Speakers Bureau Conference Call (November 2012) – Environmental Justice Section

NOV. 15, 2012 CALL RESOURCES:

Some files for use in Thursday’s call:

PresbyEcoStewardsMGregory (Megan’s powerpoint)

also note other resources at: http://nccecojustice.org//ssb.php

Call 1: Thursday, November 15, 2012, 8:00-9:30pm Eastern
Call 2: Tuesday, March 26, 2013, Noon-1:30pm Eastern (webinar)

Agenda:

8:00pm-9:30pm* eastern, Thursday, Nov. 15

1) Welcome, Updates and Announcements

2) Outreach reports

-Julie Doll (Michigan State), Michigan youth outreach

-Joseph Leyda (Leyda Consulting), approaching congregations as an outsider

-open to others

3) Resources and Connections to help speakers find faith communities interested in outreach

-Megan Gregory (Cornell) Presbyterian Earth Care Congregations program

-Bill Bradlee (Interfaith Power and Light, State Affiliate Coordinator) and/or Susan Stephenson (Executive Director), how to connect with IPL networks

-Alexei Laushkin (Sr. Communications Director, Evangelical Environmental Network), connecting with evangelical congregations

-open to others

4) Further Resources and Support

-open discussion to propose outreach resources to feature in February’s follow-up webinar, and for general posting at http://nccecojustice.org//ssb.php

-Leanne Jablonski (U Dayton, Marianist Environmental Ed Center), use of Sun Come Up video in Catholic and other communities

5) Evaluation Measures and Next Steps

-open discussion about how best to track and evaluate the outreach we’re piloting this year, summarize it during an ESA MN 2013 workshop, and make recommendations for implementing the speakers bureau

*note: some of you can only make the call until 9pm Eastern, and that is fine – for those who can only join late in the call, we’ll make room to add your comments

Other reports:

From Meg Lowman: sorry I can not be on this call! Of note, I just returned from speaking to Coptic priests in Ethiopia, and will be leading a workshop for them on Ecosystem Services this janauary. And I continue to lecture to USA venues — information on my website about the project of religion and science at www.treefoundation.org

From Dorothy Boorse: I am in on two things that might be of interest to the group. The first is an initiative of the LauSanne movement (a largely evangelical Christian but worldwide, not just American) and World Evangelical Alliance (also worldwide) , who called a meeting of scientists and theologians two weeks ago to draft a statement on care of the environment and climate change- in the hopes that this will serve as another key document in the Christian faith community- it is a call for action .

Here is a press release, although I think the call to action is still not released

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/evangelicals.mobilising.church.for.creation.care/31012.htm

The second is that the Academy of Evangelical Scientists and Ethicists, a small group that was basically formed when there were so many threats to the endangered species act a decade ago, is getting more active. There will be some things coming out of that soon. They might have an interest in partnering.

From Rick Hammer: I thought I would briefly report back with some of the outreach work I have been engaged in and what’s on the horizon. First, I am a member of a moderate Baptist church with a membership of about 1900 here in Texas. I had lunch with my pastor last week to discuss the possibility of me leading and teaching a Sunday evening course on Christian environmental stewardship. He was enthusiastic and the plan is to get this class started this fall. I may have the chance to speak to the entire congregation on a Sunday morning as well. For the class I plan to use Calvin DeWitt’s ‘ Earthwise: A Guide to Hopeful Creation Care.’ In my writing and teaching I try to bring the perspective of a biologist with an emphasis on what biodiversity is and why it’s important. I have written a short essay about biodiversity from a Christian Biblical perspective and had this published in the Baptist Standard, which is a biweekly publication for all Texas Baptists.