wfn.org | [ENS] FEAST: San Francisco to host World Environment Day June 1-5

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

Monday, March 21, 2005 -- FEAST: Faith, Environment, Action, Science,
Technology

San Francisco to host World Environment Day June 1-5

[Editor's Note: The online forum "FEAST" will offer new packets of
reporting
posted every Monday throughout Eastertide 2005, and continue with
breaking
news and occasional features thereafter. FEAST seeks to widen coverage
of
intersections of faith and the sciences as well as highlighting
environmental protection and sustainability. The forum can be found
online
at: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_59978_ENG_HTM.htm.]

[ENS] World Environment Day (WED), established by the United Nations
General
Assembly in 1972 to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance
political attention and public action, will be held in San Francisco
June
1-5, 2005 and will include special events focusing on urban
environmental
issues.

Each day of the five-day event will focus on a specific theme: urban
power
(energy, renewables and energy conservation), cities on the move
(transportation), redesigning metropolis (waste diversion and the built
environment), pure elements (food, water and air) and "flower power"
(open
space, biodiversity and greening the urban environment).

A special event at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, "Oil on Ice: Don't be
misinformed on what oil drilling in the ANWR means for us," will be
offered
at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, the closing day of WED.

Oil on Ice is "a vivid, compelling and comprehensive documentary
connecting
the fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to decisions America
makes
about energy policy, transportation choices, and other seemingly
unrelated
matters. Caught in the balance are the culture and livelihood of the
Gwich'in people and the migratory wildlife in this fragile ecosystem."

WED will offer workshops, tours, seminars, an environmental film
festival,
arts programming, experiential educational activities, eco-tours, and
other
events which will be attended by Bay Area governments, businesses,
non-profits, residents, as well as many of the 16 million tourists who
annually visit San Francisco.

Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment
Program
(UNEP), said, "With careful planning our cities can become places where
the
hopes of the millions of people who flock to them can be realized.
Places
where people can live in a clean and healthy environment, where they can
find work and where children can get a good education."

The Episcopal Church's Peace and Justice Ministries Office focuses on
Environmental Stewardship through its active participation in the
ecumenical
Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches and by
providing liaison support to the Episcopal Ecological Network, a
grassroots
network which helps the Church advocate and articulate protection of the
environment and preserving the sanctity of creation.

The U.N. was established in 1945 at the Fairmont Hotel near Grace
Cathedral,
San Francisco, where Episcopal Bishop William Swing of California also
founded the United Religions Initiative (URI), a global community
committed
to promoting enduring, daily interfaith cooperation and to ending
religiously motivated violence.

Further information about World Environment Day 2005 can be found online
at:
http://www.wed2005.org.

Further information about Environmental Stewardship in the Episcopal
Church
can be found online at: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1829_ENG_HTM.htm.

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