Climate Change Conference 18-20 November 2005
This major National Conference brought together diverse members of the Catholic Church as well as representatives of public bodies, other faith communities, NGOs and international guests.
Bishop Christopher Toohey presented the Bishops' position paper:
Climate Change - Our Responsibility to Sustain God's Earth
The text only version is on: this page
Father Michael Mackenzie's Presentation
Michael Mackenzie is a Catholic priest from the Pacific Island nation of Kirabati. Michael travelled to Sydney in 2005 to address the Australian Catholic bishops on the problems his people were experiencing in the face of climate change in his region of the Pacific. He was supported by other visitors from the Pacific Islands of Tuvalu and Samoa.
Good
Shepherd Powerpoint Presentation (74KB)
Good Shepherd Youth and Family service:
microfinance program looks at NILS "No interest loan
scheme" and the presentation also outlines the StepUp loan
program
NOTE: 27.04.06 Australia's richest bank boosts Good Shepherd help for poor
Bill
Stoeger's presentation (Rich Text Format 59 KB)
Our Intimate Links with the Universe and Nature: The View from
Cosmology and Astrobiology by William R. Stoeger, S. J.
Fr. Bill Stoeger SJ - cosmologist and astrophysicist from the Vatican Observatory and University of Arizona. In his presentation, Fr. Stoeger provides a brief overview of what we know about our observable universe and its history, as well as the origin and development of Earth and of the life on it. He emphasises our complete dependence upon the key events and transitions of cosmic, geological and biological evolution and our deep connections with the Earth and with all life. As it also appears that the universe we inhabit has been fine tuned for complexity and therefore for life, Stoeger explores the significance of this for both science and theology.
To read a transcript of a follow-up interview with Fr Bill Stoeger please visit: Encounter - Radio National 2 April 2006
Brendan Mackey Powerpoint Presentation (233 KB)
Brendan Mackey - has a PhD in plant ecology
from the Australian National University. He has worked as a
research scientist with the CSIRO and the Canadian Forest
Service.
He is Chief Investigator for an ARC Linkage research project
which is investigating connectivity processes important for
conservation assessment and planning, including: continental
landscape productivity; dispersive fauna; biodiversity decline in
extensive country; and trophic regulation by meso-predators. He
is a member of the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting. He currently
serves as chair of the International Earth Charter Education
Advisory Committee and is a member of the IUCN (World
Conservation Union) Environmental Law Commission and co-chair of
its Specialist Ethics Group.
Janette Lindsay's Powerpoint Presentation (3.13 MB)
Dr Janette Lindesay - is senior lecturer in
climatology, climate variability and change at Australian
National University. She also holds the position of Education
Manager for the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse
Accounting. Janette has contributed to the ACT Region State of
the Environment Report for the last 10 years and served as
President of the Canberra branch of the Australian Meterological
and Oceanographic Society. She is a member of three professional
meteorological societies, and is on the editorial boards of two
international atmospheric science journals.
Janette recently addressed a plenary conference of the Australian
Catholic bishops on the theme of climate change.
Denis Edwards - text document (96 KB)
Denis Edwards - powerpoint presentation (207 KB)
Fr.Denis Edwards MA Fordham, STD,
CUA - is a senior lecturer in systematic theology
in the School of Theology of Flinders University. He teaches for
Catholic Theological College within the ecumenical consortium of
the Adelaide College of Divinity. He is a priest of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide. Currently he is the chair of
the ecumenical commission of the archdiocese of Adelaide. He is a
member of the Australian Anglican - Roman Catholic Commission and
is co-chair of the national Lutheran - Roman Catholic Dialogue.
He is a member of the Catholic Earthcare Australia Advisory
Council.
In recent years he has been involved in setting up the Flinders
University and Adelaide College of Divinity Centre for Theology,
Science and Culture and serves on its board. He has been involved
with some of the international series of conferences on science
and theology cosponsored by the Center for Theology and the
Natural Sciences (Berkeley) and the Vatican Observatory. In 1992
he was invited to become a founding member of the International
Society for Science and Religion. Most recent book: Breath of
Life: A Theology of the Creator Spirit (2004), published by Orbis
Press.
David
Hallman's presentation (Text only: 94KB)
Document also
available as HTML
Dr David Hallman - has worked on the national
staff of The United Church of Canada since 1976 carrying a wide
range of social justice responsibilities and for the World
Council of Churches (WCC) since 1993 as coordinator of the WCC
Climate Change Programme.Environmental concerns have been the
major component of his portfolio for the past twenty years. Over
that period, he has given leadership in The United Church of
Canada and ecumenically on ecological theology and ethics as well
as a variety of specific environmental and energy concerns,
including, nuclear wastes, acid rain, ozone depletion, forestry
and climate change.
He is currently Co-chair of the Ecological Justice Programme
Committee of Kairos Canada which is the Canadian ecumenical
coalition which assists national churches co-ordinate reaseach
and advocacy on social and environmental issues. In addition to
his work on the national staff of the United Church of Canada, he
also serves for the World Council of Churches as Co-ordinator of
the WCC Climate Change Programme.
Tony McMichael's powerpoint presentation: (1.98MB)
Professor Tony McMichael MB BS (Univ Adelaide), PhD
(Monash Univ), FAFPHM, FTSE - is a biomedical scientist
and Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and
Population Health ANU. Tony has recently coordinated the
Assessment of Health Impacts project for the United Nation's
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In 2003 he edited the World Health Organization/United Nations
book: 'Climate Change and Human Health:Risk and
Responses'. Tony's research interests have spanned
various social and environmental influences on health. His most
recent book is:Human Frontiers and Disease:Past Patterns,
Uncertain Futures.
Peter
Arndt's Powerpoint presentation (1.04 MB)
COOL Communities...Home energy workshops
Peter Arndt is Executive Officer of Brisbane's Catholic
Justice and Peace Commission.
The Cool Communities Project was a series of workshops run on the
Gold Coast, in Brisbane, the Fraser Coast and in the South
Burnett in 2003 and 2004.
During that time, over 360 households attended workshops in which
they learned ways in which they could reduce their consumption of
electricity and other forms of energy which require the burning
of fossil fuels like coal and oil.