Founders Day (Zoom Webinar)

Climate Justice, Racial Justice, and Divestment: The Call of the Church 

In celebration of PLTS new Center for Climate Justice and Faith, and success completion of the 3-year Green-Justice Seminary Certification process we are pleased to welcome Bill McKibben as our Founders' Day speaker to address the theme "Climate Justice, Racial Justice and Divestment: The Call of the Church". 

Our moment in time is pivotal. Movements around the globe are aligning for powerful action toward climate, justice, holding racial justice at the heart of the struggle to protect Earth's fragile climate. Bill McKibben is recognized around the globe as a foremost leader in that struggle. His address will draw the links between racial, climate well-being, divestment/reinvestment, and the call of the church.

About the Speaker 

Bill McKibben is a founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org and the Schumann Distinguished Professor in Residence at Middlebury College in Vermont. He was a 2014 recipient of the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the 'alternative Nobel,' and the Gandhi Peace Award. He has written over a dozen books about the environment, including, The End of Nature, published 30 years ago, and his most recent, Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? His book, The End of Nature is about the climate change and has appeared in 24 languages. He has organized twenty thousand rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement. The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was winner of the Thomas Merton Prize, and holds honorary degree from 18 colleges and universities. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the worlds' 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe said he was "probably America's most important environmentalist". 

Preacher 

Rev. Dr. Melanie Harris professor of Religion and Ethics at Texas Christian University. She teaches in the areas of African American religion, environmental ethics, social justice, interfaith dialogue and womanist ethics. Rev. Dr. Melanie Harris lectures and conducts leadership and empowerment workshops throughout the country for faith based and non-profit organizations. Rev. Dr. Melanie Harris is also a professional performing artist and ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. Dr.Melanie Harris is founding Director of African American and Africana Studies and Full Professor of Religion and Ethics at TCU. She recently served as Visiting Professor of Global Ethical Leadership and Environmental Studies at the University of Denver where she also served as an American Council of Education Fellow at DU in 2017-2018. A graduate of the Harvard Leadership Program. Her scholarship critically examines intersections between race, religion, gender and environmental ethics. She is the author of many scholarly articles and books including Gift of Virtue: Alice Walker and Womanist Ethics (Palgrave), Ecowomanism: Earth Honoring Faiths (Orbis) and co-editor of Faith, Feminism and Scholarship: The Next Generation (Palgrave) as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters. 

Schedule of Events

• 9:00 am- Welcome and Distinguished Alum Awards

• 9:20 am-  Green-Justice Seminary, and Center for Climate Justice and Faith 

• 9:50 am- Break

• 10:05 am-  Lecture with Q&A 

• 11:05 am- Worship 

Bulletin- Microsoft 

Bulletin- PDF

Questions? Please contact Khushali Sharma with questions at khushalisharma@plts.edu or (510) 559-2732 

Registration

This event is free and open to the public. If you are able, please make a gift to the PLTS Seminary Fund to support our events and educational programs. 

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