One Planet Peace Forum (OPPF) launched its inaugural program on September 25-27, 2020, as a result of a generous grant from United Religions Initiative (URI). Intended to be an annual event, OPPF has emerged out of the commitment to bring people of diverse traditions together to promote interfaith understanding through shared experience leading to action steps that cultivate harmony, justice, unity, and peace across traditions.
One Planet Peace Forum is an interfaith, interdisciplinary gathering of all those who want to join together in a dual effort to practice peace and build a culture of peace. URI—and OPPF—envision this initiative as a local effort for peacemaking that connects to the global whole. OPPF is also supported by a grant from the Maine Humanities Council.
Mission
To inspire cooperative action toward building the future envisioned by the world’s spiritual and wisdom traditions.”
Vision
One Planet Peace Forum begins with a holistic vision to peace making. We understand peace as both an inner and outer process as well as an age-old promise of all the world’s sacred traditions that is the necessary and inevitable outcome of a long evolutionary process of many centuries leading us all to a consciousness of wholeness.
This evolutionary process toward peace on earth is being carried out with built in cycles of ups and downs taking us to new levels of advancement. We can see this, most noticeably, over the past century in the context of the peace movement, nuclear disarmament, civil rights, every one of the human rights, the climate movement, as well as social, racial, and restorative justice, all of which have reached a critical tipping point and are also seen as necessary stepping-stones to peace.
One Planet Peace Forum was inspired by the vision of Sarah Farmer. After attending the 1stParliament of the World’s Religions in 1893, she invited Swami Vivekananda and other spiritual teachers from the East and the West to her Green Acre Conferences, and in 1894 raised the first known Peace Flag there.
One Planet Peace Forum follows in this tradition, offering a universal platform to people of all spiritual and secular expressions to co-create solutions to the most challenging issues facing humanity today.
Our plan is to hold this annual Peace Forum at Green Acre, on the Piscataqua River in Eliot, Maine, to pursue the age-old vision of peace on earth by laying a foundation for building a culture of peace in everything we do.
Peace on earth is a vision shared by the world’s religious and spiritual traditions. Across many centuries of the evolution of consciousness, we are coming to understand that this will happen when the human family lives as one, in unity; when our innate potential is fulfilled by independently discovering truth for ourselves, not following blindly; when justice is unitive, not punitive; when we have equality between women and men; when we have balance between wealth and poverty; when we have harmony between science and spirituality; when we have freedom from all forms of prejudice – racial, ethnic, religious, class, economic, political, and national; when education is universal and freely accessible; and, when nature is protected as a divine trust. These principles will enable a unity of purpose to become paramount. The goal is unity within the diversity that will always exist everywhere. This is now commonly understood as a prerequisite to peace.
One Planet Peace Forum is working to help fulfill this age-old vision of peace on Earth by: a) offering a virtual and in-person universal platform based upon an integrated, holistic approach to global peace; b) seeking to live by unifying principles and values that will bring about a profound transformation of human relationships on all levels and with it a deep respect for Earth; and, by c) actively contributing toward building a culture of peace by practicing peace. This is understood as a process that will evolve gradually through stages over time, with setbacks and breakthroughs, yet always moving toward greater levels of coherence and cooperation, as humanity itself comes into its own stage of maturity during this process.
Team
Leadership Circle
Robert Atkinson, Ph.D., is the founder of One Planet Peace Forum and professor emeritus at the University of Southern Maine. He is the author of the 2017 Nautilus Book Award winner The Story of Our Time: From Duality to Interconnectedness to Oneness, Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul’s Story (2012), Year of Living Deeply: A Memoir of 1969 (2019), a co-editor of Our Moment of Choice: Evolutionary Visions and Hope for the Future (2020) and author of five other books. His Ph.D. is in Cross-Cultural Human Development from the University of Pennsylvania, with a post-doctoral fellowship in adolescent development from the University of Chicago. He is director of StoryCommons.org, and a member of The Evolutionary Leaders. www.RobertAtkinson.net.
Jeremy Phelan is a retired accountant and financial manager. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in Economics from Williams College, Williamstown, MA and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Specializing in start-ups and turn-arounds, he has extensive experience in both for profit and non-profit organizations in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
Dr. Julie Krull is a steward of the new earth, midwifing the evolution of consciousness, supporting whole-system health, and expanding a whole worldview. Her 34-year career as an intuitive, integrative health practitioner and psychotherapist, coupled with her spiritual gifts that emerged after an early childhood Near Death Experience, have influenced her work with evolutionary thought leaders and change-agents from around the world—co-creating connections that inspire personal, cultural and planetary healing. As a visionary way-shower, speaker, and consciousness coach, her authentic, down-to-earth approach assists in bridging worlds, navigating change, and bringing a message of hope in liminal times of whole-systems transformation. Dr. Julie is a Mentor of Conscious Evolution, supporting leaders and influencers who are working collaboratively toward conscious, global transition. She is a popular speaker, teacher, Co-Founder and President of GOOD of the WHOLE, host of the popular The Dr. Julie Show: All Things Connected, and author of the international bestselling and Nautilus award-winning book, Fractured Grace: How to Create Beauty, Peace and Healing for Yourself and the World. Her second book, Imaginal Souls, will be released in late 2023. She is a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle.
Rev. Lisa Steele-Maley has, in both work and personal life, always sought opportunities to help individuals and organizations cultivate healthy, responsible relationships in both human and natural communities. So far, her life’s journey has spanned the continent and included program and development work at nonprofits, parenting, caregiving, writing, and participation in ChIME’s program. Ordained as an Interfaith Minister in 2019, Lisa continues to attend to and nurture the fierce and tender connections between self, spirit, land, and community. Currently the Dean at the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine, Lisa lives in an aging farmhouse in coastal Maine with her husband, teenage sons, and a handful of animals.
Advisory Council
Kate Sheehan Roach began her editorial career with Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, later serving as founding editor of Contemplative Journal and as managing editor of the Spirituality channel at Patheos.com. She now serves as Director of Content for ContemplativeLife.org and as a founding member of Transformation365.org. Kate is a certified Centering Prayer facilitator who serves on a national service team with Contemplative Outreach, and she’s a member of the North America Leadership Council for the United Religions Initiative. She holds a BA with honors in American Studies from Mount Holyoke College and an MA with high honors in History from the University of Connecticut.
Dr. Kurt Johnson (www.unity.earth, www.interspirituaity.com) has worked in professional science and comparative religion over 40 years, and is ordained or certified in five religious traditions. He is author of the influential book The Coming Interspiritual Age (2013) and two award-winning books in science: Nabokov’s Blues (2000) and Fine Lines (2015) (Brian Boyd Prize for scholarly writing, 2019). Kurt has served on the faculty of New York’s Interfaith Seminary for 12 years and, for 25 years was associated there with the American Museum of Natural History. He is host for the Convergence radio series on VoiceAmerica, a series featuring global change-makers, and an editor of three magazines: The Convergence, Light on Light, and Conscious Business. Kurt has a PhD in Evolution and Ecology, is author of over 200 scientific articles and seven books, and a member or founder of The Evolutionary Leaders, The Association of Transformational Leaders, the International Contemplative Alliance, the Gaiafield and Subtle Activism Networks, the UN NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, the NGO Forum 21 Institute, the UN Committee for International Yoga Day, and is President of the Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
Dr. Peter Blaze Corcoran is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies and Environmental Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. He has been a Faculty Member at College of the Atlantic, Swarthmore College, and Bates College in the United States and has held appointments as a Visiting Professor at universities in Australia, the Netherlands, Fiji, Malaysia, and Kenya. New posts since his recent retirement include appointments as Research Fellow at the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development at University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica; Senior Fellow at Forum 21 Institute in New York City; and Senior Advisor at Unity Earth Center in Melbourne, Australia. His recent books include Envisioning Futures for Environmental and Sustainability Education, Wageningen Academic Publishers (2017), and Intergenerational Learning and Transformative Leadership for Sustainable Futures, Wageningen Academic Publishers (2014).
James O’Dea is author of Cultivating Peace (2012), The Conscious Activist (2014), Soul Awakening Practice (2017) and other acclaimed works. James is a former President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Washington office director of Amnesty International and CEO of the Seva Foundation. He worked with the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut during a time of war and lived in Turkey for five years during civil upheaval and coup d’etat. He has taught peacebuilding to over a thousand students in 30 countries, has conducted frontline social healing dialogues around the world, is a member of The Evolutionary Leaders, and on the Advisory Board of The Peace Alliance and Kosmos Journal. Both an activist and a mystic, James also mentors emerging leaders and is an Honorary Fellow of the Laszlo New Paradigm Institute.
Dorothy J. Maver, Ph.D. is an educator and peacebuilder whose keynote is inspiring cooperation on behalf of the common good. Dot was founding President and is a Board member and Trustee of the National Peace Academy USA, is a co-founding board member of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures of Peace, and was the founding executive director of the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding. Her work in education, politics and grassroots community organizing is focused on applied peacebuilding utilizing a shared responsibility and shared leadership model. She is co-author of the book Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom; is a Fellow with the World Business Academy, and serves on the boards of Lifebridge Foundation, River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding and Garden of Light. Dot also serves on the United Nations International Day of Peace NGO Education Peace Team, the International Cities of Peace Advisory Council. . She also co-facilitates monthly webinars focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and is a co-founder of the Global Silent Minute.
Rev. Deborah Moldow is an ordained interfaith minister committed to assisting in the transformation of human consciousness to a culture of peace. Deborah is the founder of the Garden of Light, an online platform that provides a virtual home for a new community rooted in the emerging global spirituality. She is Director of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle, a project of the Source of Synergy Foundation that brings together visionaries committed to the acceleration of conscious evolution. She is a co-editor of the award-winning 2020 book by 43 Evolutionary Leaders, “Our Moment of Choice: Evolutionary Visions and Hope for the Future.”; She is also Vision Keeper at Unity. Earth. Deborah served for more than 20 years as the Representative to the United Nations of May Peace Prevail on Earth International. At the United Nations, she co-chaired the International Day of Peace NGO Committee, the Values Caucus, and the United Religions Initiative multi-faith Cooperation Circle, URI-UN. Rev. Deborah makes her home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she leads a bi-monthly Spirit Salon.
In Memoriam – Philip M. Hellmich [1961-2022] was Director of Peace at The Shift Network, director of The Summer of Peace and lead designer of the World Peace Library. In 2012, Philip presented on the Summer of Peace at the first United Nations High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace opened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. In 2013, the United Nations published an article about the Summer of Peace in its UNITY magazine in China. Philip has dedicated most of his life to global and local peacebuilding initiatives, including 14 years with Search for Common Ground. He also served for four years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone where he lived and worked in small remote bush villages and led to the publication of his book, God and Conflict: A Search for Peace in a Time of Crisis with a Foreword by Lama Surya Das. A longtime meditation practitioner, Philip enjoys studying and teaching about the parallels between inner and outer peace.