Environmentalism and religion joined forces this weekend at the "All Together Now" conference, an event that stressed spirituality and morality as essential elements in dealing with today's environmental issues.
The conference, initiated by Lutheran co-pastors Michael and Susan Thomas, bypassed the typical array of scientific details in favor of faith as its focus. The event was the first of its kind at Dartmouth and asserted that communities of faith can be a powerful means of changing people's attitudes toward the earth.
"It seems that material goods and the 'good life' are really clashing with what the earth provides," Susan Thomas said. "We need to reevaluate what we view as the important things in life, and religions can offer some other things that are worth living for."
Dartmouth's Sustainability Director Jim Merkel, who also spoke at the event, emphasized the importance of living by one's beliefs and being inspired to take environmental action out of love for the Earth.
"So often, people feel fear about the future. But the motivation to save the Earth could be love instead of fear or obligation," Merkel said. "It's hard to act properly if our whole foundation is shaky."
To further highlight the importance of spirituality, the conference coincided with the Christian Feast Day of St. Francis, who was an appropriate symbol for the event because of his vow of poverty, Susan Thomas said.
Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and a Methodist Layman, also said that the teachings of Jesus should be used, and not avoided, to inspire people to consider the planet's well-being instead of solely their own needs.
Along with Merkel and McKibben, keynote speakers included Jewish studies professor Susannah Heschel and Barbara Rossing, author of "The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation."
While the speakers at the conference repeatedly stated that environmental issues are immediately pressing, scientific evidence was not mentioned in the course of the discussions.
"We need to make [the next] 10 years ones where we drop everything tangential and focus on this," Rossing said.
Many enthusiastic community members attended the event, where they were able to discuss the urgent need for environmental action in the spiritual and religious communities.
"I think it's been a really good community event, and it's good to see people of all faiths sharing what we have in common -- the earth," Allison Smith '06 said. "What's different with this group is that they view it as a moral obligation."
The event began Friday afternoon in Filene Auditorium with a variety of speeches as well as multi-faith mealtime prayers. The event continued Saturday morning at Our Savior Lutheran Church and Student Center with a breakfast and a meditative walk along the Connecticut River.
All Together Now was sponsored by Dartmouth's Tucker Foundation Multi-faith Initiative, the Dartmouth Sustainability Initiative and Our Savior Lutheran Church & Student Center.
