Media Advisory: Invitation for coverage

• Live webcast
• Ideal Earth Day coverage
• Experts in environment, poverty and religious leaders participate

Experts will examine The Intersection of Poverty and the Environment on April 21 in a live webcast beginning at 10 am Mountain (9 am Pacific, 11 Central, noon Eastern). The program will be available at no charge on the Episcopal Church website www.episcopalchurch.org

This event is ideal for Earth Day coverage and can be accessed in person or via web.

• Discussion topics: Can Sustainability Initiatives Lift Those in Poverty?  And  Reducing Environmental Health Consequences for those in Poverty

• The event will be moderated by Kim Lawton of PBS’s Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

• Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will lead the program with her keynote address. Prior to ordination, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori was an oceanographer and she is well-versed in environmental matters.

• The first panel will discuss:  Can Sustainability Initiatives Lift Those in Poverty?  Participants include: Bonnie Anderson, President of the Episcopal Church House of Deputies, and author of Spirituality and the Earth; Exploring Connections; Dr. George Handley, Professor of Humanities at Brigham Young University and contributor to LDS Perspectives on Environmental Stewardship; Majora Carter, CEO, Majora Carter Group; and Forrest Cuch, CEO, Ute Tribal Enterprises, LLC.

• The second panel will address: Reducing Environmental Health Consequences for those in Poverty. Among the participants are: Cecilia Calvo, Environmental Justice Program Coordinator, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Dr. Gerry Hardison, Chief Medical Officer, Maseno Mission Hospital, Kenya, and Episcopal Church missionary; Jaslyn Dobrahner, Coordinator, Children’s Environmental Health & Environmental Justice Project, EPA; and the Rev. Michael Livingston, Director, Poverty Initiative, National Council of Churches

• Initiating the conversations will be two timely and compelling videos: Kivalina, from the Episcopal Church’s Wayfarer Series, which delves into the challenges brought by environmental issues facing a 1000 year old Arctic Circle village; Environmental Health and Justice for Those in Poverty, a video produced by the Diocese of Utah that highlights efforts underway to bring faith-based organizations, the community, and the government together in Salt Lake City to address environmental issues affecting the health of those in poverty.

For more info and coverage opportunities contact:

Neva Rae Fox

Public Affairs Officer

The Episcopal Church

publicaffairs@episcopalchurch.org

212-716-6080  Mobile: 917-478-5659