Reawakening Humanity’s Sacred Connection with Earth

Encounters to co-create a future with greater love, courage, and action

Description

Reawakening Humanity’s Sacred Connection with Earth

Encounters to co-create a future with greater love, courage, and action

The Fetzer Institute Environment Collaborative invites you to honor our sacred relationship with the Earth, uniting perspectives for bold climate solutions to address the climate crisis through spiritual and indigenous worldviews.

Together, we will enter a current of spirit that begins from within and flows and grows among us in shared ceremony and dialogue, reflection, encounter and purpose throughout the day. We will celebrate and explore the sacred spirit that connects us to each other, all living beings, and our Earth while honoring the grief and joy, struggle and courage that accompany our work.

Through meditation and dialogue, music and movement, and evidence-based stories of transformation, we will discover how spirituality and ancient wisdom are vital forces for meaningful climate action. Together, we will deepen our relationships, chart practical pathways of change, and generate authentic collaborations that emanate from spirit and manifest into effective climate solutions that are necessary for a just, loving and compassionate future.

WHEN | September 20, 2026, 8:30 am – 5:30 pm

WHERE | Columbia University, The Lee Bollinger Forum

We welcome you to join us on Columbia University’s campus, or tune in virtually via our event livestream. Please register for your preferred attendance below.

If you’re unable to attend the event but would like to learn more about it or stay updated on the Environment Collaborative’s work, please reach out to Xiaoan Li, Senior Program Officer, at [email protected].

Event Flow

An invitation to experience the presence of the spiritual/Sacred within ourselves, with each other, all living things, and the Earth, as a vital component of our efforts to address the climate crisis. The agenda has been intentionally and thoughtfully crafted in reverence, hope, and collective wisdom both from and for this field.

Join us for conversations that creatively envision the future with greater love, courage, and tangible action.

8:00 a.m. | Arrival, Registration, and Breakfast

Meet us in The Lee Bollinger Forum for the headwaters of our day together.

The morning starts from inner spirit, flowing into sacred relationship with Earth and each other, emanating within and among ourselves, and then in greater engagement with the community gathered here, and then shared experience through collective song and dance.

The purpose of our time together will be to kindle and inspire within all participants the divine spirit of love and compassion for each other, all living beings and our Earth. We believe this emanates from within, before illuminating among each other so profoundly as to be carried forth with courage and conviction into the world.

8:30 a.m. | Opening Ceremony and Remarks

Auditorium

Indigenous representatives from each of the Four Directions
Paddle-in Ceremony by members of Quinault Indian Nation
Remarks by Chief Oren Lyons

9:30 a.m. | Morning Gathering

A welcome and invitation from the Fetzer Institute’s Environment Collaborative
Remarks by Steven Harris (Fetzer Institute) and Peggy Dulany (Synergos)
Somatic practice and closing meditation

10:15 a.m | Reflecting and Connecting

Auditorium

This session invites participants to discuss and explore questions related to your inner world, your relationship with spirituality and the Sacred, and our ability to address global challenges together to creatively envision the future.

The audience will also be invited to participate in an interactive spiritual practice.

11:15 a.m. | Uniting in a Circle of Oneness

Attendees will be invited to create a shared experience of connection through sound, presence, and participation, to move beyond the individual and touch a sense of belonging to something larger, anchored in love.

12:00 p.m. | Lunch

Lunch will be served in the Atrium East.

1:15 - 2:10 p.m. | Catalyzing Action

The afternoon encounters will expand the spirit of the morning sessions outwardly, with the leaders and attendees sharing experiences of the Sacred manifesting in our work with evidence-based success that we seek to advance and co-create further into the world.

This first afternoon session invites participants to explore a new, expanding set of questions and considerations on transforming the world’s current trajectory.

2:20 - 3:30 p.m. | Deepening the Pathways of Action

In small group settings using breakout spaces, we will dive into specific topics to ideate on what we, in this time, are invited to build for the collective future:

Joy, Courage, and Compassion in the Movement
De-risking Investment Through the Indigenous Lens
Addressing the Dualism Between Spirit and the Material in Environmental, Academic, and Conservation Communities
Community Resilience as Islands of Coherence
Conscious Food Systems: A Sacred Vision for Transformation
The Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Justice

3:45 - 4:45 p.m. | Weaving the Future

We will gather back together to learn from each group about their Sacred-led action and pathways of action, and how we can collaborate into the future.

4:45 p.m. | Closing Ceremony

Auditorium

Auditorium Paddle Out Ceremony (members of Quinault Indian Nation)

About the Hosts, Facilitators, and Speakers

Fetzer Institute Environment Collaborative

The event host is Fetzer Institute’s Environment Collaborative, a growing network of leaders and organizations who understand that our environmental challenges are deeply spiritual in nature. These changemakers bring together diverse faith traditions, Indigenous wisdom, contemplative practices, ecological science, and systems thinking. What unites them is a commitment to re-centering our relationship with Earth — not as a commodity to be managed, but as a sacred connection to be honored and cultivated.

Learn more here.

Reawakening Humanity’s Sacred Connection with Earth

Encounters to co-create a future with greater love, courage, and action

Description