor of Dr. Cone, the father of Black Liberation Theology, will continue forth his legacy of prophetic Black theological and religious thought that pricks the conscience of America.
Join us online Wednesday, November 11 at 6:00 p.m. EST, as Dr. Anthony B. Pinn of Rice University will deliver a lecture titled “The View from Bearden: James Cone, Black Suffering, and Theologizing Poetic Imagination”. Following the lecture there will be Q&A moderated by EDS at Union Dean Kelly Brown Douglas, who holds the Bill & Judith Moyers Chair of Theology– the chair previously held by Dr. Cone.
To register, please click here to receive the Zoom details.
Pinn is the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and professor of religion at Rice University. He is the inaugural director of the Center for African and African American Studies, and founding director of the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning also at Rice.
A live stream will also be available on Facebook and YouTube.

Finance in Common Summit
2020-11-11 15:00 - 2020-11-12 18:30 UTC
The Center for Earth Ethics will participate in the Finance in Common Summit, November 11-12, 2020 hosted by the Paris Peace Forum.

Building Resilience for People and Planet

The Finance in Common Summit will stress the crucial role of Public Development Banks (PDBs) in reconciling short-term countercyclical responses with sustainable recovery measures that will have a long-term impact on the planet and societies.
By reconciling the entire finance community in support of common action for climate and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Finance in Common Summit will be a key milestone on the way to the crucial events of 2021, notably the COP26, the COP15 and the Generation Equality Forum.

Why Finance in Common?

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent global socio-economic crisis, the Finance in Common Summit will stress the crucial role of Public Development Banks (PDBs) in reconciling short-term countercyclical responses to the crisis with sustainable recovery measures that will have a long-term impact on the planet and societies. The Finance in Common Summit is an opportunity to:

gather for the first time the world’s 450 PDBs and discuss their role, their ambition, their challenges and opportunities;
bring together the financial community at large to design a financial system whereby Public Development banks would have the ability to reorient and leverage all financial flows in the direction of climate and the SDGs; and
contribute to supporting and reinventing multilateralism by promoting new forms of cooperation.

The Finance in Common Summit will gather the whole Public Development Bank community along with other key stakeholders, such as Heads of State, governments, supervisors, and representatives from the private sector, civil society, think tanks and academia. By rallying and challenging a new and significant global community with enhanced capacity of action, and by promoting sustained collective action, the Finance in Common Summit seeks to contribute substantially to the success of the UNSG’s “Decade of Action”.

Learn More at www.financeincommon.org.

KNOWLEDGE AND NOURISHMENT: REFLECTING ON THE ELECTION
2020-11-04 11:00 - 11:50 UTC
You are invited to attend a special edition of the Knowledge & Nourishment webinar series with President Serene Jones on November 4, 11:00 am-11:50 am EST. This episode has been arranged to hold space for the community to process the election results, and to share directly from the administration where they see Union’s place in the world following the election. President Jones will be joined by Executive Vice President Fred Davie, Dean Pamela Cooper-White, and EDS at Union Dean Kelly Brown Douglas.
Date: Wednesday, November 4
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.
RSVP: Click Here
Webinar will also be available on Facebook and YouTube.
You are also welcome to worship with us during the noon Chapel service immediately following this webinar. It will be a time for us to continue to hold one another in love, whatever the election’s outcome may be.

The Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit
2020-10-22 - 2020-10-27
The year 2020 has brought sharp focus to our collective struggles: a global pandemic, environmental destruction, threats to democracy, reckonings with racial inequality. How is it possible to blossom, lotus-like, from the mud of suffering? The Dalai Lama offers us an incredible example of how to live with compassion, courage, and ethical conviction in the face of tremendous adversity.
The Global Vision Summit will meet October 22 – 27. CEE Director, Karenna Gore is honored to participate on Day 6, Oct 27th.

Day 6 – Ethics for a New Millennium: Vision for a Better World

For many of us, the year 2020 has radically altered our ideas about what the future holds. A global pandemic, environmental destruction, threats to democracy, reckonings with racial inequality… a dizzying array of challenges confronts us. In all this, the Dalai Lama offers us an incredible example of how to flourish in enormous adversity, with tenacity, ethical conviction and courage. Learn how this perspective can help us rediscover a sense of purpose, community and hope.

Register for this Free Event

“To remain indifferent to the challenges we face is indefensible. If the goal is noble, whether or not it is realized within our lifetime is largely irrelevant. What we must do therefore is to strive and persevere and never give up.”

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Learn More…

Faith Rally: Election Day Home Stretch — A Digital Event
2020-10-14 13:00 - 14:30 UTC
Feeling bruised, battered, or fatigued by this election season? Looking for a source of uplift down the home stretch to November 3rd? Then, this webinar is for you. This will be a time to renew our energies and our focus as we approach an election day with so many profound implications for those who care about the climate crisis and the many interconnected issues of justice that we face today. Our three featured speakers will include:
-Rev. Gerald Durley, a veteran of the civil rights movement and the current Chair of the Board for Interfaith Power & Light
-Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., President of the Hip Hop Caucus which organizes the hip hop community for social and political change
-Karenna Gore, founder and director of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary
This webinar is co-hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt of the United Church of Christ Environmental Justice Ministry and the Rev. Michael Malcom of Alabama Interfaith Power & Light and the People’s Justice Council.
Sign-up now to join the webinar!
Even if you can’t make its scheduled time, still sign-up, and we will send you a recording of it.

The Climate Crisis and New York Faith Communities - The 38th Marshall Meyer Retreat for Social Justice
2020-10-08 09:00 - 15:30 UTC
October 8, 2020: 9:00AM to 3:30PM
Online – Zoom
Register

The climate crisis poses an existential threat to New York City, and indeed to our entire world. Global warming, sea-level rise, devastating storms, and the many other effects of carbon pollution are an imminent threat to public health, food and water security, and the sustainable development of human societies. This conference will catalyze much-needed action, by exploring the role of faith-based organizations in confronting the climate crisis.
Speakers will include:
Rev. Dr. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director, Interfaith Center of New York
Karenna Gore, Founder and Director, The Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary
Peggy Shepard, Co-Founder and Executive Director, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Rick Chavolla, Board Chair, American Indian Community House
Gopal Patel, Director, The Bhumi Project
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Founder and CEO, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
Dr. Henry Goldschmidt, Director of Programs, Interfaith Center of New York
Learn More…

Faith for Nature: Multi-Faith Action
2020-10-05 08:00 - 2020-10-08 17:00 UTC
Center for Earth Ethics Director, Karenna Gore will participate in the 2020
FAITH FOR NATURE: MULTI-FAITH ACTION

Inspired to take collective action to protect our shared planet

Faith for Nature: Multi-Faith Action is a global event designed to lay the foundation for inter-faith collaboration for sustainable and regenerative development to achieve the SDGs. The concept and objectives of this conference will be in support of the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly to be held in February 2021 in Nairobi with the overall theme “ Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”. The Faith for Nature Conference will have the following objectives and outcomes:

A) Identify the relevance and way forward in mobilizing values, ethics, spirituality and faith-based action to achieve the SDGs.

B) Empower faith-based organizations in taking action for the SDGs and to cooperate for sustainable and regenerative development, with a view to endorsing the establishment of a global Faith for Earth Coalition.

Learn More about the Faith for Nature initiative.
Organized and Hosted by:

UNEP FAITH FOR EARTH INITIATIVE
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF ICELAND
UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF ICELAND
SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE OF ICELAND

Knowledge and Nourishment with Liz Theoharis and Serene Jones
2020-09-24 12:00 - 13:00 UTC
Please join President Serene Jones on Thursday, September 24th at noon for the next edition of our Knowledge & Nourishment webinar series. President Jones will be in conversation with The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis to discuss the journey of the Poverty Initiative to the Kairos Center. Theoharis is an American theologian who is the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival, and the Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church.
REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR
A live stream will also be available on Facebook and YouTube.
About Dr. Liz Theoharis
The Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis is the Director of the Kairos Center and a Founder and the Coordinator of the Poverty Initiative. She has spent the past two decades organizing amongst the poor in the United States, working with and advising grassroots organizations with significant victories including the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Vermont Workers Center, Domestic Workers United, the United Workers Association, the National Union of the Homeless and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. She has led hundreds of trainings, Bible studies, and leadership development workshops; spoken at dozens of conferences and keynote presentations across the US and globally; and published several articles and book chapters sharing her vision that poverty can be ended and that the poor can be agents of social change. Liz received her BA in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania; her M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in 2004 where she was the first William Sloane Coffin Scholar; and her PhD from Union in New Testament and Christian Origins. She is the author of Always with Us?: What Jesus Really Said about the Poor (Eerdmans, 2017). Liz is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Good Trouble for a Healthy Planet - 2020 Faith-Based Organization Consultation on Climate Emergency
2020-09-24 10:00 - 13:00 UTC
Join this 2nd interfaith-based consultation to address the climate emergency, confronting the impact of human activity on the planet with insight and hope.
More than 45 global interfaith organizations gathered a year ago for our first interfaith-based consultation to address the climate emergency. In 2020, a coalition of planning partners is pleased to invite you to our second interfaith consultation entitled “Good Trouble for a Healthy Planet.” This 2020 virtual consultation will address the impact of human activity on the planet, the urgent need for action to obtain sustainable and resilient communities, and the development of recommendations for moving forward. Two keynote presentations and eight concurrent workshops will be supported with web-based materials and social media tools to equip participants. This watershed moment requires action by all, especially faith voices of insight and hope.
WHAT: “Good Trouble for a Healthy Planet” Webinar based Consultation
DATE & TIME: Thu. Sept. 24, 2020 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (EDT)
REGISTRATION: http://bit.ly/2020FBOclimateconsultation to be part of the Zoom event
DEADLINE: September 22, 2020
The Consultation will focus on eight areas.
• Envisioning a Sustainable and Just Economy for a Resilient World
• Taking Responsibility for the Climate
• Buen Vivir: Pathways to a Healthier Planet
• How to Activate More People of Faith to Action
• Solutions that Work: Adaptation and Mitigation
• Climate Migration (including displaced persons)
• Climate Grief
• Restoration and Nature Based Solutions
A description of each workshop can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/GoodTroubleWorkshopList .
Special thanks to @episcopalians for technically facilitating this virtual event.
In addition to @lutherans, the event planning team includes @actalliance @theanglicancommunion @USBahaiOPA @bkwsu @churchworldservice @blessedtomorrow @greenfaith @lutheranworld @maryknollogc @parliamentofreligions @mercysisters @episcopalian @WorldCouncilofChurches

March for Climate Justice Through Racial Justice
2020-09-20 13:00 - 15:00 UTC
On Sept. 20th, we are marching because we know that addressing the climate crisis effectively rests in our commitment to racial justice. This isn’t the first march calling for climate justice and racial justice, and it won’t be the last. The march will kick off and set a tone for Climate Week by prioritizing Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples, making clear the intersection between climate justice and racial justice.
More info about the march can be found here:
https://bit.ly/pcmny-920.
We cannot achieve climate justice without racial justice. Make plans now to march with us on Sept. 20!
If you can, please make a donation to help make it possible to provide face masks and hand sanitizer, to purchase materials needed for art builds, and to help cover the other costs related to this effort. Your contribution is appreciated! https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/nyc-climate-week-actions-commitment-to-racial-justice
At this event, *masks will be required, and social distancing will be encouraged.* Thank you.
Co-sponsors (as of 9/9):
Peace Action of Staten Island
350Brooklyn
350NYC
Atlantic Climate Justice Alliance
Bronx Climate Justice North
Bronx Green Party
Brooklyn For Peace
Divest NY
Earth Day Initiative
Environmental Justice Initiative / NY En. Law & Justice Project
Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion NYC
Food & Water Action
Granny Peace Brigade, NYC
Green Party of Brooklyn
Indivisible Harlem
Indivisible Nation Bk
MADRE
National Lawyers Guild – Environmental Justice Committee
North American Climate, Conservation and Environment (NACCE)
North American Megadam Resistance Alliance
North Bronx Racial Justice
NY Buddhist Climate Action Network
NY Communities for Change
NYC War Resisters League
NYC World Can’t Wait
Peace Action New York State
Peoples Climate Movemen-NY
PSC, Environmental Justice Working Group
Queens Climate Project
Raging Grannies NYC
Rise and Resist
SEMILLA WARUNKWA & ProtectTheSacredNYC
Shut Down Indian Point Now
Sixth Street Community Center
St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church
Sustainable Staten Island
Take Down Columbus NYC
VOCAL-NY
WE ACT
World Can’t Wait
Zero Hour NYC

Karenna Gore joins McClendon Scholar-in-Residence Program
2020-09-19
McClendon Scholar-in-Residence Program

“Where Faith, Intellect and Justice Meet”

The McClendon Scholar Program brings scholars and thought leaders to Washington to share their learning, wisdom and insight about how the church can be more effective in its work for social justice. Established through the generosity of the late Rev. Dr. Jack E. McClendon, the program grows out of Dr. McClendon’s insight that justice, service and action can only be sustained when a community works to deepen its faith and grapples with the profound issues of the day.

Coming Programs
Due to the pandemic, all McClendon Scholar Programs for the next few months will be conducted online

James Forman, Jr, August 25 & Sept. 3: Mr. Forman, a professor at Yale Law School and Pulitzer Prize winning author of Locking Up Our Own, will lead a two-part webinar – “After the Protests: What Do We Do Now?” Both programs will focus on how to improve policing, reform the criminal justice system. Register for the Sept. 3 program here. You can also watch the August 25 program here.

Karenna Gore, Spiritual and Moral Response to the Climate Crisis, September 19, 10 am: In this online dialogue, we’ll talk about questions like: How do we understand the climate crisis from a spiritual and moral perspective? What personal and societal change is needed for a sustainable future? What specific things can I do to make a difference?

Learn More …

Ecology And Ecumenicity: Facing Division And Imagining Reconciliation In The Care Of Our Common Home
2020-09-18 13:00 - 15:00 UTC
An online colloquium with ecologically-attentive theologians, ethicists, and community leaders from an array of Christian traditions. Organized with the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute
Free and open to the public. Register now.
The ecological crisis is, no less, an ecumenical crisis and an ecumenical opportunity. There can be no degradation nor restoration of the environment, on any scale from local to global, that does not also present a challenge of communication with and commitment to one another. The “home” (oikos) we share—however divided and acrimonious it may be—is and must be a home to all. Yet our ecological vision and efforts are often themselves divisive or inattentive to divisions that shape our capacities for response.
This roundtable will take up the urgent contemporary questions rising from the entanglement between social division (religious, political, ethnic, economic, and so forth) and ecological degradation. For instance:

How are we best to understand the causes and ethical entailments of our present ecological challenges through the resources offered by our (different and often disagreeing) traditions?
What roles are played by ecological precarity in the divisions (cultural, ethical, political, theological) between and within Christian communities?
How should religious communities (and conversations between communities) contribute to society’s responses to these challenges—whether at the level of a public vision of ecological integrity, or at the level of concrete challenges like food security, environmental justice, and the plight of climate refugees?
What ecumenical resources exist for engagement between religious communities with apparently incompatible assessments of the present ecological situation?

This special program has been generously co-sponsored and co-organized by the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary; the Church World Service; the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University; and the Zohrab Information Center.

Panelists
The Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis:
Fr. Chryssavgis, Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was born in Australia, studied theology in Athens, and completed his doctorate in Oxford. He taught theology in Sydney and Boston, and currently serves as theological advisor to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, “the green patriarch.” His latest book is Creation as Sacrament: Reflections on Ecology and Spirituality (Bloomsbury, 2019). He lives in Maine.

The Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas:
was named Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Theology at Union in September 2017. She was named the Bill and Judith Moyers Chair in Theology in November 2019. She also serves as the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral and Theologian in Residence at Trinity Church Wall Street. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1983, Dean Douglas holds a master’s degree in theology and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Union. Dean Douglas is the author of many articles and five books, including Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective and Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God. Her academic work has focused on womanist theology, sexuality and the black church.

Dr. Dawn Nothwehr, OSF:
is a leading Catholic environmental ethicist, who in 2012 was acknowledged among the top twenty-five eco-theologians in The U.S. Heartland by The National Council of Churches of Christ Ecojustice Programs. Since 2015 she has served on the Encyclical Working Group of the Office of Human Dignity of the Archdiocese of Chicago, whose mission is the education and implementation of Laudato Si’. A Rochester, Minnesota Franciscan, Sr. Dawn joined the faculty of Catholic Theological Union (Chicago) in 1999. The mandate of the John Family Chair is to promote the Roman Catholic Consistent Ethic of Life, advanced by Cardinal Bernardin; thus, her research and teaching addresses a variety of issues. Her primary focus is environmental ethics through the lens of Franciscan theology, especially the effects of global climate change on poor people. Equal concerns include the religion/science dialogue, the ethics of power and racial justice, and fundamental moral theology.

Dr. Christopher Sheklian:
was appointed Director of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center in September 2018. An anthropologist by training, completing his PhD at the University of Chicago, Dr. Sheklian specializes in the Anthropology of religion and secularism, studying the role of liturgy and law on the lives of religious minorities. He teaches Classical Armenian at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, and he is an ordained deacon in the Armenian Apostolic Church in America.

Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy:
serves as President of Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California –a progressive, multidenominational seminary and center for social justice that prepares theologically and spiritually rooted leaders to work for the well-being of all. A committed Lutheran pastor, a nationally recognized immigration leader, and a sought-after speaker, Vásquez-Levy leads at the intersection of faith, higher education, and social change. He is currently engaged in a series of public conversation with various State Attorneys across the country in an effort to reframe our national conversation about immigration.

+ GOOGLE CALENDAR+ ICAL EXPORT

Details

Date:
Friday, September 18
Time:

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT

Event Category:
GEII Events

Bloomberg Green Festival Climate Activism Panel
2020-09-18 10:00 - 11:30 UTC
Climate Activism
Friday, September 18, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT

10:00 AM – The Green Vote

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President & Founder, Hip Hop Caucus
Moderator: Jillian Goodman, Reporter, Bloomberg Green

10:25 AM – Winning the New Green Deal

Varshini Prakash, Co-Founder & Executive Director, The Sunrise Movement
Moderator: Akshat Rathi, Reporter, Bloomberg Green

10:50 AM – Climate Justice

Catherine Coleman Flowers, Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice
Mustafa Santiago Ali, Vice President of Environmental Justice, Climate, and Community Revitalization, The National Wildlife Federation
Moderator: Jillian Goodman, Reporter, Bloomberg Green

Environmental Justice for All Act - Online Tour
2020-09-15 13:00 - 14:30 UTC
Environmental Justice for All Act — Improving Lives of Marginalized Communities
Facebook Live Online Tour – Next Stop: Tuesday, Sept. 15 from Los Angeles 1:00 – 2:30 pm ET
Sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijlav (D-AZ) House Natural Resources Committee Chair Rep. Raul Grijalva is leading forums on Facebook Live to promote the “Environmental Justice for All Act,” which he and Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-VA.) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced. See fact sheet.
Grijalva and Rep. McEachin will discuss the impacts that decades of neglect have had on Cancer Alley and how the Environmental Justice for All Act would give community members long-sought legal powers to protect themselves from polluter abuses. The bill was written after a collaborative process with impacted communities lasting more than a year, and has been praised as a new model for preparing legislation.
Among other measures, the bill would:

Amend the Civil Rights Act to allow private citizens and organizations that experience discrimination (based on race or national origin) to seek legal remedies when a program, policy, or practice causes a disparate impact;
Provide $75 million annually for research and program development grants to reduce health disparities and improve public health in disadvantaged communities;
Levy new fees on oil, gas, and coal companies to create a Federal Energy Transition Economic Development Assistance Fund, which would support workers and communities transitioning away from greenhouse gas-dependent jobs; and
Require federal agencies to consider health effects that might accumulate over time when making permitting decisions under the federal Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

Event details and links will be made available on Rep. Grijalva’s website HERE.

Voting is Power Unleashed: Moral Monday Mass Assembly
2020-09-14 19:00 - 21:00 UTC
On September 14 at 7 PM ET, the Poor People’s Campaign will hold a mass digital assembly and teach-in: “Voting is Power Unleashed: Moral Monday Mass Assembly”. This online program will bring together thousands of poor and low-income people, community and faith organizations, and more as we plan to educate and empower ourselves on voter engagement, registration, and protection ahead of this consequential election season.

The program will be anchored by two prominent legal organizations, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Forward Justice, which will lead a massive and unique teach-in on voter participation and protection. We will also hear from poor and low-income folks who have experienced voter suppression as well as notable leaders, artists, activists, and the co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign.
Use this link to join as a co-sponsor. Once you sign-up, you can use this digital toolkit to spread the word far and wide.
As we show in a new report, poor and low-income people are a key section of the electorate, but their issues are rarely part of the political narrative. There are over a dozen states where just a small increase in turnout by poor and low-income voters in the 2016 presidential election and in 2018 midterms could have met or exceeded the margin of victory. Poor and low-income people are no longer waiting to be included in the national political narrative.
That is why September 14 is not a one-off event, but a launching pad for a national organizing campaign between now and November: We Must Do M.O.R.E. (Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering, and Educating). As a part of the M.O.R.E Campaign, we are encouraging at least 1000 faith and community organizations to sign-on to the Prophetic Pledge to turn-out 1000 people to the polls. And thousands more are signing-up as MORE Organizers to do outreach in their communities. We’d be thrilled to count you and your people in the numbers.
Forward Together!
Rev. Kazimir Brown & Dr. Adam Barnes
PPC Faith Partners Team

Values & Worldviews: Ecological Civilization as Mutual Flourishing
2020-09-10 21:00 - 22:30 UTC
Webinar Series: Earth Charter and Ecological Civilization
A new kind of collaboration, toward a new kind of civilization, is needed if we are to shift humanity away from the current civilization that is indifferent to the needs of the most vulnerable and that predominantly has lifestyles and production patterns that destroys the life support systems that sustain life on Earth.
Two decades ago, after years of international collaboration and with input from visionaries around the world, a document known as the Earth Charter was drafted as a vision of hope and a call to action. The 16 principles of the Earth Charter provide a framework for the long-term well-being of people and the planet.
In 2012, China adopted Ecological Civilization in its National Constitution and mandated its incorporation into “all aspects of economic, political, cultural, and social progress.” This call for civilizational change raises awareness of the need for an alternative paradigm. But, what is “ecological civilization” and how can it be achieved?
Now, as we enter the third decade of the new millennium, there is urgency in generating an intercultural and intersectoral dialogue about the meaning, principles, metrics, vision, and values that ought to drive humanity towards ecological civilization.
Toward this end, a group of global partners are coming together to organize a series of webinars to exchange views, deepen discourse, and hopeful stimulate further collaboration. This series of four webinars, to take place between September and December, is being organized as a collaborative effort between the Earth Charter International, University for Peace, Pace Center for Green Sci-Teck and Development, the Institute of Ecological Civilization, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), and the Center for Process Studies.
The following questions will be addressed:

What is an “Ecological Civilization?”
What values and worldviews are needed to ground a paradigm shift towards that direction?
Can the Earth Charter principles provide a framework for building an ecological civilization?
How to cultivate the consciousness needed, and how to turn this new consciousness into action?
What are the driving forces of the current civilization and what could be the drivers of “Ecological Civilization”?
What is the role of education, policies, and international collaboration to turn Ecological Civilization a reality?

Dates, Speakers and Time
September 10
Values & Worldviews: Ecological Civilization as Mutual Flourishing
Speakers: Mary Evelyn Tucker, Meijun Fan, and Karenna Gore
Moderator: Andrew Schwartz
Time: 7:00pm Costa Rica, 9:00pm ET, 9:00am Beijing of 11 September
Click here to register

Learn More, See More Dates and Speakers…

Rural Environmental Justice & Sanitation in Lowndes, AL with Catherine Flowers
2020-09-08 19:00 - 20:00 UTC

Mother Earth’s Pandemic: The Doctrine of Discovery
2020-08-06 08:00 - 2020-08-20 17:00 UTC
Dates: Thursday August 6, 13, and 20, 2020
Times: 6-9 PM EST each Thursday, followed by caucuses/small group discussions.
Location: Online
Sponsors: Indigenous Values Initiative and American Indian Law Alliance
View Flyer
View bios
Register

The “Doctrine of Discovery,” better described as the “Doctrine of Christian Discovery and World Domination,” established the worldview that not only brought devastation to the natural world, but also impaired the ability for human beings to live in proper relationship with the Earth. 15th century Papal Bulls, issued by the Vatican, justified the assault upon Indigenous Peoples as an artificial justification to take possession of their bodies, lands and resources in order to finance their New World Order. This worldview advanced the Age of Discovery as an extension of the Crusades, and was the conceptual framework behind the Protestant Reformation, the establishment of Nation States around the world, and later secularized to define colonialism, white supremacy and global capitalism.
Essentially, what defines Indigenous Peoples is their relationship with a living landscape that includes the soil, water, air, and all other non-human being co-inhabitants. This orientation to land is distinctly opposed to the European concept of owning land and the process of colonization. Indigenous scholars have discussed these two opposing orientations as being one of habitation and the other, of occupation. Although the violent seizure of Indigenous lands was initiated with “discovery,” corporations today, continue exploiting Indigenous Peoples and their land all over the world. The Doctrine of Discovery is the root of the problem, and the reason that it is discussed at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
This current pandemic and the escalating climate chaos clarify to everyone that there are consequences to the devastation humans have perpetrated upon the environment. As Oren Lyons has pointed out, Natural Law will reestablish balance, and these climate changes will not destroy the Earth, but will most likely destroy the human beings who abuse her. The earth will rebound in its own time. If we are to survive as a species, we must reorient to an Indigenous worldview acknowledging that we are first and foremost, co-inhabitants with this Earth—not in charge of it. These Indigenous values, along with the acceptance of traditional ecological knowledge, will transform future technological innovations possibly resulting in a viable future for our species. Religious concepts of imperial thinking urgently need to be re-imagined; messages from Indigenous Peoples need to be heeded; and environmental justice needs to be restored. Racist ideologies of conquest and domination are directly connected with domination of the Earth and other non-human beings.
This conference will connect the dots between our current pandemic, environmental devastation, the Doctrine of Discovery, and a way forward. Too often these are thought of as unrelated concepts, rather than being the core impediment in working towards social justice in an ecologically balanced Earth. Our speakers have been working in these areas for many decades. Participants will hear the wisdom from the traditions of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), as well as other Indigenous Peoples. Through virtual discussion groups, you will be able to interact on how best to implement these values of respect, thanksgiving, and peace into your lives.
Please join us in August 2020 for conversations about the Doctrine of Discovery, so we can begin the process of decolonization back to understanding our proper relationship to the natural world and peace.

Schedule
Thursday 6 August, 6-9 PM (EST)

6:00-6:10 Opening, Tadodaho Sid Hill
6:15-7:00 Orienting the conference panel:

Phil Arnold, Sandy Bigtree, Betty Lyons, Jake Edwards

7:00-8 PM Keynote: “The Haudenosaunee, United Nations and the Doctrine of Discovery” by Oren Lyons

8:00-9:00PM: Thematic Discussion groups/Caucuses

Thursday 13 August, 6-9 PM (EST)

6:00-7:00 PM Legal dimensions of the Doctrine of Discovery

Joe Heath, Dana Lloyd, Steve Newcomb, Makayla Loeb

7:00-8:00 PM Mother Earth’s Pandemic in other contexts

Eglute Trinkauskaite, Rob Ruehl, Sarah Nahar, Angela Mooney D’Arcy, Abel Gomez

8:00-9:00PM: Thematic Discussion groups/Caucuses

Thursday 20 August, 6-9 PM (EST)

6:00-7:00 International work and the Doctrine of Discovery

Betty Lyons, Evie Reyes-Aguirre, Tupac Enrique Acosta, Tina Ngata

7:00-8:00 Considerations for an Indigenous Future (panel-summation)

Jake Edwards, Beverly Jacobs, Tink Tinker

8:00-9:00 PM Thematic Discussion groups/Caucuses

Thematic Discussion Groups (caucuses)
After each panel there will be facilitated thematic discussion groups (caucus) for intentional thematic dialogue and conversations around the panels and possible next steps. Each caucus will have a facilitator and be capped at 25 members as a way of allowing for intentional conversations. Caucuses will be assigned on a first come first serve basis. We will try and accommodate your choices as best we are able but no guarantees. The Indigenous Peoples solidarity caucus is reserved as a space for Indigenous Nations and Peoples to talk. The regional action caucus groups we will be crafted to the best of our ability based on a critical mass of folks from a particular location.

NYS Poor People's Campaign 101
2020-07-22 18:00 - 20:00 UTC
NYS Poor People’s Campaign 101
Wednesday, July 22 6-8pm
Online Zoom Workshop
On July 22, please join us for Poor People’s Campaign 101. We will discuss the history of the 1968 campaign, the relaunch in 2018 and how we got to where we are today. Most importantly, we will focus on the principles of the campaign and our goals, in particular why shifting the narrative by shifting the narrator is so central to what we do. We will also explore ways you can get involved. Whether you are new to the campaign or would just like a refresher, or perhaps you are wanting ideas on how you too can present the Poor People’s Campaign to your organization or community, we encourage you to register for this program and discussion. Spanish and ASL interpretation available.

July 22nd, 6pm-8pm
NYS Poor People’s Campaign 101 – Register Here
Online Workshop (Zoom)
Contact newyork@poorpeoplescampaign.org with any questions!
El 22 de julio, te invitamos a participar del evento educativo “Introducción a la Campaña de la Gente Pobre” (PPC 101). Presentaremos la historia de la Campaña de la Gente Pobre del 1968, además del reinicio de la Campaña en el 2018 y cómo hemos llegado a donde estamos. Conoceremos los principios de la Campaña y nuestros objetivos. En particular por qué cambiar la narrativa con cambiar los protagonismos, es fundamental para lo que hacemos. Compartiremos diferentes formas de involucrarse. Invitamos a personas que quieran conocer la Campaña por primera vez, además de personas que quieran profundizar su participación y personas interesadas en cómo presentar la Campaña en su organización o comunidad. Interpretación al español y lenguaje de señas (ASL).
¡Regístrate aquí!

Climate Crisis Policy Follow Up
2020-07-15 12:00 - 13:30 UTC
Thank you for attending the July 1 webinar (video). We had over 300 join in and almost 200 wanted to help build a Climate Bill Package or Collect Votes, or both!
This is an exciting and big task that needs a lot of coordination. Here are some next steps:
1. Group Follow-up Call. JULY 15. Noon-1:30pm EST. Register on Zoom.
Agenda: Legislation (Fracking, Forest Protection) (20 min). Organizing Planning (70 mins). Q&A live.
2. Organizing Approach: We’ll always be open, inclusive and transparent.
3. Adopt-A-District: If you’d like to take the lead in a Congressional District to secure co-sponsors, please fill out this form.
4. Organizing Leads: If you’re interested in being on a core coordinating team, please reply to this email and let’s connect. We need a big team!
5. Process for Reviewing Bills: Discussion points: Collect bills. Study, summarize. GHG analysis. Determine Group Support. Here’s a summary of bills to study.
6. Bill Package Principles: Proposal for Discussion: Start with Project Drawdown Science. Collect Bills to achieve GHG reductions & fulfill policy suggestions from experts and civil society in the Climate Crisis Policy Digest. Embrace bills with sector coalition backing.
7. Groups Bill Endorsements: Here’s a list of Groups that have endorsed various Bills, gathered from the sponsors/lead groups. Going forward this will be an opt-in setup, respecting individual autonomy to support or not, any bill. Submit your Group’s Bill Endorsements here.
8. Vote Count: Here’s a list of Congress people and their co-sponsorship of various Bills. Some bills (GND Resolution, OFF Act) are listed to show historical support.
