ECO JUSTICE FOR ALL DIALOGUES
Environmental Theologians Commentary on COP26

Dialogue with Imam Saffet Catovic, Rev. Henrik Grape, Dr. Erin Lothes

Internationally renowned environmental theologians, Imam Saffet Catovic, newly appointed Head of the Washington DC. Office of the Islamic Society of North America & Rev. Henrik Grape, Senior Advisor on Care for Creation, Sustainability, and Climate Justice with the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland & Dr. Erin Lothes, Senior Manager, Laudato Si’ Animators Program with the Laudato Si’ Movement will dialogue about the recent COP26 meeting held in Glasgow.
Thursday, Nov 18, 2021 3:00-4:00pm Online
Join us for this lively online discussion with Q&A
Imam Saffet Abid Catovic has been a long-time US Muslim Community Organizer/Activist and Environmental Leader. He is a core member of the Parliament of the World’s Religions Climate Action Task Force and serves on their Board of Trustees as Treasurer. He is also a member of the Statewide Clergy Council of Faith in New Jersey, a Faith in Action affiliate, and also serves on their Board of Directors. Saffet is a GreenFaith Muslim Fellow and serves as their Senior Muslim advisor. He is: the Co-founder and Chair of the Green Muslims of New Jersey (GMNJ); a founding board member of the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) Green Initiatives; and has been recently appointed to head ISNA’s Office for Inter-faith and Community Alliances (IOICA) in Washington DC. Saffet was a consultant to the Drafting Committee of the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change (2015); a founding member of the Global Muslim Climate Network (GMCN); a Co-drafter of the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) “Fatwa” Religious ruling on fossil fuel divestment and currently a member of the scholars Drafting team of “Al-Mizan – Covenant for the Earth” organized under the auspices of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) – Faiths for Earth and the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) . Saffet has been recently appointed to the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA)  Executive Board. Imam Saffet Abid Catovic serves as the Muslim Chaplain at Drew University where he also received his MA in Religion and Society, specializing in Religion and the Environment and is currently working on his Doctorate of Ministry.
Rev. Henrik Grape is Senior Advisor on Care for Creation, Sustainability, and Climate Justice for the World Council of Churches (WCC). In this article, “Can we end our societal addiction to fossil fuels?” Rev. Henrik Grape reflects on the recently released report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Grape is a member of the WCC delegation that will attend the UN climate talks (COP26) in Glasgow. Link to article. Rev. Henrik Grape. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC
Dr. Erin Lothes is a theologian at Saint Elizabeth University, Morristown, NJ., a researcher in the field of energy ethics, and a scholar of the faith-based environmental movement. Currently on leave, Erin is now Sr. Manager, Laudato Si’ Animators Program with the Laudato Si’ Movement (formerly the Global Catholic Climate Movement). Dr. Lothes is author of Inspired Sustainability: Planting Seeds for Action (Orbis 2016) and The Paradox of Christian Sacrifice: The Loss of Self, the Gift of Self (Herder and Herder, 2007).  She is lead author of the co-authored “Catholic Moral Traditions and Energy Ethics for the Twenty-First Century,” Journal of Moral Theology  and author of other energy ethics essays and articles on faith-based environmentalism. She is a graduate of Fordham University, Boston College, and Princeton University, and served as an Earth Institute Fellow at Columbia University.
About the Temple of Understanding ECO JUSTICE FOR ALL Dialogues:
Special intimate discussions about the climate emergency with international ChangeMakers
ECO JUSTICE FOR ALL interviews (see our Youtube archive here) and dialogues are ongoing programs produced by the Temple of Understanding, incorporating our outreach in the area of environmental awareness and advocacy. We present a diverse range of perspectives, from scientific to spiritual views, on the climate emergency and offer a variety of solutions that we can all do easily and effectively in our everyday lives. World religious and spiritual visionaries, Indigenous leaders, scientists and social scientists, environmental activists, artists, musicians and writers, youth and elders, local and global people, all come together to address the urgency of the climate crisis through these ongoing interviews and dialogues. Registration is FREE. Donations are welcome!
ECO JUSTICE FOR ALL DIALOGUES REPLAY
“What the world religious leaders are doing about the climate crisis”
Dialogue with Rev. Fletcher Harper & Rev. Brian McGurk
Rev. Fletcher Harper and Rev. Brian McGurk dialogue about the recent “Faith and Science Toward COP26” meeting convened by Pope Francis with 40 world religious leaders and also comment on the Interfaith program called “Faith Plans for People and the Planet” which aims at leveraging religious groups’ assets and investments. This event was recorded on Oct 28, 2021 1-2pm
Faiths Press for New Ecocide Law - Nov 8, 10am EST
Hear Rev Henrik Grape, Rev Fletcher Harper and more speak in support of the proposed international Ecocide Law, a tool to stop those destroying our planet. 
GreenFaith lifts up Women Faith Leaders from the Global South - Nov 9, 8am EST
GreenFaith lifts up Women Faith Leaders from the Global South - Nov 9, 8am EST
Our GreenFaith colleagues are offering the following, Tuesday Nov 9th, 1pm Glasgow, 8am NYC:
Temple of Understanding signs on to Demand Real Solutions, Not Net Zero
"Glasgow – As global climate talks get underway in Scotland, 725 groups from nearly 100 countries are calling on governments and leading international institutions to end reliance on hollow “Net Zero” promises and commit to specific, ambitious, and immediate actions to bring emissions and fossil fuel production down to Real Zero, consistent with science and equity."
Don't Choose Extinction
Hear the wisdom of a dinosaur, delivered to the United Nations and all of us, in this brief video.
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Find your local or regional organization, or enjoy ours. The North East Organic Farming Association of Massachusetts has resources online about crucial actions and issues.
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