Symposium on Spirituality and the Environment 2025
Environmental Peacebuilding:
Coexistence Through Conservation
Sunday, March 30; 1:00-3:00pm
The Symposium will focus on bringing people together to explore perspectives on environmentalism from faith and spiritual traditions. We bring forward teachers, academics, faith-based activists in dialogue and shared learning. Our hope: greater understanding leading to greater engagement in acts of environmental protection and justice.
We'll be gathering together in person. This program will also be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.
Speakers:
COFOUNDER, Fallahi
Jawdat is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and grew up in Nazareth. He graduated with honors from the law program at Kingston University, London in 2017 and received an LLM from BPP University in 2018. He is an admitted lawyer in the Israeli Bar Association, practicing Intellectual Property and Civil Litigation.
Jawdat completed two semesters at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and decided to stay on as a Program Associate guiding students through the difficult work of community building, dialogue and compassionate listening during challenging conversations. His mission is to help students build their character by better understanding their own identity and learning how to see beyond it as well.
Jawdat is also involved with a number of different initiatives that foster connections between Arabs and Jews. He co-founded Fallahi, a project that brings Israelis and Palestinians together to teach participatory leadership, dialogue, storytelling, and non-violent communication–all for the purpose of creating a safe space for collective healing.
He believes that the disconnection between humans and our environment mirrors the divisions within society. A project to realign our relationship to nature can serve as a genuine bridge between Palestinians and Israelis ultimately fostering a new shared reality.
One of Jawdat’s guiding principles is that “When you see terror in another's eye you must also resonate with it; forgiveness is when you know the person in front of you may not understand your pain, but you do not wish it upon them either.”
FILMMAKER, Intern at Arava Institute
Hanni is a documentary filmmaker with a deep love for birds. Born in Jerusalem and raised between Rome and Tel Aviv, she attempts to address critical issues at the intersection of human rights and environmental protection—two fields she believes are inherently interconnected.
During her gap year, Hanni taught filmmaking to Ethiopian youth as a means of self-expression. She earned a BA in Cinema Studies and Documentary Filmmaking at NYU, where her thesis explored how Palestinian female filmmakers use the camera as a tool of resistance. Later, while pursuing a master’s degree in International Affairs and Human Rights at The New School, she created a documentary in Rio de Janeiro about rehabilitating trafficked exotic birds, highlighting urban release as an innovative conservation strategy.
In April 2024, Hanni made aliyah, returning to Israel with the hope of contributing to something hopeful amidst ongoing conflict. She joined the Arava Institute, drawn by its commitment to fostering dialogue, resilience, and cooperation—values that resonate deeply with her work. Additionally, the region's role as a critical stopover for migratory birds traveling between Europe and Africa spoke to her lifelong love of avian conservation.
As an intern at the Arava Institute, Hanni spent the fall semester documenting off-grid power and sanitation solutions at the Al-Furaa Regional School, which is part of an unrecognized Bedouin village in southern Negev. This spring, she will embark on a new project exploring how migratory birds can serve as natural pest controllers in date plantations and agricultural fields, bridging the worlds of sustainable agriculture and bird conservation in the Arava region.
Past Symposiums
2023 – Symposium on Spirituality and the Environment: Leadership Lessons from Moses for Facing Up to Climate Change
Watch the recording here.
Speakers:
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Dr. Mirele B. Goldsmith: Environmental psychologist, educator, activist and founder of Jewish Earth Alliance.
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Jennifer Pitt: Colorado River Program Director at the National Audubon Society.
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Grant Fuku Couch: Co-Founder of the Conservative Caucus of Citizens Climate Lobby.
2022 – Spirituality and Environmental Stewardship: A Conversation with Two Scholar Activists
Watch the recording here.
Speakers:
- Professor Tink Tinker (he/him/his) is Professor Emeritus of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at Iliff School of Theology.
- Dr. Oakleigh (Oak) Thorne II (he/him/his) is founder and honorary president of Thorne Nature Experience.
2021 – Food Justice and Faith: Nourishing Our Bodies and Our Souls
Watch the recording here.
Speakers:
- Becca Gan Levy (she/her/hers) is the Farm and Sustainability Director at the Boulder JCC.
- Hayden Dansky (they/them/theirs) is a cofounder and Executive Director of Boulder Food Rescue.
- Dina Coates (she/her/hers) is the Chief Development Officer for Community Food Share.
2020 – Fighting Climate Change
Watch the recording here.
Speakers:
- Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Founder and CEO, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
- Senator Steve Fenberg, CO State Senator & Majority Leader
2020
Watch the recording here.
- Dr. Amanda Baugh, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at California State University, Northridge and Director of the Program in Civic and Community Engagement
- Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at Iliff School of Theology and Director of the Center for Eco-Justice
2019
- Rev. Susan Hendershot is President of The Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power & Light
- Rev. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, National Organizer and Spokesperson for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action
2018
- Suzanne Benally, (Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa) the Executive Director of Cultural Survival
- Dr. Scott Powell, Catholicism, the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought
- Prof. David Robert Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism
- The Reverend Fletcher Harper, GreenFaith’s Executive Director
2016
- Rabbi Marc Soloway, Congregation Bonai Shalom, Boulder
- Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith
- Gopal Patel, The Bhumi Project
- Nana Firman, Green Market Solution
We gratefully acknowledge that this Symposium is underwritten by the Bachrach Endowment Fund at Congregation Har HaShem.