June 2014


The Forum on Religion and Ecology Newsletter
8.6 (June 2014)

 

Contents:

 
1. Editorial, by Elizabeth McAnally

 

2. Ecology and Religion (New Book by John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker)

 

3. “The Journey of the Universe – A New Story for Our Times” (Schumacher College Course with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, June 23-27, 2014)

4. “Integrating Ecology, Justice, and Peace” (October 4, 2014 in Ware, MA, USA)

 

5. “Living Cosmology: Christian Responses to Journey of the Universe” (November 7-9, 2014 at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT, USA)

 

6. New Publications

 

7. Book Awards for Larry Rasmussen’s Earth-Honoring Faith and Leslie Sponsel’s Spiritual Ecology

 

8. Journey of the Universe Film Screenings

 

9. Events

10. Calls for Papers

 

11. Documentary Film: Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey

 

12. Blessed Tomorrow: Interfaith Coalition on Climate Change

 

13. Graduate Programs

 

14. Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology

 


 


1. Editorial, by Elizabeth McAnally

 

Greetings,

 

Welcome to the June issue of the newsletter for the Forum on Religion and Ecology. We 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 Journey of the Universe film continues to move out into the world. It is now available on Netflix, and since it went up in December, it has been rated by over 46,000 people. For more about the Journey project, visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/

 

To hold a screening of the Journey of the Universe film, you need to purchase a public performance right or license. You can find these fees listed here: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/upcoming-events/

 

John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker will be showing Journey of the Universe this summer at a number of places in England, including London (June 18, 19, and 21), Bristol (June 21), Devon (June 22 and 24), and Manchester (July 4-5). These showings will be accompanied by discussions and workshops focused on Journey - the film, book, and conversations.

 

We 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. Ecology and Religion (New Book by John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker)

 

Ecology and Religion
By John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker
Island Press, 2014
http://islandpress.org/ip/books/book/islandpress/E/bo8053388.html
(For a 20% discount, use the code 4ECOREL)

 

From the Psalms in the Bible to the sacred rivers in Hinduism, the natural world has been integral to the world’s religions. John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker contend that today’s growing environmental challenges make the relationship ever more vital.

 

This primer explores the history of religious traditions and the environment, illustrating how religious teachings and practices both promoted and at times subverted sustainability. Subsequent chapters examine the emergence of religious ecology, as views of nature changed in religious traditions and the ecological sciences. Yet the authors argue that religion and ecology are not the province of institutions or disciplines alone. They describe four fundamental aspects of religious life: orienting, grounding, nurturing, and transforming. Readers then see how these phenomena are experienced in a Native American religion, Orthodox Christianity, Confucianism, and Hinduism.

 

Ultimately, Grim and Tucker argue that the engagement of religious communities is necessary if humanity is to sustain itself and the planet. Students of environmental ethics, theology and ecology, world religions, and environmental studies will receive a solid grounding in the burgeoning field of religious ecology.

 

Reviews

 

Grim and Tucker integrate vast personal experiences and serious scholarship across multiple global cultures and disciplines to produce keen, fresh insight for today’s world. A compelling, inspirational, and hopeful look at a path to a meaningful and sustainable future.”
- Jane Lubchenco, Former Administrator of NOAA

 

A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of ecology, religion, and ethics, and in the role that religions could play in resolving the complex environmental concerns of today.”
- Eleanor Sterling, Director, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History

 

An astonishingly comprehensive view of human relations with the natural world.”
- John Cobb, Co-Director of the Center for Process Studies, Claremont University

 

The almost unimaginable environmental challenge humanity faces—a daunting Gordian knot of science, plus ethical and moral values—demands ways forward. Those will be found at the intersection of science and religion. Nobody understands this thicket—so filled with hope, promise and complexities—better than John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker. Ecology and Religion lights the path forward.”
- Thomas E. Lovejoy, University Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University

 

“How wonderful to have the world’s leading authorities on religion and ecology, John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker, offer this profound but accessible examination of the field just as the world’s religions are entering their ecological phase. This book is more than a source of deep understanding–it is an inspiration.”
- James Gustave Speth, author of
America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy



3. “The Journey of the Universe – A New Story for Our Times” (Schumacher College Course with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, June 23-27, 2014)

 

Schumacher College, The Old Postern, Dartington, Totnes, Devon, UK

 

June 23-27, 2014

 

For many years we have been looking to science, engineering, policy, law and economics to provide information to help us understand and resolve our complex environmental issues. We now have a great deal of knowledge in these areas, but we still lack the collective will to engage in long-term changes essential for the continued flourishing of our ‘Earth Community’. Now we are beginning to recognise that other types of knowledge are needed alongside this information – knowledge from the humanities, from spirituality and ethics.

 

In this course we will explore the Journey of the Universe – a film, a book and a series of conversations with leading scientists and environmentalists, born out of Thomas Berry’s call in 1978 for a ‘New Story’ and developed by Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim and Brian Swimme. The Journey of the Universe is a cosmological narrative that transcends the boundaries between disciplines and integrates science and values to tell the story of our Universe and its evolution.

 

From this story we will take a new orientation and context as we reconsider our relationship with the Earth Community, looking at the many symbolic and lived expressions of interconnection between us and how they inspire us to action. Our goal for the week is to explore how this new story can evoke the ‘Great Work’ of our time for social and environmental transformation.

 

On this course you will gain a fuller understanding of the epic of evolution as a context for inspiring wonder and evoking creativity. We will explore how it is possible for humans to work to enhance Earth’s life systems, looking at examples ranging from bioregionalism and transition towns to international efforts like the Earth Charter.

 

Contact: admin@schumachercollege.org.uk

 

For more information and to register, visit:
http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/courses/the-journey-of-the-universe-a-new-story-for-our-times



4. “Integrating Ecology, Justice, and Peace” (October 4, 2014 in Ware, MA, USA)

 

Francis Day at Agape Community with John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker

 

John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker are Directors of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University and are the Executive Producers of Journey of the Universe, which will be shown during the program.

 

They were students of Thomas Berry, edited his books, and collaborated with him for 35 years.

 

One of the greatest discoveries of the last century is that we humans are part of a vast, sacred universe that has given rise to life. Yet at the same time, humans are imperiling this life by unraveling the ecosystems that support the Earth community. To speak in this context, then, about peace, justice, and the integrity of creation would be to speak for the continuity of life in all its forms.

 

Some questions to be explored are: How can we bring these perspectives and movements into greater dialogue and cooperation? What are the shared moral principles that would bring these concerns together? What roles can various sectors play in this integration: education, religious communities, civil society (NGOS, non profits)?

 

Youth Panel of 350 and climate activists; Environmental groups and peace and justice groups join in discussion about the need for inter-group dialogue on action for climate change and related planetary concerns.

 

For the flyer, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/Francis_Day.pdf

 

Contact Agape at 413-967-9369 or peace@agapecommunity.org

 

For more information, visit:
www.agapecommunity.org



5. “Living Cosmology: Christian Responses to Journey of the Universe” (November 7-9, 2014 at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT, USA)

 

The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale will be hosting a conference November 7-9, 2014 at Yale Divinity School in honor of Thomas Berry’s 100th birthday. “Living Cosmology: Christian Responses to Journey of the Universe” will offer participants an opportunity to hear from dozens of scholars and religious practitioners on the Christian response to the Emmy Award winning film, Journey of the Universe.

 

Admission to the conference is free, but space is very limited.

 

Register to reserve your space at:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/living-cosmology-christian-responses-to-journey-of-the-universe-tickets-11105664341

 

For more information, including a detailed program, visit:
http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/living-cosmology-conference/



6. New Publications

 

Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China
Edited by James Miller, Dan Smyer Yu, and Peter van der Veer
New York: Routledge, 2014
http://routledge-ny.com/books/details/9780415855150/

 

This book sheds light on the social imagination of nature and environment in contemporary China. It demonstrates how the urgent debate on how to create an ecologically sustainable future for the world’s most populous country is shaped by its complex engagement with religious traditions, competing visions of modernity and globalization, and by engagement with minority nationalities who live in areas of outstanding natural beauty on China’s physical and social margins. The book develops a comprehensive understanding of contemporary China that goes beyond the tradition/ modernity dichotomy, and illuminates the diversity of narratives and worldviews that inform contemporary Chinese understandings of and engagements with nature and environment.

 

Story about the birth of this volume: This multidisciplinary volume has a “Tucker and Grim character!” The story of it began with Chen Xia, a dear friend of Mary Evelyn and John, and a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 2009, when Chen Xia was teaching a course at a U.S. study abroad center in Beijing directed by Dan Smyer Yu, she introduced Dan the works of Mary Evelyn and John. Chen Xia connected Dan with Mary Evelyn and John. Dan soon began to seek funding for a religion and ecology conference in China. Finally in 2011 Dan successfully received funding from the School of Ethnology & Sociology at Minzu University of China and Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Yang Shengmin, the former Dean of the ethnology school at Minzu and Peter van der Veer, Director of the Max Planck Institute, were instrumental in making this international collaborative project possible. Throughout the preparation of the conference and the envisioned volume, Dan, as the principal organizer, sought advices from Mary Evelyn and John. Both of them generously shared their wisdoms and experiences, and also recommended James Miller of Queen’s University as a co-editor of the volume. With their heart-felt advices, the conference organizers and volume editors decided to expand the study of religion and ecology further into other disciplines of social sciences and humanities, especially anthropology, ethnology and sociology. This trans-disciplinary expansion is particularly needed in the context of China as environmental issues are mostly tackled among scholars of natural and social sciences with a clear applied orientation. The conference took place in Beijing in March 2012. The “Tucker and Grim character” are shown in these aspects of the volume: an urgent sense of ecological crisis worldwide; advocating critical understandings of progress and development; exploring diverse modes of environmental sustainability from different religious traditions including those from smaller scale, indigenous societies; the effort to recover the feelings of affection and bonding with the Planet Earth from “the feeling of alienation” resulting from our exploitative relationship with the natural environment; and advancing the study of religion and ecology as “an inter-religious project.”

 

Read a related post by James Miller on his Sustainable China blog:

 

Why China will solve the world’s environmental problems”
http://www.sustainablechina.info/2014/05/12/why-china-will-solve-the-worlds/

 

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A Political Theology of Climate Change
By Michael S. Northcott
SPCK Publishing, 2014
http://www.spckpublishing.co.uk/shop/a-political-theology-of-climate-change/

 

The book sets out a clear and sustained theological response to the biggest issue of our time, providing a spur to this generation of Christians to grasp and confront these issues and call their governments to account for the sake of generations to come.

 

By drawing on the vast resources of Christian spirituality and of the much more recent climate science, as well as on William Blake and Carl Schmitt among many others, Michael Northcott continues to bring alive the most implausible hybrid: a carbon theology! By reawakening the dormant meaning of incarnation, he also provides new energy for an ecological movement that could learn to thrive on the long tradition of political theology. This book helps us understand how all the outdated values of the past might be our last chance to still have a future.”
~ Bruno Latour

 

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Before Nature: A Christian Spirituality
By H. Paul Santmire
Fortress Press, 2014
http://store.fortresspress.com/store/productgroup/697/Before-Nature

 

Before Nature caps a set of themes first brought to the fore in Santmire’s previous work, most notably the classic The Travail of Nature. Here Santmire continues the pursuit of a theology bound up with nature and its condition, especially the fragility and fervent expectation of nature’s redemption. Santmire invites readers on a theological and spiritual journey to a prayerful and contemplative knowledge of the Triune God, in which practitioners are inducted into a bountiful relationship with the cosmic and universal ministry of Christ and the Spirit uniting all of nature in a single vision of hope and anticipation.

 

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Christian Theology and the Status of Animals: The Dominant Tradition and Its Alternatives
By Ryan Patrick McLaughlin
The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series
Palgrave MacMillan, 2014
http://us.macmillan.com/christiantheologyandthestatusofanimals/RyanPatrickMcLaughlin

 

What is the moral standing of animals according to Christian theology? In this book, Ryan Patrick McLaughlin argues that there are conflicting traditions with regard to this question. The dominant tradition maintains that animals are primarily resources that ought to be equitably distributed to the entire human community, both present and future. However, there are alternative strands of Christian thought that challenge this view. McLaughlin delineates these strands in juxtaposition to the dominant tradition in an effort to highlight its alternatives, which include the re-envisioning of the moral significance of differentiation, the image of both protological and eschatological peace between humans and animals in both ancient and modern writers, biblical passages that challenge anthropocentrism and conservationism, and the notion that the cosmos is the primordial sacrament. Collectively, these alternatives to the dominant tradition suggest that there are open spaces within which to offer direct moral concern for animals.

 

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Religion, Space, and the Environment
By Sigurd Bergmann
Transaction, 2014
http://www.transactionpub.com/title/Religion%2C-Space%2C-and-the-Environment-978-1-4128-5257-9.html

 

Religions often nurture important skills that help believers locate themselves in the world. Religious perceptions, practices, emotions, and beliefs are closely interwoven with the environments from which they emerge. Sigurd Bergmann’s driving emphasis here is to explore religion not in relation to, but as a part of the spatiality and movement within the environment from which it arises and is nurtured. Religion, Space, and the Environment emerges from the author’s experiences in different places and continents over the past decade. At the book’s heart lie the questions of how space, place, and religion amalgamate and how lived space and lived religion influence each other. Bergmann explores how religion and the memory of our past impact our lives in urban spaces; how the sacred geographies in Mayan and northeast Asian lands compare to modern eco-spirituality; and how human images and practices of moving in, with, and through the land are interwoven with the processes of colonization and sacralizing, and the practices of power and visions of the sacred, among other topics.

 

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Nature’s Trust: Environmental Law for a New Ecological Age
By Mary Christina Wood
Cambridge University Press, 2013
http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/environmental-law/natures-trust-environmental-law-new-ecological-age?format=HB

 

Environmental law has failed us all. As ecosystems collapse across the globe and the climate crisis intensifies, environmental agencies worldwide use their authority to permit the very harm that they are supposed to prevent. Growing numbers of citizens now realize they must act before it is too late. This book exposes what is wrong with environmental law and offers transformational change based on the public trust doctrine. An ancient and enduring principle, the trust doctrine asserts public property rights to crucial resources. Its core logic compels government, as trustee, to protect natural inheritance such as air and water for all humanity. Propelled by populist impulses and democratic imperatives, the public trust surfaces at epic times in history as a manifest human right. But until now it has lacked the precision necessary for citizens, government employees, legislators, and judges to fully safeguard the natural resources we rely on for survival and prosperity. The Nature’s Trust approach empowers citizens worldwide to protect their inalienable ecological rights for generations to come.


The chapter on “Nature’s Trust and the Heart of Humanity” is devoted to religious and moral conceptions of trust.



7. Book Awards for Larry Rasmussen’s Earth-Honoring Faith and Leslie Sponsel’s Spiritual Ecology

 

Larry Rasmussen’s Earth-Honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key (Oxford University Press, 2012) has received the Nautilus Book Awards 2014 Gold Prize in the category Ecology/Environment as well as the Grand Prize for the best book across all twenty-seven categories.

 

The review that appeared in CHOICE, the trade journal of the American Library Association, summarized Earth-Honoring Faith this way. “Rasmussen, one of the most distinguished moral philosophers in the US, offers a comprehensive, even exhaustive, study of the need for what he elegantly calls an “earth-honoring faith.” His manifesto is for an ethic that is truly universal, meaning not just for human beings but for the whole ecosystem of which they are only a part. His claim that the human species does not have pride of place in the ecosphere will upset many traditional theistic ethicists, but Rasmussen makes his case, if not entirely successfully, by careful argument and copious citing of resources from science and religion across many traditions. He writes extremely well, with elegance and eloquence, and weaves poetry, narrative, and personal stories into a tapestry informed by keen ethical insight and analysis. His treatment of power relations in the economy and of consumerism is masterful. This book is a must for anyone interested in the environment who is not willing to settle for lazy aphorisms and superficial panaceas. Summing up: Highly recommended.”

 

For more, visit:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/news/item/religious-ethicist-larry-rasmussen-is-2014-gold-and-grand-prize-winner/

 

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Leslie E. Sponsel’s Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution (Praeger, 2012) was the winner in the Science category at the annual Green Book Festival in San Francisco, CA on May 17, 2014.

 

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.”

 

For more, visit:
http://spiritualecology.info



8. Journey of the Universe Film Screenings

 

To hold a screening of the film, you need to purchase a public performance right or license. You can find these fees listed here: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/upcoming-events/

 

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Film Screening: New Haven, CT, USA (June 6, 2014)

 

Yale University Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
238 Prospect St.
New Haven, CT, USA
7:30pm
Hosted by Christy and Matt Riley
Contact: matthew.riley@yale.edu

 

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Film Screening: Bernardsville, NJ, USA (June 7, 2014)
St. Bernard’s Episcopal Church
88 Claremont Rd
Bernardsville, NJ, USA
7pm
Discussion with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Sponsored by St. Bernard’s Episcopal Church, GreenFaith, Interweave, and Genesis Farm
Contact: Rev. Frank Vilas, revfvilas@comcast.net
http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/storage/Journey-6-7-14.pdf

 

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Film Screening: Niantic, CT, USA (June 11, 2014)

 

East Lyme Public Library
39 Society Road
Niantic, CT, USA
7pm
Contact: Matt Riley, matthew.riley@yale.edu

 

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Gaia Foundation Talk: London, UK (June 18, 2014)

 

Gaia Foundation Talk by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Clips from Journey of the Universe and Conversations will be shown.
Hampstead Quaker Meeting House
120 Heath Street
Hampstead, London, UK
6:30-9:30pm
Contact: Hal Rhoades: hannibal@gaianet.org
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-journey-through-the-universe-with-mary-evelyn-tucker-and-john-grim-tickets-11736659665

 

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Film Screening: London, UK (June 19, 2014)

 

Kings Place
Scott Room
Auditorium for The Guardian newspaper
90 York Way
London, UK
7pm
Discussion with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Contact: Jane Riddiford, Jane@globalgeneration.org.uk

 

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Workshop: London, UK (June 21, 2014)

 

Workshop on themes from Journey of the Universe
With Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Skip Garden
King’s Cross
London, UK
9am-2pm
Contact: Jane Riddiford, jane@globalgeneration.org.uk

 

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Film Screening and Schumacher Center Lecture: Bristol, UK (June 21, 2014)

 

Schumacher Center Lecture by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Arnifoli Gallery
16 Narrow Quay
Bristol, UK
5-7:30pm
Contact: Nick Hart-Williams, nickhw@mac.com

 

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Film Screening: Devon, UK (June 22, 2014)

 

Tagore Festival 2014
Dartington Hall, Dartington, Totnes, Devon, UK
4pm
Discussion with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Contact: Jude Wright, Jude.Wright@dartington.org
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/tagorefest/2014

 

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Film Screening and Workshop: Stockport, UK (July 4-5, 2014)

 

The Tapestry’ @ St Agnes Church
Gorton Road/St Agnes Street
North Reddish, Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK
With Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
July 4: Film screening at 7:30-9:30pm
July 5: Workshop at 10am-4pm
Contact: Helena Kettleborough, helenakettleborough2@gmail.com
http://www.northreddish.org.uk/journeyoftheuniverse/

 

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For more events, visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/upcoming-events/



9. Events

 

Living in the Cosmos: Ethical and Ascetic Reflections on Patristic and Contemporary Theology”
Durham University, PG20, The Palace Green, Durham, UK
June 9, 2014
http://livinginthecosmos.wordpress.com/

 

Welcome to the Anthropocene: From Global Challenge to Planetary Stewardship”
Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) 2014 Annual Meeting
Pace University, New York, NY, USA
June 11-14, 2014
http://www.aess.info/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=939971&module_id=148423&actr=4&sl=228853867

 

From Sabbath Economics to Watershed Discipleship: A Theology and Practice for Transition”
Featuring Ched Myers
Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC, USA
June 16-20, 2014
http://divinity.wfu.edu/watershed/

 

Climate Change: Economics, Policy and Ethics”
TU Delft, The Netherlands
Register for this free event before June 17th: M.M.A.Pijls@tudelft.nl
June 19, 2014
http://ethicsandtechnology.eu/news/climate-change-ethics-workshop-in-delft-june-19-2014/

 

Multi-Faith Based Network Consultation on Disaster Risk Reduction”
At the 6th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
Bangkok, Thailand
June 22, 2014
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/multi-faith-based-network-consultation-on-disaster-risk-reduction/

 

Retreat into the Universe Story”
June 22 – 28, 2014: IL Ritiro Franciscan Retreat Center, Dittmer, MO, USA
July 21 – 26, 2014: Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Wheatland, IA, USA
http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/US_Retreat_2014.pdf

 

Donner Symposium on Religion and Food”
26th international research symposium
Åbo/Turku, Finland
June 25-27, 2014
http://blogs.abo.fi/donnersymposium/

 

Pilgrimage for Earth: From Loss to Hope”
NH and VT, USA
June 26-29, 2014
www.pilgrimageforearth.org

 

The Legacy of Thomas Berry in Journey of the Universe
Sophia Summer Institute 2014
In celebration of the centenary of Thomas Berry’s birth
Holy Names University, Sophia Center, Oakland, CA, USA
July 17-20, 2014
Presenters: Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, Sister Helen Prejean, Brian Swimme, Carl Anthony, Paloma Pavel, Marya Grathwohl, Ursula King, Dedan Gills, Belvie Rooks, Drew Dellinger, Peter Mayer, and Jim Conlon.
http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/2014-Summer-Flyer.pdf
http://www.hnu.edu/sophia/summerInstitute.html

 

Oxford Summer School on Religion and Animal Protection”
St Stephen’s House, Oxford, UK
July 21-23, 2014
http://www.oxfordanimalethics.com/what-we-do/summer-school-2014/

 

Eco-Spirituality with Rev. Tom Goldsmith and Dr. Maeera Schreiber”
Taft-Nicholson Center, Lakeview, MT, USA
July 24-29, 2014
http://www.ehec.utah.edu/?p=705

 

Sustainability and the Sacred”
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, USA
July 24-27, 2014
http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/SS_brochure_2014.pdf
http://www.hampshire.edu/specialprograms/25435.htm

 

For more events, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/



10. Calls for Papers

 

Ways of Knowing”
3rd annual graduate student conference on religion at Harvard Divinity School
Special module on “Religion and Environmental Imagination”
Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA, USA
October 23-25, 2014
Submission Deadline: July 1, 2014
http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/gradreligionconference/call-papers-2013

 

Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA)
Hilton at the Ball Park, St. Louis, MO, USA
There will be sessions for the International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE) at this meeting.
February 18-21, 2015
Submission Deadline: July 15, 2014
http://fore.research.yale.edu/news/item/call-for-papers-international-society-for-environmental-ethics-2015-central/



11. Documentary Film: Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey

 

Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey
Michelle Yeoh, executive producer
2012 documentary film
110 minutes
http://padyatrafilm.com/

 

Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey is the adventure of 700 people trekking across the Himalayas with a call to save the planet’s “3rd Pole,” a glacial region now devastated by the climate chaos associated with global warming. Battling the most treacherous terrain on the planet, the trekkers spread their message of ecological compassion through human’s most basic means - by walking on foot, village to village, and showing by example. Surviving harrowing injuries, illness, and starvation, they emerge with nearly half a ton of plastic litter strapped to their backs, triggering an historic green revolution across the rooftop of the world.



12. Blessed Tomorrow: Interfaith Coalition on Climate Change

 

Blessed Tomorrow is a coalition of diverse religious partners united under a call to be faithful stewards of creation. As people of faith in America, they are committed to engaging their communities and calling on fellow leaders to support practical solutions to create a healthy future for us all. As a key initiative of MomentUs and ecoAmerica, Blessed Tomorrow provides a program by people of faith, for people of faith, offering ideas, tools, resources, and language that are familiar, compelling, and effective for engaging congregations in climate solutions.

 

Learn more: http://blessedtomorrow.org/

 

For the press release, visit:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/07/blessed-tmrw-launch-idUSnPn4fkVQ9+86+PRN20140507



13. Graduate Programs

 

Joint MA in Religion and Ecology

 

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (FES) and Yale Divinity School (YDS), New Haven, CT, USA

 

This graduate program is aimed at students who wish to integrate the study of environmental issues and religious communities in their professional careers and for those who wish to study the cultural and ethical dimensions of environmental problems.

 

Faculty members: Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Fred Simmons

 

http://fore.research.yale.edu/yale-ma/

 

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MA and PhD in Philosophy and Religion, concentration in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness

 

California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, USA

 

This graduate program is dedicated to re-imagining the human species as a mutually enhancing member of the Earth community.

 

Faculty members: Brian Thomas Swimme, Elizabeth Allison, Sean Kelly, Richard Tarnas, and Robert McDermott

 

http://www.ciis.edu/Academics/Graduate_Programs/Philosophy_Cosmology_and_Consciousness.html

 

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For more educational programs related to religion and ecology, visit:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/education/resources/links/



14. 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: brill.com/wo

 

For the online edition, visit: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/15685357

 

Table of Contents for Volume 18 (2014):

 

• When you have seen the Yellow Mountains (Ole Bruun)
• Environmental Conservation and Preservation of Cultural Heritage (Paul Sarfo-Mensah, Akwasi Owusu-Bi, Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye, Steve Amisah)
• Ecology and Vision (Matthew T. Eggemeier)
• Of Gardens and Prosperity (Paul Walker)



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/June_2014_Newsletter.pdf

 

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