Speakers
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Archbishop Julio MurrayAnglican Communion , Anglican Bishop of PanamaArchbishop Julio E. Murray is the Anglican Bishop of Panama. He was elected Diocesan Bishop in a Special Convention in 2000 and is a member of the Afro-Panamanian Religious Organizations; precursor of the Celebration of Black Ethnicity Day in Panama since May 30, 2002; as well as the National Council of Black Ethnicity since 2005. Archbishop Murray is the vice president of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of the Central Region of Americas.
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Brian WebbChristian Climate Observers Program, Co-Director
Brian Webb serves as the Director of Campus Sustainability at The College of Wooster, where he leads the college’s efforts to promote environmental stewardship at an institutional level. Before coming to Wooster in August 2023, Brian worked at Houghton University, where he helped achieve a 46% carbon footprint reduction in just ten years and taught such courses as Environmental Communication,
Environmental Public Policy, and God, Country, and Climate Change.
Brian holds an undergraduate
degree in French, a master’s degree in Experiential Education, and a second master’s degree in
Sustainability and Environmental Management from Harvard Extension School. Brian also serves as an active leader in the faith-based environmental movement and co-directs the Christian Climate Observers Program, which mentors emerging faith leaders at the COP. His research centers around the
intersection between climate policy, environmental communication, and faith communities in the United States and elsewhere. -
James SternlichtFounder and CEO of The Peace Department
James Sternlicht is an aspiring international peacebuilder through systems-thinking models and sustainable development serving as the founder and CEO of The Peace Department. James is also on the board of Oceanic Global as Director for Strategic Development and an Eisenhower Fellows Trustee. By finding himself at the intersection of the worlds of investing, marketing, and philanthropy, he seeks to drive this vision forward with a team of like-minded individuals dedicated to optimizing the effectiveness of efforts towards a bright and omniconsiderate future.
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Jessica BwaliTearfund & Climate YES, Global Advocacy Team Associate
Jessica is based in Lusaka, Zambia. She was a radio presenter and producer for United Voice radio in Lusaka, Zambia. Jessica has also worked on Pan African Radio (Lusaka) and Solwezi Radio (North-Western Province). She works on advocacy communications for Tearfund, Abundant Africa and Renew Our World. She was an African Ambassador of the Methodist Church at COP26. She is a member of the Climate YES ecumenical youth movement.
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Rabbi Yonatan NerilThe Interfaith Center for Sustainable, Founder & Director
Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development. Raised in California, Yonatan completed an M.A. and B.A. from Stanford University with a global environmental focus , and received rabbinical ordination in Israel. He speaks internationally on religion and the environment, and co-organized thirteen interfaith environmental conferences in Israel and the U.S. He is the lead author and general editor of three books on Jewish environmental ethics, including Eco Bible, a bestseller in several Amazon Kindle categories. He lives with his wife, Shana and their two children in Jerusalem.
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Vanessa NakateRise Up Movement, Founder
Vanessa Nakate is a climate activist from Uganda . She was the First Fridays For Future climate activist in Uganda and founder of the Rise up Climate Movement, which has mobilized tens of thousands youth in Africa, amplifying their voices. Her work includes raising awareness to the danger of climate change, the causes and the impacts. She spearheaded the campaign to save Congo’s rainforest, which is facing massive deforestation. This campaign later spread to other countries from Africa to Europe. She is working on a project that involves installation of solar and institutional stoves in schools. She holds a degree in Business Administration in Marketing from Makerere University Business School. Vanessa was one of the young climate activists who were chosen to speak at the COP25 gathering in Spain, and she was one of 20 climate activists who penned a letter addressed a letter to the participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos, calling on them to stop subsidizing fossil fuels.
Exploring Religious Resistance to Climate Action – A Rocha International & Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development
Religious communities are expected to provide the moral ground to address the climate crisis and to mobilize their members to take up meaningful and transformational climate actions. Nevertheless, some major religious circles across various faith traditions, in both the Global North and Global South, have demonstrated resistance, even hostility toward climate actions. To understand the various reasons behind such resistance would be the needed first step to break down the barriers. This session will explore the reasons for religious resistance to climate conversations and action, and showcase opportunities for changes and progress. Voices from major faith traditions will share how they are handling these particular challenges, and successfully mobilize their communities to action.