Greetings of love and peace.
 
I have just returned from two and a half days in New York City where I was privileged to participate in activities organized by our UN representative, Monica Willard, and the URI UN CC, including the leadership of former Global Council Trustee, Deborah Moldow; as well as participate in a Call to Action conference and gala dinner honoring the 50th anniversary of the Temple of Understanding, whose late founder Juliet Hollister, UN Representative Sister Joan Kirby and Executive Director Allison Van Dyke were all valued partners in URI’s chartering process.
 
Monica, Deborah and I met at the UN and spent about 20 minutes together in the beautiful meditation room, a small space that provides a spiritual anchor for the enormous UN complex. Afterwards, we had the privilege of sharing lunch with Ambassador Anwarul K, Chowdhury, Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations. Ambassador Chowdhury was instrumental in establishing the Decade for a Culture of Peace, which is reaching its formal conclusion, over much initial opposition.
 
Also, ten years ago, Ambassador Chowdhury was instrumental in having the UN Security Council pass Resolution 1325, which “marked the first time the Security Council addressed the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women; recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions women make to conflict prevention, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peace-building. It also stressed the importance of women’s equal and full participation as active agents in peace and security.”
 
Over lunch, we talked about how important it is to continue the efforts begun by these two historic efforts, recognizing how consonant both are with URI Charter. Indeed, URI has been a partner organization in the Decade for a Culture of Peace.
 
After lunch, the four of us joined Bishop and Mary Swing and several activists in the UN NGO community in a round table hosted by the URI UN CC with a particular focus on the environment and nuclear disarmament. After an opening prayer and introductions, Bishop Swing shared with the group about some key URI efforts in both these areas.
 
We then heard presentations from several other people. Two remain hauntingly vivid. Lynn Perry spoke about the devastating health and environmental consequences of the United States’ use of depleted Uranium in weapons in Iraq. I hope to have a summary of Lynn’s presentation to share with you in the near future.
 
Following Lynn, Julia Walsh spoke about the potential threat to the drinking water of 15 million people in one part of the USA and potentially many more worldwide and the disastrous environmental consequences posed by the controversial practice called hydrofracking (short for hydrological fracturing). Hydrofracking uses enormous amounts of water and a toxic mix of chemicals in an attempt to mine natural gas from shale deposits deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Those chemicals already have been shown to migrate from great depth to contaminate essential water supplies. Julia is involved in political advocacy work to stop businesses from moving forward with this practice.
 
The theme of profound environmental challenge continued the next day during the Call to Action consultation convened by the Temple of Understanding. Bishop Swing and I were two of more than fifty “Interfaith Visionaries” had gathered from around the world to be honored and to explore the intersection of ecology and religion. The consultation was enriched by the wisdom of twenty Environmental Advisors, including Cynthia Sampson, who anchors the Environmental Satellite of URI’s President’s Council.
 
The day began with a keynote address by Van Jones, author of The Green-Collar Economy and former advisor to President Obama on green jobs. Mr. Jones spoke about the challenge of being able to hold both hope and heartbreak at this moment when we need a spiritually mature activism, benefiting from the highest science and the deepest prayer (which accesses a wisdom deeper than science) to grow an ecology economy which is morally, ecologically and economically right.
 
He spoke of the importance of tapping the genius and wisdom of all people to create a reverence-based politics to create a reverence based economy for the children of all species to fight pollution and poverty at the same time.
 
In closing, he offered three practices he feels are critical: 1) Loving our neighbor; standing in solidarity with all; 2) Recognizing that the children of all species, including human children, are precious; 3) Believing that miracles are still possible.
 
The rest of the day was spent in a sequence of small group dialogues, organized in a World Café model, focused by three key questions that we worked on sequentially:
 

1. How are you uniquely positioned and poised to help share the transformational potential of this intersection of ecology and religion? What is the translation (enactment) of our moral grounding that is being called upon?
2. What will it take for you to act even more intentionally and courageously to make a difference now and in the long term?  …within your own organizations?....in collaboration across faith practices?....in partnership and unison with other disciplines such as environmentalist, scientists, economists, government?
3. What is emerging from this conversation? What are key take-a-ways, so far? What are the implications and possibilities for us individually and collectively?

The conversations I shared in were characterized by deep commitment, wide-ranging expertise and an almost overwhelming sense of the fierce urgency of this moment in our history if we are to avoid an environmental cataclysm and create a positive future for all members of the Earth community. In one haunting comment a person compared humanity’s current level of consciousness and action in relation to an impending environmental cataclysm to that of a person with worsening heart disease. A doctor told me, he said, that most people only wake up and do something after their first heart attack. Are we being called to prepare our communities for that first heart attack while also offering hope?
 
I wish I could say there was an extraordinary breakthrough at this consultation, but I can’t. I do believe that everyone left with new potential partnerships to be explored, a greater sense of the urgency of the moment, the remarkable, talented, committed people who are at work in this area, and of the delicate balance of hope and fear that challenges us to take meaningful action. As the organizers of the consultation process all the input they received, I look forward to receiving more information I can share with you.
 
The day ended with a gala dinner celebrating the Temple of Understanding’s 50th Anniversary, the Interfaith Visionaries and four recipients of the annual Juliet Hollister Awards – HRH Prince El-Hassan bin Talal; His All Holiness, Bartholomew, Archbishop and Ecumenical Patriarch; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Karen Armstrong. Only Ms. Armstrong was there to receive her award in person.
 
For all the dignitaries and luminaries present, the high point of the evening for me came from the young people whose different roles were woven through the gala. Each one spoke with insight, energy and commitment that inspired and challenged me; that made me want to try harder.
 
In particular, I was captivated by the two remarkable young women of Climbing Poe Tree: “With roots in Haiti and Columbia, Aliza and Naima reside in Brooklyn and track footprints across the country and globe on a mission to overcome destruction with creativity.” Their poem, Being Human captured the fragility and urgency of this moment, as well as the necessity to keep hope alive and to act for life and transformation – I wonder if the wind just wants to sit / still sometimes / and watch the world pass by….If rivers ever stop / and think of turning back.
 
May we take our guidance from the wind and the rivers, who keep on; and from our youth, who have an endless capacity to inspire and challenge us to offer our best in service to this glorious and wounded world.
 
The Rev Canon Charles P. Gibbs
Executive Director
The United Religions Initiative

Greetings of love and peace.
 
I have just returned from two and a half days in New York City where I was privileged to participate in activities organized by our UN representative, Monica Willard, and the URI UN CC, including the leadership of former Global Council Trustee, Deborah Moldow; as well as participate in a Call to Action conference and gala dinner honoring the 50th anniversary of the Temple of Understanding, whose late founder Juliet Hollister, UN Representative Sister Joan Kirby and Executive Director Allison Van Dyke were all valued partners in URI’s chartering process.
 
Monica, Deborah and I met at the UN and spent about 20 minutes together in the beautiful meditation room, a small space that provides a spiritual anchor for the enormous UN complex. Afterwards, we had the privilege of sharing lunch with Ambassador Anwarul K, Chowdhury, Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations. Ambassador Chowdhury was instrumental in establishing the Decade for a Culture of Peace, which is reaching its formal conclusion, over much initial opposition.
 
Also, ten years ago, Ambassador Chowdhury was instrumental in having the UN Security Council pass Resolution 1325, which “marked the first time the Security Council addressed the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women; recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions women make to conflict prevention, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peace-building. It also stressed the importance of women’s equal and full participation as active agents in peace and security.”
 
Over lunch, we talked about how important it is to continue the efforts begun by these two historic efforts, recognizing how consonant both are with URI Charter. Indeed, URI has been a partner organization in the Decade for a Culture of Peace.
 
After lunch, the four of us joined Bishop and Mary Swing and several activists in the UN NGO community in a round table hosted by the URI UN CC with a particular focus on the environment and nuclear disarmament. After an opening prayer and introductions, Bishop Swing shared with the group about some key URI efforts in both these areas.
 
We then heard presentations from several other people. Two remain hauntingly vivid. Lynn Perry spoke about the devastating health and environmental consequences of the United States’ use of depleted Uranium in weapons in Iraq. I hope to have a summary of Lynn’s presentation to share with you in the near future.
 
Following Lynn, Julia Walsh spoke about the potential threat to the drinking water of 15 million people in one part of the USA and potentially many more worldwide and the disastrous environmental consequences posed by the controversial practice called hydrofracking (short for hydrological fracturing). Hydrofracking uses enormous amounts of water and a toxic mix of chemicals in an attempt to mine natural gas from shale deposits deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Those chemicals already have been shown to migrate from great depth to contaminate essential water supplies. Julia is involved in political advocacy work to stop businesses from moving forward with this practice.
 
The theme of profound environmental challenge continued the next day during the Call to Action consultation convened by the Temple of Understanding. Bishop Swing and I were two of more than fifty “Interfaith Visionaries” had gathered from around the world to be honored and to explore the intersection of ecology and religion. The consultation was enriched by the wisdom of twenty Environmental Advisors, including Cynthia Sampson, who anchors the Environmental Satellite of URI’s President’s Council.
 
The day began with a keynote address by Van Jones, author of The Green-Collar Economy and former advisor to President Obama on green jobs. Mr. Jones spoke about the challenge of being able to hold both hope and heartbreak at this moment when we need a spiritually mature activism, benefiting from the highest science and the deepest prayer (which accesses a wisdom deeper than science) to grow an ecology economy which is morally, ecologically and economically right.
 
He spoke of the importance of tapping the genius and wisdom of all people to create a reverence-based politics to create a reverence based economy for the children of all species to fight pollution and poverty at the same time.
 
In closing, he offered three practices he feels are critical: 1) Loving our neighbor; standing in solidarity with all; 2) Recognizing that the children of all species, including human children, are precious; 3) Believing that miracles are still possible.
 
The rest of the day was spent in a sequence of small group dialogues, organized in a World Café model, focused by three key questions that we worked on sequentially:
 

1. How are you uniquely positioned and poised to help share the transformational potential of this intersection of ecology and religion? What is the translation (enactment) of our moral grounding that is being called upon?
2. What will it take for you to act even more intentionally and courageously to make a difference now and in the long term?  …within your own organizations?....in collaboration across faith practices?....in partnership and unison with other disciplines such as environmentalist, scientists, economists, government?
3. What is emerging from this conversation? What are key take-a-ways, so far? What are the implications and possibilities for us individually and collectively?

The conversations I shared in were characterized by deep commitment, wide-ranging expertise and an almost overwhelming sense of the fierce urgency of this moment in our history if we are to avoid an environmental cataclysm and create a positive future for all members of the Earth community. In one haunting comment a person compared humanity’s current level of consciousness and action in relation to an impending environmental cataclysm to that of a person with worsening heart disease. A doctor told me, he said, that most people only wake up and do something after their first heart attack. Are we being called to prepare our communities for that first heart attack while also offering hope?
 
I wish I could say there was an extraordinary breakthrough at this consultation, but I can’t. I do believe that everyone left with new potential partnerships to be explored, a greater sense of the urgency of the moment, the remarkable, talented, committed people who are at work in this area, and of the delicate balance of hope and fear that challenges us to take meaningful action. As the organizers of the consultation process all the input they received, I look forward to receiving more information I can share with you.
 
The day ended with a gala dinner celebrating the Temple of Understanding’s 50th Anniversary, the Interfaith Visionaries and four recipients of the annual Juliet Hollister Awards – HRH Prince El-Hassan bin Talal; His All Holiness, Bartholomew, Archbishop and Ecumenical Patriarch; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Karen Armstrong. Only Ms. Armstrong was there to receive her award in person.
 
For all the dignitaries and luminaries present, the high point of the evening for me came from the young people whose different roles were woven through the gala. Each one spoke with insight, energy and commitment that inspired and challenged me; that made me want to try harder.
 
In particular, I was captivated by the two remarkable young women of Climbing Poe Tree: “With roots in Haiti and Columbia, Aliza and Naima reside in Brooklyn and track footprints across the country and globe on a mission to overcome destruction with creativity.” Their poem, Being Human captured the fragility and urgency of this moment, as well as the necessity to keep hope alive and to act for life and transformation – I wonder if the wind just wants to sit / still sometimes / and watch the world pass by….If rivers ever stop / and think of turning back.
 
May we take our guidance from the wind and the rivers, who keep on; and from our youth, who have an endless capacity to inspire and challenge us to offer our best in service to this glorious and wounded world.
 
The Rev Canon Charles P. Gibbs
Executive Director
The United Religions Initiative