| FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 7, 2003 3:18 PM | CONTACT:
Religious
Witness for the Earth Sharon Pickett 301-365-9307 |
DATE/TIME/PLACE: Wednesday, November 12 Participants will gather at 11:00 am at the Community Church of New York, 40 E. 35th St., and then walk about 20 blocks to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across from the United Nations. The outdoor interfaith service will begin at 1:15 pm.
SPONSOR: Religious Witness for the Earth, a national interfaith environmental network dedicated to public witness on environmental issues, especially global climate change (www.religiouswitness.org).
SPECIAL NOTE:
· Four Buddhist monks are leading a small delegation walking to New York City from Western Massachusetts. The monks believe that slowing global warming is central to achieving peace and justice in the world.
· Other worshipers will arrive from around the Northeast using green transportation, e.g., vans powered by biodiesel (made from vegetable oil) and hybrid cars.
· Photo Op: Dozens of clergy in colorful religious vestments; hundreds of worshipers singing and praying for an end to global warming.
SPEAKERS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS
Ambassador Enele Sopoaga is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for the Permanent Mission of Tuvalu to the United Nations and Vice Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States. Tuvalu is a Pacific island nation facing rising sea levels caused by global warming. Mr. Sopoaga is fluent in English.
Ross Gelbspan is the author of The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-up, the Prescription. Gelbspan won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for a series of articles that he wrote for the Boston Globe.
Rev. Fred Small is minister of First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Massachusetts, and co-chair of Religious Witness for the Earth. Before entering the ministry, Fred was a staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation and a folksinger/songwriter.
Bishop Bud Cederholm, Jr. is Bishop Suffragen of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Bishop Cederholm was instrumental in creating the first Bishops Pastoral Letter on the Environment. The letter was signed by all of the Episcopal bishops in New England and released in the spring of 2003.
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