Christ Church is hosting a free talk with Karena Gore, Founder and Executive Director, Center for
Earth Ethics Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York on Sunday, May 8 at 11:15 am.
The talk, titled, “Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America” includes coffee, breakfast and conversation.
Ms. Gore is the author of the book, Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America. All of these women did work that was highly relevant to Creation Care, particularly Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mother Jones, Alice Hamilton, and Dolores Huerta.
This talk is part of the Christ Church series on “Creation Care.” Biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, climate change, water stress–these are reasons for great concern about the health and future of the environment on which we depend. But there are also many reasons for hope. Science points to clear interventions. Innovation creates new solutions. Markets include natural capital. And, most importantly,
increasing numbers of people with good will and strong intent are rallying to restore nature and “the handiwork of God.” Christ Church is taking proactive steps to engage, educate, and take responsibility for sustainability and protecting the environment.
Ms. Gore, daughter of former Vice President Al Gore, is the founder and executive director of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Karenna formed CEE in 2015 to address the moral and spiritual dimensions of the climate crisis. Working at the intersection of faith, ethics, and ecology, she guides the Center’s public programs, educational initiatives, and movement-building. She also is an ex officio faculty member of Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
Her previous experience includes serving as director of Union Forum at Union Theological Seminary, a platform for theological scholarship to engage with civic discourse and social change. She also worked at the legal center of Sanctuary for Families, which serves victims of domestic violence and trafficking, was director of community affairs for the Association to Benefit Children, which provides early childhood education and other services for New York City families living in poverty, and was an associate with the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
Ms. Gore serves on the boards of the Association to Benefit Children, Pando Populus, which helps local communities leverage their creative and intellectual resources for sustainability, the Sweetwater Cultural Center, an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to promoting the education, health and welfare of Indigenous Peoples and to preserve their cultures and ceremonial practiced locally, regionally, and around the Western Hemisphere, and Riverkeeper, an organization that protects and restores the Hudson River and safeguards drinking water. She is also an expert in the United Nations’ Harmony with Nature Knowledge Network, an online platform of practitioners, academics, and researchers.
A graduate of Harvard College, Karenna earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and a master’s in social ethics from Union Theological Seminary. She lives in New York City with her three children.
Christ Church is a lively community of faith composed of people with diverse backgrounds, circumstances, and spiritual journeys, bound together by God’s love for all people everywhere and united in the common mission to seek and serve God in all persons. We fulfill this work through the dedicated ministries of over 300 volunteers annually, who serve on more than 40 commissions, committees, guilds and task forces. In addition, the church hosts and supports more than 20 community meetings per week including 12-step programs, choral and music groups, neighborhood groups, and children’s programs. The Christ Church Preschool is a regional leader in early education, and our bookstore, Dogwood Gifts and Books, is a thriving resource of both faith-based and secular books. Their 40-year partnership with Neighbor to Neighbor allows them to serve those in Greenwich who are in need of food.
The Mission of Christ Church Greenwich is to be a vibrant Episcopal community proclaiming God’s love for every human being, no exceptions. Following Jesus’ teachings is their compass for personal growth, community outreach and harmonious living. Its vision is to seek and serve God in all people through inspiration from the Bible, worship, community outreach, music, and art in our sacred historic home.