Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 213

PROGRAMER
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Striving to Live in a Livable World (Session 1)
Dr Joseph Henry Suina, USA: Cochiti Pueblo, Moderator Anna Pinto, India: Meitei
Chief Megaron Txukarramae
Room 209
Panel Discussion
Environmental safety and sustainability of a healthy environment is a global problem for many Indigenous communities. Maintaining a healthy environment is an increasingly difficult challenge as Indigenous communities struggle to protect their land and all those who live around it. The land not only serves as source of sustenance, but also provides materials for homes, feed for livestock and herbal medicine for health. This land also contains special or sacred places. Panellists representing the Cochiti Pueblo tribe of the American Southwest, the Meitei of India, and the Kayapo of Brazil will discuss the challenges and the spiritual significance of their environments.
Dr Joseph H Suina is a Professor Emeritus in the College of Education at the University of New Mexico and has numerous publications on culture and education. He directed the Institute for American Indian Education at UNM for tribes throughout the Southwest. He is a former governor and a current tribal council member, who continues to advocate for Native American tribes in the areas of health, museums, language retention, sacred sites, economic development and housing.
Anna Pinto is Executive Director of the Centre for Organisation, Research and Education (CORE), an Indigenous peoples' policy research and advocacy organisation based in the North East of India. An active member of the Indian Women's Movement for over two decades, she is also a prolific writer whose work addresses and critiques such issues as policy initiatives by the government of India and international agencies such as the World Bank.
Megaron Txucarramãe is grand chief of the Kayapó people from the Amazonian Basin of Brazil, the head administrator of the National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI) in his region, and a board member of Conservation International. The traditional lands of the Kayapó represent the single largest tract of protected tropical forest in the world. Chief Megaron works toward the preservation of his people's lands, culture and identity, and to promote their economic and political autonomy.
Religion, Science, and Environmental Activism (Session 3)
Philip Clayton
Praveen Chaudhari
F LeRon Shults
Denis Edwards
Pauline Rudd
Room 210
Panel Discussion
Healing the Earth will require partnerships not only among all the world's faith traditions but also with the scientific experts who best understand the problems and potential solutions. The first two sessions on science and spirituality, also sponsored by the International Society for Science and Religion, have focused on ways to
2:30-4:00pm ENGAGEMENT SESSION
form constructive partnerships between these two great social forces. In this final, hands-on session, we turn to specific examples of environmental activism, exploring concrete examples of religion-science partnerships that can help heal the Earth. Environmental activists and heads of organisations will be present both on stage and in the audience. After the opening presentations on how to foster constructive partnerships between scientists and religious leaders, we will move into workshop format. Leading activists and other audience members will describe their experiences with these sorts of collaborations. The invited experts will present models for successful alliances. Together we will then explore ways to implement such alliances both at the local level and in high-visibility international projects that address the global environmental crisis.
Philip Clayton is Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Claremont Graduate University. He specialises in conflicts and connections between the sciences and religion, with particular focus on the biological sciences and the environmental crisis. He is the author or editor of seventeen books and over 100 articles, including the recent 'Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science and In Quest of Freedom: The Emergence of Spirit in the Natural World,
Dr Praveen Chaudhari received his PhD in physical metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined IBM in 1996. In addition to carrying out his personal research, he has held various management responsibilities in science and technologies. He retired from IBM in 2003 and became the Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory until 2006, when he returned to science. Dr Chaudhari has published over 160 technical papers and holds over three dozen patents.
F LeRon Shults is professor of theology and philosophy at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. A leading authority on science and theology, he has published some ten books and dozens of articles in the field. Shults is the editor of the Brill book series 'Philosophical Studies in Science and Religion and scientific director of the Transforming Compassion project at Stiftelsen Arkivet, a peace-building institute in Norway. His other current research interests include ethics, desire, differentiation and religious symbolism.
Denis Edwards is professor of theology at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. An ecological theologian, he has published widely on the interactions among ecology, environmental science, and religion. Among his best-known books are 'Breath of Life: A Theology of the Creator Spirit'. 'The God of Evolution: A Trinitarian Theology, and Jesus and the Cosmos'. He will soon publish The Holy Spirit and Ecological Theology".
Prof Pauline Rudd, BSc, LRIC, MA (Oxon), PhD, one of the world's leading molecular biologists, is head of the Dublin-Oxford Glycobiology Lab in Dublin, Ireland. She is Honorary Professor at St George's Hospital, London; is affiliated with the SAB Rega Institute for Medical Research, University of Leuven, and is Founding Scientist at Wessex Biochemicals (Sigma London). Rudd is a lay member of the Community of St Mary the Virgin in Oxfordshire and an internationally sought-after speaker on the world's mystical traditions.
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