The Forum on Religion and Ecology Newsletter
7.8 (August 2013)
Contents:
1. Editorial, by Elizabeth McAnally
2. Journey of the Universe Events
3. Topical Bibliography of Books on Spiritual Ecology
4. New Publications
5. Calls for Papers
6. Extinction Witness
7. Educate to Save the Jordan River
8. Online Course on Sustainable Development
9. Events
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.
The EMMY® award-winning Journey of the Universe film and Educational Series (now titled “Conversations”) are available now via Amazon.com as well as the Journey of the Universe website at http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/buy/ The film and Conversations are also now sold at Whole Foods. The film has been translated into Spanish and the book into French, Italian, and Korean.
Two exciting Journey of the Universe events will be occurring in the next couple months. The “Emergent Universe Oratorio Premiere” will take place at Breeding Barn at Shelburne Farms in Vermont on September 15, 2013. This event will be comprised of composition by Sam Guarnaccia and visual art by Cameron Davis. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim will participate in the Premiere. For the flyer, visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/storage/euo-9-15-13.pdf. For more information, visit: http://www.samguarnaccia.com/emergentuniverseoratorio/premiere.php
We are also happy to let you know about an upcoming conference on “Journey of the Universe and High School Teaching and Learning.” This conference for teachers and administrators will be held at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey on October 4-6, 2013. Conference presenters include Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, R. Craig Kochel, David Grant, Thomas Collins, and Kevin Mattingly. For the brochure, visit:
http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/storage/Journey_of_the_Universe_Conference–Oct.2013.pdf Please register by September 15th at this link: https://www.lawrenceville.org/journeyoftheuniverse
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. Journey of the Universe Events
Film Screening: East Barnard, VT, USA
August 20, 2013 at 7pm
East Barnard Community Hall
East Barnard Road and Broad Brook Road
East Barnard, VT, USA
Potluck supper preceding the viewing, as well as dessert and discussion following.
All are welcome.
Contact: Karen Thorkilsen, thorkilsen@innevi.com
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Emergent Universe Oratorio Premiere: Shelburne, VT, USA
September 15, 2013 at 3pm
Breeding Barn at Shelburne Farms
Shelburne, VT, USA
The Oratorio Premiere is co-hosted by collaborative partners Shelburne Farms and All Souls Interfaith Gathering. It is a project of 2020 Strategies, is supported by grants from the Argosy Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and sponsored by the American Teilhard Association.
For the flyer, visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/storage/euo-9-15-13.pdf
For more information, call 802 734 0279 or visit:
http://www.samguarnaccia.com/emergentuniverseoratorio/premiere.php
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Journey of the Universe and High School Teaching and Learning: Lawrenceville, NJ, USA
October 4-6, 2013
A conference for teachers and administrators
Lawrenceville School
Lawrenceville, NJ, USA
For the brochure, visit:
http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/storage/Journey_of_the_Universe_Conference–Oct.2013.pdf
Please register by September 15th at this link:
https://www.lawrenceville.org/journeyoftheuniverse
Contact: journeyoftheuniverse@lawrenceville.org
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For more events, visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/upcoming-events/
3. Topical Bibliography of Books on Spiritual Ecology
A topical bibliography of nearly 700 books on spiritual ecology and related topics was compiled during the first two weeks of July 2013 by R.I.S.E. (Research Institute for Spiritual Ecology), directed by Leslie Sponsel. This bibliography encompasses books for a general audience as well as for scientific and academic ones.
View this bibliography at: http://spiritualecology.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SEinfoBibliographyTopical.pdf
For more about R.I.S.E. (Research Institute for Spiritual Ecology), visit: http://spiritualecology.info/rise-2/
4. New Publications
Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth
Edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
The Golden Sufi Center, 2013
www.spiritualecology.org
Our present ecological crisis is the greatest man-made disaster this planet has ever faced—its accelerating climate change, species depletion, pollution and acidification of the oceans. A central but rarely addressed aspect of this crisis is our forgetfulness of the sacred nature of creation, and how this affects our relationship to the environment. There is a pressing need to articulate a spiritual response to this ecological crisis. This is vital and necessary if we are to help bring the world as a living whole back into balance. Contributors include: Chief Oren Lyons, Thich Nhat Hanh, Sandra Ingerman, Joanna Macy, Sister Miriam MacGillis, Satish Kumar, Vandana Shiva, Fr. Richard Rohr, Bill Plotkin, Jules Cashford, Wendell Berry, Winona LaDuke, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Brian Swimme, and others.
To watch the book trailer, visit:
http://spiritualecology.org/video/spiritual-ecology-cry-earth-book-trailer
To read a review of this book, visit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-dear/interfaith-perspective-on_b_3593215.html
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Spiritual Values of Protected Areas of Europe Workshop Proceedings
Edited by Josep-Maria Mallarach
Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN), 2012
Full text: http://www.bfn.de/fileadmin/MDB/documents/service/Skript322.pdf
Hosted on this page: http://www.bfn.de/0502_international.html?&no_cache=1
The proceedings provide a comprehensive compilation of the results of the international workshop on spiritual values on protected areas in Europe. Participants from many European countries presented not only a wide range of case studies on the diversity of spiritual values within protected areas but tried to provide some guiding principles on how to best incorporate spiritual values into protected area management and management planning. The workshop took place from November 2-6, 2011 at the International Academy for Nature Conservation on the Isle of Vilm, Germany.
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Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding
By George Monbiot
Penguin, 2013
http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0„9781846147487,00.html
In Feral, George Monbiot follows his own hunger for new environmental experiences, in a riveting tale of possibility and travel with wildlife and wild people. Feral is the lyrical and gripping story of Monbiot’s efforts to re-engage with nature and discover a new way of living. He shows how, by restoring and rewilding our damaged ecosystems on land and at sea, we can bring wonder back into our lives. Making use of some remarkable scientific discoveries, Feral lays out a new, positive environmentalism, in which nature is allowed to find its own way. From the seas of north Wales, where he kayaks among feeding frenzies of dolphins and seabirds, to the forests of Eastern Europe, where lynx stalk and packs of wolves roam, Monbiot shows how rewilding could repair the living planet, creating ecosystems in the UK as profuse and captivating as any around the world. Feral is a work of hope and of revelation; a wild and bewitching adventure that argues for a mass restoration of the natural world - and a powerful call for us to reclaim our own place in it.
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“American evangelicals and global warming”
By N. Smith & A. Leiserowitz
Global Environmental Change
May 28, 2013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.04.001
American evangelicals have long played a significant role in American culture and politics. Drawing from a nationally representative survey, this article describes American evangelicals’ global warming risk assessments and policy preferences and tests several theory-based factors hypothesized to influence their views. American evangelicals are less likely than non-evangelicals to believe that global warming is happening, caused mostly by human activities, and causing serious harm, yet a majority of evangelicals are concerned about climate change and support a range of climate change and energy related policies. Multiple regression analyses found that the combination of biospheric, altruistic, and egoistic value orientations is a more significant predictor of evangelicals’ risk assessments and policy support than negative affect, egalitarian or individualistic worldviews, or socio-demographic variables.
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“Reflections After Independence Day”
By Miriam MacGillis
Genesis Farm
July 11, 2013
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/857531/85b1f7b642/1634009901/d32c77a1c6/
Somehow the spirit of the original Declaration of Independence carries an invitation to revisit it often. It is a living legacy whose potential is ever emerging in the unfolding of history. Like all visionary proclamations, it draws in its wake the unfinished aspirations of those early founders who shifted the human venture into new dimensions of possibility and choice.
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“The Delaware and the Rights of Rivers”
By Liz Marshall, Five Smooth Stones Project
Genesis Farm
August 8, 2013
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/857531/dbbc8211fc/1634009901/d32c77a1c6/
This river is old and very big, emerging from two distinct sources in central New York State and journeying for 419 miles to the Atlantic Ocean. As the tributaries merge and the river expands and grows, it winds its way to separate the landforms of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The river is still one of the most healthy on the continent and in some sections, such as that which flows through the Kittatinny Ridge and Great Limestone Valley, shaping Genesis Farm’s bioregion and home, it is designated “wild and scenic.” For those of us whose lives are intertwined with the fate of the Delaware River and its vast watershed, we are deeply disturbed. And with good cause.
5. Calls for Papers
“Climate Change, Sustainability, and the Ethics of an Open Future”
Special Issue of De Ethica journal
Deadline for submissions: September 15, 2013
http://www.de-ethica.com/CFP/default.asp
“Greening the Gods: Ecology and Theology in the Ancient World”
Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University, United Kingdom
March 18-19, 2014
Deadline for submissions: October 31, 2013
http://philevents.org/event/show/11055
“Do Emotions Shape the World?”
15th European Conference on Science and Theology, Assisi, Italy
April 30 – May 4, 2014
Deadline for submissions: October 31, 2013
http://esssat.org/
Oxford Summer School on Religion and Animal Protection
St Stephen’s House, Oxford
July 21-23, 2014
Deadline for submissions: December 15, 2013
http://www.oxfordanimalethics.com/what-we-do/summer-school-2014/
6. Extinction Witness
Running on the premise that the present mass extinction of species is essentially driven by how we relate with ourselves and one another, Extinction Witness creates and curates regeneration projects to heal unrecognized and unresolved violations of individuals and whole cultures. Extinction Witness serves in the realms of Spirit and human emotion, also known as energy, with faith (now grounded in science) that spiritual regeneration is a prerequisite of biological regeneration. As part of the ultimate goal to restore cultural and biological diversity to Earth, Extinction Witness collaborates with on-the-ground regeneration projects to encourage and support practical action. Extinction Witness’s creative work includes the production of short films, a website (work in progress) for curating these films along with other regeneration projects, and the creation of on-the-ground sacred sites (memorials).
Extinction Witness’s first regeneration project, Virgin, is in the works: http://meganhollingsworth.com/?page_id=45. Virgin is a tribute to whole women and big trees in the interest of restoring both to Earth. The project includes a short film, Virgin: passionate women restoring forests, and a proposal to create an overwhelming atmosphere of reverence in the immediate area of the “big stump” in the North Grove of Calaveras Big Trees State Park: http://meganhollingsworth.com/?page_id=80.
You can read a recent interview with Megan Hollingsworth, Extinction Witness Founder and Director, and watch a short film about her present work on the project at
http://chrisoestereich.com/Blog/2013/08/12/the-dp-interview-with-megan-hollingsworth-of-extinction-witness
7. Educate to Save the Jordan River
Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities find common ground in an effort to rehabilitate the nearly destroyed Jordan River. Holy to members of the three Abrahamic traditions they are saddened to see that 96% of the Jordan River’s flow being diverted and pollution allowed to contaminate the unique site of cultural and natural heritage.
To rehabilitate the river and the surrounding ecosystems EcoPeace/ Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) is working with Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities to build political will to rehabilitate the river. FoEME created faith specific toolkits including films, fact sheets, scriptural texts, sermons, and more to engage communities and help them champion the Jordan River.
To learn more about this effort and get a free copy of the faith based toolkits please contact Elizabeth at elizabeth@foeme.org or visit www.foeme.org.
8. Online Course on Sustainable Development
The Wilmette Institute is again offering its popular three month online course on “Sustainable Development and the Prosperity of Humankind” from September 20 to December 20, 2013.
This course will examine the wide agreement about the need to achieve sustainable development and seek to understand its profound implications for a prosperous human society, implications that are poorly understood. We will start with a general introduction to sustainable development and its goal–the prosperity of humankind. Our objectives include teaching ourselves how to think about sustainability by integrating both the material and spiritual dimensions of life into a long-term systems perspective and how to apply that thinking to questions of everyday life and lifestyle. While the course starts from a Baha’i perspective, it is appropriate for those from all faith traditions.
For a Course Description, go to http://www.cvent.com/events/sustainable-development-and-the-prosperity-of-humankind/event-summary-1e0b736e4dbe46a1ba3ca9790a03734e.aspx
To Register, go to https://www.cvent.com/events/sustainable-development-and-the-prosperity-of-humankind/registration-1e0b736e4dbe46a1ba3ca9790a03734e.aspx
9. Events
“Circulating Natures: Water-Food-Energy”
European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) biennial conference
Munich, Germany
August 20-24, 2013
http://www.eseh2013.org/
“Climate Change, Sustainability and an Ethics of an Open Future”
50th Societas Ethica Annual Conference
Kontakt der Kontinente, Soesterberg, Netherlands
August 22-25, 2013
http://www.societasethica.info/?l=en
“Moccasins on the Ground”
Nonviolent Direct Action Training
Butte, MT, USA
August 23-25, 2013
Event flyer: http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/Moccasins_on_the_Ground_flyer.jpeg
https://www.facebook.com/events/1401273903420491/
“Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative 11th Annual International Conference”
The Cité Internationale’s, Paris, France
August 25-28, 2013
http://www.gcgi.info/news/330-gcgi-11th-annual-conference-paris-call-for-presentation-and-participation
“European and Latin American Conference on Climate Change Management”
Antigua, Guatemala, Central America
August 29-30, 2013
http://www.cela-project.net/download/2012_Call_for_papers_ELAC3M.pdf
“Interdisciplinary Conference Exploring Awe and Wonder”
Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
September 6-8, 2013
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=203014
“The Ethics of Consumption: The Citizen, The Market, and The Law”
11th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics
Uppsala, Sweden
September 11-14, 2013
http://www.slu.se/eursafe2013
“Buddha Touched the Earth”
An exploration of engaged Buddhism
Facilitated by John Seed, Caren Eisen and Anton Eastwick
Warburton, Victoria, Australia
September 27-29, 2013
www.openheartedtransformation.com.au/deep-ecology-engaged-buddhism/
To read more about this project, visit:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/Seed_buddha-touched-the-earth.pdf
“We Are All One: Transforming Ourselves…Healing Earth”
Spiritual Life Center, Holy Family Retreat Grounds, West Hartford, CT, USA
September 29, 2013
http://www.spiritlifectr.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=63
“Questions for a Resilient Future”
American Museum of Natural History, Kaufmann Theater, New York City, NY, USA
October 8, 2013
RSVP to anjaclaus@humansandnature.org
http://www.humansandnature.org/questions-for-a-resilient-future-conference–save-the-date–events-14.php
For more events, visit:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/
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.com/worldviews-global-religions-culture-and-ecology
For more information on other journals related to religion and ecology and to environmental ethics/philosophy, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/publications/journals/. 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/
To download this newsletter as a PDF, visit:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/August_2013_Newsletter.pdf
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