Past Events
Spanish-language Plenary Series on Climate Justice and Faith
Wednesday, April 3rd 2024
Faculty of the Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith are opening up their monthly plenary sessions to the public. This plenary series will feature theologians from throughout Latin America discussing a variety of topics on the connections of climate justice and faith. These events will be in Spanish and will be livestreamed to the Center for Climate Justice and Faith’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@PLTSclimatejusticeandfaith
Dr. Karla Koll is a Profesor of History, Mission, and Religion at the Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana, in San Jose, Costa Rica. Dr. Koll, a member of Pueblo Presbytery in southeastern Colorado, began her ministry as a theological educator in Latin America in 1986 when she accepted a PC(USA) mission appointment to Nicaragua. After eight years in Nicaragua, she returned to the United States to pursue doctoral studies in mission, ecumenics and the history of religions at Princeton Theological Seminary. As she was completing her doctorate, she re-entered mission service in 2000 and began work in Guatemala, where she served until June of 2013. Karla holds an undergraduate degree from St. Olaf College in Minnesota and two master’s degrees from Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Regenerating Life: Watch the Film and Meet the Filmmaker
Tuesday, February 27th at 5:00pm PT / 8:00pm ET
Lutherans Restoring Creation and ELCA World Hunger are eager to share a film congregations can use to start discussions and inspire community-based-solutions to grow climate justice: “Regenerating Life: How to cool the planet, feed the world, and live happily ever after” offers attainable solutions to the climate crisis through an ecological approach that unpacks the social and environmental crises confronting us. Join a discussion with the filmmaker, John Feldman on Tuesday, February 27th at 5pm PT / 8pm ET.
Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community with Prof. john a. powell
Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at 6pm PT
Prof. john a. powell is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of civil rights, civil liberties, structural racism, housing, poverty, and democracy. He is the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, a research institute that brings together scholars, community advocates, communicators, and policymakers to identify and eliminate the barriers to an inclusive, just, and sustainable society and to create transformative change toward a more equitable world.
Watch his interview with Bishop Marc Andrus, Episcopal Bishop of the California Diocese and Dr. M. Paloma Pavel, co-founder of Breakthrough Communities HERE.
Co-sponsored by:
- The Episcopal Diocese of California.
- Breakthrough Communities Project at Earth House Center in Oakland, CA Breakthroughcommunities.info.
- Center for Climate Justice and Faith at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, a graduate school of California Lutheran University and member of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community through the Power of Story
Thursday, November 16th at 6pm PT
Kim Stanley Robinson is acclaimed as our greatest living science fiction author, with 20 novels addressing how we can get to a better relationship with the Biosphere. His recent novel, The Ministry for the Future, projects how a climate-disrupted near future might unfold and how the world might respond with an empowered United Nations Minister enacting a best-case scenario for dodging the mass extinction event. Stan writes: “Until the tap runs dry it’s hard to imagine climate change as a lived experience. I try to write for when it really strikes you…the power of imagination is strong enough to change our behavior in the present…the world is a science fiction novel that we are all writing.”
He was interviewed by fellow UN COP Episcopal Church Delegates Bishop Marc Andrus, Episcopalian Bishop of the California Diocese and Dr. M. Paloma Pavel, co-founder of Breakthrough Communities.
Co-sponsored by:
- The Episcopal Diocese of California.
- Breakthrough Communities Project at Earth House Center in Oakland, CA Breakthroughcommunities.info.
- Center for Climate Justice and Faith at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, a graduate school of California Lutheran University and member of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA.
Sacred Earth: Honoring Indigenous Wisdom with Val Lopez
Tuesday, October 24th at 6pm PT
“Creator gave us a responsibility to take care of all living things…It’s our culture, it’s who we are” says Valentin (Val) Lopez, Chair of the Ahmah Mutsen Land Trust. Bishop Marc Andrus and Dr. Paloma Pavel interviewed Val Lopez on Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community on October 24th at 6pm Pacific. Listen to a recording of this webinar here.
Co-sponsored by:
- The Episcopal Diocese of California.
- Breakthrough Communities Project at Earth House Center in Oakland, CA Breakthroughcommunities.info.
- Center for Climate Justice and Faith at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, a graduate school of California Lutheran University and member of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA.
Pope Francis' October 2023 Apostolic Exhortation: Laudate Deum: A webinar on this important document for the Church and world
Tuesday, October 10th at 4:30pm PT
Presbyterians for Earth Care together with the PLTS Center for Climate Justice and Faith presents a free webinar to discuss the new papal document, Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum (“Praise God”) of Pope Francis to all people of good will on the Climate Crisis, that was released Wednesday (October 4) as a sequel to Laudato Si and to discuss its importance for churches and God’s creation. The webinar is hosted by Presbyterians for Earth Care and sponsored by Center for Climate Justice and Faith at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community through Environmental Justice, with Peggy Sheppard
Wednesday, September 13, 2023 6:00 PM pacific
Join us to honor the Season of Creation on September 13th at Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community, our video webcast series exploring the intersections of faith, ecology, justice, and spirituality. Bishop Marc Andrus and Dr. Paloma Pavel will interview Peggy Sheppard, Co-Founder and Executive Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, the first Environmental Justice organization that empowered communities of color in the fight for environmental health and justice.
Veiw a recording of the webcast here
Co-sponsored by:
- The Episcopal Diocese of California.
- Breakthrough Communities Project at Earth House Center in Oakland, CA Breakthroughcommunities.info.
- Center for Climate Justice and Faith at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, a graduate school of California Lutheran University and member of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA.
Faith Lifestyles to Beat Plastic Pollution
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June 2, 2023 8am PT
In this GTUx Live event, Dr. Iyad Abumoghli and Sarah Berg, Acting Director for the Center for Climate Justice and Faith at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, discuss the ways in which faith communities are uniquely positioned to combat the climate crisis.
PLTS Commencement 2023 Highlights
May 20, 2023 11am Pacific Time
Highlights from PLTS’ 2023 Commencement Ceremony including Address from The Rev. Dr. Donna Allen, Center for Climate Justice and Faith Video, and Sending from Dr. Ray Pickett.
Cultivating Climate Justice: Tools, Hope, Theology & Spirit
March 10-13, 2023
The Ants & The Grasshopper Film Screening and Q&A
February 6, 2023 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET
The Center for Climate Justice and Faith and Lutherans Restoring Creation hosted a screening of the film The Ants and the Grasshopper followed by a Q&A session with Director Raj Patel on February 6, 2023. More than 200 people joined the screening either in-person at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA or online. If you are interested in hosting a screening of the film please contact sarahberg@plts.edu.
Learn more at antsandgrasshopper.org
PLTS Founder's Day "The Planet You Inherit: A Re-Founding Catalyst" Keynote Speaker Larry L. Rasmussen
November 3, 2022 6pm Pacific Time
Voltaire (1694-1778) said the “three things exercise a constant influence over the minds of [humankind]: climate, governance, and religion…That is the only way of explaining the enigma of this world.” This PLTS Founder’s Day Lecture looks at each of these three – climate, governance, and religion – to ask whether today’s planetary emergency requires re-founding our way of life.
Holy Voices: Gender Inequality & Climate Displacement
Thursday, March 31, 2022 7 – 8 pm ET
Gender and climate are profoundly intertwined, and women bear the brunt of the impacts of both sudden and slow-onset climate disasters. On the final day of Women’s History Month, join an important conversation on the intersection of climate displacement, gender inequality, and forced migration.
Fireside Chat with Carl C. Anthony
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February, 2022
The Center for Climate Justice and Faith hosted a virtual fireside chat with Carl C. Anthony. A revered a social and environmental justice leader, Mr. Anthony is the founding director of Urban Habitat, one of the country’s first environmental justice organizations and the author of The Earth, the city, and the Hidden Narrative of Race.
Mohrenweiser Lecture Series: Climate Justice, Health and Wellbeing
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December 3, 2021
Dr. Manoj Kurian will discuss how climate change is threatening human health and well-being, and the ethical and moral imperative for action. The lecture also will delve into preparedness and prevention; mitigation and adaptation; and recovery from the loss and damage already sustained. The discussions will encourage reflections on how we can be accountable and take responsibility — as individuals, congregations, communities and nations.
Dr. Manoj Kurian is a medical doctor from Malaysia and the Coordinator of the WCC-Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. Following his postgraduate training in Community Health in India, he worked for seven years in church related institutions in different parts of India. From 1999, he directed the ‘Health and Healing’ programme at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva until 2012. Following this, he managed the Policy and Advocacy work of the International AIDS Society. From 2015 apart from Coordinating WCC-EAA, he also Coordinates WCC’s Section on ‘Ecological & Economic Justice’ and is the focal person responsible for Asia. He is also an Adjunct Faculty at College of Public Health, Kent State University. He is a published author, poet and artist.
This event is co-sponsored by the PLTS Mohrenweiser Endowed Lectureship and the PLTS Center for Climate Justice and Faith.
The lecture is free but registration is required. Registered participants will receive information about joining the Zoom webinar prior to the event.
SoC 2021: A home for all? Intergenerational Dialogue
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June 3, 2021
This international and intergenerational webinar introduces the 2021 Season of Creation, the annual month-long ecumenical celebration of prayer and action for creation. Together, the ecumenical family around the world unites to pray and protect God’s creation.
Faith and Frontline Call to Action: Good Trouble for Climate Justice. A Consultation on How to Address the Climate Emergency
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April 19, 2021
A virtual non-governmental side event, taking place during the week of the Leader’s Summit on Climate hosted by the Biden Administration. This event highlighted and called for the inclusion of the voices, ideas, and expertise of frontline and faith communities alongside career politicians as we collectively and collaboratively move to address and implement climate solutions. The PLTS Center for Climate Justice and Faith co-sponsored this event.
Climate Change, Gender Justice, and the Power of Art: Dance
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April 23, 2021
The Center for Climate Justice and Faith partnered with the Graduate Theological Union’s Women’s Studies in Religion and Center for the Arts and Religion departments to talk about climate justice and gender justice through the lens of the arts. San Francisco Bay Area dancer, KJ Dahlaw offered a reflection on their practices and led us in gentle movement of our own.
Sacred Earth, Sacred People Day of Action: Lutheran Wave of Prayer
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March 11, 2021
As part of the GreenFaith Sacred People, Sacred Earth Day of Action, The Center for Climate Justice and Faith partnered with the ELCA, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Lutherans Restoring Creation, and the Lutheran World Federation, organizing the Lutheran community worldwide to join together in praying for climate justice.
Climate Change, Gender Justice, and the Power of Art: Poetry
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March 8, 2021
The Center for Climate Justice and Faith partnered with the Graduate Theological Union’s Women’s Studies in Religion and Center for the Arts and Religion departments to celebrate International Women’s Day. Renowned poet and public intellectual Dr. Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs offered a reading of her own poetry, and then guided us in writing and thinking exercises of our own.
Founders’ Day Launch of the Center with Bill McKibben
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September 16, 2020
In celebration of launching the Center for Climate Justice and Faith, Bill McKibben addressed the theme, “Climate Justice, Radical Justice, and Divestment: The Call of the Church” at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary’s 2020 Founder’s Day.
