The Forum on Religion and Ecology Newsletter
5.3 (March 2011)
Contents:
1. Editorial, by Sam Mickey & Elizabeth McAnally
2. Journey of the Universe Film Showings
3. Events
4. New Books
5. Global Oneness Project Study Guide
6. 2011 Eco-Stewards Program and Summer Internships
7. Call for Papers: “Animals and Process Thought” (Special Issue of Process Studies)
8. USAID White Paper: “From Practice to Policy to Practice: Connecting Faith and Conservation in Africa”
9. “Japan’s ‘Ama’ Free Divers Keep their Traditions,” By Anne McDonald
10. Survey for The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
11. Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology
1. Editorial, by Sam Mickey & Elizabeth McAnally
Greetings,
Welcome to the March 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 film premieres, books, conferences, events, calls for papers, and more.
We are excited to let you know that the Journey of the Universe film will have its premiere at Yale on March 26. Along with this premiere on the East Coast, there will also be premieres in San Francisco on April 30, in Chicago May 21, and in Seattle September 30. The film will also be shown at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital on March 27.
The Journey of the Universe project is a collaboration of Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker. This project includes a film, a book, and an educational DVD series, which will be available in June 2011. Inspired by the New Story of Thomas Berry, a cultural historian who wrote The Universe Story with Swimme, the Journey of the Universe draws on the latest scientific knowledge to tell the story of cosmic and Earth evolution. It aims to inspire a new and closer relationship with Earth in a period of growing environmental and social crisis. For more information about the project, visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org
We are pleased to announce the launching of a new website for the work of John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker. This includes their work on the Journey of the Universe project, the Forum on Religion and Ecology, and the Earth Charter. It brings together these three areas of rapidly growing interest: the need for a large scale story of the universe and Earth community; the growing alliance of religion and ecology as a field in academia and as a force in society; the comprehensive ethical framework of cosmology, ecology, justice, and peace in the Earth Charter. For further information see: www.emergingearthcommunity.org
We want to direct your attention to The Global Oneness Project, which produces films, media, and education materials to question the current paradigm of globalization and facilitate greater interconnectedness and wholeness amidst the complexity of contemporary civilization. The Global Oneness Project has recently completed a comprehensive study guide to accompany their films. For more information, visit: http://www.globalonenessproject.org/education.
We are happy to inform you about a call for papers issues by the journal Process Studies, which is seeking submissions for a Special Focus Section on “Animals and Process Thought.” See below for more information.
In an effort to better engage faith communities in conservation in sub-Saharan Africa, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has released a White Paper, “From Practice to Policy to Practice: Connecting Faith and Conservation in Africa.” You can read the Paper here: http://frameweb.org/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=6823&lang=en-US.
Finally, we would like to invite you to take a survey for the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) on Global Environmental Change (GEC), which is working in partnership with the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and UNESCO. To participate in this survey, visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/IHDPSurveyLink.
We hope that this newsletter supports your own work and helps you further your own engagements with the field of Religion and Ecology.
Warm wishes,
Sam Mickey & Elizabeth McAnally
California Institute of Integral Studies
Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale
Web Content Managers & Newsletter Editors
http://www.yale.edu/religionandecology
news@religionandecology.org
2. Journey of the Universe Film Showings
East Coast Premiere: Yale University (March 26, 2011)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Yale University
Peabody Museum
170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT
1pm - Showing
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Yale University
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Kroon Hall
195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT
5:30pm - Showing
The Yale screenings are free and open to the public, but you must RSVP by email to Tara Trapani at tcmkfore@sbcglobal.net
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Environmental Film Festival: Washington, DC (March 27, 2011)
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
Carnegie Institution for Science
1530 P St. NW
Washington, DC
7pm
http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/films/show/705
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Film Showing: New York University (April 21, 2011)
Kimmel Center
Room 914, Silver Board Room
New York University
60 Washington Square South
New York, New York 10012
Film: 5:30-6:30pm
Talk/Discussion: 6:30-7:30pm
Stay tuned at www.nyu.edu/sustainability for RSVP (required) and details of the event before April 1.
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West Coast Premiere: San Francisco (April 30, 2011)
Victoria Theatre
2961 16th Street
San Francisco, CA
5pm - Film showing (sold out)
8:30pm - Film showing
For ticket information, visit:
http://www.ciis.edu/x2977.xml
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For more events related to Journey of the Universe, visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/upcoming-events/
3. Events
“Service-Learning for Sustainability and Social Justice”
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA
March 31-April 1, 2011
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=181159
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“Inward and Outward Nature: An Islamic Portrayal of the Spirituality-Environment Nexus”
The Tenth Annual Critical Islamic Reflections Conference
Yale University
New Haven, CT, USA
Saturday, April 9, 2011
http://www.yale.edu/cir/
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American Teilhard Association Annual Meeting
“Darwin, Teilhard, and the Drama of Life”
Speaker: John Haught
Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY, USA
May 14, 2011
http://www.teilharddechardin.org/events.html#annual_meeting
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“Animals as Religious Subjects: A Transdisciplinary Conference”
Hosted by the European Forum for the Study of Religion and Environment
University of Chester, UK
May 21-24, 2011
http://www.chester.ac.uk/trs/animals-as-religous-subjects
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“Technology and Security”
17th International Conference of the Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT)
University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA
May 26-29, 2011
https://spt2011.unt.edu/
4. New Books
Thomas Berry, Dreamer of the Earth: The Spiritual Ecology of the Father of Environmentalism
Edited by Ervin Laszlo and Allan Combs
Inner Traditions Bear Company, 2011
http://store.innertraditions.com/isbn/978-1-59477-395-2
A tribute to the visionary contributions and prophetic writings of Thomas Berry, spiritual ecologist and father of environmentalism
• Contains 10 essays by eminent philosophers, thinkers, and scientists in the field of ecology and sustainability, including Matthew Fox, Joanna Macy, Duane Elgin, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ervin Laszlo, and Allan Combs
When cultural historian and spiritual ecologist Thomas Berry, described by Newsweek magazine as “the most provocative figure among the new breed of eco-theologians,” passed away in 2009 at age 94, he left behind a dream of healing the “Earth community.” In his numerous lectures, books, and essays, Berry proclaimed himself a scholar of the earth, a “geologian,” and diligently advocated for a return to Earth-based spirituality.
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Engaging Voices: Tales of Morality and Meaning in an Age of Global Warming
By Roger S. Gottlieb
Baylor University Press
http://www.baylorpress.com/Book/249/Engaging_Voices.html
Our ecological dilemmas provoke powerful emotions and deeply contested views. How should we think about them? And how can we live together, or even talk together, when we cannot listen to people who think differently?
In a lively and at times very funny book, Roger S. Gottlieb (A Greener Faith, This Sacred Earth, A Spirituality of Resistance) explores these questions in a collection of distinct but related philosophical short stories. Fictional characters with personalities, individual histories, and strong opinions wrestle with the meaning of life, the value of nature, animal rights, the roles of science and religion in environmentalism, and political choices facing environmental activists—as well as their own anger, fear, despair, and close-mindedness.
Encountering forcefully articulated positions and engaging characters, readers will be moved to reconsider their own beliefs—and to examine personal barriers to truly listening to those “on the other side.”
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Cosmosophia: Cosmology, Mysticism, and the Birth of a New Myth
By Theodore Richards
Hiraeth Press, 2011
http://hiraethpress.com/cosmosophia/
www.cosmosophia.org
Cosmosophia: Cosmology, Mysticism and the Birth of a New Myth takes the reader on an extensive historical journey through the ideas and worldviews that have shaped the West, as well as a journey around the world to explore the various mystical traditions that could provide alternatives to the Western worldview.
Ultimately, it is argued that the unique challenges of today’s world cannot be solved through a return to the ideas of the past—or even through mere ideas at all—but by a deep mystical re-connection to our world and the creative, imaginative process of telling a new myth that integrates our mystical traditions and modern science.
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Small Farmers Secure Food: Survival Food Security, the World’s Kitchen & the Critical Role of Small Farmers
By Lindsay Falvey
Thaksin University Press & Institute for International Development, 2010
http://www.iid.org/publications/SmallFarmers2010.pdf
Prof. Lindsay Falvey’s most recent book deals, somewhat polemically, with issues of real food security in disadvantaged countries and the huge contribution made by small farmers in those countries. Critical of international institutional approaches, the book calls for an objective approach to national food security and social equity. Published by Thaksin University Press in Thailand in association with the Institute for International Development in Australia, the book is available from either publisher. You can download it free at http://www.iid.org/publications/SmallFarmers2010.pdf.
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The Promise of Religious Naturalism
Michael S. Hogue
Rowman and Littlefield, 2010
http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Religious-Naturalism-Michael-Hogue/dp/0742562611
The Promise of Religious Naturalism explores religious naturalism as a distinctly promising form of contemporary religious ethics. Examining how religious naturalism responds to the challenges of recent religious transformations and ecological peril worldwide, author Michael Hogue argues that religious naturalism is emerging as an increasingly plausible and potentially rewarding form of religious moral life. Beginning with an introduction of religious naturalism in the larger context of religious and ethical theories, the book undertakes the first extended study of the works of religious naturalists Loyal Rue, Donald Crosby, Jerome Stone, and Ursula Goodenough. Hogue pays particular attention to the ethical components of religious naturalism in relation to religious pluralism and ecological issues.
Michael S. Hogue is associate professor of theology at Meadville Lombard Theological Seminary. He is the winner of the 2008 Templeton Award for Theological Promise.
5. Global Oneness Project Study Guide
Dear Friends,
We are writing to let you know about an important project that has been close to our hearts for a number of years. The Global Oneness Project. This group of young filmmakers has been traveling around the world filming and gathering stories from some amazing people from varied sectors of society. These individuals question our current global paradigm and thus work in original and compassionate ways to reveal our greater human potential. You will see on their site interviews with many friends you might recognize. We have found their work of great value to our own mission and often share their films at gatherings.
Global Oneness Project has recently completed a comprehensive study guide that accompanies their films. We encourage you to take the time to look and share this further with your networks who might have an interest. It is particularly helpful to learning institutions, educators, environmentalists, faith communities and NGO’s who are working to better our world community.
http://www.globalonenessproject.org/education
With thanks and warmest wishes,
Marianne Marstrand
The Global Peace Initiative of Women
marstrandm@ruderfinn.com
www.gpiw.org
www.youtube.com/GPIWomen
6. 2011 Eco-Stewards Program and Summer Internships
“Living with and from the Land on the Crow Reservation in Montana:
Sustainability and Reconciliation through Agriculture, Health and Green Building”
2011 Eco-Stewards Program for Young Adults
Hardin, Montana
June 2-9, 2011
More information and applications: http://ecostewardsprogram.wordpress.com/2011-program/
Deadline for applications: March 20, 2011
Are you a young adult (age 20 to 30) searching for a way to connect your faith and environmental calling? Join us June 2-9 for the 2011 Eco-Stewards Program, as we delve into the complex environmental issues surrounding land use, poverty, agriculture, and sustainability in a cross-cultural context on the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana. We will consider how these issues invite us to deepen our relationship with God and with each other — to live more simply, to consume less, and to join in a dynamic Christian movement to care for the earth.
Participants may choose to follow up the week-long program with a paid summer internship at one of several sites, including: Greenwood Farm in Montana; one of several Presbyterian churches in West Virginia; or one of several Presbyterian Church (USA) camps around the country. These Eco-Stewards Interns will put their skills into action through a variety of projects such as planting organic gardens, building green structures, designing and implementing “greening” plans for camps, or creating an eco-stewardship curriculum for campers.
Among others, the program’s leadership will include: Rev. Rob Mark of Harvard University’s Memorial Church and First Presbyterian Church of Waltham, Massachusetts; Dr. David Mark, MD of Crow/Northern Cheyenne IHS Hospital and Bighorn Valley Health Center; Katie Holmes, Associate for the Environmental Ministries Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A); and Becky W. Evans, a freelance environmental journalist and communication professor at Boston University and Lasell College.
The deadline for applications is March 20, 2011.
To apply, download application at http://ecostewardsprogram.wordpress.com/2011-program/
If you have additional questions, please email Rev. Rob Mark at robfirstpres@gmail.com
7. Call for Papers: “Animals and Process Thought” (Special Issue of Process Studies)
The journal Process Studies is seeking submissions for a Special Focus Section on “Animals and Process Thought.”
Process thought presumes a relationality that ascribes value and agency to all creatures, including those we call animal. But despite being seen as ecological partners, or even co-creators of the future, “animals” are often rendered faceless, obscured through generalizations, and are not given due ethical weight or consideration in our daily lives. An adequate treatment must instead address the singularity of every creature (and that of every “animal”) with its particular location, aims, interpretation, and ceaseless becoming. Each creature remains irreducible to existing philosophical, ethical, theological, linguistic, biological, socio-political, and economic presentations. Despite its commitment to non-foundationalist ontology, process perspectives have not seriously destabilized the foundations of “the animal,” therefore contributing to ongoing discursive and physical entrapment. If process thought seeks novel rationality, how can it be utilized to reimagine both itself and the creatures it claims to affirm?
We thus invite submissions that reimagine the animal and challenge, develop, and expand existing frameworks of relationality. Themes might include but are not limited to: the formulation of animals as objects or events; unlearning or unknowing “the animal”; new perspectives on rights, responsibility, and subjectivity; the limitations of stewardship and rescue paradigms; the construction of identities and bodies; analyses of mourning, loss, and recognition; the production of the animal through consumption patterns and economic policies; and the implications for metaphysics given a reoriented understanding of animals.
We also encourage entries that initiate dialogue with other theoretical positions, such as race and feminist theories, post-structuralism, and eco-criticism. Additionally, we invite reflections on the underexplored relations between creaturely life and disciplines such as ethics, religion, education, theology, art, psychology, philosophy, and politics.
Entries should be between 6,000 to 8,000 words and should be submitted to the editor of this Special Focus Section, Zandra Wagoner, at zwagoner@laverne.edu no later than July 1, 2011.
See the latest issue of Process Studies regarding style and format, or visit http://www.ctr4process.org/publications/ProcessStudies/styleguide.shtml.
Process Studies is a scholarly peer-reviewed, and refereed academic, journal of the Center for Process Studies, located at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont CA.
8. USAID White Paper: “From Practice to Policy to Practice: Connecting Faith and Conservation in Africa”
Dear Faith & Conservation Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has released a White Paper, “From Practice to Policy to Practice: Connecting Faith and Conservation in Africa.” In an effort to better engage faith communities in conservation in sub-Saharan Africa, the Paper explores the current practices of connecting faith and conservation, provides information on the faith groups doing conservation work, and presents several examples on faith-based conservation.
The White Paper is a means to stimulate interest in engaging faith communities in biodiversity conservation programs and connecting conservation programs with faith communities in Africa. Next steps involve learning more about other U.S. Government Agency involvement with faith communities, publicizing the connections between faith and biodiversity conservation, and establishing partnerships with faith communities. USAID will reach out to its missions, faith communities, and other conservation practitioners to gather information about additional faith-based connections and possibilities for new partnerships.
We hope that wider distribution of this White Paper will stimulate interest in faith and conservation of natural resources in Africa. We have also posted it on the African Biodiversity Collaborative Group’s (ABCG) new Faith & Conservation in Africa website at
http://frameweb.org/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=6823&lang=en-US and on USAID’s Resource Management Portal at
http://www.rmportal.net/library/content/from-practice-to-policy-to-practice-connecting-faith-and-conservation-in-africa/.
Please pass the document on to your colleagues. We look forward to learning about any programs not mentioned here so we can publicize case studies in the future. Please post your comments, ideas, and information about additional programs here or send them directly to me at amygambrill@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Amy Gambrill
amygambrill@gmail.com
9. “Japan’s ‘Ama’ Free Divers Keep their Traditions,” By Anne McDonald
By Anne McDonald
OurWorld 2.0
May 7, 2010
Ama, the legendary women divers of Japan have been practicing sustainable fishing for hundreds of years, but climate change coupled with overfishing, is bringing them face to face with an uncertain future.
To watch an 11 minute video and read the full article, visit:
http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/japans-ama-free-divers-keep-their-traditions/
10. Survey for The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), in partnership with the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and UNESCO, have developed a survey to understand how better to engage the social sciences and humanities community in research about Global Environmental Change (GEC). The survey includes questions about your work and research methods, priority research themes and incentives for participation in the social/human dimensions of GEC research.
To participate in this survey, visit:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/IHDPSurveyLink
11. 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