The Green Patriarch

Named The Green Patriarch by Al Gore, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew 1 is one of Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World Today."
The Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church brings principal scientists, environmentalists, religious leaders from all faiths and policy makers from all over the world together to work on the planet's ecological crisis.
This film looks at the environmental consequences of the historical split between science and religion, how we came to see ourselves as separate from nature, and how our consumer based economy found its moral justification in a Judeo-Christian view that humans have dominion over the planet’s resources. At the same time it also explores how Bartholomew's activism is inspired by the Orthodox position that we are part of nature, and that God’s intention is for humans to be stewards, or caretakers, of all creation. His work in this area has made him a prominent and much admired leader in the environmental movement.
In a world of unprecedented consumption of the earth’s natural resources, Patriarch Bartholomew shows by example how saving the planet is a moral issue, not solely a technological one. And, as this film follows him on his trips to the most ecologically threatened areas of the planet, it also illustrates why these views are so controversial.