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This is the state’s largest gathering for people of faith concerned about climate change—a time for interfaith worship, workshops, resource gathering, and networking with others who are responding to climate change as a moral issue. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great success. |
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Our 2013 Annual Meeting and Conference in Harrisburg was a great success! |
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“One Creation, Many Faiths: Call to Action on Climate Change”
Saturday, October 5, 11:00 to 4:00 (registration and green fair open at 10) Colonial Park United Church of Christ 5000 Devonshire Rd, Harrisburg, PA 17112
Preliminary program:
10:00 On-site registration (still only $25, some extra lunches will be available) GREEN FAIR opens — non-profits, busineses, and faith groups offering creative ideas and diverse ways of caring for Creation.
11:00 KEYNOTE PANEL — How do different faith traditions respond to climate change? (scroll down for panelists’ bios)
12:30 LUNCH (vegetarian; included in your registration fee)
2:00 WORKSHOPS that highlight practical actions congregations can take and work to be done in our communities. (click here for descriptions)
3:30 Annual meeting; elections; DOOR PRIZES!
4:00 Display of lower-impact vehicles in the parking lot. Come talk to owners of · an all-electric Tesla Roadster · a plug-in Ford Focus · a hybrid Toyota Prius
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Panelists - 11 a.m. to 12:30
Peter Adriance, joined the U.S. Baha’i Office of Public Affairs in 1990, and works nationally and internationally in collaboration with other organizations on issues of sustainable development, climate change, sustainable consumption and production, and related fields. He helped found the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development and serves as co-chair of its Faith Sector team and secretary of its board of directors. Allied with that, Peter develops educational programs for sustainability in the U.S. Baha’i community. He also serves on the governing board of the International Environment Forum – a Baha’i-inspired organization addressing the environment and sustainable development.
In 2009, Peter received the Interfaith Bridge Builder's Award from the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington DC, "for his passionate commitment to inter- religious care for the earth." He holds an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and a B.A. from Alfred University.
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling is the founder and director of the Social Justice Organizing Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College of which he is a graduate. Prior to this he was the Executive Vice-President of Jewish Funds for Justice. Earlier he was the Executive Director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. He is the President Emeritus of the Shalom Center and serves on the boards of T’ruah: A Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and of the Faith and Politics Institute. He was the founding chairperson of Shomrei Adamah: Guardians of the Earth. He is a member of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable and of the Green Hevra, a coalition of Jewish environmental organizations. He has been trained in The Work that Reconnects by Joanna Macy, a founder of deep ecology and has completed the Jewish Meditation Teacher Training program. He has published numerous articles. He is married to Lynne Iser, they have five children and their family was the subject of the award winning documentary Praying With Lior.
Rev. Dr. Gil Waldkoenig is a professor of Church in Society at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. He works in ecological ethics, ethnography of religion and the church in rural society. His recent courses have been Ecology and Religion; EcoTheology in Northern Appalachia (immersion seminar); Places of Faith: Ethnography of Religion; Rural and Small Church Ministries and Environmental History of Christianity. Gil has taught also for Lancaster Theological Seminary and Payne Theological Seminary. He serves in the BB Maurer Chair for Town and Country Church Ministry and directs TCCI, and collaborates in the Blessed Earth Seminary Stewardship Alliance, GreenFaith: Interfaith Partners for the Environment and Lutherans Restoring Creation. Education: B.A. Gettysburg College, 1985; M.Div., Gettysburg Seminary, 1989; Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1994.
Sister Pat Lupo, OSB, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, has worked for decades to spread the message that faith and environmentalism share important common themes of stewardship and the care of Creation. The former education director for Earth Action at Environment Erie, Sr. Pat does Environmental Education and Advocacy for the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA and currently leads children in the after-school programs at the Inner City Neighborhood Art House and the John E. Horan Garden Apartments, focusing on helping her students become catalysts for change in their communities. Pat is a long standing member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for PA Department of Environmental Protections and she is a PA representative on the Great Lakes Commission. She also serves on local boards such as PLEWA, the PA Lake Erie Watershed Association; LERC, the Lake Erie Region Conservancy; the PA Sea Grant Advisory Council; and she chairs Hands Across Borders, a group that supports Central Americans locally and in El Salvador.
In 2005, Pat traveled to Katmandu Nepal to participate in the World Wild Life Conference and to accept an award, Sacred Gifts for A Living Planet, for the work that she and the staff at Lake Erie Allegheny Earth Force were doing with youth in Erie. Twenty-six awards were given out world-wide, six in the United States. The program was hosted by WWL and ARC, the Alliance for Religion and Conservation. Prince Phillip presided. In 2000, Pat participated in a 2 week conference in Ohito Japan also hosted by ARC. It was the Major World Religious Task Force and provided an opportunity for 18 representatives from across the world to share common creation based tenets and make recommendations to World Religion Leaders. There were 2 representatives from the US and 1 from Canada. Pat has been recognized for her efforts by a number of groups. Recent recognitions include Lighting the Way (2005 - Recognition by Governor Rendell for Environmental Leadership in PA), Mercyhurst College Distinguished Alumni Award for Outstanding Service to the Community (2011), John C. Oliver Environmental Leadership Award (2012 – Tom Ridge Environmental Center), Keystone Environmental Education Award (2013– PA Association of Environmental Educators.
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