STEERING COMMITTEE
CIPL is governed by a Steering Committee that is composed of individuals representing faith-based organizations throughout California. The Steering Committee provides general oversight and guidance to the staff and helps deliver CIPL’s mission of environmental stewardship throughout the state.
MEMBERS
The Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham, President, The Regeneration Project & CIPL
The Reverend Canon Sally Grover Bingham, an Episcopal priest and Canon for the Environment in the Diocese of California has been active in the environmental community for twenty-five years. She is also founder and president of The Regeneration Project, which is focused on its Interfaith Power & Light (IPL) campaign, a religious response to global warming. The IPL campaign includes a national network of over 10,000 congregations with affiliated programs in 38 states. She has brought widespread recognition to the link between faith and the environment, and as one of the first faith leaders to fully recognize global warming as a moral issue, she has mobilized thousands of religious people to put their faith into action through energy stewardship and advocacy.
The Rev. Bingham recently joined President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and
Neighborhood Partnerships and is a member of the Forum on Children and Nature. She serves on the board of directors of the Environmental Defense Fund, the Environmental Working Group, and the U.S. Climate Action Network as well as the national advisory board for the Union of Concerned
Scientists.
Rev. Albert G. Cohen, Executive Director, Southern California Ecumenical Council
Rev. Cohen has lived and worked in the Los Angeles region for fifty years. He was a campus minister at California State University Los Angeles for 35 years and is currently Executive Director of the Southern California Ecumenical Council.
Reverend Cohen has led student groups to the United Nations conferences on the world’s environment starting in Stockholm in 1972 through Rio de Janeiro in 1992. He has provided workshop and conference leadership for camps and conferences for youth and adults lecturing, preaching and organizing; he has appeared on talk shows on radio and TV on social change topics including racism, peace, ecology, world population, human rights and higher education.
Abbess Eijun Linda Cutts, Senior Dharma Teacher, San Francisco Zen Center, Green Gulch Farm, and Tassajara
Eijun Linda Cutts came to San Francisco Zen Center in 1971 and was ordained as a priest in 1975. She has lived at Tassajara, San Francisco City Center and has resided at Green Gulch Farm since 1993. In 1996 Linda received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson and served as Abbess of San Francisco Zen Center from 2000 to 2007. She was appointed Abiding Senior Dharma Teacher at Green Gulch Farm in 2010 and continues to teach and lead practice periods and retreats at Tassajara, Green Gulch, and elsewhere.
Mark Carlson, Director, Lutheran Office of Public Policy
Mark Carlson is a native of Idaho and attended public schools is Yakima, WA and Fremont, CA. As a toddler, he was imprinted with the Snake River, and several national parks and forests. As a five-year-old, he was exposed to the consequences of “progress” when his father took their family to the spectacular Native America salmon fishing grounds at Celilo Falls, shortly before it was flooded by The Dalles Dam. Mark graduated from Bethany College, Kansas, with a degree in history and political science, studied Swedish environmental politics and policy for a year in Stockholm, received a Master of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana, and worked as an organizer and consultant in opposition to a new coal and a new nuclear power plant in Kansas.
Mark has been in Sacramento with the Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California since 1984, where he works on a variety of poverty, human rights, and care for creation issues for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Part of his work has included ballot proposition campaigns where care for creation values are at stake. In another life, Mark worked 29 seasons as a firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, offering a different perspective on forest policy and practice.
Peter Bergstrom, Director, Camp Stevens Episcopal, Julian, California
Barbara Bisel, Commission for the Environment, Episcopal Diocese of California
Barbara is a lifelong Episcopalian, and a member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Orinda. After starting and chairing a Caring for Creation team at her church, Barbara was asked to co-chair the Commission for the Environment for the Diocese of California, in partnership with Rev. Canon Sally Bingham. At the request of Bishop Marc Andrus, and with help from the members of the Commission, they developed a network that includes Liaisons from over 70 churches in the diocese – supporting education, action, and legislative advocacy to reduce our carbon footprint and live more sustainably. Barbara was an Alternate Deputy to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, during which time she wrote and testified for two resolutions which were passed at the Convention: Government Policies for Environmental Stewardship; and Scientific Integrity and Environmental Policy.
Barbara holds a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University, where she focused on Policy Analysis in Health Care Organizations. She has sat on the Board of St. Dorothy’s Rest diocesan camp and retreat center, and has served on church vestry. Additional philanthropies include National Charity League; Cantare Con Vivo Education and Outreach in Oakland; and PTA.
Bhawana Kamil, Muslim Green Team and Muslim American Society Bay Area
Bhawana Kamil, President was born in Oakland, California in 1979 while her parents were students at UC Berkeley. She was raised in the Bay Area, and received a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from UC Berkeley. Soon after graduating, she accepted Islam in September of 2000. Bhawana traveled overseas to Cairo, Egypt for a few years with her husband to study Arabic and Islamic Studies for which she received graduate diplomas.
She is the current president of the Bay Area chapter of the Muslim American Society, and formerly directed its Youth and Outreach departments. She is also a public speaker, and has spoken at a variety of settings, including schools, universities, churches, conferences, and camps on several topics including ‘An Introduction to Islam,’ ‘Women in Islam,’ ‘Challenges Facing Muslim Youth in the West,’ ‘Geography of the Muslim World,’ ‘Islam and the Environment,’ ‘Muslim-American Identity,’ and ‘Understanding Shariah.’ Bhawana serves on the Interfaith Council for Economics and Justice (ICEJ) for the County of Santa Clara and is a member of the Steering Committee for California Interfaith Power and Light (CIPL), an interfaith environmental advocacy group.
Rev. Peter Rood, Pastor, Holy Nativity Church, Westchester, California
The Reverend Peter H. Rood, co-founder of the Environmental Change-Makers, is the rector of Holy Nativity Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, an energetic and diverse community of faith. Central to Peter’s ministry is his commitment to creating a broader community where people live in harmony, peace, and justice. His work encourages raising awareness about environmental concerns and cultivating a community committed to caring for God’s creation. During his nine-year tenure at Holy Nativity, Peter has encouraged an environment where the church is a central meeting place for members of the community at large to gather for social and educational purposes. The church hosts a variety of music and art events, cooking classes, drumming workshops, and educational and community outreach programs. The church is also the location for the World Community of Christian Meditation Center of Southern California.
A native Californian, Peter is a graduate of Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena and received his Master’s of Divinity from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Texas. Before his ordination to the priesthood, Peter had a career as an investment advisor. Peter is involved in various social activism projects, including the Century Corridor Project. He is also a member of a Hindu/Episcopal dialog group and is also a participant in a Buddhist/Catholic dialog group. His interests include gardening, cooking, reading, yoga, and running.
Rabbi Marvin Goodman, Executive Director, Northern California Board of Rabbis
Marvin Goodman was ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Theological of America in 1975. He studied at the seminary after having earned his BA from Indiana University in 1970. From 1975-1988 he was the Executive Director of the Northern California Region of the United Synagogue of America as well as the Regional United Synagogue Youth Director. During that time, he was very instrumental in the development of Camp Arazim. From 1988-2007, he was the rabbi of Peninsula Sinai Congregation, a Conservative Congregation in Foster City, California. Since 2007 he has been the Rabbi in Residence at the San Francisco based Jewish Community Federation and the Executive Director of the Northern CA Board of Rabbis. Marvin is married to Deborah Kelman and has two daughters, Rena and Naomi.
Rev. Earl Koteen, Consulting Minister for Climate Justice, Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry California
Rev. Earl W. Koteen is the Consulting Minister for Climate Justice, Unitarian Universalist (UU) Legislative Ministry California. He serves on the board of UU Ministry for Earth, and is currently community minister at the Berkeley Fellowship of UUs. Before attending training at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Earl had a 30-year career in strategic planning, organizational development, and human resources. He has two adult daughters.
Fr. John Coleman, S.J., Associate Pastor, St. Ignatius Parish, USF
John A. Coleman S.J. is associate pastor at Saint Ignatius Church, San Francisco. He holds his PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He was the Charles Casassa Professor of Social Values at Loyola Marymount University from 1997 to 2009.. From 1974-1997 he was a professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkely. Among his most recent books are: John Coleman and William Ryan, eds., Globalization and Catholic Social Thought ( Orbis Press, 2005) and Christian Political Ethics ( Princeton University Press, 2007).
For the past several years, Coleman has been lecturing and writing on environmental topics. He keeps a blog at the popular national Catholic magazine “America.”
