What We Are Doing, and Why
The United Planet Faith & Science Initiative (the Initiative) works to mobilize the public to act now to promote environmental sustainability. The Initiative does this by leveraging the moral authority of religious leaders and the credibility of leading scientists to raise public awareness and call for action.
In the near future, we will hold a unique web-based meeting of eminent scientists and faith leaders, which we will edit into a powerful video. We then plan to make this video accessible to the broader community via social media and news outlets, and also hold public events of these leaders speaking.
I am Rabbi Yonatan Neril, and
I founded and direct The Interfaith Center for
Sustainable Development (ICSD). Since a young age I have been passionate
about the future of our planet, and I believe this Initiative can do a lot to promote public awareness, political will, and action. The following are Founding Members of the Initiative, and are described below in more detail:
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How
Can We Promote A Livable Planet For Our Children?
“Religion and science are the two most powerful forces in the world today… If there is any moral precept shared by people of all beliefs, it is that we owe ourselves and future generations a beautiful, rich, and healthful environment.” – E.O. Wilson, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
Leaders in science and faith, working together, are able to appeal to vast numbers of people. Billions practice the world’s many religions. Billions respect the scientific view of the universe. Many billions hold both the spiritual and scientific views with equal respect. Science provides valuable insights into cause and effect and can help us address our ecological challenges. Religion is a channel for moral and ethical instruction and can help us to consider and act on the roots of our ecological crisis. This project will fuse these two powerful and traditionally divergent schools of thought to galvanize a conscientious shift.
The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD) and The Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change are teaming up on this Initiative to bring together prominent world leaders in the science and faith communities.
The Initiative promotes both institutional and grassroots changes to decrease emissions, as well as transitions to clean energy and strategies to protect natural resources. It mobilizes communities towards action based on an increased recognition of our climate and habitat problems.![]()
Our Fundraising Goal
We aim to raise $13,000 in this campaign, which will fund staff video editing of the meeting contents, telepresence technology, coordination of the Initiative and social media promotion of the short video, and other expenses related to the United Planet Faith & Science Initiative. If you are inspired by this Initiative, please contribute and tell your friends and family! Use the Indiegogo share tool to spread the word.
How Your Donation Will Be Spent
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Who Is Involved:
The project has already secured the involvement of the following world-renowned scientists and religious leaders, who have pledged their support as Founding Members of this initiative:
Religious Figures: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Swami Chidananda Saraswati, President and Spiritual Head of the Parmarth Niketan Ashram (one of India's largest spiritual institutions); Rabbi David Rosen CBE, International Director of Interreligious Affairs of AJC; Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham, President, The Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power and Light; Haj Fazlun Khalid (United Kingdom), Founder and Director of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science; Baron Dr. Rowan Williams (United Kingdom), former Archbishop of Canterbury.
Scientists: Dr. James Hansen (United States), Former Head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (1981-2013); Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (India, United States), Chair of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Dr. Michael Oppenheimer (United States), Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University; Dr. Katherine Hayhoe (United States), Atmospheric Scientist and expert reviewer for the IPCC; Dr. Michael Mann (United States), Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.
The Initiative is being coordinated by Stuart Scott, Director of UPFSI, Dr. Joan Lurie, Coordinator of Science Outreach for UPFSI, and Rabbi Yonatan Neril.
To learn more about the United Planet Faith and Science Initiative, click here to go to the UPFSI website. Click here to see a list of all those who have already contributed!
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Click here to view a larger Theory of Change diagram.
About the organizational partners:
The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development
The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD) accesses the collective wisdom of the world’s religions
to promote co-existence, peace, and sustainability through education and
action. Since its inception, ICSD has hosted three interfaith environmental
conferences where world religious leaders spoke out about the ethical
imperative and religious basis for action on environmental sustainability.
Hundreds participated in these conferences, which generated press coverage in
over 50 media outlets. The UPFSI extends the ‘One Home’ video campaign, an ICSD project that featured world religious leaders speaking out on environmental sustainability. Other Holy Land-based programs of ICSD include its Interfaith Women’s Ecology Project and the Interfaith Seminary Students
Sustainability Project. ICSD is fiscally sponsored in the US by the Los
Angeles-based 501(c)3 Jumpstart, and donations received through this campaign are processed by them and are tax-deductible in the U.S.
The Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change
The Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change (IDCC) has created a coalition of religious leaders and scientists united by a shared sense of urgency about climate change. Endorsed by spiritual and secular individuals around the world, it has held numerous press conferences at UN climate negotiations. The UN Climate Secretariat began emphasizing how faith communities can influence the negotiations after the first IDCC press event.