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Southern Oregon Climate Action Now (SOCAN) has announced that "our fundraising campaign “Reaching a New Level of Climate Action” was very successful, and as a result, we are hiring our first Executive Director!" SOCAN, founded in 2012, has operated as a volunteer-led organization for over a decade, promoting awareness and understanding of the science of climate change and, through the framework of promoting climate justice, encouraging individual and local, state, and federal collective action to address the crisis. SOCAN has now decided to seek its first salaried staff member, an Executive Director. Information regarding this position is available at https://socan.eco/2023campaign/. The job description is available at https://socan.eco/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/First-ED-Job-Description.pdf. From a press release.

Bill Watterson, creator of the revered comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, released in October 2023 a new graphic novel The Mysteries — his first published work in the 28 years since Calvin and Hobbes ended. In the YouTube video above Watterson narrates his collaboration process with artist John Kascht. As Polygon notes, "Kascht’s realistic style and methodical, researched process clashed almost irreconcilably with Watterson’s intense need to keep things sketched and improvised... After a year’s work, the pair dumped everything they had created and started over, realizing that juxtaposing their clashing styles within one image created interesting results with a “weird energy.” “Things clicked when we gave up,” Kascht says." “Working through differences toward a common purpose is practically an act of defiance these days, and I’m as proud of that as of any other aspect of the collaboration,” Watterson says." My recent experiences with Human Energy's Science of the Noosphere Master Class and the N2 Conference are examples of the creative mashup between scientific and spiritual worldviews, working through differences toward a common purpose. The N2 Conference defined itself as "Beyond the Individual" - "an international, interdisciplinary conference fostering creative collaboration for intentionally and ethically steering the future evolution of global consciousness." There was more congeniality at the D2 Conference than in the Master Class, partly because a few disrupters in the Master Class were noticeably absent (because of self-selection) from the D2 Conference, and partly because of actual face-to-face conversations rather than online meetings. However, However, I believe the synergy was primarily due to the intentionality of diverse people, engaged in a common search to find out how to accelerate the rapid expansion of the Noosphere. At D2 we felt part of something bigger than ourselves as individuals and there was an openness to learn from others' points of view. Appreciation and mutual respect were shared among those in the Conference. Diversity evolved into unity because of intentionality. Speaking about both the diversity and unity of the presenters, Robert Wright expressed the sense of collaboration at the D2 Conference: "A number of them I had been keeping in different parts of my brain: David Sloan Wilson I had filed under evolutionary science; Kevin Kelly is a techno-visionary; and Brian Swimme expressed a kind of cosmic spirituality... and now, here they all are in the same room. And that's the kind of synergy that this Conference is all about!" At the N2 Conference there was lots of discussion about how to best communicate a "Third Story." Dr. Clement Vidal identified the psychological resistances and affordances to the idea of the Noosphere by the public at large. Francis Heylighen has been developing a mathematical model to link the philosophical idea of the Third Story as an alternative to traditional religious and scientific stories. Storytellers such as Jennifer Morgan have written age-appropriate children's books to communicate understanding of the universe and evolution. Emily DeMoor presented alternative literary narratives that may be used in secondary-level English language arts courses. Ellen Rigsby talked about college students' understanding of the concepts of the noosphere and the need for developing the human capacity to steer evolution to deal with problems that affect all of humanity. John Cressler presented the challenges and successes of nurturing the Noosphere on college campuses. Film-makers were concerned about using concepts, words, and images that are clearly understood. Teilhard scholar and theologian Ilia Delio uses the word "myth" to identify the importance of science-appropriate worldviews, suggesting religion needs to be updated from ancient Greek and medieval assumptions to be consistent with current scientific understandings. “A myth is always a true story because it narrates a sacred history, not necessarily a factual history, but one that has meaning and value for human life. Myths are true in that they have the symbolic and imaginative power to make us aware of the unity of reality in its greatest depth and breadth” ~ Ilia Delio Collaboration in "steering the future evolution of global consciousness" is the goal of Human Energy. Other organizations such as Pachamama Alliance are seeing the need to share a "New Story"- Love, Wonder, and Climate Action: Crafting a New Narrative, On November 15, 2023, they had a webinar with Alixa Garcia, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Bill McKibben about the importance of expressing the awe, wonder, and the sheer miracle of being alive in this vast universe.

Thoughts from NPR as you reflect on what makes you most thankful today, think about how to take that energy with you in your daily life: ❤️ Before the first Thanksgiving, local Wampanoags and Indigenous people throughout North America gathered to give thanks 13 times throughout the lunar calendar year. ❤️ Practicing gratitude has benefits to your mental and physical health. NPR's Life Kit spoke to psychologists to create a guide to get better at cultivating gratitude. ❤️ It doesn't take much to find something joyful to be thankful for. Start small with what researchers call "micro-acts" that boost wellbeing.

December 1-3, 2023 online only on Zoom - The Center for Christogenesis is having its Annual Conference: GOD 2.0: Pantheism and Quantum Reality which will explore "how science, culture, and scripture can help us appreciate a wider, more expansive understanding of God in ways that empower us to creatively contribute to the wholeness we seek." Featured speakers include Ilia Delio, Brandon Ambrosino, Jack Caputo, Bruce Epperly, Rami Shapiro, and Catherine Keller. For more information and registration click here. The cost is $180. All registrants will receive recordings of the events. "God is an incomprehensible mystery and our approach to the mystery is shaped by ways of knowing the real, a type of knowledge that cannot be fixed or located in any one age."

I just returned from the N2 Conference held November 17-19, 2023 at the International House in the University of California Berkeley campus. It was called The Future of Human Collective Consciousness. N2 was 'an international, interdisciplinary conference fostering creative collaboration for intentionally and ethically steering the future evolution of global consciousness." It was a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the identification of the noosphere, “N2” signals the exponential pace of the evolution of the noosphere and the reality that the next century will far exceed the last in rapid and radical change to the global mind." The N2 Conference was organized by Human Energy, a non-profit research, media, and educational organization dedicated to introducing the noosphere as a Third Story of the universe that can provide a source of meaning and hope for future generations. The event featured thought leaders, scholars across fields, and eminent scientists, including Philip Beesley, Johan Bollen, Anne Clin, John Cressler, Terrence Deacon, Ilia Delio, Ben Goertzel, Francis Heylighten, Kevin Kelly, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Jaron Lanier, Wolfgang Leidhold, Raphael Liogier, Louis Savary, Gregory Stock, Brian Thomas Swimme, David Sloan Wilson, and others. The program includes plenary and concurrent sessions featuring invited and selected presentations and a selected poster exhibit. Interactive formats that prioritize discussion and application are welcomed. Live streams of the Plenary speakers were recorded and available on YouTube and below. My blog post is not the official N2 Conference website and the (start times) were for my convenience of reviewing the presentations. Day 1 streamed live on Nov 17, 2023. Ben Kacyra - Welcoming remarks Human Energy founder and President Sheila Hassell Hughes - Conference Co-Chair (live video Day 1 start) Terrence Deacon - On Being a Noospheric Species (.35) Jacob Foster - Panel from Boundaries of Humanity (1.33) Manasvi Lingam - On Some Informational Aspects of the Noosphere and Beyond (2.11) Robert Lawrence Kuhn - A Landscape of Consciousness in the Noosphere: Toward a Taxonomy of Explanations and Implications (3.32) Ilia Delio - Can Science Alone Advance the Noosphere? Understanding Teilhard’s Omega Principle (4:20 video 1 and continued on video 2) Ilia Delio (continued on Day 1 live video 2) Keith Lemna - Polarity in the Noosphere: Reading Teilhard through Pope Francis (.51 on Day 1 live video 2) John Haught - The Meaning of "Noosphere" in Teilhard's Cosmic Vision (1:27 live video 2) Jaron Lanier (2:20 live video 2) Day 2 streamed live on Nov 18, 2023: Ben Goertzel - AGI and Collective Intelligence: Critical Synergies (.7) Raphael Liogier - Transcendence and Modernity: Beyond the Misconception (1:23) Johan Bollen - CollectiveEemotions: Distortions and Belief Traps (2:29) Clément Vidal - A Human Energy White Paper (3:27) Kevin Kelly - The Evidence for an Expanded Noosphere (4:07) Jennifer Morgan - Shaping Noospheric Adults from Early Childhood through the Secondary Level (5:22) Marta Lenartowicz - The Noospheric Frame of Mind (5:55) Gregory Stock - LLMs: Noospheric Portals that may redefine the distinction between Individual and Collective Mind (6:57) Elizabeth Lee - Connectivity and Cultural Heritage: Enabling access to humanity's rich legacy (9:42) Day 3 streamed live on Nov 19, 2023: Francis Heylighen - The Third Story: Self-organizing Evolution as a Source of Meaning (.start at .45) Michael Jacob, Ilia Delio, Terrence Deacon & Francis Heylighen - Transdisciplinary Language for Noospheric Consciousness: Neuroscience, Music, Mysticism (2.02) David Sloan Wilson - The Science of the Noosphere Master Class: An Experiment in Worldview Evolution (4.02) Robert Wright - How Right Was Teilhard? (4.43) Brian Thomas Swimme - Noospheric Experience (7.32) Wolfgang Leidhold (8.01)

November 16, 2023 at noon PT - Electrify Now! is hosting a webinar: All About Gas Leaks. "From catastrophic well leaks to the daily seepage from our stoves, gas leaks are a major reason why “natural” gas (methane) poses such a threat to our health and climate." "Through the lens of one city that is working to understand its gas leak situation, a panel of experts will explain why gas leaks are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and the risk to the health of communities, as well as who is accountable for fixing these leaks." Find out more at Ashland Climate Collaborative. Register for this free event by clicking this link or visit Electrifynow.net.

On November 16, 2023, at 6:00 a.m. PT the Institute For The Future is having a Foresight Talk: Dreams and Disruptions: Gamification for the Future with Shermon Cruz, Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists. Register here. 'Games transport us to imaginative scenarios. They empower us to alter future outcomes based on our ability to think ahead and make strategic choices. Please join us when Shermon Cruz, Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists, shares the inner workings of “Dreams and Disruptions,” his newly released scenario-building game. Cruz’s methods are based on about two decades of futures work." "To construct and stress-test unthought-of futures, Cruz incorporates time horizons, emerging issues of change (including sentient AI, food poverty, etc.), indigenous and cultural drivers of change, planetary-wide disruptions (nuclear winter, supervolcanic eruptions, etc.), plus leaders and movements using Sarkar's Law of the Social Cycle." "For the Foresight Talk, Cruz will discuss his efforts to accentuate certain elements in scenario development and futures discourse, including the value of randomness; systems thinking; anti-fragility; and decolonial perspectives. Come learn about Cruz’s mission to create a global network of players sharing and uploading their most spectacular futures imaginings — and more about the game that’s been played more than 100 times around the world. " Speaker bio: Shermon Cruz is the UNESCO Chair on Anticipatory Governance and Regenerative at Northwestern University, Philippines. He holds leadership roles as Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists and The Millennium Project Philippines. Prof. Cruz is the CEO, Founder, and Chief Futurist of the Center for Engaged Foresight, a strategic foresight and futures innovation firm with global operations headquartered in Manila. Additionally, he serves as Adjunct Faculty and Director of the Futures Thinking Program at the Asian Institute of Management. https://engagedforesight.com/ Dreams and Disruptions: https://www.dreamsanddisruptions.com/ Association of Professional Futurists:

Rather than talking about abstract ideas, telling a personal story is a more effective way to communicate on an emotional level to have an impact about something important to you. "Climate Stories Project (CSP) is an educational and artistic forum for sharing stories about personal and community responses to climate change. CSP focuses on personal oral histories, which bring an immediacy to the sometimes abstract nature of climate change communication." You can become a Climate Stories Ambassador with the help of CSP tol: Craft and share your own climate story Receive training and guidance to conduct climate story interviews​ Connect with other Climate Story Ambassadors from around the world Learn valuable environmental communication skills Promote an inclusive and effective movement to confront the climate crisis​ "​As an Ambassador, you'll record 1-3 climate story interviews with people in your own community during a 3-month time span. Following the initial online training, you'll take part in two additional online meetings to discuss your progress with other Ambassadors and learn from each other about using climate storytelling to promote an effective response to the climate crisis." Participation is free and open to all. Ambassadors who submit their own story and at least one interview will receive a certificate of completion of the Climate Stories Ambassadors program. Check out the New Mytos Facebook page of author PJ Manney for a broad perspective on storytelling. She authored "Yucky Gets Yummy: How Speculative Fiction Creates Society"​ and "Empathy in the Time of Technology: How Storytelling is the Key to Empathy,"​ foundational works on the neuropsychology of empathy and media.

On Sunday, November 12, 2023 many Indians around the world will be celebrating Diwali, the Indian festival of lights that Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists traditionally observe. Diwali represents the symbolic victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil Diwali is primarily a Hindu festival, but variations of Diwali are also celebrated by adherents of other faiths. According to Pew Research Center Diwali is celebrated by 85% of all adults in India, Which includes the vast majority of Jains (98%), Hindus (95%), and Sikhs (90%), as well as most Buddhists (79%) and large minorities of Christians (31%) and Muslims (20%). Hindus commemorate Diwali as being the day Rama returned to his kingdom in Ayodhya with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana after defeating the demon king Ravana. Hindus of Eastern India and Bangladesh generally celebrate Diwali by worshipping the goddess Kali. Jains observe their own Diwali which marks the final liberation of Mahavira. Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas to mark the release of Guru Hargobind from a Mughal prison. Newar Buddhists, unlike other Buddhists, celebrate Diwali by worshipping Lakshmi. "The five-day celebration is observed every year in early autumn after the conclusion of the summer harvest... In the lead-up to Diwali, celebrants prepare by cleaning, renovating, and decorating their homes and workplaces with oil lamps and colorful art circle patterns. During Diwali, people wear their finest clothes; illuminate the interior and exterior of their homes with earthen lamps; diyas and rangoli, perform worship ceremonies of Lakshmi (the goddess of prosperity and wealth); light fireworks; and partake in family feasts, where sweets, dried fruit, nuts and gifts are shared." [from Wikipedia] India is the most populous country in the world with one-sixth of the world's population. With over 1.4 billion people, India overtook China to become the most populous country at the end of April 2023.

The N2 Conference - The Noosphere at 100: The Future of Human Collective Consciousness is meeting this week November 17-19, 2023 in Berkeley CA, and I am looking forward to attending in person, having been immersed in Human Energy Project's 10-week Science of the Noosphere Master Class this past summer. From the event website: "N2 is an international, interdisciplinary conference fostering creative collaboration for intentionally and ethically steering the future evolution of global consciousness. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the identification of the noosphere, “N2” signals the exponential pace of the evolution of the noosphere and the reality that the next century will far exceed the last in rapid and radical change to the global mind. “N2” also suggests how the noosphere amplifies our access to human understanding - beyond the individual “n of 1.” Click here for an overview of the N2 Conference. Plenary speakers are Terrance Deacon, Robert Lawernce Kuhn, Ilia Delio, Jaron Lanier, Ben Goertzel, Clément Vidal, Kevin Kelley, Gregory Stock, Elizabeth Lee, Francis Heylighen, David Sloan Wilson, Robert Wright, and Brian Thomas Swimme. There will also be break-out group meetings and other presenters. Click here for the detailed Conference schedule. N2 is an in-person conference with opportunities for remote participation. Keynotes and selected featured presentations will be live-streamed for open access. Virtual registration will allow remote attendees not only to view the live stream but also to submit questions to the keynote and selected featured presentations and will include a PDF program of all presentation abstracts. Online participation is free. Register here for the Zoom link.

Wayne Teasdale, in chapter 7 of his 2001 book The Mystic Heart, writes about embodying and empowering the prophetic voice for justice, compassion, and world transformation. "The prophetic voice vigorously acknowledges the unjust events and policies that cause enormous tension, misery, and dislocation in the lives of countless numbers of people. Wars; the plight of refugees (most of whom are women and children); unjust economic, social, and political conditions that enrich a small class of rulers while oppressing the masses; threats to the environment - all are matters that should evoke the moral voice and our willingness to respond." ProSocial Spirituality expresses it this way: "The function of the prophetic voice is to be willing to speak truth to power - to call out social and cultural structures, institutions, and systems that create and perpetuate suffering through injustice and oppression. It is to name, bear witness to, and engage in the struggle to change these systems wherever they exist." "The prophetic voice is the dimension and expression of compassion that seeks not only to alleviate existing suffering but address the systemic causes of suffering and transform them. Wayne Teasdale tells us that this prophetic function is “the awakened and utterly necessary function of leadership in the area of justice.” "As our realization of our inextricable interconnectedness grows, we recognize, as Dr. King pointed out, that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” And so we are called by conscience and compelled by our vision of the inherent unity of life to work for justice not only for all human beings but, increasingly, all living beings, including animals, living ecosystems, and the earth itself. We understand, again in the words of Dr. King, that “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring.” ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr "Just as with the many ways we can express compassion and selfless service, the prophetic voice can be expressed and supported in many ways, depending on our own gifts, abilities, talents, and skills. What it asks of all of us, regardless of how we express it, is that we acknowledge and claim our power to be an agent of positive change in the world." "Courageous acts of personal witness to deep inner truth can begin to stir in others the same profound longing to bring their inner values and outer actions and lives into greater congruence. Because the decision to live in a way that is aligned with our inner values and truth may go against the grain of existing structures and prevalent ways of thinking, we may become discouraged trying to explain ourselves to family and friends who don’t share or understand our views. We need kindred spirits to accompany us in embodying and empowering the prophetic voice for social justice and transformative change." “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” ~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu Humanity is facing two global threats to life as we know it: climate change and nuclear war. Both are within our ability as a species to solve with appropriate policy actions for the common good. People must insist that world leaders take immediate action to solve the looming climate crisis. Make your voices heard. It is past time for a cease-fire in Gaza! There are dirty hands on both sides. Hamas' atrocities are inexcusable, but Israel's retaliatory response with huge civilian casualties is not proportional to self-protection. Evolutionary leaders are calling for peace.

Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) will take place November 30- December 12, 2023 at Expo City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. View the COP 28 UAE thematic program. The overview schedule of the conference is now available; the detailed calendar of events will be published daily throughout the conference. Nov. 30 - Opening Ceremony Dec. 1 - Opening World Climate Action Summit Dec. 2 - G77 & China Summit Dec. 3 - Health/relief, recovery and peace Dec. 4 - Finance/trade/gender equality/accountability Dec. 5 - Energy, industry, and just transition Dec. 6 - Multilevel action, urbanization, and built environment/transport Dec. 8 - Youth, children, education and skills Dec. 9 - Nature, land use, and oceans Dec. 10 - Food, agriculture, and water "In his Pre-COP opening speech On October 30, 2023, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the COP28 President, called for unity, action, and multilateralism. Addressing the 70 Ministers and over 100 country delegates present, Dr Sultan was clear: the world needs to do more and seize the opportunity of COP28 to take action and keep 1.5 within reach."

November 1-5, 2023, online - The Work That Reconnects Network is having its first-ever Gaian Gathering. "The event is online and features a curated mix of world-renowned keynote speakers, skill-building workshops, and live practices of the Work That Reconnects. We’ll also have spaces to express our creativity through art and music, and find community through networking designed for meaningful connections." November 2, 2023, at 1 p.m. PT on Zoom - The Global Kinship Group of Creation Spirituality Communities meets every first Thursday of the month at 1 p.m. PT. This month they will have a webinar presentation by Dr. Ursula Goodenough, PhD: Taking Nature to Mind and Heart: Exploring a Religious Naturalist Orientation. Register here. Members of the Global Kinship community also generally meet on the Monday evening following each webinar; this month it will be on November 13, 2023 at 6 p.m. PT for 20 minutes to "turn our attention to the emerging Noosphere to allow the focus and vision of the presenter to enter our own consciousness, thereby expanding the Noosphere through our meditation." Register here. November 3, 2023, at 3 p.m. PT on Zoom - ProSocial World is presenting a free seminar by Sarah Woods: Fateful Lines – How Changing the Story can Change the World, Sarah, an award-winning playwright, and creative systems thinker, will explore "how working with story and pattern can help reveal fateful lines, and support the current challenges we have as a species, living with other species, on a finite planet." This seminar will be especially of interest to those in the arts attuned to an evolutionary perspective. Register here. November 8, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. PT on Zoom - UCC Environmental Ministries is presenting a webinar: From Greenwashing to Environmental Justice. Panelists will provide a critical assessment of the greenwashing and corporate capture of the upcoming Climate Change Conference (COP28), and will also cast an alternative vision and pathway forward. Register here. Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith Matthew Illian, Director of Responsible Investing, United Church Funds Rev. Chebon Kernell, Executive Director, Native American Comprehensive Plan Cansın Leylim, Associate Director Global Campaigns, 350.org November 9, 2023, in person only - the Garrison Institute will be hosting Metamorphosis: Create the Transformation We Need Now - "a daylong public forum gathering leaders and practitioners in contemplative-based social change. Many notable individuals will lead dialogues and immersion groups, including Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim." This is an in-person-only event in New York City. Follow Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology on their Facebook page. November 9, 2023, at 2 p.m. PT on Zoom - IRAS will present a webinar with Frank Schaeffer, artist & theologian: The Loneliness Tsunami: A Second Look at the Sexual Revolution. Register here. November 11, 2023, at 6 p.m. PT - Southern Oregon Climate Action Now (SOCAN) is having a fundraiser Grateful Amicana Benefit Bash at the Bellevue Grange, 1050 Tolman Creek Rd, Ashland, OR. November 14, 2023 - Bioneers Learning is presenting a 4-week course Honoring Your Emotional Ecosystem on Tuesdays starting November 14th through December 5, 2023, from 11 a.m. - to 12:30 p,m., PT led by author, researcher, and emotions-and-empathy expert Karla McLaren, M.Ed., Register here. November 14, 2023, at 5 p.m. PT on Facebook live - Global Ministries is having their EarthKeepers Commissioning celebrating this year’s projects supporting sustainability in resilience, energy, food production, waste management, and more. Fifty-seven leaders will be recognized who are "working to ensure the just restoration and flourishing of God’s creation." Register here. November 17-19 2023 - Human Energy presents the N2 Conference – The Noosphere at 100: The Future of Human Collective Consciousness at the International House, University of California, 2299 Piedmont Ave., Berkeley, CA 94720. The 3-day conference, features thought leaders, scholars across fields, and eminent scientists, including Philip Beesley, Johan Bollen, Anne Clin, John Cressler, Terrence Deacon, Ilia Delio, Ben Goertzel, Francis Heylighten, Kevin Kelly, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Jaron Lanier, Wolfgang Leidhold, Raphael Liogier, Louis Savary, Gregory Stock, Brian Thomas Swimme, David Sloan Wilson, and others. The program includes plenary and concurrent sessions featuring invited and selected presentations and a selected poster exhibit. The program will be available for free online. November 28, 2023, at 6-7:30 p.m. PT - SOCAN will have their monthly meeting at Medford Public Library, 205 S Central, with Garett Long, Director of Agriculture, Troon Vineyard speaking about Dirty Hands & Clean Hearts: Addressing Soil Health with Biodynamic and Regenerative Farming November 30- December 12, 2023 - in person only in Dubai- The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 28 Pre-sessionals will take place from 24 to 29 November. The overview schedule of the conference is now available. The detailed calendar of events will be published daily throughout the conference. December 9, 2023, from 3-6 p.m. PT - SOCAN will be having a Solstice Gathering to celebrate the season to enjoy good food, drink, and company. Bring an appetizer or dessert to share and your choice of drink. Nonalcoholic spiced cider will be provided.

This blog aggregates and draws attention to examples of how various faith traditions see the climate crisis as an important moral issue. Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology has links to Climate Change Statements from World Religions. Pew Research on November 17, 2022, published an article How Religion Intersects With Americans’ Views on the Environment that found "while responsibility for the Earth is part of many U.S. Christians’ beliefs... so is skepticism about climate change." A 2018 article published in the National Library of Medicine "argues that religious beliefs significantly influence a community’s understanding and experience of climate change adaptation, indicating the need for the inclusion of such information in climate change adaptation education." The authors found that "community members who regard themselves as religious fall under two groups: Religious determinists or fatalists see climate as a natural process that is governed by God, or Religious participants who deny this ‘naturalness’ and acknowledge humans’ impact on the climate." This finding was expanded In Religion and Climate Change Views in the Pacific Northwest, a 2021 Masters thesis by Alexis R. James: "Those identifying as Judeo-Christians and Evangelical were significantly less likely to respond that climate change was caused mostly by human activities, while those identifying as Atheist/Agnostic were significantly more likely to do so." "Higher levels of religiosity (i.e., self-reported church attendance, prayer frequency, and importance of religion) were also associated with lower levels of belief that climate change is caused mostly by human activities." "At the same time, political ideology proved even more important in shaping beliefs about climate change... with those identifying as politically conservative significantly less likely to respond that climate change was caused mostly by human activities and those identifying as politically liberal significantly more likely to do so." Pew Research found that the primary reason why religious Americans tend to be less concerned about climate change is that "the main driver of U.S. public opinion about the climate is political party, not religion." "Highly religious Americans are more inclined than others to identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and Republicans tend to be much less likely than Democrats to believe that human activity (such as burning fossil fuels) is warming the Earth or to consider climate change a serious problem." Global Affairs affirms Republicans and Democrats in Different Worlds on Climate Change: "Large majorities of Democrats think the United States should play a leading role in limiting climate change (81%) and consider it to be a critical threat (82%). By contrast, only 31% of Republicans support a leading U.S. role in limiting climate change, and just 16% consider it a critical threat." Brian McLaren, in an October 28, 2023 The Work of The People reel, illuminates an important distinction between conservative and liberal Christian responses to the climate emergency and weakness on both sides. Pew Research also found that climate change may be a generational issue with "Younger evangelicals in the U.S. are more concerned than their elders about climate change." Religious affiliation declines with each younger generation. Millennials [born between 1981 and 1996] are much less likely than their elders to hold some religious beliefs connected to the environment. Data from the 2022 Chicago Council Survey reveal that "Six in 10 each of Millennials and Gen Z see climate change as a critical threat to US interests (59%), compared to just about half each of Gen X (52%), Boomers (51%), and the Silent Generation (49%)."

Original art by Rick Bonetti from a photo of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In Andrew M. Davis and Phiip Clayton's 2018 book how I found GOD in everyone and everywhere, lia Delio recounts her spiritual journey from a Ph.D. neuroscientist to Carmelite nun and then to become a Franciscan Sister and theologian "specializing in the area of science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics and neuroscience and the import of these for theology." Ilia Delio is the founder of the Center for Christogenesis, whose mission is "to deepen Teilhard de Chardin’s integration of science and spirituality by providing insights and practices to enkindle awareness of love at the heart of reality." "Science and religion are areas have yet to find a way together to address some of the major problems of our age." ~ Ilia Delio In her September 13, 2023 article Science Without Religion is Like an Ocean Without Water she writes "Scientific research is a form of mysticism, a constant exploration into the infinite potential of matter in search of its secret life.... the mystical act involves the synthesizing work of the mind as it gathers facts and strives to form them into a wider synthesis..." proposing that "science is the basis of philosophy and, in turn, theology." Further on, Delio says "We need to retrieve the integral relationship between science and religion in order to make sense of our rapidly evolving world." She points to Piere Teilhard de Chardin who thought that "science and religion are two phases of the one and the same complete act of knowledge; that is, knowing matter in its depth, breadth and organization is an integral act of knowing on the levels of both science and religion." Teilhard saw the insufficiency of science by itself to bring about a new type of superconsciousness or a higher level of thought on the level of interconnected, planetary life. In her Rebirthing Religion blog post, she says: "Religion is as important to the flow of evolution as are the mechanisms of Darwinian evolution. Matter is bifacial and religion and science are two aspects of the same whole grounded in an irresistible power of love." But she is not just talking about institutional religion; she is quick to point out that "religion has not kept pace with the rapid rise of technology and the impact of technology on human personhood and society." "It is the power of the mind that pushes evolution forward toward greater complexity and unity, but it is the power of love that draws life onward toward more unitive life." ~ Ilia Delio Alfred North Whitehead concluded: “Religion must face change in the same spirit as science. Its principles may be eternal, but the expression of religious principles requires continual development.” "Theology has fallen so far behind [in fact, all monotheistic religions] that it will take a seismic shift – a revolution – to get theology on the same train with science and technology." ~ Ilia Delio In this rebirthing process, Delio thinks. "We should abandon the language of science and religion and reframe these areas of knowledge within a new integral paradigm of "relational holism." The Human Energy Project is promoting a Third Story of the Universe." Worldviews participating in this "Third Story" logic are just beginning to develop. They put forward the emergence of the Noosphere as a promising and motivating Third Story vision." Their Science of the Noosphere examines these topics from a scientific, evolutionary perspective: The formation of the universe. The origin of life. Major transitions in the scale of biological organisms. The origin of humans. Increase in the scale of societies in human history, leading up to the present. The future of humanity in the Internet Age.

Rogue Basin Partnership and many of their partner organizations gathered on May 19, 2023, for the first annual Network of Networks(NxN). They are organized into working groups who "share professional expertise, a common focus and coordinate restoration efforts across the Rogue Basin for the greatest possible benefits" such as fish passage and instream flow; riparian restoration; monitoring; urban and stormwater management; Rogue native plant partnership; and cooperative weed management areas. Their website has many links, including one to the U. S. Drought Monitor.

From the organization name Interfaith Alliance, one might infer that its purpose is to promote multi-faith dialogue, but its mission specifically is to "celebrate religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism." While Interfaith Alliance believes that "religious and cultural diversity is essential in building vibrant communities. they also stress that "no one has the right to impose their beliefs on others and that "religious and political extremists are a threat to individual liberty and democracy." Listen to State of Belief host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, who talks with Dr. David P. Gushee about his new book, Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies. What Gushee sees as a threat to American democracy he calls 'white Christian nationalism" or 'authoritarian, reactionary Christianity." He sees "Christians claiming to act in the name of Jesus Christ and his supposed representative on earth, Donald Trump at the forefront of the January 6, 2021 storming of the nation's Capitol." Gushee makes a robust case for a renewed commitment to democracy on the part of Christians - "not by succumbing to secular liberalism, but by drawing on our own best traditions." The ABC News series Democracy in Peril examines the distorted belief that "God is on their side in a divinely inspired fight against evil." ABC News writer Oren Oppenheim, in a November 7, 2022 article entitled "Christian nationalism' threatens democracy, some experts say" quotes Rev. Meriah Tigner, who speaks against 'religious nationalism' in terms of how it contradicts her faith and her identity as an American: "Through compassionate conversations with people you disagree with, you may actually find middle ground about things, and maybe actually able to have enough humility in the conversation, to hear a new perspective and to change your beliefs," I believe that open, thoughtful, interspiritual, understanding is necessary both to preserve our democracy and to effectively address our global environmental challenges. The belief that "God is on our side" can often be very dangerous. I support the work of Interfaith Alliance. Do you?

Community Compost Coalition, a member of Southern Oregon Food Solutions (SOFS), will be making a presentation on October 24, 2023. at the Medford Library about Community Compost. The Rogue Valley Food System Network council meeting is at 3 p.m. and the presentation will start at 4 p.m. PDT. Flavia Franco is working to get Community Compost scaled up in Ashland, Talent, and Medford, and has been working with Pam Allister to start citizen action on climate change in Central Point, OR. "To have a more self-sufficient, sustainable community, and to minimize food waste that causes greenhouse gas emissions, the SOFS mission is to educate and inspire action for food production, usage, and disposal."

On Friday, October 20, 2023, at 9 a.m. PDT, ProSocial Commons is sponsoring a webinar with Denise Hearn on Competition or Collaboration for a Sustainable Economy? This seminar will cover the new report: Antitrust and Sustainability: A Landscape Analysis by the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Register here. "Competition policy is a central component of a regulatory framework that supports national and global sustainability goals. It answers questions of whether and how economic actors can or should collaborate, and toward what end. Answers to those questions are rigorously contested and not well understood. On one hand, for instance, increased market concentration and power can stifle innovation and undermine democratic governance. On the other hand, industry collaboration can accelerate technical and financial efforts to address sustainability challenges." ‍ "While there are real and challenging questions related to how competition policy should support sustainability goals, competition law, and policy are also being used manipulatively by political operatives to challenge climate alliances in a transparent effort to chill climate action." ‍Check out the ProSocial calendar for other events. Sign up for notifications about news and events. ProSocial believes that "to catalyze rapid, positive cultural change we need to recognize our interconnectedness and continuously improve the relationships we have with ourselves, each other, and the planet." About the Speaker: Denise Hearn is a writer and applied researcher who advises governments, financial institutions, companies, and nonprofits on antitrust, economic policy, and new economic thinking. She is currently a Resident Senior Fellow at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, a joint center of Columbia University Law School and Columbia Climate School. Denise co-authored The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition – named one of the Financial Times’ Best Books of 2018. Her writing has been translated into 9 languages and featured in major publications globally. She currently authors the Embodied Economics newsletter. Denise has an MBA from the Oxford Saïd Business School and a BA in International Studies from Baylor University.