Online Inclusive Gathering w/ Guest: Alastair McIntosh
November 15, 2020
04:00 pm - 06:30 pm
Inclusive Gathering Birmingham
Carrs Lane
Birmingham, United Kingdom, B4 7SX
This Sunday on FB Live & YouTube it’s the week of each month we orient our gathering around a book or podcast.
This month, we’re looking at Riders on the Storm: the Climate Crisis & the Survival of Being by Alastair McIntosh.
Excitingly, Alastair will be joining us at our 4pm gathering to talk about the themes of his book. And then he will join us for a live Q& A afterwards on Zoom at 5:15 (you must be logged into Zoom to access the discussion). Please note that this session will be recorded – if you would rather not appear on video, please turn off your camera.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88177424702?pwd=ZVF1azl5RFJpNU5pV3p6MEhvYWtRdz09
Meeting ID: 881 7742 4702
Passcode: 573171
ABOUT THE BOOK …
In this profound new book, Alastair McIntosh explores the science, psychology and spirituality of climate change. He summarises the up-to-date science and shows the damage caused both by climate-change denial as well as exaggeration. In outlining the technological and policy options to cut greenhouse gases, he argues that neither will be anywhere near sufficient unless we grasp the ‘twin drivers’ – namely, world population and excess consumption – in ways that deepen people’s dignity and freedom.
This book’s enduring importance will lie in the uniqueness of the remedies proposed: our urgent need to reconnect with the earth, to build community, and own inner lives of depth psychology and even spirituality. This transforms climate change into a chance to discover deeper aspects of our humanity. The result is a scintillating guide to what it takes to make us riders on the storm.
If you would like to, you can read Alistair’s book ahead of the our discussion, or you can watch this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFBwpJuJkN8
ALASTAIR MCINTOSH (Scotland) has been described by BBC TV as “one of the world’s leading environmental campaigners.” A pioneer of modern land reform in Scotland, he helped bring the Isle of Eigg into community ownership. On the Isle of Harris he negotiated withdrawal of the world’s biggest cement company (Lafarge) from a devastating “superquarry” plan, then agreed to serve (unpaid) on that company’s Sustainability Stakeholders Panel for 10 years. Alastair guest lectures at military staff colleges, most notably the UK Defence Academy, on nonviolence. His books include Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power (Aurum), Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition (Birlinn), Rekindling Community (Green Books), Spiritual Activism: Leadership as Service (Green Books), Poacher’s Pilgrimage: an Island Journey (Birlinn 2016, Cascade (USA) 2018). His most recent work is Riders on the Storm: The Climate Crisis & the Survival of Being. He is a fellow of the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh and a visiting professor at the College of Social Sciences, University of Glasgow. His website is www.AlastairMcIntosh.com and Twitter @alastairmci.
Inclusive Gathering Birmingham is a diverse church gathered together by a common dream: to become a truly inclusive faith community, where doubt and difference are a welcome part of our journey together toward Jesus. We believe that the way of Jesus leads us to the wild, radical idea that true spiritual community can be formed based on who is INCLUDED, not by who is EXCLUDED. We are a learning community, constantly growing and changing to live out this vision in new and expanding ways.
When we say “inclusion”, we mean much more than mere tolerance or welcome. We believe God wants us all to know that we actually belong. That means people of every race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, age and background, HIV status, ability and disability, theological and political conviction are loved, invited, and fully included. Read more about what makes us tick at www.inclusivegathering.org.uk or send an email to newchurchbirmingham@gmail.com to ask questions or chat.
