Climate Cafe Multifaith 2021 Archive
The Climate Cafe MultiFaith is held every 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Tuesday of the month, at 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET.
Scroll for Climate Cafes from 2021
Look here for Climate Cafes 2022 & Upcoming
Check out our Blog page for past conversations and videos.
November Climate Cafes!
Church in the Wild. A conversation with Rev. Corey Turnpenny.
COP26 - Faith and Moral Witness. A conversation with William H. Morris and Frank Granshaw who attended the COP in Glasgow.
Faith and Legislation, Finding Hope. A conversation with Lavona Grow, Peter Sergienko, and Terence Ellen.
November 16th - (Blog follow-up upcoming!) What is the current state of our food system? As we prepare to share the harvest table in our homes and faith communities, Andrew Schwartz, Director of Sustainability and Global Affairs at the Center for Earth Ethics brings his expertise to the Cafe with a 101 that will address the current food system as will as our food industry’s impacts for the natural world, people and planet and why interfaith attention to food justice matters. This last year Schwartz organized six dialogues addressing Food + Faith (view the recordings) and authored a report, Sustainable, Equitable, Resilient: An Ethical Approach to Global Food Systems. Join us for conversation around food and faith and how, as we sit at our own tables, we can better understand the global table better. Register.
November 9th - (Blog follow-up upcoming!) Our guest is Rev. Corey Turnpenny, a church planter who leads church outdoors as Church in the Wild "dedicated to connecting with and caring for Creation" in New York State. Rev. Corey Turnpenny (she/her) is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. In 2019, Corey felt the Spirit’s call to plant an alternative church for those who, like her, feel closest to the Divine in nature. Corey earned her Masters in Divinity from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and now lives with her spouse, their 2 kids and 2 dogs in Windsor, NY.
October Climate Cafes.
Faith & COP26 - a Briefing from Glasgow. Guest Adrian Shaw, EcoCongregations and Interfaith Scotland.
Beyond Curriculum - Books to Celebrate Diversity and the Natural World. Guest Rev. Tura Foster Gillespie, TeachingCulturalCompassion.org
Minding Our Business - Faith Communities and Sustainable Enterprise. Guest Andrew Ellis, Climate Reality Business Working Group, Los Angeles Chapter.
October 5th- (Blog follow up and video here!) our guest will be Adrian Shaw who spent two decades in policy and research in local government in Scotland and London, and is currently supporting preparations for COP26 in Glasgow. He is a member of working groups at Conference of European Churches, European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN), UN Interfaith Liaison Committee and others, and a former Member of the Board of Friends of the Earth, Scotland, and the Scottish Council of WWF Scotland. Formerly he served as the Climate Change Officer for the Church of Scotland, find him now with Eco-Congregations Scotland and Interfaith Scotland.
October 12th - The Rev. Tura Foster Gillespie (Blog and video follow up upcoming) is the founder of Teaching Cultural Compassion which works to help kids and their adults find books with positive representation of underrepresented demographics. As a Deacon in the United Methodist Church, her ministry focuses on teaching groups of parents and other adults at libraries, churches, and service clubs how to ensure they are instilling children with a sense of their own innate dignity and the innate dignity of people who don't look like they do. Tura has been featured in Kiwanis International Magazine for her teachings on compassion and has presented before the Parliament of the World's Religions on her ministry. She has a love of nature and has written youth group curriculum on creation care for the General Board of Church and Society for the UMC. Tura is passionate about intersectionality and how multiple social justice issues can affect the same group of people and sees the desecration of creation and marginalization of people as hand in hand. She hopes she can inspire children to love themselves, others, and nature through her work.
October 19th - (Blog follow up, here!) Essential Elements of Sustainable Business Planning. Andrew Ellis, with The Climate Reality Project, will discuss his team's work with the LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI) over the last winter and spring to help businesses (and faith-based organizations) reduce their environmental impact while advocating for social and environmental justice. Elements of their LACI presentations included climate science, health impacts, environmental justice, corporate social impacts, sustainable business practices and impact investing. He will talk about the resources and tools they use to empower businesses to address their impact on climate change, with a goal of building a better future. Mr. Andrew Ellis is a retired environmental scientist and industrial hygienist who began his career characterizing EPA listed SUPERFUND toxic chemical waste sites with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Climate Cafes from September:
A Movement - From a Pipeline to Justice in Memphis. Guest Justin J. Pearson, MCAP (Memphis Community Against the Pipeline)
Climate Migration. Contributor Rev. Dr. William Schnell. Pastor (retired) Disciples of Christ. Social Justice Advocate.
“What do you want to sustain?” - The IPCC Report and Scenarios for Climate Change. Guest E. Jamie Trammell, Chair of Environmental Science at SOU.
September 21st we welcome Justin J. Pearson. (Find the presentation and blog here!) Justin J. Pearson is co-founder of MCAP, Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, a community group founded to stop the construction of the Byhalia crude oil pipeline through Shelby County, South Memphis, Tennessee. MCAP prevailed against the pipeline July 2021, but the effort continues to ensure that not only is the community protected in the future, but so is the precious sand aquifer that supplies water to over a million people. Pearson’s efforts include galvanizing support at the city and county level. As well, Pearson understands the benefit to the nation that is possible with efforts that draw investment and interest back to the south. His efforts invite the nation to rediscover their roots and reinvest in the south by addressing the environmental racism and injustice in places like his own South Memphis neighborhood where heavy industry and incinerators have poisoned the air and land. Pearson envisions reinvesting in the life and health of his and other communities with a clean economy, clean water, and opportunities to thrive. More about Pearson, MCAP, and organizing in Memphis from these articles, Justin J. Pearson Brings the Fight and Group pushes city and county leaders.
September 14th: Climate Migration Blog post and presentation recording. Our focus was Climate-Driven Migration and its Solutions with a presentation and Q&A with Rev. Dr. William Schnell. The Rev. Dr. William F. Schnell retired as a pastor within the Disciples of Christ tradition in 2018 after a 35-year tenure serving a total of 3 congregations, including a term as President of the Ohio Council of Churches. Following retirement, he spent two weeks at Oxford University in its Summer Theology School. He then enrolled at Harvard University for a Graduate Certificate in Social Justice, which was completed in May of 2020. Most recently, in February 2021, he completed a Certificate in Climate Change and Health from Yale University. He is currently a climate activist and speaker trained by the Climate Reality Project. Find the one-sheet in the repository. Photo by Barbara Andoval
Find the one-sheet on climate migration in the repository.
September 7th: IPCC Report (“What do you want to sustain?” Blog post and presentation recording here. Find the one-sheet in the repository.) We will be talking about the IPCC report and what hope we can draw from it. Our guest is Jamie Trammell, an Associate Professor and Chair of the Environmental Science and Policy program at Southern Oregon University. He specializes in using digital maps to model, quantify, and communicate future environmental challenges so policies and decisions can be made now, and not in the future when it might be too late (scenario planning). He has taught courses on climatology, data analysis, geospatial technology (digital maps), land use planning, environmental history, capstone, and professional preparation. He has worked in a variety of environmental contexts from the deserts of the American southwest to the Northern Rivers of New South Wales in Australia, throughout Alaska and into the Canadian boreal, and most recently in the agricultural landscapes of the Magic Valley, Idaho and the Rogue River basin in Oregon. He is also a person of faith, in the tradition of United Methodist.
From our Climate Cafes this Summer:
June
June 8th: View our follow up blog post Line 3 Voices. Many people of faith support the Anishinaabe people in their fight against the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline. Find key links for Enbridge Line 3 & Trans mountain pipeline in our one-sheet repository.
June 15: A conversation on youth, faith, and climate change with William Morris, an organizer with Young Evangelicals for Climate Action who was recently featured in Rolling Stone Magazine. View our blog post, “You won’t even hear me”: Youth, faith & climate, and our June 15th one-sheet with key links.
July
For July 6th: View our blogpost addressing heat waves, cooling centers and social infrastructure as a follow up to our Cafe. Heat worsened by climate change has brought devastating temperatures across the world, most recently to the cool, rainy Pacific Northwest and Canada, where the village of Lytton reached 121°f. Many churches, cities, communities have responded to these temps with cooling shelters. Find two one-sheets addressing this topic, one on heatwaves and survivability, the other an explainer for heat domes and deep freezes, both in the repository.
July 13th: Harmony Burright is passionate about water. She works for the Oregon Water Resources Department and with communities across Oregon and as a trained facilitator and mediator works to collaboratively develop and implement strategies to achieve a more balanced, secure, and sustainable water future. She was also raised Universalist Unitarian, and loves to visit church communities and learn from all faith traditions.
Kiribati & Sea Level Rise
July 20th: View our follow up blog post following our conversation with Dr. Mike Roman addressing People, Place & Sea Level Rise. Dr. Roman is a former Kiribati Peace Corps Volunteer, Fulbright Fellow, and co-creator of the social media platform Humans of Kiribati, received his Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2014. Mike’s most recent film collaboration One Word, by Kameradistinnen Studio, highlights the Marshall Islands’ fight for climate justice, and ultimately, survival. He has spent the last 21 years raising global consciousness of our planet’s climate crisis from the frontlines. He currently works at the University of Cincinnati. Find a one-sheet with links on Sea Level Rise in our one-sheet repository.
August
August 3rd - Our topic was Wildfire, including the ways faith communities can assist. The blog post, Witness & Wildfire, is up! Find a video of the presentation as well as a list of things a congregation can do to prepare for and respond to a wildfire. The wildfire one-sheet is in the one-sheet repository.
August 10th- Rev. Michael Anthony Howard joined us for a conversation about organizing and social change. View his presentation and read more about the importance of shared community truth telling on our blog, Prophetic Witness of Place. Rev. Howard serves as the Minister of Faith in Action for the Living Water Association (Ohio NorthEast) in the Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ. He is a cofounder of Friends of Elizabeth Park and serves as a chief catalyst for the Akron Area Food Forest Initiative, a local inter-organizational collaboration that actively works to undo environmental racism and systemic racist city planning by building community, educating and inspiring neighborhoods, establish food security, and increase bio-diversity.
August 17th - Reunion & Invitation: Calling all Climate Reality and Minister’s Training faith leaders! Alaura Carter is our special guest host as we revisit, reflect and renew relationships from the Center for Earth Ethics and Climate Reality Project trainings. We will touch on climate grief, asset mapping, and local organizing. We also know the vital importance of doing this work together, connecting, hearing lament and celebrating effort! Whether you have attended a training or not, please join us. Climate Speakers Network is an invaluable resource for the faith community. Alaura Carter is the Program Manager with Climate Speakers Network, a project of Climate Reality, and works with the Center for Earth Ethics and faith communities in the US & internationally.
One-Sheets
Find One-Sheets from prior Climate Cafe’s on our One-Sheet Repository and other resources on our Resources Page.
Come, learn, share and discuss as we learn more as we talk together about climate change, solutions, successes, possibilities, and the realities we face in our local contexts, worship communities, and wider community.
Thank you to our partners and collaborators!
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