News Items

The Forum regularly posts news articles of interest here from a variety of sources and news outlets. You can check back here or view the most recent ones from the homepage. We also archive these articles here, for those doing research, with news going back to 2006. Use the menu on the right to explore the archived articles.

News

October 30, 2015
Lion’s Roar

On Thursday, 15 Buddhist leaders, including the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Karmapa, and the King of Bhutan issued a Buddhist Climate Change Statement, calling on world leaders to completely phase out fossil fuels.

October 29, 2015
By Lydia O’Connor
Huffington Post

“The earth is not just our environment. The earth is our mother.”

A dozen Buddhist authorities, in what they’re calling an unprecedented effort, appeal to world leaders to take strong climate change action at next month’s Paris conference.

Call for Fellows, 2016-17

The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society invites applications for its 2016–17 cohort of postdoctoral and senior fellows. The fellowship program is designed to bring together excellent scholars who are working in environmental history and related disciplines.

Churches are encouraging bike travel by holding rituals to Bless the Bicycles.

Yale Climate Connections
October 27, 2015

In 1999, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City held the world’s first organized blessing of bicycles. Now this new ritual has spread to different denominations and to cities as far away as Melbourne, Australia.

As part of the...

October 26, 2015
By Elisabetta Povoledo
New York Times

VATICAN CITY — Roman Catholic cardinals, patriarchs and bishops from around the world on Monday appealed to climate-change negotiators to approve a “fair, legally binding and truly transformational climate agreement” when they meet at a widely anticipated...

October 26, 2015
By Brian Roewe
National Catholic Reporter

The world’s bishops have a clear message for world leaders set, in barely a month, to enter the latest and perhaps most significant round of international climate negotiations: Get the deal done in Paris.

Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader says humans caused global warming so must now take action to protect fragile environments including Himalayan glaciers

Associated Press
The Guardian
October 20, 2015

The Dalai Lama on Tuesday urged strong global action to limit global warming and to protect fragile environments,...

October 20, 2015
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Reporting Services

UNFCCC Executive Director Christiana Figueres received a statement from a delegation of 154 faith and spiritual leaders representing different faith groups, headed by South African Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, calling for an ambitious climate agreement, reminding governments to commit to...

October 19, 2015
By Anne Marie Hankins
Religion News Service

The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia invites applicants for a tenure-track Assistant or tenured Associate Professor position, focused on Religion, Nature, and Culture in South Asia. These hires are part of a multiyear initiative in the environmental humanities, supported by the Andrew H. Mellon Foundation and the College of Arts & Sciences....