This now abbreviated summit will focus on the role of faith communities in helping their community members build resilience, whether from future climate impacts such as floods, extreme heat, and severe storms, or more immediate concerns like a pandemic. We will shall share knowledge on the types of changes we are already seeing and can expect to see in the Northeast, discuss practical ways congregations can prepare themselves and their surrounding community, and discern together how our spiritual practices could help sustain not only our efforts, but also our souls, hearts, and minds, as we engage in this most critical mission.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED This year! A LINK TO A RECORDING OF 2023 HYBRID INTERFAITH SUMMIT CAN BE FOUND: Here

Interested in hosting a similar event in your area? Want to learn how your congregation can help the community prepare for climate impacts? Contact us!

UPDATED AGENDA FOR DIGITAL/IN-PERSON PARTICIPATION

4:00pm-4:05pm Welcome, Rev. Vernon K. Walker, Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW) 

4:05pm-4:10pm Singing Lead by "What the world needs now - Interfaith Coalition Singers," Song Leader Jenny Bonham-Carter

4:10pm-4:15pm Land acknowledgement, Jean-Luc Pierite, North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB)

4:15pm-4:25pm Defining this year theme, Rabbi Katy Allen

4:25pm-4:45pm Keynote Address, Rabbi Greg Hersh

Breakout groups 4:45pm-5:30pm

In-Person Facilitators 

Breakout group #1 This workshop will be lead by HERO and the breakout group will focus on the intersections of healing through nature and spirit-values based identities.

Breakout group #2: This workshop will be lead by Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light and Tufts Pollinator Garden. this workshop will be led by the organization Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light and focus on "Buildings and Grounds." What are the ways our faith communities can help build climate resilience?

Virtual Facilitator

Breakout group #3: This online workshop will be lead by Fo Guang Buddhist Temple Boston and will focus on the work there are doing to help bring communities together.

Break-Out Group 

5:30pm-5:40pm Breakout Group Report Backs and Reflections

5:40pm-5:50pm- Next Steps and Resources - Several CREW team members, Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW)

5:50pm-5:55pm Singing Lead by "What the world needs now - Interfaith Coalition Singers," Song Leader Jenny Bonham-Carter

5:55pm-6:00pm Sending words, Anthony Cruz Pantojas, Humanist Chaplain.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: RABBI GREG HERSH

Greg grew up in Connecticut and earned his BA in Philosophy and Religion at George Washington University. After college, setting out to further bridge the gaps between Eastern and Western thought, Greg traveled to Southeast Asia where he taught English, lived in a Buddhist monastery, and explored other Eastern philosophies. The following year was spent in Jerusalem before applying to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he is now in his final year of studies. Since starting at RRC in 2010, Greg participated in Tom Brown’s Tracker School which gave him a deeper understanding of Native American philosophy and an intractable love of the wilderness. Integrating his passions for Judaism and nature, Greg was certified by TorahTrek as a Jewish Wilderness Guide in 2013.  As the student interim rabbi at Kehillath Shalom Synagogue in Cold Springs Harbor in New York, Greg brought all his passions to his work as he pushed each individual to grow into the best version of themselves.  As a Rabbi, Greg will be able to combine his many interests such as music, teaching, and history to his work.