Creation Care Speaker Series

Parker Williams, the Diocesan Missioner for Creation Care and Stewardship, invites you to engage in an online speaker series throughout the season of Easter:

"Let Them Have Dominion"
What is Creation Care?
Reframing the idea of dominion.

A six week speaker series through the season of Easter
Thursday nights, April 21 - May 26, 2022
6:30 p.m.

Speaker Schedule:
(bios available below the registration link)

• April 21 – Lowell Bliss
• April 28 - Brian Sellers Peterson
• May 5 - The Rev. Nurya Love Parish
• May 12 - Dr. Stephen Jurovics
• May 19 - Marinel Ublado
• May 26 - The Rev. Margaret Bullitt Jonas

Register in advance for this meeting
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

About the Speakers:

April 21:
Lowell Bliss is the director of the Eden Vigil Institute for Adaptive Leadership and the Environment, housed at William Carey International University. He is co-director of the Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) which brings emerging leaders from under-mobilized constituencies to the UN climate summits. He is a founding leader of Climate Intercessors. A former missionary in India and Pakistan, Lowell is the author of Environmental Missions: Planting Churches and Trees and People, Trees, and Poverty. Lowell and his wife Robynn reside in the Great Lakes eco-system of Port Colborne, ON, Canada. His hobbies include hiking, backpacking, and wood carving.

April 28:
Brian Sellers-Petersen lives in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Roslyn, Washington. After 30 plus years working for international relief & development organizations including 18 years with Episcopal Relief + Development, he currently serves as the Agrarian Missioner for the Diocese of Olympia and coordinator of Good News Gardens, a joint program of the Creation Care and Evangelism departments in the Office of the Presiding Bishop. He is author of Harvesting Abundance: Local Initiatives of Food and Faith and co-hosts the SpadeSpoonSoul Podcast with Jerusalem Greer and Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows.

May 5:
Nurya Love Parish is a priest in the Episcopal Church, an adult convert to Christianity, and the founding Executive Director of Plainsong Farm. Following a call from God, she began working to develop Plainsong in 2014 with co-founders Mike and Bethany Edwardson. The farm is now an agency of the Episcopal Church with a mission to cultivate connections between people, places and God by making a place that nurtures belonging and the radical renewal of God’s world. Programs include a residential young adult Episcopal Service Corps as well as shorter onsite volunteer experiences growing food and health for all creation.

May 12:
Dr. Stephen Jurovics is the author of Hospitable Planet: Faith, Action and Climate Change. He holds BS and MS degrees from Columbia University and a PhD in Engineering from the University of Southern California. Aspects of climate change mitigation have been the focus of his engineering work for more than two decades. The increasing severity of environmental problems led him, out of spiritual curiosity, to research the environmental teachings in Genesis-Deuteronomy, what Jesus called “the law” in English translations, particularly exploring whether they contained instructions relevant to contemporary issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, preserving biological diversity, treatment of the land, and sustainability. The abundance of applicable teachings, and a desire to discuss ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions motivated him to write this book.

May 19:
MARINEL UBALDO is an advocate for climate justice and the environment. She is a Registered Social Worker and one of the Founders of the Youth Leaders for Environmental Action Federation, a youth-led organization based in Eastern Visayas that aims to mentor youth individuals and organizations in climate advocacy. She is also the Advocacy Officer for Ecological Justice and Youth Engagement of Living Laudato Si' Philippines. She is currently the Philippine Country Coordinator for UN COY16 Glasgow while co-leading the implementation of one of the most comprehensive youth gatherings this year, the Local Conference of Youth 2021. She also serves as the Philippine Focal Point for Climate Science Olympiad. Marinel has been actively involved in educating communities - especially, the youth and children- about climate change and the roles they can take to adapt and mitigate to its effects. She has spoken to world leaders on behalf of Filipinos during the opening of the UNFCCC COP 21 in Paris and in UNFCCC COP 25 in Madrid. She is a petitioner and has acted as a Resource Person during the Climate Justice Liability Public Hearing during the Climate Week in New York USA last September 2018. She has been trained by former US Vice-President Al Gore as a Climate Reality Leader. Her global campaign with Amnesty International calling on the Philippine government to ensure relocation of Super-Typhoon Haiyan survivors generated 528,070 actions from around the world. She has been building impactful campaigns, forming strong collaborations with the government, social and environmental organizations, and the youth. Most of all, she aims co-power and build agency among frontline communities around the world, so we can have a safer place to live in, and now she continues to tell her story in the global platform aiming to shed light on the reality of climate change, and the urgency for world leaders to keep their climate commitments and for the rest of the world to act on it.

May 26:
The Rev. Margaret Bullitt Jonas is an Episcopal priest, author, retreat leader, and climate activist. She serves as Missioner for Creation Care for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts and Southern New England Conference, United Church of Christ, and as Creation Care Advisor for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. She seeks to inspire and support a wave of religious activism to address the climate crisis, deepen reverence for God’s creation, and create a more just and sustainable society.