Powerful Online Earth Day at Home Webinar on “Planting the Seeds for a New Normal” Brings Together Faith Leaders, the United Nations and Leading Faith Based Organisation to Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Earth Day
GLOBAL: Today on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, Parmarth Niketan and the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance brought together Faith Leaders, the United Nations and Leading Faith Based Organisations from all over the world to unite with one vision of how humanity can move forward from this Covid 19 crisis into a period of healing and harmony with ourselves and Mother Nature.
The theme of the event was “Planting Seeds for a New Normal.” What seeds of love, unity and oneness do we need to be planting and nourishing during this time for the garden of the ‘new normal’ to grow? How can we create a world where both the Earth and humanity can be healthy? How are we going to co-create a new way of living?
The powerful webinar was organised in partnership with UN Environment Programme, Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Religions for Peace International, Parliament of the World’s Religions, United Religions Initiative and Faith for Earth, as well as Unify and Uplift Connect.
JOIN the following high level leaders, inspiring speakers and thinkers:
- Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, President of Parmarth Niketan & Co-Founder of Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, Rishikesh, India
- Rabbi David Rosen, International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee , Jerusalem, Israel
- Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singhji, Chairman of the Nishkam Group of Charitable Organisations , Burmingham, UK
- Maulana Mahmood Madaniji, Secretary General of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind , Delhi, India
- Rev. Michael Beckwith, Founder and Spiritual Director of the Agape International Spiritual Center , Los Angeles, USA
- Dr. Vandana Shivaji, world-renowned environmentalist and activist, Founder of Navdanya , Dehradun, India
- Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji, Secretary-General of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance , Rishikesh, India
- Dr. Azza Karam, Secretary General of Religions for Peace , New York, USA
- Rev. Victor Kazanjian, Executive Director of the United Religions Initiative , San Francisco, USA
- Audrey Kitagawa, Chair of the Parliament of the World’s Religions , New York, USA
- Iyad Abumoghli, Director, Faith for the Earth, United Nations Environment Programme , Nairobi, Kenya
- Andrew Harvey, author, speaker, and founder/director of the Institute of Sacred Activism , Chicago, USA
- Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, Founder of Jacob Soetendorp Institute for Human Values, Co-Founder Green Cross International, Co-Founder Global Interfaith WASH Alliance , Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Father Paul Moonjely, Executive Director of Caritas India , Delhi, India
- Matteus Van Der Velden, Manager, Asia Regional Unit of WSSCC , Geneva, Switzerland
- with divine music from Deva Premal & Miten world’s leading chant artists and more!
The panel was broken up into three inspiring sessions opening with a faith leaders panel on the theme of “The Earth as a Living Being,” moving into the second segment with heads of leading Faith Based and UN organisations on “Faith as an Agent of Change” and closing with a panel on “Sacred Activism” again with eminent faith leaders.
The panels wove into each other with sacred music and prayers from each faith tradition, inspiring and encouraging everyone to join together to give birth and co-create a new normal in which we can live in harmony with Mother Nature and Mother Earth.
