Our Children, Climate, Faith

At A Glance

Location: 

South Strafford, Vermont

Primary Issue Area:

  • Living Economies
  • Climate Change & Energy
  • Environmental Health

Active since:

2013

Core volunteers:

8

Community Size:

5,000

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to... Transform and evolve human consciousness to take and sustain actions that address the rightful future of all children to have a livable, healthy and sustainable planet.  We do this through an annual inclusive symposium on moral, ethical, spiritual and religious consciousness connecting and networking people from all over New England as well as the larger US and south eastern Canada providing teaching, training and information that are then used locally by participants. Since 2013 we have seen a development of awareness - even among other faith-based environmental groups which mostly focused on policy - that climate destruction is an inter-connected social injustice that impacts children and their futures the most.  Our small group was a vanguard, it seems, because as our first symposium approached we heard from other organizations noting this distinction in our focus.  We were able to bring global-, national- and regional-level leaders, educators and activists (Bill McKibben, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Cinnamon Spear, Tim De Christopher, Starhawk, etc) together in a small Vermont town powerfully influencing hundreds of participants in a plural environment that united very different worldviews in a shared value: redressing environmental social injustice against children, in other words: the most basic human right of humanity's future generations.This year we are adding two days before our symposium a gathering of New England youth (ages 18 to 30) for a summit/teach-in where young leaders in the climate movement - such as Jay O'Hara and Hannah Morgan - will help train their peers and near-peers on what it's like to take moral action on behalf of a livable planet; what are the spiritual foundations that sustain action through life; and how to take actions that are non-violent and creative.  We also include learning from elders such as 80-year old Fred Wolfe a Unitarian-Universalist veteran of the Civil Rights movement to show how caring for justice can be long-lived. The intention is for all participants to take back to their towns, colleges and other organizations a deeper, more discerned personal commitment to active social change and community welfare.