Conference Speakers
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The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Bishop Jefferts Schori’s career as an oceanographer preceded her studies for the priesthood, to which she was ordained in 1994. Click here to read more...

The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston
Dr. Steven Charleston is Assistant Bishop, Ethnic and Multicultural Missioner, Diocese of California; and former president and dean of the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA. He is a Native American elder. Click here to read more...

Dr. Sallie McFague
Dr. Sallie McFague is a Distinguished Theologian in Residence at Vancouver School of Theology, in Vancouver, B.C. Prior to that she was Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. She has written extensively on environmental theology. Click here to read more...

Conference Panelists
In order to have more interactive conference, the planners of HOPE have decided to allow the panelists to help define the nature and content of their panels.

Advocacy & Entrepreneurship-Implementation in Community

Jessie Dye – Program and Outreach Director, Earth Ministry
Jessie Dye is the Program and Outreach Director of Earth Ministry, and worked for the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle for twenty years in conflict mediation. She has a law degree and has volunteered for a variety of organizations including EarthCorps and the Washington State Catholic Conference. Jessie’s home church is St. Mary’s Parish in central Seattle.

John Johnson IV – Domestic Policy Analyst, Gov’t Relations, Episcopal Church USA
John Johnson has served two United States Senators and a Presidential appointee at the Small Business Administration before joining the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations in 2001. Currently he serves as Domestic Policy Analyst in the Office of Government Relations of the Episcopal Church. In this position he advances the policies and priorities of the National Church (as decided by the General Convention and Executive Council) before the federal government and ecumenical bodies. Since joining the staff, John has focused on a number of important issues including protecting the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, health care reform, the federal budget, welfare reform, child care, faith-based initiatives, and hate-crimes legislation.

Andy Varyu – Environmental Entrepreneur
Andrew Varyu received his B.A. from Bard College, and is in the Master of Divinity program at Harvard Divinity School where he established the first holistic heath club for students. From 1998 to 2000 he worked at Green Haven Correctional Facility as part of a New York Theological Seminary program where he attended and taught in-prison classes to inmates on power, theology, and personal transformation. In 2006 he conceived of and designed a summer intensive training program for college students in yoga and community service. He networked with thirty five agencies to bring services from health classes to park clean-up and community center renovations to more than 350 participants. He is currently working on a program to help children fight global warming by selling compact florescent light bulbs.

The Genesis Covenant

The Rt. Rev. Gregory Rickel – Bishop Diocesan, Olympia
The Right Rev. Greg Rickel is the Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia headquartered in Seattle, WA. He is a trained presenter for the Climate Project (www.theclimateproject.org), was the Episcopal representative to the Earth Charter discussions in Geneva, Switzerland (in the late 90’s), and has been an outspoken advocate for environmental issues for years. He has a B.A in Sociology, a Master of Health Services Administration, a M. A. in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication, a M. Div. and a Doctor of Ministry.

The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston – Episcopal Divinity School
The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston is president and dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. He is widely recognized as a leading voice for justice issues and spiritual renewal in the church. His ministry has been extensive and varied. It includes service as the Episcopal Church's national staff officer for Native American ministries (he is a member of the Choctaw nation), the director of the Dakota Leadership Program; and the Episcopal diocesan bishop of Alaska. He has a B.A. from Trinity College; a M. Div. from the Episcopal Divinity School, and a D.D. from Alaska Pacific University and from Trinity College. He first announced the Genesis Covenant at the Interfaith Creation Festival held in Seattle in June 2007.

LeeAnne Beres – Executive Director, Earth Ministry, Seattle
LeeAnne Beres is the Executive Director of Earth Ministry, an ecumenical Christian organization engaging people of faith in environmental stewardship. She has eighteen years experience working in the Seattle environmental community and is active in her home church, Fauntleroy Church United Church of Christ in West Seattle. LeeAnne has a Master’s degree in Marine Fisheries Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology.

The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas – Author
The Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Ph.D. is Priest Associate of Grace Church, Amherst, Mass., and has been active in the environmental movement for 20 years. Author of Holy Hunger (2000) and Christ’s Passion, Our Passions (2003), she was principal author of the Pastoral Letter, “To Serve Christ in All Creation,” issued by the Episcopal bishops of New England (2003). A retreat leader and trained spiritual director (Shalem Institute), she served for several years as chaplain to the House of Bishops and from 1992-2005 was a lecturer in pastoral theology at EDS. She has been active in Religious Witness for the Earth since her arrest in 2001 at the Dept. of Energy in Washington DC (Website: www.holyhunger.com).

The Environment and Applied Theology

Shelly Fayette – Seminarian, Union Theological Seminary
Shelly Fayette earned a B.A. summa cum laude in Theology and Religious Studies from Seattle University, received the LaCugna Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theological Studies, and is a member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society. She is a Masters of Divinity candidate at Union Theological Seminary, New York, with a concentration in New Testament. She is currently writing her thesis, focusing on ethics, identity, and intersectional oppressions. She has worked as Housemother at the Queen of Peace Home (Los Angeles), crew on the fishing vessel Miracle (Sitka, AK), and is serving as Assisting Seminarian at St. Michael's, Yakima. She is an Earth Ministry Colleague and was a co-convener of Ecology/Spirituality at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle. She is a Postulant for Holy Orders in the Diocese of Olympia.

Jay McDaniel, Ph.D. - Professor of Religion, Hendrix College
Dr. Jay McDaniel is Professor of Religion at Hendrix Collage. He has a B.A. in English Literature and Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion and Theology. He says: “I have had the privilege of teaching the religions of the world, and my interests have grown to include them all. Even though all religious traditions are finite and none can be said to have all the truth. I am impressed by the need on the part of people in the many different traditions to develop forms of awareness that are sensitive to the value of the more-than-human world- that is, the plants and animals, the hills and rivers- and to engage in dialogue with one another for the sake of peace and mutual transformation.”

Cynthia Moe-Lobeda – Assistant Professor, Theology & Religious Studies
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda is Assistant Professor of Theology & Religious Studies, and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Seattle University. She holds B.A., M.S.W., M.T.S., and Ph. D. degrees. She was appointed by Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to be his theological consultant; commissioned to write extensive theological and ethical paper for use by national church leadership. She has authored two books (most recently Public Church: For the Life of the World.) and co-authored two others. She sees the prevailing neo-liberal, free-market system of economic globalization as posing a profound threat to our planet's well-being, in terms of pollution and sustainability; and to the welfare of human beings and our rich cultural diversity.

Science, Faith, and the Environment

Dr. Gary Chamberlain – Professor of Theology, Seattle University
Gary Chamberlain is Professor of Christian Ethics at Seattle University. A native of Denver, Colorado, he is a graduate of St. Louis University, the University of Chicago, and the Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley, CA) with a doctorate in Religion and Society. He teaches in the areas of ecology and religion, human sexuality, peace and justice issues. He is the author of several articles and two books: Fostering Faith, and Troubled Waters: Religion, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis, (published in 2007). His research on issues such as family planning, reproductive health, abortion, along with ecology and water (all from a religious/ethical perspective) has taken him to Belize annually for 11 years and Japan four times.

Gary Lagerloef, Ph.D. -President, Earth and Space Research
Dr. Gary Lagerloef specializes in ocean circulation and climate dynamics research with special emphasis in developing new applications for satellite remote sensing to advance the science of climate variability. He currently serves as Principal Investigator of the NASA Aquarius Mission, which will be launched in 2010 to study the interactions between the Earth’s water cycle, ocean circulation and climate by measuring ocean salinity. He holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Oceanography. He has served on numerous scientific teams and working groups over the past 15 years. He lives on Bainbridge Island, WA with his wife Marcia, and attends Grace Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Dr. Lucas Mix – Author
Lucas Mix is currently a curate at the Church of the Apostles in Seattle. He received a doctorate in evolutionary biology at Harvard, where he worked on astrobiology and the evolution of photosynthesis. Lucas also has a bachelor's degree in comparative religion from the University of Washington and a M.Div. from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. In addition to work as a priest, Lucas writes on astrobiology and religion and will be teaching a course at the University of Washington on the history of science/religion dialogue in the West.