Authors of new book, Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, to visit Rockford

From press release

A Community Meeting hosted by the Four Rivers Environmental Coalition to discuss and act upon the newly-released book, Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, will be held from 7-9 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 30, at Rock Valley College Student Center, 3301 N. Mulford Road, Rockford. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. Reserve by calling (815) 877-6100.

Join Moral Ground editors Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson for a public “town hall” meeting where they will read selections from the book and lead local residents in discussing:

→ An original proposal for a new approach to the climate change crisis;

→ A call to action based on moral and spiritual premises;

→ Diverse viewpoints by writers from every walk of life; and

→ A positive, hopeful and forward-looking perspective on a divisive issue.

Moore, who is Distinguished professor of Philosophy at Oregon State University, and Nelson, who is professor of Environmental Ethics at Michigan State University, propose a call to action based on moral and spiritual premises.

Moral Ground brings together the testimony of more than 80 visionaries—theologians and religious leaders, naturalists, scientists, elected officials, business leaders, activists and writers—to present a compelling call to honor our individual and collective moral responsibilities to the planet. In the face of environmental degradation, species extinction, and climate change, scientific knowledge alone does not tell us what we ought to do. Nor can political processes or economic incentives give us all the answers. The missing premise of the argument and the much-needed centerpiece in the debate to date has been the need for ethical values, moral guidance, and principled reasons for doing the right thing for the future of the planet, its animals, its plants and its people.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu wrote the foreword. Among the contributors are Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Thomas Berry, Wendell Berry, Marcus J. Borg, Courtney S. Campbell, Thomas L. Friedman, Barbara Kingsolver, the Dalai Lama, Wangari Maathai, Sallie McFague, Bill McKibben, N. Scott Momaday, Seyyed Hossein Nasir, Barack Obama, Pope John Paul II, Tri Robinson, George “Tink” Tinker, and Terry Tempest Williams.

Refreshments and book signing will follow the book discussion.

From the Oct. 13-19, 2010 issue