ICEJ is continuing to host the Advance Earth Justice online series which invites speakers to discuss a variety environmental issues with our community. These events are free and all are welcome. If you have a particular topic you’re interested in, please let us know!
The Kumeyaay Vision of Earth Justice: An Interview with Bobby Wallace and Sarahmarie Llyemewaa Redfern of the Barona Band of Mission Indians
After years of ignoring indigenous peoples, the U.S. environmental movement has embraced them as partners in protecting the integrity of ecosystems and as teachers in modeling a truly sustainable lifestyle. What are some of the traditions of earth care that the Kumeyaay lived out for thousands of years here in San Diego County, and how did those practices grow out of their religion? Former ICEJ Chairperson, Rev. Dr. Beth Johnson, interviews several members of the Kumeyaay nation including eco-justice activists Bobby Wallace and Sarahmarie Llyemewaa Redfern. Mr. Wallace and Ms. Redfern reflect on their life journeys as activists, direct us toward local eco-justice issues, and address what true justice from the U.S. might look like for the Indigenous.
Note: The El Monte Valley sand mine that is mentioned in both videos has not yet been restarted but we fear that it will be any day now. ICEJ is committed to opposing it if and when it is restarted.
Short Video (6 min)
Full Interview (1.5 hrs)
Spring 2023 Speaker: Investing in Our Values
On May 21st, 2023 as part of our ongoing Advancing Earth Justice speaker series, Michael Richardson, co-founder of Rivers & Mountains GreenFaith and lifelong activist addressed how we can move finances from funding fossil fuel extraction, production and distribution… and instead direct bank deposits, insurance premiums, and investment portfolios to fund local businesses and farms, affordable housing, and development of renewable clean energy. His activism is driven by the moral imperative to stop funding climate chaos–the same moral imperative that led ICEJ to pressure Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo to cease loans to the fossil fuel industry.
Fall 2022 Speaker: Be Not Afraid: A Buddhist Meditation and Talk
Join two of Thich Nhat Hanh’s senior dharma teachers, Dr. Larry Ward and Dr. Peggy Rowe Ward of the Lotus Institute for their talk entitled, Be Not Afraid for our 3rd Advancing Earth Justice Speaker Series. Larry is an ordained Christian minister and his doctorate studies were in Buddhism and neuroscience. Peggy focuses on spiritual direction and trauma resiliency. Be Not Afraid is the title of the book that Larry is writing as a follow up to America’s Racial Karma. Peggy and Larry also co-authored Love’s Garden.
Spring 2022 Speaker: From Paris to Glasgow -The Climate Story
Many of us feel let down by the climate policy results coming out of the UN’s Conference of the Parties (COP) 26 meetings but some progress was made. In order to understand what further progress we might expect in the coming years and what we will need to do to make that happen, a look at developments from Paris (2015) to Glasgow (2021) is in order. Rev. Peggy Clarke was at both conferences as a Unitarian Universalist delegate and, in our 2nd Advancing Earth Justice talk, she shares her observations and insights with us. Rev. Clarke is the Senior Minister at the Community Church of New York in NYC and a longtime advocate for climate, food, and border justice.
Spring 2021 Speaker: Industrial Farming and Pandemic Risk Today
This online talk discussed the link between our industrial animal agriculture and the creation of pandemics, and how we will need to change direction to create a better future. This was the first of ICEJ’s Advancing Earth Justice Speaker Series, and it was presented alongside SD350’s Food and Soil Committee. This event featured Dr. Aaron Gross, a professor in the Theology and Religious Studies Department at University of San Diego, and Founder of the food and farming advocacy group, Farm Forward.