Program

The progam includes two distinct parts:

1. Retreat
2. Evening Round Tables

1. Retreat

Friday April 16, 2010

What have we learned? What are we prepared to do?

7:30 am Registration & Breakfast Snack
8:30 am Welcome, Introductions and Reflection Question: What was the turning point that put you on the path of being deeply concerned about protecting the environment?


8:45 am Creation Care: Facing Climate Change and Environmental Decline as Spiritual and Moral Issues

• Loren Wilkinson, Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies/Philosophy, Regent College; author
• Reflection Question: What part of nature or Creation do you want to protect the most?

9:35 am  Impacts of climate change & ocean change: Where are we now? What do we need to do?

• Danny Harvey, professor, Geography/Urban Studies, University of Toronto; IPCC author
• Alanna Mitchell, environmental author and journalist

10:15 am Coffee Break


10:35 am The political landscape in Canada: Where are we now as Canadians on climate change?

• Claire Demerse, Associate Director, Climate Change Unit, the Pembina Institute
• Graham Saul, Executive Director, Climate Action Network- Canada
• Anne Mitchell, Former Executive Director, Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, and Clerk of the Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
• Reflection Question:What will it be like for you to know that the part of nature or God's Creation that you wish to protect is lost forever because of human activity?

Graham Saul expresses his ideas on climate change as a moral issue at a video conference in Calgary (with a link in Edmonton) in October 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11:25 am  Lunch


12:25 pm  Climate Change, Global Climate Justice, & the Impact on the World's Poor

• Stan Chu Ilo, Climate Witness, Nigeria; PhD student, University of Toronto
• Willard Metzger, Director-Church Relation, World Vision Canada

1:05 pm Creation Care: Effectively Engaging the Churches & Society

• Loren Wilkinson, Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies/Philosophy, Regent College; author
• Reflection Question

1:50 pm Coffee Break


2:10 pm Climate Change & Environmental Decline as Moral Issues

• Dennis O'Hara, Director, the Elliot Allen Institute for Ecology and Theology, assistant professor, St Michael's College
• Jim Profit, Executive Director, Ignatius Jesuit Centre of Guelph; founder, the Ecology Project

2:50 pm Creation Care & Climate Justice: What have we learned? What are we prepared to do? Where do we go now?

• Mardi Tindal, Moderator, United Church of Canada
• The Hon. David MacDonald, former Cabinet Minister & MP; member of World Council of Churches delegation to Copenhagen
• Maryam Adrangi, Canadian Youth Delegation
• Reflection Questions: What is the most striking thing you have learned today? What difference does this make to what you are prepared to do to protect God's Creation or the Earth?

Saturday April 17, 2010

How do we engage effectively?

7:30 am Registration & Breakfast Snack

8:30 am Welcome, Introductions and Reflection Question


8:45am Biblical Basis for Creation Care

• Mishka Lysack, assistant professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary

9:15am Effective Engagement with Churches & Religious Communities

• Joy Kennedy, Program Coordinator, Poverty, Wealth & Ecological Justice, The United Church of Canada; member of the World Council of Churches Climate Change Working Group
• Sara Stratton, Education & Campaigns Program Coordinator, KAIROS
• Linda Gregg, adjunct faculty, Toronto School of Theology; Coordinator, Earth Literacy & Earth Spirituality program
• Reflection Question

10:05 am Coffee Break


10:25 am Effective Engagement with Evangelical Communities

• Don Hutchinson, Vice President, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada; Director, Centre for Faith and Public Life, General Legal Counsel
• Darren Brouwer, professor, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Redeemer University, Hamilton; member, Conservation Science Advisory Committee, A Rocha Canada

11:05 am Effective Engagement with Multi-Faith Communities

• Ted Reeve, Co-Founder, Faith & the Common Good; Office of the Moderator, The United Church of Canada
• Tasneem Virani, (Ismaili-Muslim); graduate student, environmental science, University of Guelph
• Duncan Hanks,  (Baha'i), Executive Director, Canadian Baha'i International Development Agency
• Sensei Taigen Henderson, (Buddhist) Toronto Zen Centre
• Reflection Question

12:00 pm Lunch


12:50 pm Politics, Advocacy, & Effective Engagement

• The Hon. David MacDonald, former Cabinet Minister & MP; member of World Council of Churches delegation to Copenhagen
• Gideon Forman, Executive Director, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)

1:25 pm The Abolition of Slavery Movement in England & Civil Rights Movement: A Model for the Creation Care and Climate Justice Movement

• Don Hutchinson, Vice President, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada; Director, Centre for Faith and Public Life, General Legal Counsel
• Graham Saul, Executive Director, Climate Action Network-Canada
• Mishka Lysack, assistant professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary
• Reflection Question

2:15 pm Coffee


2:35 pm Media, Communication & Engagement

• Stephen Scharper, professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto; journalist and columnist; also Center for the Environment & Center for the Study of Religion

3:00 pm What are the next steps?


4:00 pm Closing

 

2. Evening Round Tables

Climate Change and Environmental Decline as Moral Issues:

What are we prepared to do?

What do we in faith communities have to offer?

Wed. April 14, 2010 - 7 pm
Trinity St Paul United Church
427 Bloor Street West, Toronto (near Spadina subway station)
Free - everyone is welcome

• Climate & Ocean Change: a Crisis of Conscience for All Canadians - Mardi Tindal, Moderator, United Church of Canada
• Building a Social Movement: Lessons from the Anti-Slavery Movement in Britain - Mishka Lysack, assistant professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary

 

Creation Care:

Why should Christians care for the Environment?

Thursday, April 15, 2010 - 7 pm
Knox Presbyterian Church
630 Spadina Ave. Toronto
Free - everyone is welcome

• Loren Wilkinson, Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies/Philosophy, Regent College; author
• Dave Toycen, President & CEO, World Vision-Canada
• Biblical Basis for Creation Care: Mishka Lysack, assistant professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary
• Moderator: Don Hutchinson, Vice President, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
  
  

  

  Dave Toycen, President and CEO of World Vision Canada, at a public forum in Calgary on climate change as a moral issue