Roots & Realism
In support of WCIU’s vision “for a verdant and flourishing world,” the Eden Vigil Institute promotes research, education, and discussion on the spiritual, religious, economic and other roots of the climate and ecological crisis.
Our Vision
Our vision is to be a center of wisdom for activists in all environmental movements (climate, creation care, environmental justice, environmental missions, etc.), including promoting the principles and practical skills of Adaptive Leadership.
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve.”
– Henry David Thoreau
A Look Into The Eden Vigil Institute for Environmental Leadership
In this video, Dr. Peter McLallen interviews Lowell Bliss, Director of The Eden Vigil Institute for Environmental Leadership.
Climate Bible Studies
Dive into a series of Bible studies on climate action.
Recent Publications
Featured
Plans and Programs:
WCIU has plans to offer courses related to Adaptive Leadership and the Environment in our M.A. in Development Studies. More details to come!
Christian Climate Observers Program (at COP28 in Dubai, UAE )
CCOP2023 gives emerging leaders from under-mobilized constituencies an immersive experience of a U.N. climate summit. Participants are given credentials as official Observers to access the inside of COP28 and are discipled by veteran leaders in a Christian and missional approach to climate action. Applications close on July 14, 2023 Visit us at: https://www.ccopclimate.org
Webinars, including “Processing the Difficult Emotions of Climate Change”
Eden Vigil Institute webinars seek to equip practitioners in climate and environmental movements with new perspectives and skills to help them make progress on their own daunting adaptive leadership challenges. Our inaugural webinar, taught by a certified Spiritual Director, will help participants “process the difficult emotions of climate change.”
Consultations, conferences, and white papers on topics of “Roots and Realism”
In-person and on-line events will allow scholars, practitioners and activists to collaborate on the wisdom-building processes required in addressing the roots of the ecological crisis with realistic approaches. The Institute will publish in blogs, white papers, journal articles, books, and other media.
Adaptive Leadership training and consultation for environmental NGOs
Certified trainers in Adaptive Leadership, particularly using the framework of the Kansas Leadership Center, are available to assist NGOs, teams, and other practitioners in the climate and environmental movements as they seek to overcome obstacles in “mobilizing others to make progress on daunting adaptive challenges.” For a free consultation call, contact lowell@edenvigil.org.
**If you are interested in the M.A. in Development Studies
view the program details by clicking the link below.**
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In the Fijian language, the word for enemies is meca, as in “dou lomani ira na kemudou meca,” which is Jesus’s command to “love your enemies” (Matt 5:44). This essay is my deep dive into what this means, what it feels like, and how it is deployed in the climate crisis. It’s always an exciting moment when one of our participants in the Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) gets to meet a US senator at a UN Climate Summit. How often does one have such high-level access to talk about climate change? How often do you meet a politician who cares? The US congressional delegation usually comes in at the start of the second week of the COP. They are greeted by the US Special Envoy on Climate, John Kerry. They come prepared with their talking points, including that one tweetable soundbite. For Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) that statement was: “The number one enemy to solving the climate crisis is the fossil fuel industry but the number two enemy is despondency.” Despite the buzz around Schatz’s quote, I however could only receive it uneasily. This, I felt, was one of the worst things the senator could have said at COP28. Read More.