The Forum on Religion and Ecology Newsletter
6.10 (October 2012)
Contents:
1. Editorial, by Elizabeth McAnally
2. Journey of the Universe Film Screenings
3. Greensboro Declaration by National Council of Elders
4. Declaration of Commitment to Indigenous Peoples
5. New Books
6. Events
7. Calls for Papers
8. Job Openings
9. Jansatyagraha 2012 March
10. Report on 2012 Claremont International Jain Conference, “Bioethics: Religious and Spiritual Approaches”
11. SAFCEI South African Faith Communities Institute Newsletter
12. Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology
1. Editorial, by Elizabeth McAnally
Greetings,
Welcome to the October 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, job openings, and more.
I am happy to let you know that John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker are spending the fall term at Princeton University, teaching a course in Religion, Ecology, and Cosmology. They are Barron Visiting Professors at the Princeton Environmental Institute. They will be offering two public events at Princeton University in October, and you are cordially invited to attend. On October 3, there will be a screening of Journey of the Universe, followed by discussion with Mary Evelyn and John. For more information, visit: http://www.princeton.edu/pei/events/journey-of-the-universe/index.xml On October 17, Mary Evelyn and John will give a lecture on “The Emerging Field of Religion and Ecology.” For more information, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/the-emerging-field-of-religion-and-ecology/
I also want to draw your attention to James Gustave Speth’s recently published book entitled America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy (Yale University Press, 2012). In this third volume of his award-winning American Crisis series, Speth “looks unsparingly at the sea of troubles in which the United States now finds itself, charts a course through the discouragement and despair commonly felt today, and envisions what he calls America the Possible, an attractive and plausible future that we can still realize. The book identifies a dozen features of the American political economy—the country’s basic operating system—where transformative change is essential. It spells out the specific changes that are needed to move toward a new political economy—one in which the true priority is to sustain people and planet.” For more about the book, visit: http://americathepossiblethebook.com
Finally, the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting will be held in Chicago on November 17–20, 2012. The Forum on Religion and Ecology Annual Luncheon will be held Friday, November 16 at 11:30am - 1:30pm. Please RSVP for the luncheon to Tara Trapani at tcmk@aya.yale.edu. For a list of events related to Religion and Ecology, as well as Animals and Religion, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/AAR-2012.pdf For more about the annual meeting, visit: http://www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/default.asp
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 Film Screenings
First Unitarian Church
Louisville, KY, USA
Study Group held 1st, 3rd, and 4th Sundays
August 26 – November 25, 2012
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ, USA
Discussion with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
October 3, 2012
Center for EcoSpirituality & The Arts
Kingstree, SC, USA
Springbank Retreat with Rev. Jim Conlon
October 5-7, 2012
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO, USA
Hosted by Dr. Tom Lovejoy, featuring a panel with Dr. Holmes Rolston III, Dr. Robin Reid, and Dr. Cameron Ghalambor
October 18, 2012
9th annual Montana CINE International Film Festival
Roxy Theater
Missoula, MT, USA
October 26-27, 2012
For more information about film screenings, visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/upcoming-events/
3. Greensboro Declaration by National Council of Elders
National Council of Elders to release Greensboro declaration in three U.S. cities
Fellowship of Reconciliation
September 11, 2012
On Wednesday, September 12, the newly-formed National Council of Elders (NCOE) will release the Greensboro Declaration, the first statement of the organization since its founding a month ago. The NCOE founding conference was held in Greensboro, NC, site of the historic Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins, which represented a major advance in the civil rights struggle.
The Declaration will be presented at significant historic sites of struggle and freedom, with the anchor site being the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. Other sites will be in Detroit, MI; and New York. Press conferences will be held at 11:00 a.m. in the areas’ respective time zones.
“This statement represents a new epoch,” said 97-year-old Detroit revolutionary theorist and activist Grace Lee Boggs, author of The Next American Revolution. “It calls on Americans to become engaged in a different kind of citizenship, one that transforms their souls in addition to asking them to go to the polls.” Dr. Boggs is the eldest member of the NCOE.
For full article, visit: http://forusa.org/blogs/for/national-council-elders-release-greensboro-declaration-three-us-cities/11038
To read the Greensboro Declaration, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/Greensboro-Declaration.pdf
4. Declaration of Commitment to Indigenous Peoples
As part of their Summer of Peace commitment to healing and reconciliation, the Shift Network worked with James O’Dea and Glenn Parry of the SEED Institute to create a “Declaration of Commitment to Indigenous Peoples.”
James O’Dea recently presented the declaration in a beautiful ceremony to six of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.
He shared that the Grandmothers and other indigenous leaders received it with incredible warmth and gratitude and reported that they’re already guarding it as a sacred historic document.
Today, you are invited to sign this Declaration online and take a stand in your own life for healing the harm from the past and creating an honoring relationship with indigenous peoples and their wisdom.
To read the Declaration and join as a signatory, visit: http://www.declarationofcommitment.com
5. New Books
America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy
By James Gustave Speth
Yale University Press, 2012
http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300180763
http://americathepossiblethebook.com
In this third volume of his award-winning American Crisis series, James Gustave Speth looks unsparingly at the sea of troubles in which the United States now finds itself, charts a course through the discouragement and despair commonly felt today, and envisions what he calls America the Possible, an attractive and plausible future that we can still realize. The book identifies a dozen features of the American political economy—the country’s basic operating system—where transformative change is essential. It spells out the specific changes that are needed to move toward a new political economy—one in which the true priority is to sustain people and planet. Supported by a compelling “theory of change” that explains how system change can come to America, the book also presents a vision of political, social, and economic life in a renewed America. In short, this is a book about the American future and the strong possibility that we yet have it in ourselves to use our freedom and our democracy in powerful ways to create something fine, a reborn America, for our children and grandchildren.
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Bones of Contention: Animals and Religion in Contemporary Japan
By Barbara R Ambros
Hawaii University Press, 2012
http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-8765-9780824836740.aspx
In Bones of Contention, Barbara Ambros investigates what religious and intellectual traditions constructed animals as subjects of religious rituals and how pets have been included or excluded in the necral landscapes of contemporary Japan. Pet mortuary rites are emblems of the ongoing changes in contemporary Japanese religions. The increase in single and nuclear-family households, marriage delays for both males and females, the falling birthrate and graying of society, the occult boom of the 1980s, the pet boom of the 1990s, the anti-religious backlash in the wake of the 1995 Aum Shinrikyō incident—all of these and more have contributed to Japan’s contested history of pet mortuary rites. Ambros uses this history to shed light on important questions such as: Who (or what) counts as a family member? What kinds of practices should the state recognize as religious and thus protect financially and legally? Is it frivolous or selfish to keep, pamper, or love an animal? Should humans and pets be buried together? How do people reconcile the deeply personal grief that follows the loss of a pet and how do they imagine the afterlife of pets? And ultimately, what is the status of animals in Japan? Bones of Contention is a book about how Japanese people feel and think about pets and other kinds of animals and, in turn, what pets and their people have to tell us about life and death in Japan today.
6. Events
“World Peace and the Ecological Crisis: A Buddhist Wisdom”
Dharma Talk By Korean Buddhist Seon Master Jinje, With Response By The Reverend Fletcher Harper
Church Center for the United Nations, New York City, NY, USA
October 4, 2012
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/world-peace-and-the-ecological-crisis-a-buddhist-wisdom/
“Faithful Citizenship: The Environment in the Political Discourse of the Presidential Election 2012”
Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, USA
October 4, 2012
http://www.iona.edu/academic/artsscience/departments/politicalscience/fcp/events/sustainability.cfm
“A Celebration of St. Francis of Assisi”
Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, USA
October 4, 2012
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/thomas-berry-forum-a-celebration-of-st.-francis-of-assisi/
“Gaining Perspective: Seeing Environmental Education Through Different Lenses”
41st annual conference of NAAEE (North American Association for Environmental Education)
Oakland, CA, USA
October 9-13, 2012
http://www.naaee.net/conference
“Education for Sustainability: International Greening Education Event”
Karlsruhe, Germany
October 10-12, 2012
http://www.etechgermany.com/IGEE2012.pdf
“The Anthropocene: Planet Earth in the Age of Humans”
National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA
October 11, 2012
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/the-anthropocene-planet-earth-in-the-age-of-humans/
“Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Conference Expo”
L.A. Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
October 14-17, 2012
http://conf2012.aashe.org/
“Healing Nature”
Chicago Regional Forum on Ethics and Sustainability
Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL, USA
October 16, 2012
http://www.chicagobotanic.org/school/symposia/ethics_symposia.php
“The Emerging Field of Religion and Ecology”
With Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
October 17, 2012
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/the-emerging-field-of-religion-and-ecology/
Book Launch Party for Bones of Contention: Animals and Religion in Contemporary Japan, by Barbara R Ambros
Linda Stein’s Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Please RSVP by October 17, 2012: bambros@email.unc.edu
October 21, 2012
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/book-release-party-for-bones-of-contention-animals-and-religion-in-contempo/
“Living with (out) Animals: Nonhuman Ethics for the 21st Century”
University of Sydney, Australia
October 22, 2012
http://www.animalsandsociety.org/static/events?event_id=302
“Ecocritical Perspectives on Water”
National Conference
Central University of Tamil Nadu, Tiruvarur, India
October 26-27, 2012
http://www.asle.org/site/papers/current-conferences/
“Ahimsa and Sustainable Happiness”
Prem and Sandhya Jain International Conference on Nonviolence
Ahimsa Center at Cal Poly Pomona, Los Angeles, CA, USA
November 2-4, 2012
http://www.csupomona.edu/~ahimsacenter/conference/conference_2012_CallForProposals.shtml
“Come to the Quiet: A Retreat for Graduate Students on Seeking Peace and Living a Sustainable Life”
AGAPE, Ware, MA, USA
November 2-4, 2012
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/come-to-the-quiet-a-retreat-for-graduate-students-on-seeking-peace-and-livi/
International Association for Environmental Philosophy 16th Annual Meeting
The Hyatt Regency
Rochester, NY, USA
November 3-5, 2012
http://www.environmentalphilosophy.org/2012cfp.html
“Humankind and Nature: An Endangered System of Interdependence in Today’s Globalising World”
Institute for Tourism Studies, Macau SAR, China
November 7-8, 2012
http://www.riccimac.org./eng/workshops/2012/index.htm
American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting
Chicago, IL, USA
November 17–20, 2012
Forum on Religion and Ecology Annual Luncheon: Friday, Nov. 16 at 11:30am - 1:30pm. Please RSVP to tcmk@aya.yale.edu.
For a list of events related to Religion and Ecology, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/files/AAR-2012.pdf
http://www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/default.asp
For more events, visit: http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/
7. Calls for Papers
“AASG@Sydney: Life in the Anthropocene”
5th Biennial Conference of the Australian Animal Studies Group
University of Sydney, Australia
July 8-9, 2013
Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 7, 2012
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“Rethinking Community: Religious Continuities And Mutations In Late Modernity”
32nd ISSR (International Society for the Sociology of Religion) Conference
Turku, Finland
June 27-30, 2013
Abstract submissions are invited for this thematic session (among others): Religion, Ecology and Transnationalism
By October 31, 2012, send abstracts for this session to convenors of this session: Heikki Pesonen (heikki.pesonen@helsinki.fi) and Laura Wickström (laura.wickstrom@abo.fi)
http://www.sisr-issr.org/English/Conferences/Conferences.htm
8. Job Openings
Assistant professor in indigenous, diasporic, and/or earth-centered religions
University of North Carolina, Department of Religious Studies, Asheville, NC, USA
Application deadline: October 12, 2012
http://www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?JobCode=175662329
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Assistant Professor or Associate Professor in Religious Ethics, with a concentration in Religion, Ethics, and the Environment
University of Virginia, Department of Religious Studies, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Application deadline: October 28, 2012
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Delson Endowed Chair in Environmental Studies
University of California, Department of Environmental Studies, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Application deadline: October 31, 2012
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Associate or Full Professor to serve as Philosophy and Religion Department Chair
California Institute of Integral Studies, Department of Philosophy and Religion, San Francisco, CA, USA
Applicants whose information is received by October 31, 2012 will be given priority consideration.
9. Jansatyagraha 2012 March
The Jan Satyagraha 2012 March campaign is a large non-violent walk that will be carried out in India and in many other countries across the globe in October 2012. It begins on UN International Non-Violence Day, October 2nd, and will carry on for one month. In India, where the main event is being held, 100,000 people, representing different rural communities, especially tribal, landless and small farmers, will walk in formation together 350 kilometers from Gwalior (near the Taj Mahal) to New Delhi. The people will raise the issue about land being a key asset in development and poverty reduction, and that high levels of landlessness and deprivation need to be reduced for achieving positive national and global development. In effect, land and livelihood rights are instrumental to all people’s freedom.
The Jan Satyagraha 2012 March is based on the Gandhian Salt Satyagraha of 1930, known as the Dandi March. It is an uplifting event with a carnival atmosphere; it is the combined effort of people to stand up for basic rights and speak on the way to build more equity in the governing structure. The 2012 March is a disciplined formation of people acting out non-violence in an effort to bring a large number of people together to show the strength of rural India, the importance of agriculture, of food production –as a base for urban India, and to build a common destiny of all people.
For more information, visit: http://www.ektaparishad.com/
10. Report on 2012 Claremont International Jain Conference, “Bioethics: Religious and Spiritual Approaches”
“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/
For a report of the conference, visit:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/item/bioethics-religious-and-spiritual-approaches/
11. SAFCEI South African Faith Communities Institute Newsletter
September 2012
Contents:
* Green Bishop - “The SADC We Want”
* In Celebration of Trees
* Eco-Champion Dot Saunders
* 10 Tips for a sustainable Rosh Hashanah
* How does your congregation use energy & water?
* 40 Mosques in 20 Days
* Youth believe in sustainability!
http://fore.research.yale.edu/news/item/safcei-south-african-faith-communities-institute-newsletter/
12. 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/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