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Climate change and conflict exist in a dangerous spiral: climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability and conflict. Conflict damages the communal and ecological foundations of climate resilience. This relationship illustrates the nature of climate change as more than a technological crisis; it is also a relational and spiritual crisis caused by extractive and violent ideologies. However, this downward spiral is not the only option. There is also a productive spiral: collaboration around climate resilience can build communal justice and cohesion. In turn, greater justice and cohesion help prevent violence and conflict. Collectively, this forward spiral is a process known as environmental peacebuilding.
This interactive workshop will focus on opportunities for environmental peacebuilding and build connections between climate change, peace, and spirituality. Participants will have the opportunity to apply this theory directly by engaging in a climate futures game and will leave with a call to imagination and action.
Elsa Barron is an environmental peace and security researcher, writer, and youth activist. She is a Research Fellow at the D.C.-based think tank, the Center for Climate and Security. She also collaborates with the Institute for Climate and Peace (ICP), a Hawai╩╗i-based climate justice organization, and advocates for climate action amongst youth and faith communities. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and the Christian Science Monitor, among others. In addition to writing, she is the host of the podcast, Olive Shoot, which highlights reasons for hope in the midst of the climate crisis through diverse approaches to environmental peacebuilding around the world. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame where she studied peace studies and biology and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship upon graduation. During her studies, Elsa researched grassroots environmental peacebuilding in Palestine. She has continued to engage in the region, and recently returned from Bethlehem where she led a project to construct a methane digester at a sustainable, peace-oriented farm.
This event is approved for Around the Table credit