Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 157

PROORAM
Friday, December 4, 2009
11:30am-1:00pm INTERRELIGIOUS SESSION
Mother Nature Doesn't Do Bailouts - Daily Youth Session Alana Smith Miriam Pepper Isobel Arthen Stuart Hall Tony Le-Nguyen Josh Stanton Room 201 Panel Discussion The environment is in crisis and no other generation will be more affected by this crisis in the future than today's youth. What can young people do at home, in the workplace, and in their own faith communities to minimise the impact of this global, environmental reality? This session will highlight the urgency of the global environmental situation and how this will affect young people everywhere. It will then explore what particular faith communities around the world are doing to look after the environment and what young people can do as individuals, at home or on the job, to make a difference. Alana Smith is the National Director of Vision Generation, World Vision Australia's youth movement. She is also a steering committee member on the Australian Youth Forum IAYF), which acts as a communication and engagement channel between the Government and young people, and recently became a committee member of Liberty Victoria, an organisation focused on protecting the human rights and freedoms of those living in Australia Miriam Pepper is a Christian environmental activist working to build environmental awareness and action across communities of differ ent faiths and of none. She is a founding member and secretary of the multifaith network, the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, and is also active in the Faith and Ecology Network Miriam has a PhD from the University of Surrey, UK. Her thesis was titled Christianity and Sustainable Consumption: A Social Psychological Investigation. Isobel Arthen is an Environmental Activist and Member of the EarthSpirit Community Stuart Hall is the lead architect of the Tasmanian Baha'i Centre of Learning. opened in the spring of 2009. The design of the building has won accolades for the attention paid to environmental sustainability through the innovative use of materials, the conservation of water, and low energy consumption Tony Le-Nguyen is a Community Development Coordinator at the Quang Minh Buddhist Temple. Josh Stanton is a Rabbinical student at the Hebrew Union College.
slower. However, more recently, the world's religious leaders and laity have been speaking out regarding the moral issues surrounding the ecological crisis in its many forms. The impact of environmental destruction, especially climate change, on both the Earth and on the poor is growing ever more evident and disturbing. This panel will highlight the responses--both in statements and in action-of some of the world's religions to climate change and related environmental issues. With the Copenhagen meeting on climate change following the Parliament, this panel is not only timely but critical. Oren Lyons is the Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan in the Onondaga Nation of the Hau de no sau nee ('People Building a Long House'). He was raised in the traditional life ways of the Hau de no sau nee. In 1982, he helped establish the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations and has participated in the Indigenous Peoples Conference in Geneva. He is a principal figure in the Traditional Circle of Indian Elders. Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp is President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, European Region and co-recipient of the 2005 International Alliance Peace Award with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. He is an award-winning human rights advocate, lecturer, writer, environmental activist and champion of civil society worldwide. Bishop Geoffrey Davies is the coordinator and founding member of the Southern African Faith Communities' Environmental Institute, which works to raise awareness of environmental issues such as climate change among different faith communities. He was one of the overseas marchers in Christian Aid's Cut the Carbon march around the United Kingdom to draw attention to global warming and the urgent issue of reducing our carbon footprint. Sulak Sivaraksa, of the Santi Pracha Dhamma Institute, is a Nobel Prize nominee and prominent Buddhist social and environmental activist in Thailand. He has founded numerous organisations and has been involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogue for decades. His books include 'Seeds of Peace: A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society' and Loyalty Demands Dissent
Religious Responses to the Ecological Crisis as Climate Change Grows Oren Lyons Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp Bishop Geoffrey Davies Sulak Sivaraksa Mary Evelyn Tucker Room 202 Panel Discussion The destruction of ecosystems, the loss of species, the depletion of resources and the impact of climate change around the planet are becoming ever more pronounced. While scientists have been alerting us to these problems over the last few decades, religious responses have been
How Spiritual Progressives Can Help Move Both Religious and Secular Communities to Enlarge their Focus Beyond Personal Fulfilment or Individual Salvation toward a Global Transformation Rabbi Michael Lerner Swami Agnivesh Rabbi Irwin Kula Room 203 Panel Discussion God and religion have often been used as paths to comfort and consolation in the face of powerlessness and suffering, while the task of healing and transforming the planet has traditionally been left to political movements. Unfortunately, those political movements have proven unsuccessful in meeting the survival-threatening challenges of the 21st century, including environmental destruction, cultural and spiritual degradation of human life, and misuse of both science and religion to serve the status quo. This panel discussion will suggest ways in which progressive spiritual and religious communities can pick up where political movements have left off in terms of preserving the environment.
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