August 2012


The Forum on Religion and Ecology Newsletter
6.8 (August 2012)

 

Contents:


1. Editorial, by Elizabeth McAnally

2. This Is Climate Change

3. Responses to Severe Weather (Newsletter of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change)

4. Ancient Voices–Contemporary Contexts (Newsletter of the American Indian Institute)

5. Sacred Sites Research Newsletter (SSIREN)

6. New Books

7. Events

8. Call for Papers

9. Job Opening: Professor of Environmental Ethics at University of Chicago Divinity School

10. Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology




1. Editorial, by Elizabeth McAnally

Greetings,

Welcome to the August issue of the newsletter for the Forum on Religion and Ecology. I have much to share with you this month with regards to developments in the field of Religion and Ecology, including publications, conferences, events, calls for papers, and more.

We are continuing to move the EMMY® award-winning Journey of the Universe film out into the networks of national and international distribution. In this process we would be grateful for your help so that distributors will be keen to distribute the film more widely. One of the most popular internet movie sites, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), is the go-to place for distributors and film lovers worldwide. This site allows viewers to rate movies on a scale of one to ten. We would be grateful if you can take a minute to rate Journey of the Universe. If you have a few more minutes, write your own movie review and IMDB will post it on the Journey page. Together we can make a difference! Please share your “voice” to help encourage new viewers to be inspired by the film’s powerful message for the Earth community. To register, rate and review the film online, follow these simple steps:

* Go to: www.imdb.com
* Register to create a new account, or use your existing Facebook account
* Search for “Journey of the Universe” (2011)
* At the top of the page, click on “Your Rating” to rate the film from 1-10 on the scale
* To write a personal review, scroll to the bottom of the page to “Contribute to This Page.”
* Hit “Write Review” – follow the instructions for entering a review and submit

Thank you for all your continued support! For more information about the Journey of the Universe Trilogy (film, book, and educational series of interviews), visit: www.journeyoftheuniverse.org. The Journey of the Universe Facebook page is a great way to connect with others and show your support for the project. Come “Like” us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=212293652138039#!/pages/Journey-of-the-Universe/179213572122084

I would also like to let you know about a few items related to climate change. The first is the project This Is Climate Change, which uses a dual approach to educate and increase awareness of climate change among the general public: the placement of photo displays in airports and other high visibility locations shows climate change in action, and the website provides more detailed information. This Is Climate Change documents climate change impacts on both the environment and human lives and presents a convincing picture of a changing earth. View the gallery here: http://www.thisisclimatechange.org/glacial-retreat/

The second is the July newsletter of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, “Responses to Severe Weather.” This newsletter reports on the severe weather of 2011 and includes a link to the State of the Climate in 2011 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Another focus of this newsletter is the current drought, which is the largest natural disaster in the history of the United States. To read this newsletter, visit: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5256/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1212506

The third item of climate change news comes from the Ancient Voices–Contemporary Contexts newsletter of the American Indian Institute. Here you will find a 16-page document entitled “Northwest Tribes: Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change.” This document explains that “Native peoples have become an early-warning system for the rest of humanity — that climate change is already altering our environment, our economies, and our cultures.” To read this and other items within the Ancient Voices–Contemporary Contexts newsletter (including a 2011 Haudenosaunee letter to President Barack Obama concerning the Keystone XL pipeline), visit: http://www.ancientvoicescontemporarycontexts.org/enewsarchive/1207enews.html

I hope this newsletter supports your own work and helps you further your own engagements with the field of Religion and Ecology.

Warm wishes,
Elizabeth McAnally
California Institute of Integral Studies
Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale
Website Manager & Newsletter Editor
http://www.yale.edu/religionandecology

news@religionandecology.org



2. This Is Climate Change

The scientific consensus is that climate change is real, it is happening now, and the primary cause is the atmospheric accumulation of man-made greenhouse gases. This Is Climate Change uses a dual approach to educate and increase awareness of climate change among the general public: the placement of photo displays in airports and other high visibility locations shows climate change in action, and the website provides more detailed information. Climate Change is accelerating and its impacts on both the environment and human lives are visible worldwide. This Is Climate Change documents these impacts and presents a convincing picture of a changing earth. View the Gallery here: http://www.thisisclimatechange.org/glacial-retreat/

This Is Climate Change Website:
www.thisisclimatechange.org

This Is Climate Change Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/This-Is-Climate-Change/222080271148964?sk=info#!/pages/This-Is-Climate-Change/222080271148964?sk=wall



3. Responses to Severe Weather (Newsletter of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change)

Catholic Coalition on Climate Change
July 18, 2012
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5256/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1212506

Newsletter Contents:

* The God Particle
* Fracking Conversation Followup
* Severe Weather I: 2011
* Severe Weather II: Drought is Largest Disaster in History of U.S.
* More on the EPA Rule to Limit Power Plant Pollution
* Australian Bishops Provide Guidance on Carbon Tax

To subscribe to email newsletter, visit: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5256/t/2114/signUp.jsp?key=162

For archive of newsletters, visit: http://catholicclimatecovenant.org/news/newsletter-updates/

For more about the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, visit: http://catholicsandclimatechange.org/



4. Ancient Voices–Contemporary Contexts (Newsletter of the American Indian Institute)

American Indian Institute, Bozeman, Montana
July 2012
http://www.ancientvoicescontemporarycontexts.org/enewsarchive/1207enews.html

Newsletter Contents:

* Urban Activist
* Mohawk Women Integrate the Condolence Ceremony Into Modern Systems
* On Tails of Navajo Controversy, Urban Out-fitters’ Stock Plunges, CEO Resigns
* Northwest Tribes: Meeting The Challenge Of Climate Change
* Haudenosaunee letter to President Barack Obama concerning the Keystone XL pipeline
* The World Council of Churches February 2012 Statement on the Doctrine of Discovery’s Enduring Impact on Indigenous Peoples
* The World Council of Churches February 2012 Document Disowning the Doctrine of Discovery

To subscribe to email newsletter, contact:
galen@twocircles.org



5. Sacred Sites Research Newsletter (SSIREN)

July 2012
http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/SSiReN_Issue1.pdf

Newsletter Contents:

* Some background on Sacred Natural Sites (SNS) research
* About the newsletter
* Highlighted organizations
* Publications
* Events
* Opportunities

To subscribe to email newsletter, contact:
SSIRENewsletter@gmail.com



6. New Books


Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution

Leslie E. Sponsel
ABC-CLIO, 2012
http://spiritualecology.info/
http://www.abc-clio.com/product.aspx?isbn=9780313364099

An internet search for “Spiritual Ecology” and related terms like “Religion and Nature” and “Religion and Ecology” reveals tens of millions of websites. Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution offers an intellectual history of this far-reaching movement. Arranged chronologically, it samples major developments in the thoughts and actions of both historic and contemporary pioneers, ranging from the Buddha and St. Francis of Assisi to Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement and James Cameron’s 2010 epic film Avatar. This foundational book is unique in that it provides a historical, cross-cultural context for understanding and advancing the ongoing spiritual ecology revolution, considering indigenous and Asian religious traditions as well as Western ones. Most chapters focus on a single pioneer, illuminating historical context and his/her legacy, while also connecting that legacy to broader concerns. Coverage includes topics as diverse as Henry David Thoreau and the Green Patriarch Bartholomew’s decades-long promotion of environmentalism as a sacred duty for more than 250 million members of the Orthodox Church worldwide. For more information, visit www.spiritualecology.info.

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Devil’s Tango: How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step

By Cecile Pineda
Wings Press, 2012
http://www.wingspress.com/book.cfm/140/Devils-Tango-How-I-Learned-the-Fukushima-Step-by-Step/Cecile-Pineda/

Published on the one-year anniversary of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Devil’s Tango is a one-woman whirlwind tour of the nuclear industry, seen through the lens of the industrial and planetary crisis unfolding most visibly right now in Japan. As much personal journal as investigative journalism, the author’s journal entries trace her own and the world’s evolution of consciousness during the first year following the March 11, 2011 disaster. Pineda keeps track, day-by-day, of worsening developments at Fukushima Daiichi, and records the daily evolution of her perceptions. Often poetic in tone, philosophic in scope, her reflections are peppered with dramatic monologues, day-to-day reportage, philosophical speculations, meditations, deep song (canto hondo) and occasional flights of fancy, a monoplay, and a grand guignol. There is no other book quite like it. John Nichols calls it an “astonishing anatomy of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster,” “… a revelation, and a searing denunciation of the worldwide nuclear energy industry.”

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Creation and Salvation: Volume 2: A Companion on Recent Theological Movements

Edited by Ernst M. Conradie
Studies in Religion and the Environment/Studien zur Religion und Umwelt 6
LIT Verlag, 2012
http://www.litwebshop.de/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=24&products_id=7997

Christians seeking to “save the planet” have to relate “reation” with “salvation” in a way that does justice to both themes. This volume explores the ways in which this task is approached in a wide range of recent theological movements. It includes 15 chapters with 87 sections by 54 authors from all over the world. On this basis this volume provides a barometer of contemporary theological movements.

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Thirty-Year Plan: Thirty Writers on What We Need to Build a Better Future

Orion, 2012
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/mag/6931

Orion asked thirty writers and thinkers to name one thing we will increasingly need over the next thirty years if humans are going to find a way to live happily, sustainably, redeemably on earth. Here is the result. From “optimism” to “improvisation,” from “young farmers” to “empty pockets,” the responses collected here are as wide-ranging as they are compelling. Imbued with thoughtfulness and buoyed by a profound sense of justice, this thin volume makes an eloquent statement about the future of humanity.



7. Events

Nature and the Popular Imagination”
5th Conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (ISSRNC)
Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA
August 8-11, 2012
http://www.religionandnature.com/society/conferences.htm#malibu

Bioethics: Religious and Spiritual Approaches”
2012 Claremont International Jain Conference
Claremont Lincoln University, Claremont, CA, USA
August 24-25, 2012
http://jain.claremontlincoln.org/2012-conference-2

Sharing the Wisdom, Shaping the Dream: Reclaiming Moral & Spiritual Roots of Economics & Capitalism”
Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative (GCGI)
10th Annual International Conference
Theology, Philosophy, Ethics, Spirituality and Economics: A Call to Dialogue
Oxford, UK
September 2-5, 2012
http://gcgi.info/news/141-gcgi-conference-call-for-presentations-oxford-2012

Culture, Politics, and Climate Change”
International Conference
University of Colorado Boulder, USA
September 13-15, 2012
http://www.climateculturepolitics.org/

Spirituality and Sustainability: A New Path for Entrepreneurship”
Annual Conference of the European Spirituality in Economics and Society (SPES) Forum
Visegrad, Hungary
September 21-23, 2012
http://eurospes.be/page.php?LAN=E&TID=4&ID=1101&FILE=agendadetail

Conference on Creation, Evolution, and God”
Sewanee: The University of the South
Sewanee, TN, USA
September 22, 2012
http://theology.sewanee.edu/news/event/conference-on-god-and-creation/

Environmentalism, Spatiality and the Public Sphere”
NIES Research Symposium VII
Oslo, Norway
September 27-30, 2012
http://philevents.org/event/show/1926

Sustainable Alternatives for Poverty Reduction and Ecological Justice”
International Conference for Justice and Sustainability
Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC)
Chania (Greece)
September 27-30, 2012
http://saprej2012.webs.com/



8. Call for Papers

Ninth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability

International Conference Center Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan

January 23-25, 2013

Deadline for submissions: November 11, 2012

Contact: support@onsustainability.com

http://onsustainability.com/conference-2013/



9. Job Opening: Professor of Environmental Ethics at University of Chicago Divinity School

The University of Chicago Divinity School seeks to make an appointment for a new, tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Environmental Ethics.

A candidate for this position should be qualified to teach and direct research in Environmental Ethics (e.g., the value of and duties towards biotic, non-living realities, and ecosystems, environmental criticism, animal rights, food ethics, the ethics of consumption, etc.). The candidate must exhibit a broad knowledge of the field of religious ethics (comprising theological, political, philosophical, and comparative inquiry), a command of issues in moral theory central to environmental ethics, the ability to engage materials in the physical and/or biological sciences, and a coherent and creative agenda for research and publication. Religious tradition(s) and primary focus of scholarly expertise are open. The candidate should also have the ability and desire to work with the University’s Program on the Global Environment.

The Divinity School is the graduate professional school for the academic study of religion at the University of Chicago, a private research university. Faculty in the School teach Ph.D. students in 11 different areas of study, and master’s level students in M.A. and M.Div. programs, offering courses at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels. Many faculty hold associate appointments in other departments and schools of the University; such associations are encouraged. A normal teaching load is 4 courses per year on a quarter system; in most cases that leaves one quarter open for research in residence (in addition to summers free for scholarship).

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Review of candidates will commence on October 1. Application should be made online, at http://tinyurl.com/d5txyrm. For questions contact Dean Margaret M. Mitchell, The University of Chicago Divinity School, 1025 East 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 (mmm17@uchicago.edu). The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer.



10.
Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology

Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology has as its focus the relationships between religion, culture and ecology world-wide. Articles discuss major world religious traditions, such as Islam, Buddhism or Christianity; the traditions of indigenous peoples; new religious movements; and philosophical belief systems, such as pantheism, nature spiritualities, and other religious and cultural worldviews in relation to the cultural and ecological systems. Focusing on a range of disciplinary areas including Anthropology, Environmental Studies, Geography, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Sociology and Theology, the journal also presents special issues that center around one theme. For more information, visit: http://www.brill.nl/wo

For more information on other journals related to religion and ecology and to environmental ethics/philosophy, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/publications/journals/index.html. If you know of a publication that needs to be added to this list, email news@religionandecology.org


For the archive of previous Forum newsletters, visit:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/publications/newsletters/index.html


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