Eco-theologian Sallie McFague will join a panel of environmentalists to advise the Dalai Lama, reported the Vancouver Sun on July 9.
Her latest book is A New Climate for Theology: God, the World and Global Warming.
"The Dalai Lama is a very powerful pan-religious figure. Talk about having a bully-pulpit. His impact is huge," McFague said, explaining the Buddhist spiritual leader has a rare international moral authority that goes far beyond those with political power or military might.
The first step for McFague, who moved to Vancouver in 2000 after three decades at the prestigious Vanderbilt Divinity School in Tennessee, was to take part in a preconference held in Colorado last weekend with some other Dalai Lama-endorsed specialists in spirituality, environment and science.
They included well-known Buddhist philosopher-monk Matthieu Ricard; best-selling brain science author Daniel Goleman; Zen ecologist-anthropologist Joan Halifax, and Jonathan Patz, a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
