Uniting Church Chaplaincy and Armidale Uniting Church are hosting a forum on faith and climate change on Thursday, 23 August. The same session will be run twice - once at 3.00 pm in the Youth Centre Lounge at the Uniting Church, 114 Rusden Street (opposite Civic Video) and once at 7 pm in the Drummond and Smith College Main Seminar Room.

Update 27 July

Note that the afternoon session time has changed from the originally advertised 2.30 pm.

Speakers

Emeritus Prof Barry Leal, Coordinator, Earth Ministry, Uniting Church in Australia, based at Denistone Uniting Church and Macquarie University, will speak on God and Climate Change.

Barry is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Macquarie University and Vice-Chancellor, University of Southern Queensland. He has a PhD in Theology and is the author of three books on faith and the environment:

• Wilderness in the Bible. Towards a Theology of Wilderness with Particular Reference to place (New York, Peter Lang, 2004).
• The Environment and Christian Faith. An Introduction to Ecotheology (Strathfield, St Pauls, 2004.)
• Through Ecological Eyes. Reflections on Christianity’s Environmental Credentials (Strathfield, St Pauls, 2006.)

Glen Klatovsky, National Carbon Business Manager for Greening Australia, will speak on Carbon Trading - what it is, why we do it and what role individuals might take in carbon trading.

Glen has fulfilled a range of roles in the environment movement in Australia, including Conservation Director (Advocacy) for WWF-Austalia; Sustainable Landscapes Manager for WWF-Australia; NSW Manager for The Wilderness Society and National Forests Campaigner for The Wilderness Society. He has worked closely with the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and was a member of the Premier’s Native Vegetation Reform Implementation Group in NSW. He is also a graduate of UNE.

Entry to both sessions is free and open to all interested people, there will be an opportunity to ask questions of the speakers both during the formal proceedings and informally over tea and coffee afterwards.

Armidale TEAR Support Group

Sunday 5 August @ 3pm - Uniting Church Youth Centre Lounge

Guest Speaker: Vernon Jantzi, Professor of Sociology at Eastern Mennonite University and author of Development to a Different Drummer.

Vernon will share his vision of Biblical peace, justice and development. His experiences in Central America, Africa and as part of a UN team in post-genocide Rwanda give him unique insight into how we can be agents of God’s Kingdom in our world. He will focus on the case of northern Colombia to look at what the church can do locally and globally, especially related to the “return to community and reconciliation.” How the church is working with displaced persons will have challenges and application to most local congregations.

John McKinnon, TEAR Australia will also share some insights into Christian responses to the issues in the next federal election. Vernon is in Australia for one month speaking in a number of centres – we are fortunate that Armidale is on his list – don’t miss this opportunity. He is also giving some seminars in Peace Studies at UNE (contact Rebecca Spence for details).

For further details contact Alan Jones alandjones@exemail.com.au

This will be the topic to be addressed by Sohalia, visiting UNE and Armidale from Afghanistan on July 25th. Sohalia will be speaking at UNE in Room 236, Education Building, 2nd floor, from 2-3 pm on July 25th. In the evening, she will also speak at Kent House on 141 Faulkner St, from 6-7pm.

Sohaila, from the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) is in Australia as the keynote speaker at the Coalition for a Feminist Agenda, Townsville conference, July 17-20, on the theme of “Women of Ideas: Feminist Thinking for a New Era”‘ and is then on a speaking tour around Australia until early August providing news of Afghanistan that is often overlooked here.

We hear little of Afghanistan in our media and we are led to believe all iswell there. The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 with the promise to support democracy and women but some 6 years later life has changed little. Afghans are suffering and Sohaila will provide current information of life in Afghanistan under occupation and the ongoing plight of Afghan women that our media fails to report.

In November 2001, then US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, made this strong statement: “The rights of women of Afghanistan will not be negotiable. When the light is fully shed throughout all Afghanistan, the United States is committed to working to ensure not only that women of Afghanistan regain their place in the sun, but they have their place in the future government as well.”

Almost 6 years on, this rhetoric rings hollow, as there have been few positive changes for women and almost no formal international support. Extreme poverty, high mortality rates related to malnutrition, childbirth or suicide, and a culture of misogyny are still bleak features of everyday life. Security for girls is extremely poor: kidnap, rape and murder are frequent. Work for women is scarce and still regarded as inappropriate by extremist males. In the last few weeks, two female journalists have been murdered.

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Forwarded Message from

Honey Greenwood

Armidale Sanctuary

Email: honeygreenwood@aapt.net.au