FOREST
The Florida Organization on Religion,
Environmental Science, and Technology
History
2005
March 22, 2005
Dr. Michael Soulé,
founder of the Society for Conservation Biology and co-director of the Wildlands Project.
"Nature is dying: What can we do about it?"
Although conservationists have won some battles and slowed the rate of species and habitat attrition, nature and wildness are dying -- from too many people, the unintended consequences of technology (including climate change), poverty, and the globalization of investments, production, and commerce, etc. Drawing on a range of specialties from science to spirituality, Dr. Soule addressed potential ways to respond to the crises of biodiversity loss.
Co-Sponsored by University of Florida, School for Natural Resources and Environment
In addition to this lecture, FOREST sponsored two separate guest lectures by Dr. Soule in Religion Department at the University of Florida, in the Religion, Ethics, and the Environment course, and the Radical Environmentalism class.
April 12, 2005
John Zerzan
"Green Anarchy and the Technological Revolution"
Over the past two decades John Zerzan, who hails from a working class background in Oregon and who did graduate work in history at San Francisco State and the University of Southern California, has become a leading intellectual in anarchist movements. In his presentation Zerzan reflected on the increasingly important role that religion (or spirituality) plays in mediating emerging relations between human culture and technological advance.
Fall 2005 Series on Religious Values and
Environmental Conservation
Kristina Tiedje and William Jordan III:
September 6, 2005
Kristina Tiedje
"Cultural and Spiritual Values of Nature for
Understanding Health and Healing:
The Teyomej and Other Earth Spirits in Nahua Etiology"
Sponsored by FOREST (Florida Organization on Religion Environmental Science and Technology), International Center, Religion, and Anthropology Departments.
Dr. Tiedje is an Assistant Professor in anthropology at the University of Lyon in France. As a cultural anthropologist with a specialization in environmental anthropology, Dr. Tiedje’s research and presentation focused on human-environmental interactions in Central Mexico. Working with Nahuatl, Teenek, and Xi'Oi (Pame) speakers in the Sierra Madre of the Huasteca region she has examined how capitalism, development, Christianity, and tourism impact indigenous lifeways and their religious, social, and ecological knowledge and practices.
September 12, 2005
William Jordan III
"Backing into the Fourth Dimension . . . that is,
the Dimension of Performance!”
&
“Getting Beyond Ethics: A Discussion of the Shame- and
Performance- Model of Value and Value Creation"
Called by writer Michael Pollan the “leading visionary” of the ecological restoration movement, Dr. Jordan has been developing and articulating ideas about the value of ecological restoration for more than a quarter of a century. In 1981, he founded Ecological Restoration, the first journal in this area, which he edited for 20 years. He was a founding member of the Society for Ecological Restoration International, and is currently director of the New Academy for Nature and Culture and Co-director of the Institute for Nature and Culture at DePaul University in Chicago. His book, The Sunflower Forest: Ecological Restoration and the New Communion with Nature, was published by the University of California Press in 2003.
October 4, 2005
Dr. Mark C.E. Peterson
"Safe From Science in the Tower of the Lord”
Following a brief historical exploration of the separation of science from religion following the work of Rene Descartes, Dr. Mark Peterson explored underlying cultural assumptions about ‘religion’ and ‘science’ which often demand the two be separate and distinct. According to Dr. Peterson, this oppositional understanding of science and religion leads one into a dead end zone when attempting to understand actual religious experiences. Mark Peterson is associate professor of philosophy in the University of Wisconsin system. His interests include Environmental metaphysics, Hegel, Kierkegaard, the history of science and technology, Taijiquan and Ao Denkou Jitsu.
2006
April 2006
FOREST support of Inaugural conference for the ISSRNC
During April of 2006 FOREST devoted the bulk of its energy and resources toward acting as a primary sponsor and organizing force for the inaugural conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion Nature, and Culture (ISSRNC). On the occasion of this conference, FOREST hosted the opening dinner and reception, stressing our emphasis on science, religion, and the environment, while demonstrating those synergies with the sponsorship of keynote lectures by Stephen Kellert, Carolyn Merchant, and Mark Bekoff, each of which drew a large public audience in addition to the conference participants. During the course of the conference, FOREST sponsored several panel and roundtable discussions. One panel of special note to Metanexus contained internationally renowned evolutionary theorist Michael Ruse and explored the debate over evolution and intelligent design. Another panel, co-sponsored with the Wabash Institute, explored emerging pedagogical tools for teaching religion and nature, and particularly religion and science oriented classes at the University level. FOREST made it a priority to provide full participatory access to paying local citizens, which will strengthen FOREST’s standing in the community even more.
Fall 2006
Bron Taylor and Tyler Edgar
Series on Sustainability, Religion, and International Politics:
October 5, 2006
Bron Taylor
Revisiting the Brundtland Commission:
An Open Forum on International Sustainability
Forest hosted a forum on The Oslo Sustainability Initiative an ad hoc think tank invented to assess the 1987 report by the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development, which was published as Our Common Future, and is commonly known as the Bruntland Report. The report famously coined the term “sustainable development,” and played a major role in spurring subsequent decades of international effort toward environmentally benign development. Religion Professor Bron Taylor, editor of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature and of the new, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, reported on this initiative and led a discussion about it, international sustainability politics in general, and the report they were preparing for presentation at the United Nations in May 2007. November 14, 2006
Tyler Edgar (Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign)
Global Warming, Global Justice: A Moral and Spiritual Dilemma -
What is the faith community’s role in curbing global warming?
The Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign is a coalition of religious leaders, institutions, and individuals who are working to educate individuals and congregations on both the causes and effects of Global Warming. Tyler Edgar spoke about their work to promote religious ethical responsibility in response to the climate crisis.
2007
Spring Series on Deep Ecology and
International Environmental Politics
Michael York, Fred Bender, Connie Barlow & Michael Dowd,
and John Seed:
January 27, 2007
Michael York
"Deep Ecology, Pagan Environmentalism, and International Politics"
Renowned scholar of pagan religions and author of Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion (2003), Michael York gave a lecture entitled "Deep Ecology, Pagan Environmentalism, and International Politics." Approximately 40 students and some wider Gainesville community members attended his talk in which he contextualized paganism as a religion within the larger world religion milieu, drawing on his training as a sociologist of religion.
February 26, 2007
Fred Bender, author of Culture of Extinction: Toward a Philosophy of Deep Ecology
"Advancing the Deep Ecology/Ecofeminism Debate:
A Dialogue between Fred Bender and Wendy Lynne Lee"
Through a mock debate with writing partner and scholar Wendy Lynne Lee Bender explored the relations between environmental philosophy, science, and social movements. Dr. Bender is the author of several books including Culture of Extinction: Toward a Philosophy of Deep Ecology (2003). Drawing on Marxist philosophies, Bender has long explored the variety of relationships between humans, nature, and technology.
March 28, 2007
Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd
"Deep Ecology and the Epic of Evolution:
Toward a New Great Awakening"
For more information see www.thegreatstory.org. Self described “evolutionary evangelists” Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow provided the third lecture of this spring series, entitled, “Deep Ecology and the Epic of Evolution: Toward a New Great Awakening,” for our spring series. Their goal in this lecture was to continue passionate exploration of science, faith, and evolution.
These lectures were cosponsored by The Gainesville Universal Unitarian Fellowship and The United Church of Gainesville.
April 18 and 19, 2007
John Seed - Rainforest Information Centre Founder
"Deep Ecology, Despair, and Empowerment:
Facing the Global Climate Crisis"
Finally, to round out the series on deep dcology and international environmental politics, environmental activist and deep ecologist John Seed, in his lecture “Deep Ecology, Despair, and Empowerment: Facing the global climate crisis” explored the role of religion in coping with the science of climate change.
October 9th, 2007
Professor Kelly Alley
"River Goddesses, River Linking:
From Sacred to Transferable Waters"
Sponsored by The Water Institute, the Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions (CHiTra), and the Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research at the University of Florida present a lecture by Professor Kelly Alley (Alumni Professor of Anthropology, Auburn University).
In her lecture, Dr Alley outlined the Hindu reverence for key river Goddesses in India. She connected faith, ritual, social organization, and political movements to illustrate the centrality of sacred water to everyday life. Then turning to policy debates spanning the last fifteen years, she argued that a shift in priorities is underway to move attention away from pollution prevention and water quality and toward river water transfers and water quantity. This shift is occurring as public uses of river water--for religious bathing, washing, household and small-scale industrial practices, and drinking purposes--provide basic livelihood services for millions. Dr Alley outlined the implications of this shift for river basin science, policy and management, public users and religious worshipers as stakeholders, and the future of public water uses.
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