CCME : A Center for Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice at LSTC
The fruit of the righteous will be peace. Isaiah 32:17
Pursue justice, to do so is to be conscious of God. Surah 5:8
Shared Earth: An Interfaith Conference on the Environment
Conference Leaders
- Saleem H. Ali, associate professor of environmental studies, Rubenstein School of Natural Resources, University of Vermont
- Ellen Bernstein, independent scholar, activist, teacher, and founder of Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth
- Philip Clayton, professor of religion and philosophy at Claremont Graduate University and Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology
- Sevan Ross, director of the Chicago Zen Center
Ven. Sevan Ross, director of the Chicago Zen Center, was ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest in 1992. Sensei Ross has been involved with the Adirondack Action Coalition on land management and wildlife management issues. He is a student of Philip Kapleau, who relates environmental issues to Buddhism.Sensei Ross has written numerous articles including, “Singularity in Ceremony,” “It Smells Like This: Illness,” “Vegetarianism and Zen Practice,” “Ordination Within The Contemporary American Zen Context,” “Christian Zen, Muslim Zen, Jewish Zen: Getting to Interfaith Experience,” “That Good ol’ Affective Context,” “To Avoid Evil,” “Crows and the Cheapened World,” “How it is that we have come to Invade Iraq” and “The Paramita of Losing.”
Download complete conference schedule, with speaker profiles and workshops (PDF).
Dr. Saleem H. Ali is associate professor of environmental studies at the Rubenstein School of Natural Resources, University of Vermont. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, but grew up in Lahore, Pakistan until his college years. Ali has a Masters degree in environmental studies from Yale University and went on to complete his doctorate in environmental planning from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
His field experience spans six continents and teaching experience covers a broad range of courses from environmental chemistry to environmental conflict resolution. In 2007 he was chosen by Seed magazine as one of eight “Revolutionary Minds in the World” in recognition of his work on using environmental factors as a means of conflict resolution. His books include Treasures of the Earth: Need Greed and a Sustainable Future (Yale University Press, October, 2009) and The Environment and Indigenous Development Conflicts (University of Arizona Press, 2004).
Ellen Bernstein is an independent scholar who founded the first national Jewish environmental organization, Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth in 1988. She teaches widely on Judaism and Ecology and has written numerous articles and books on the topic including two highly acclaimed books: The Splendor of Creation and Ecology and the Jewish Spirit. She did her undergraduate work at one of the first environmental studies programs in the country at UC Berkeley in the 70’s and holds an MA in Jewish Studies from Hebrew College. Currently she is in rabbinical school and chairs Adamah, the Jewish Farm Center, a Jewish educational organic farm in Connecticut.
Dr. Philip Clayton has a triple appointment at Claremont Graduate University, in the department of religion, the department of philosophy, and as Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology. He received a joint doctorate in philosophy and religious studies from Yale University for work on the theory of explanation in physics, social science, and religion and has been a leading advocate for the internationalization of the science-religion dialogue.
Clayton is recognized as one of the leading figures in this field internationally. As senior advisor and judge for the “Global Perspectives in Science and Spirituality” program, both funded by the Templeton Foundation, he has been at the forefront of efforts to expand scholarship in this field into the non-Western traditions. He has published 17 books and over 120 articles in the field. He is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science. His latest book, Adventures in the Spirit, on emergence and panentheism, has just been published by Fortress Press.
To learn more about the conference, please follow the links on the left.