Impact+Amplify promotes integrated whole systems
thought and proaction at both ecosystemic and cultural scale.
Impact+Amplify
We seek to enable life-long learning and sustained, productive
collaborations among people of good will to integrate culture within nature.
Keynote speaker: The Rev. Rebekah Simon-Peter
Scientist and United Methodist minister, author of Green Church: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rejoice! and Seven Simple Steps to Green Your Church
Director of BridgeWorks
2011 Conference brings together faithful from many traditions
The first annual conference among communities of faith on Care for Creation took place at Our Lady of Nazareth Catholic Church on Saturday April 2, 2011, sponsored by Greene Memorial United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, the Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Virlina District of the Church of the Brethren, Catholic Churches of the Roanoke Valley, Calvary Baptist Church, Spirituality and Ecology, and the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
The Conference Schedule included concurrent workshops on Sabbath Keeping and Sabbath Economics; Healthy Life in a Healthy Place,; Averting Disasters (“natural,” health and social); How Being a Locavore Feeds Your Body, Soul, Community, and the Earth; Greening our Churches, Homes and Communities, and "Green Burial." Presenters included, among others: Tom Fame, M.D., OLPH Haiti Project and Tom Cain, Executive Director of Impact+Amplify; Virginia Tech-Carilion Research Institute; Diane Elliot, owner, Local Roots, a farm-to-table restaurant' Trieste Lockwood, Director of Virginia Interfaith Power & Light; Billy Weitzenfeld, Dir., Assn. Of Energy Conservation Professionals; Dr. Diana Christopulos, President of the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition, and Dr. Michael Bentley, author and environmental educator.
A delicious "green" lunch was served and the Conference concluded with an Interfaith Celebration led by Roma Willis Turner followed by brief reports from each of the workshops.
Conference photos.
Spirituality & Ecology
an ongoing interfaith and intercultural conversation about spirituality in environmentalismAs people of different faiths and cultures, we join together to honor our common creation, and to be faithful, dedicated stewards supporting, nurturing and caring for:
• The land we live on – to preserve it and keep it from abuse, sprawl and destruction;
• The water that refreshes our lives – keeping it clean and free from pollution;
• The air we breathe – to protect it from agents that contaminate our bodies and our lives;
• The energy we consume – to be more conservative in our use of it and to look for renewable energy sources; and for
• The rest of creation, the diversity and magnificence of which enriches and nourishes us in physical and spiritual ways.We believe that only through compassion, understanding and love can we hope to survive and thrive as a species uniquely capable of spiritual expression of gratitude for and wonder about the mysteries of on-going creation.
Four core values shared by the world’s great religious traditions are:
In the Roanoke River, New River, and Upper James River Valleys, we have come together to share our thoughts and to work proactively for the safety, health and well-being of our communities and bioregion. We hope our coalition of religious, cultural and environmental groups might contribute to the effort to comprehend Creation and to bring peace, love and joy to all of it. You are invited to join us.
* All life is to be respected.
* People of faith must ensure that air, water, and land – which belong to the Divine - sustain life on Earth.
* Society owes justice and care to its most vulnerable people and communities, and to future generations.
* Our faith traditions call us to protect and promote the health of the human body. (National Council of Churches of Christ)
Hinduism
Buddhism
Judaism
Islam
Orthodox
Christian
Episcopal/Anglican
Methodist
Lutheran
Presbyterian
Quaker
Church
of the Brethren
