This sixth assembly of faith-inspired climate actions will strengthen and expand the networking of people and organizations of goodwill working to transition Florida to a blue-green economy. The assembly will motivate people towards ongoing commitment, introduce them to new partnerships, and educate them in new methods of sustainable living. It will especially inform participants on how to respond to the new day of annual extreme weather events arising from the climate crisis. The assembly will offer both science and rituals for everyone to affirm responsible living in relation to Earth biosystems.
The Florida Council of Churches has been convening the Florida Interfaith Climate Actions Network Assembly (FL-iCAN) as an expression of its Care of Creation programming going back to the late 1990’s. Founded in 1947, the Council is the Florida expression of the global ecumenical movement in which church leadership at a particular social level gather to express their unity in common witness to the love of God.
FL-iCAN first convened in 2015 and held five annual assemblies until COVID-19. The sixth assembly this year re-starts the network. The earliest design teams drew from a wide range of religious voices that were committed to addressing climate change. The assemblies have drawn participants from across the state— across geographies and demographics.
With the increased frequency of hurricanes and extreme weather, more mainstream religionists are open to the need for transition. The assembly seeks to connect civic groups and faith actors in new collaborative actions. FL-iCAN is excited to work with the Thriving Earth Exchange, which we learned of through Creation Justice Ministries – the successor of the National Council of Churches program that helped fund our Care of Creation program 25 years ago.
Information about the previous FL-iCAN assemblies can be found at https://fl-ican.org/past-interfaith-climate-action-network-assemblies. Previous themes have explored bridging faith and action, acting with compassion for the climate, caring for the Florida aquifer and its springs, addressing healthy environments and resiliency, and confronting the impact of environmental inequity.
The Sixth Assembly of FL-iCAN would like to gather to express our desire for a healthy environment, learn best practices for living responsibly in the climate crisis, develop ongoing relationships with other people and groups engaged with centering the care of creation in public policy and concern.
The goal of this Assembly is for each participant to name their conscious intention(s) for the well-being of Earth, People, and/or the Commons. Our hope is that FL-iCAN will be an ongoing forum for networking those intentions.
The Assembly is a three day event, March 21-23. Friday evening is the keynote address from Matthew Fox on the value of recovering ritual for healing Earth. Saturday is a series of presentations and workshops organized by track around the keywords for the Earth, for People, and for the Commons. Sunday afternoon is the Cosmic Mass, a two-hour interfaith experience of rituals of grief and healing.
Besides the keynote, over a dozen workshops and presentations will be provided by CLEO, SELF, the Friends, religious leaders, and community activists. A full listing is on the website fl-ican.org. These presenters will draw from their own networks as well as a wide audience adversely affected by recent hurricanes and seeking solutions.
The Assembly will inspire people of faith and goodwill to greater collaborative action and to become more responsible for their own environmental actions. It will also introduce faith groups to new resources for ongoing efforts.
Participants will be grounded in new hopeful actions. The community will benefit from establishing new relationships, and the voices for taking serious climate actions will be strengthened in Florida
The immediate impact of the Assembly will be a renewed emphasis on Earth Day since it coincides with Easter this year, which represents a wonderful opportunity for centering creation care in the lifestyles and choices of churchgoers. The various workshops should lead to future actions in a variety of communities as well as greater support for climate science. Ongoing networking of participants is planned to help with advocacy on public policy concerns.
Sea level rise scientist Harold Wanless, University of Miami, will open the workshop day on Saturday morning, addressing the new climate normal we face in Florida.
September 2024: Establish commitments from previous assembly teams for sixth assembly in Spring 2025.
October 2024: Submit proposal to Thriving Earth for support.
November 2024: Identify theme and invite Matthew Fox for Cosmic Mass
December 2024: Invite additional workshop facilitators, secure venues (St. Pete Coliseum for Cosmic Mass and Trinity Lutheran Church next door for workshops and presentations).
January 2025: Widen audience through key leader connections.
February 2025: Sign contracts for venues and Matthew Fox’s Cosmic Mass, book flights and hotel rooms. Publish registration and agenda.
March 2025: Recruit and train volunteers for the event.
April 2025: Follow up Earth Day surveys of impact on Easter celebrations.
May 2025: Building our climate actions networking.
The Rev. Dr. Russell L. Meyer has led Florida’s historic Protestant churches in public witness for the commons since 2005, emphasizing shared humanity through multi-faith collaboration. His doctoral work focused on designing community conversations that drive collective action using social field theory.
As Executive Director of the Florida Council of Churches, Dr. Meyer advances faith-based advocacy on climate, healthcare, justice reform, refugees, and civic engagement. He leads the Florida Faith Advocacy Office and convenes the Florida Interfaith Climate Actions Network. He also co-founded the Transformative Learning Community in Tampa Bay and helps facilitate the Florida Network’s weekly forum on conversational leadership.
Dr. Meyer serves in dual ministry roles, guiding the renewal of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Jacksonville while supporting faith communities statewide. He has taught ethics and world religions at the collegiate level and played a key role in founding Polk Ecumenical Action Council for Empowerment (PEACE), an interfaith community organization in Lakeland. Nationally, he has chaired committees for the North American Academy for Ecumenism and the National Council of Churches. Since 2013, he has coordinated the Cuba Accompaniment Team of the Florida-Bahamas Synod ELCA, working with Lutheran churches across Cuba.
Beverly Ward is the field secretary for Earthcare, Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends of Truth (Quakers). She has taught several courses at the University of South Florida where she also worked as research faculty. Her related experience includes conducting research and providing technical assistance to communities and local, state, and federal agencies on environmental and social justice, housing, and transportation issues. Among her publications and papers is Saving Ourselves: The Need For Knowledge Sharing and Other Technology Transfer Among the Islands and Nation-States of the American Mediterranean in Response to Climate Change and Other Extreme Events. She has served on several National Academies of Science Transportation Research Board committees and is the past research coordinator for the Equity in Transportation committee.
Beverly is an experiential workshop facilitator trained in conflict management, mediation, strategies on healing for trauma, and personal growth. She is an Alternatives to Violence Project facilitator and helps to provide community and prison workshops. She holds degrees from Vassar College, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the University of South Florida. She lives on lands once inhabited by the Timucua (Ocklawaha River Watershed) and the Tocobaga (Hillsborough Bay Watershed).
Aryaana Khan is an environmental scientist, organizer, and poet— working to address the climate crisis. She was born and raised in Bangladesh, a country annually submerged underwater as a result of climate change.
While completing coursework towards a Bachelor of Science (B.S) in Biology with a minor in Sociology from The City College of New York— Aryaana has gained insights into environmental science and climate change— both inside and outside of the classroom. For the last decade, she has been involved in the youth climate movement through her work with the Climate Emergency Advocates (CEA), Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE), the Wild Center, the Climate Museum, Global Kids, etc.
Aryaana is currently a PhD student in Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability at Northern Arizona University (NAU)— working on scientific research, advocacy, and policy to actualize climate solutions and more resilient communities.
Harold R. Wanless, Ph.D., is chairman and a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Cooper Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Miami. He is available to discuss effects of hurricanes on coastal environments, coastal erosion and post hurricane recovery processes. He has an active research program documenting hurricane effects on coastal environments; and also documenting the geologic and historical evolution of the coastal and shallow marine environments, and influences of sea level rise and anthropogenic stresses. Dr. Wanless chairs the science committee for the Miami-Dade Climate Change Advisory Task Force and is a member of the board of the CLEO Institute.
The Connection Partners / The Florida Network
The CLEO Institute
Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Florida Council of Churches
Creation Justice Ministries
Partnering with faith communities to address sustainability and environmental health concerns.
Susan Glickman, Communications Director, CLEO
Sharon Joy Kleitsch, Connection Partners, convener of the Florida Network
