When: Wednesday, September 13, 2023 6:00 PM pacific

Join us to honor the Season of Creation on September 13th at Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community, our video webcast series exploring the intersections of faith, ecology, justice, and spirituality. Bishop Marc Andrus and Dr. Paloma Pavel will interview Peggy Shepard, Co-Founder and Executive Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, the first Environmental Justice organization that empowered communities of color in the fight for environmental health and justice.

Peggy Shepard is co-chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council to President Biden. She was also chair to the EPA on Force 40 guidelines, which aimed to deliver 40 percent of the benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities hurt first and worst by the climate crisis. She says: “We are in the midst of a racial pandemic, a COVID-19 pandemic, and a climate crisis…so the concept is that we’re advising the White House directly, and the White House staff instead of just the EPA.”

Peggy also serves on the Executive Committee of the National Black Environmental Justice Network and the Board of Advisors of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. She was awarded the Jane Jacobs Medal from the Rockefeller Foundation for Lifetime Achievement in 2008, the 10^th Annual Heinz Award for the environment in 2004, the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and Honorary Doctorates from Smith College and Lawrence University. In 2021, she was made Knight of the French National Order of Merit.

Our guest musician is jazz phenomenon Ben Flint, Director of Music at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. Ben traveled the world as keyboardist for Isaac Hayes and has appeared with Mr. Hayes on shows such as Good Morning America, the Today show and Late Night with David Letterman. He teaches jazz choir and jazz combo at Diablo Valley College and has been the Artistic Director for the Oakland Jazz Choir for the past 8 years.

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Co-sponsored by the Center for Climate Justice and Faith at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, a graduate school of California Lutheran University and member of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA.