Sunday, September 21, 2014, the UN International Day of Peace. The sky was clear, the sun shining, and the air was vibrating with excitement. You could sense an unmistakable whiff of history-in-the-making. Soon mid-town Manhattan would become a rolling wave of humanity, a moving festival of people of every age, race, ethnicity, nationality, and belief. Most wore casual attire, some religious garb, and others chose colorful costumes and body paint. An impressive assortment of headgear showed up as well: hijabs, turbans, kippas, garlands, feathers, panama hats, and baseball caps.
Holding Up the Right of Peoples to Peace
The theme of this year’s UN International Day of Peace is “Right of Peoples to Peace.” September 21, 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of the General Assembly Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace.
September 17 Religions for Peace USA Climate Event in NYC
If you read the reports on the impact of Climate Change, which – science aside – are bewildering enough, you might have come across a couple of repeated points. Let’s try and boil some of them down to plain language:
A Mid-Summer Update: Religions for Peace USA Highlights
Gearing Up to Fight Climate Change with Fletcher Harper
Connectivity – The Missing Link in Climate Change Activism
Waking Up to the Reality of Climate Chaos
Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change
Video Resources for Religious Climate Activists
Discerning a Climate Calling
Climate Change Divestment Campaign Spreads to America’s Churches
Pachamama – Renewing Our Love Affair with Mother Earth
Around 1995 an intact and healthy aboriginal community’s pristine Amazonian environment was threatened by development companies looking for oil, minerals, and other resources. The Achuar people of Ecuador are a “dream culture”; their leaders began to perceive in their visions that they needed to connect with like-minded spirits among people of the very same developed world which was threatening them.
Five Interfaith Resources to Make 2013 a Green Year!
Happy New Year! While everyone is still thinking about New Year’s resolutions, why not consider making 2013 the year you reduced your carbon footprint and helped the community at large by planting a sustainable vegetable garden.
Linking Energy Conservation and Faith Communities
Looking out over the audience, I saw that the room was filled with every seat taken and a number of participants standing along the edges. It was a gathering sponsored by the White House office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, attended by more than 150 representatives of widely diverse faith groups and congregations from across the country. Their common interest? Energy savings. A dollar saved [President Obama establishing the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Photo: White House] through energy conservation is a dollar that can be redirected toward more worthwhile ends – of which the various faiths have many.
The Spiritual Journey of a Climate Activist
For 44 years I have been a progressive activist and organizer, and for the last nine, a climate activist. Over these years I’ve always known that my upbringing in a family that took seriously the teachings and life example of Jesus of Nazareth had a lot to do with why I chose this course. Recently the importance of that spiritual grounding resurfaced as I’ve interacted regularly with people of various faiths within the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate (IMAC), a group I helped found about a year ago.
Interfaith Call to Action on Climate Change
The Interfaith Moral Action on Climate Change is a collaborative interfaith political action initiative to wake up politicians in the United States and begin taking responsibility for the disaster of climate change. You can endorse the call at IMACC’s website.
Thich Nhat Hanh: In 100 Years There May Be No More Humans on Planet Earth
The acclaimed Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh talks to the Ecologist about the loss of biodiversity and why human vulnerability is not something we should despair about
Declaration of Indigenous Peoples at Durban Climate Change Talks
Dear Friends,
Greetings of peace and blessing from URI Africa.
Indigenous people participating in the Conference of Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban , South Africa from November 28 to December 9, 2011 have released the following Declaration demanding that their rights be respected, protected and fulfilled.
In peace,
Mussie Hailu