Faith and Nature: IGR Winter Campus Event 2026 Report

By Jeff Wilson

On March 26, 2026 we held the first annual IGR Winter campus event: “Faith and Nature:

Respecting our Reciprocal Relations,” which featured a diverse panel of six students from UW and Wilfrid Laurier University. Represented traditions included Baha’i Faith, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Indigenous spirituality, Pentecostalism, and Sufi Islam. Jeff Wilson was the emcee (and is also a grad student), and provided some further remarks from a Buddhist perspective.

Students responded in turn to two questions: 1) What are some spiritual benefits that we receive from nature that each or you, or your traditions, acknowledge and value? 2) Given that we receive various spiritual benefits from the natural world, how are you or people in your tradition motivated to care for and protect the environment? The session then moved into general Q&A, with the panel responding to each other’s comments and taking questions from the audience. Afterwards, there was lots of good informal discussion as people hung around and talked further with each other, including an interesting display where Indigenous panelist Shay Herold explained the elements of their medicine bundle to interested attendees.

Our student panelists were a diverse lot, drawn from the programs in Architecture; Environment, Resources, and Sustainability; Peace and Conflict Studies; and Religious Studies. 50% were undergrads, 50% were grad students; the panel was 50/50 male and female (including one female-presenting two spirit student), and majority non-white.

“Faith and Nature” was held at Renison University College (on the campus of University of Waterloo) from 7-8:30pm. It was cosponsored by Interfaith Grand River, Faith Climate Justice (Waterloo Region), the UW Department of Religious Studies, the UW School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability (SERS), and the Multi Faith and Spirituality Resource Team (MFSRT—the chaplains team at UW). The IGR event planning sub-committee was Jeff Wilson (IGR), Henriette Thompson (IGR and Faith Climate Justice), John McLaughlin (IGR), and Scott McLeod (MFSRT). Additionally, representatives from IGR (Jay Moore), FCJ (Kai Reimer-Watts), UW RS (Jeff Wilson), SERS (Jeff Wilson), and MFSRT (Scott McLeod) gave short introductions to their organizations. August Adelman (IGR) video recorded the event so that it could be uploaded to the IGR YouTube channel.

We had 17 audience members, plus 6 panelists and 1 MC: not bad for a random weeknight during the final week of classes, with various other campus events scheduled opposite it. The total cost of the event was $140 for the room rental, shared among the five co-sponsors. Publicity was provided free of charge by Renison University College and the five co-sponsors, via their social networks (and the University of Waterloo’s Daily Bulletin). After some false starts, planning for the event began in earnest at the end of January, and we were able to bring the event from conception to completion in just under two months. After the event, we held a follow-up discussion, and recorded notes to assist with planning in future years.

In all, it was a satisfying first go at an annual campus event. It expanded IGR’s presence in the community and brought about direct interaction with a demographic that we don’t have much involvement with. It allowed us to build connections with a suite of partner groups, teaching them about our work and learning about their good works as well. It gave students across the faculties a chance to reflect on religion, nature, and justice, share their thoughts with one another, and educate the audience about their various different traditions. And it demonstrated that environmental appreciation (and concern) are common threads that different religions share. There were lessons there for a divided world, and one anxious about how we will collectively tackle the climate crisis.