See ‘everything in creation as a brother or sister’

Cardinal Turkson video 2Watch WOSU Public Media’s video of Cardinal Turkson’s Nov. 2 talk at Ohio State by clicking the image. CFAES Dean Bruce McPheron speaks starting at 1:59, Ohio State President Michael V. Drake at 6:50, Cardinal Turkson at 10:02. Their “fireside chat” starts around 35:40.

‘Caring for our common home’

Greg Hitzhusen, an assistant professor in CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, wrote about Cardinal Peter Turkson’s Nov. 2 visit to Ohio State on his Faithful Earth Stewardship blog:

“The enthusiasm that greeted Cardinal Turkson reminds me of the spirit of my students in ENR 3470, Religion and Environmental Values in America … Their vision, creativity and energy will be a crucial ingredient if present and future generations are to rise to the challenges of caring for our common home.”

Turkson helped write the first draft of Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ encyclical on climate change and the environment. Hitzhusen served on the committee that helped organize Turkson’s visit.

Read his post.

Still time to get tickets for Cardinal Turkson’s talk on Monday

Cardinal Peter TurksonA reminder to get tickets while you still can for this Monday’s talk at Ohio State by Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana. The title of his presentation is “How Are We to Live in Our Common Home? Reflections on Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ Encyclical on Ecology.” He’s shown holding a copy of the document, whose title means “Praise be to you.” Learn more here. Get tickets here. Read Laudato Si’ here. (Photo: Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.)

On faith and being stewards of the Earth

JoAnne Viviano of the Columbus Dispatch reported on yesterday’s Environmental Professionals Network breakfast program, “Faiths Worldwide Tackle Environmental Challenges”:

The 20 Muslim youths who spent last weekend cleaning up Sullivant Avenue on the West Side as a community-service project were hoping to make their city a bit greener.

Some of the teens might own just one pair of jeans and a couple of T-shirts. But for them, protecting the environment wasn’t something to deal with only after all their other needs were met.

Read the story …

Thursday: ‘The emerging alliance of religion and ecology’

Mary Evelyn Tucker, senior lecturer and research scholar at Yale University, presents “The Emerging Alliance of Religion and Ecology” at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 9, in the spring seminar series by CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. Attend in Columbus or watch in Wooster by video link.

Tucker teaches a joint master’s degree program between Yale’s Divinity School and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; directs the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale with her husband, John Grim; and served on the Earth Charter International Council. In the video above, she talks about the emergence of an “ecological theology.”

The well-placed human?

The Rev. Ken Wilson of the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor (Mich.) will present “The Well-Placed and Well-Connected Human: Creation Care in God’s Garden” this Tuesday (4/5) in Columbus — part two in the “Abrahamic Faiths and the Environment” community forum series co-sponsored by OSU’s School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR) (part of CFAES). Wilson is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals Creation Care Committee and a co-founder of the Friendship Collaborative. The group engages scientists and faith leaders in conversation about shared environmental concerns, including climate change. The series leads up to Earth Day, April 22.