radical inclusivity

Just last night I began to filter through the notes I had taken at the conference in Montreal earlier this month on theology and sustainability. I had big plans to write numerous posts to share all my new knowledge but somehow (well I guess I know how) life gets in the way. I only have 3 weeks of class left in this semester! A little scary but I have faith I'll make it through ;) Those of us who were at the conference will be sharing our experiences at school this week so I figured this would be a good time to start blogging my experiences as well...bit by bit.

The keynote speaker for this conference was a woman from New Zealand named Jenny Plane Te Paa. She was an incredible speaker - intelligent, passionate, realistic yet hopeful. She spoke about the need to build sustainable relationships with each other before or as we work for sustainability with(in) creation. While we cannot deny our past of colonialism, imperialism, exploitation and oppression, if we are to make a future for ourselves on this planet we must recognise that we are all in this together - we must practice radical inclusivity. We must also be in right relationship with God before we can be in right relationship with each other and the world. While the idea of practicing radical inclusivity is somewhat abstract Jenny grounded it somewhat by explaining that we need to look for common projects. In other words, what are those issues that affect us across cultural and socio-economic borders? Significantly, these are often environmental issues (and of course others). If we come together to work on a common project we create connections (and hopefully relationships) with others whom we might never have had any contact otherwise. What common projects can we work towards in Canada to build sustainability?