Environmental Activists and Theologians among Speakers at LWF Virtual Conference

Head of Greenpeace International to Deliver Keynote Address

Environmental activists, theologians, health practitioners and development workers are among speakers from across the globe who will be sharing their experiences at the Internet-based “green&just” conference organized by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) on 12 May.

LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge will address participants by video link, outlining some of the Lutheran Communion’s commitments in responding to the challenge of climate change.

Keynote speaker Dr Kumi Naidoo of South Africa is executive director of Greenpeace International, which has been campaigning against environmental degradation since 1971. Its engagement in 40 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Pacific includes defending the oceans by challenging wasteful and destructive fishing; protecting the world’s ancient forests; and campaigning for sustainable agriculture among other issues.

Esther Hinostroza Ricaldi from Peru, a nursing technician involved in organizing women in mining towns to oppose environmental destruction, will discuss ecological rights from a Latin American perspective in a second keynote address.

Biblical scholars Rev. Dr Monica Jyotsna Melanchton from India and Rev. Dr Barbara Rossing from the United States will moderate Bible studies at “green&just.”

Melanchton, who has taught Old Testament and women’s studies at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute in Chennai for several years, brings perspectives from feminist and Dalit contexts, including political, social, economical and environmental marginalization.

New Testament scholar Rossing, teaching at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, will give insights based on her studies of apocalyptical and eschatological writings. A member of the LWF Council from 2003 to 2010, Rossing led LWF delegations to the United Nations Climate Change summits in both Copenhagen (2009) and Cancun (2010).

Participants in the LWF’s “green&just” can choose from 16 web seminars (webinars) on topics such as Theology of Creation; Adapting to Climate Change; Environmental Management in Church Congregations; Eco-Justice: How Ecology, Economy and Justice Belong Together; and Small Holder Farmers and the Ecological Crisis.

Human Migration, Consumption Patterns

Webinar leaders include Prof. Daniel Pallangyo, an author of numerous publications on environmental law, currently teaching at the Faculty of Law, Tumaini Makumira University at Arusha, Tanzania. Under the topic “Climate Refugees”, he will discuss how changing climatic patterns are creating more uninhabitable places. In this panel, participants will be invited to explore the connection between climate change and human migration, and to reflect on the possible consequences for the ministry of churches as they grapple with this issue.

Novel H. Matindas, head of the Papua office for the Indonesian National Council of Churches and a church activist for human rights and ecological justice, will lead a discussion on “Palm Oil in Indonesia” that will show how the growing demand for palm oil is linked to many destructive ecological effects. He will help explain how the effects of consumption patterns in other countries affect palm oil production and deforestation in Indonesia and what responses are needed from churches and civil society.

In a webinar on “Saving Yasuni,” Ecuadorian award-winning social entrepreneur and environmental activist Ginés Haro Pastor will explain how drilling for oil in the Yasuni national park in his country will lead to the destruction of the park’s ecosystem. Those taking part in this webinar are invited to hear insights about the value of rainforests, thereby assessing how they as church environmental activists can get involved.

At “The Road to Rio+20,” Felix Beck, one of two official German youth delegates to the June 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [Rio+20], maintains that renewed political will is needed to tackle climate change. Beck, who represents about 5.5 million young people in the German Federal Youth Council, will explain the mechanism of Rio+20, including the current negotiations and ways civil society can engage.

The virtual conference prepares the Lutheran Communion for joint conversation and action toward sustainable development prior to the Rio +20 Summit. “green&just” starts at 11:00 GMT and ends at 19:00 GMT on 12 May.

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