For the fifth consecutive year, Houghton College is hosting the Faith and Justice Symposium. This year’s theme is Environmental Justice: Hope for Humanity and Creation. For the first time Sustainability Coordinator Brian Webb will be in charge of the symposium and is looking forward to the ways our community will learn and respond to key environmental issues at hand.
According to Webb, this year’s topic was chosen based on student input following the last symposium. Most of the feedback they received indicated that students were concerned with issues regarding environmental justice. This feedback heavily influenced the choice of this year’s topic.
With a background in environmental issues, Webb was able to identify some speakers he believed would be a good fit for the topic of environmental justice. As seen listed on the college’s Faith and Justice Symposium website, the speakers for this year’s symposium come from many different areas, including Wednesday’s chapel speaker, Tafue Lusama, from the island of Tuvalu, and Friday’s chapel speaker Alexie Torres-Fleming who is from the Bronx.
This afternoon, students will have the opportunity to attend one or two different, hour long workshops at 1:30 and 2:45. For both time slots five different workshops will be offered, all addressing and discussing issues concerning the topic of environmental justice from a Christian perspective. Some workshops being offered include, “The Theology of Creation Care” with John Elwood, the editor of BelovedPlanet.com; “The New Face of Conflict Resolution: Using Natural Resources to Foster Peace” with Christen Civiletto Morris, attorney and author of Green City Savior; and “On Earth as it is in Heaven: Justice for all Creation” with Jason Fileta, director of Micah Challenge U.S.A. Workshops.
Webb is excited to see how our community comes together to learn about these issues of justice, “Environmental justice issues, they’re complicated, and there are often not straightforward solutions, but there are often very specific things we can do as well.” Webb said, “I think this year will provide opportunities for people to hear about not only the problems that are happening around the world, but about the ways we can go about addressing those issues as a community of faith.”
To conclude the Faith and Justice Symposium, the film Promised Land, will be shown in the Recital Hall tonight at 7:30. According to Wesley Lovell, critic for Cinema Sight, Promised Land is “an engaging film about the dangers of fracking and the crass manipulation employed by its proponents.” Webb said, “[The film] gets you to think about it. It doesn’t try to slam you over the head with a particular message that it wants you to get . . . but it really does cause you to think.” After the film, a panel discussion featuring Professor Doug Gaerte, John Elwood, and Professor Ron Oakerson will take place.