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!

October 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.

February 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.

March 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.