RENEWAL Event - Cathedral of St. John the Divine

May 17, 2009

The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, New York City

The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine honored RENEWAL with a special event that included an interfaith evensong service, a complete screening of the documentary, and a Call to Action with the filmmakers Marty Ostrow and Terry Kay Rockefeller, Mary Evelyn Tucker (of Yale University’s Forum on Religion and Ecology), environmentalist writer/activist Bill McKibben, and others. The Episcopal Bishop of New York, Mark S. Sisk, presided over the evening, which was the first in a series of religious-environmental gatherings that the Cathedral plans to hold over the course of a year.
 
Mary Evelyn Tucker spoke about RENEWAL and this hope-filled moment in history, when religious people of all faiths are coming forward for the environment.
 
You can watch Mary Evelyn Tucker’s complete talk:
 

 
During the Call to Action, Bill McKibben invited religious communities to support the 350 Campaign and its new Statement about climate change and justice.

  is an international campaign to encourage the world’s nations to sign a new treaty to combat global warming.

A treaty conference will be held in Copenhagen, 2009.  The Campaign insists that the treaty must be based on the current climate-science understanding that CO2 levels must be rolled back from the current disastrous 387 parts per million, to 350 ppm, which is the stable and safe limit to safeguard Earth, humanity, and all life, in the present and for the future.
 
To raise awareness about the scientific significance of the number 350, Bill McKibben is asking citizens around the world, in secular and religious communities, to perform symbolic acts that call attention to the number. These acts will take place on one given day, October 24, 2009, The International Day of Climate Action – and it could include such activities as churches ringing their bells 350 times, Jewish groups blowing the shofar (the ram’s horn) 350 times, Hindus chanting “Om Shanti shanti shanti” 350 times, etc.
 
Here is Bill McKibben’s complete talk, in two parts:
 
Part One

Part Two

 
This multi-religious event was free and open to the public.
 
(The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine is an Episcopal institution and it is the largest cathedral in the world.)