We learned about
• UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• UN Commission on the Status of Women and how the focus on women and children fits with our work for Environmental Justice.
• Local Collective of Community Environmental Activities.
• Formation of Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice and how to plug in locally.
• History of celebrating the “Season of Creation” at SsAM.
• And much more…
We met
10am to 2pm, Saturday, October 19, and 8am to 2pm on Sunday, October 20 at
the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew (SsAM), Wilmington, Delaware.
DAY ONE
Saturday, October 19:
Panel Discussion with a diverse group of environmental and social justice activists
Saturday Lunch Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Fatemeh Shafiei, Dean of Political Science at Spelman College
Saturday Panel Moderator:
Dr. Cecilia Martinez, E.D., Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy
Invited Panelists:
- Professor Susan Lea Smith, Professor of Law and Director of Certificate Program in Sustainability, Willamette University; member of the international Water Ethics working group, Sustainable Water Future program, and World Council of Churches Ecumenical Water Network.
- Lynnaia Main, Episcopal Church Representative to the United Nations.
- Michele Roberts, National Co-Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance.
- Linda Whitehead, Ph.D., Vestry Member at SsAM; member of Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice, (DCR4EJ), an EJHA affiliate.
- Brighton M. Kaoma, Co-Founder and Partner at Agents of Change Foundation Zambia, and former Washington Mandela Fellow 2017.
The panel will include a report back from the 2019 annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (*UNCSW), which was attended by several of the panelists.
This event builds on a legacy of successful Environmental Justice (EJ) “Town Halls” hosted by the Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice and allies. This EJ symposium will be similar to the EJ Town Halls DCREJ has hosted in the past, but with a more specific focus on the connections between local EJ work and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those dealing with the intersecting struggles for Environmental Justice and for the protection of women and girls, both locally and around the world.
DAY TWO
Sunday, October 20:
Preaching, Interactions
8:00 am – Early church service with Brighton Kaoma, preacher; limited music; all are welcome.
10:30 am Later service with Brighton Kaoma, preacher; lots of music; all are welcome.
12:00-2:00 pm – Follow-up from Sunday. Finger foods will be offered plus the opportunity to interact informally with members of Saturday’s panel.
Brighton Kaoma, of the Agents of Change Foundation, is a youth activist and a graduate student at Columbia University. Brighton will be the preacher at both the 8:00 and 10:30 am services on Sunday. Everyone is welcome to the church services.
Sponsors
The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice, Episcopal Church Women, and Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform.
