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Environmental Issues & Policy: Gaia, God and Government

Prof. Todd M. La Porte

Associate Professor

Office: Founders Hall Room 552

Office hours: The Hub, Tues., Thurs.

11:00 am-12 noon: call first

(202) 903-6464 (before 8 pm)

tlaporte *at* gmu.edu (preferred)

Spring Semester, 2018

GOVT 490.001

Writing Intensive course

Tues. Thurs, 1:30-2:45 pm

Room: TBA [Hanover Hall L003]

DRAFT Revised: 1/22/18

Ansel Adams The Tetons and the Snake River 1942

Climate change is widely seen as the most difficult collective action problem humankind has ever faced.

The enormity of the problem, and the magnitude of the changes human society will endure to combat it,

are almost unimaginable. It is no wonder that the issue stirs up controversy, as it touches on the deepest

beliefs and commitments people have: about their world, their place in the world and their responsibility

for the problems the world faces, and solutions to those problems. Fundamental values and aspects of

culture, including religious beliefs and worldviews, inform our understanding of the problems and shape

our capacity and willingness to respond.

This course provides an introduction to the complex world of environmental and especially climate

science, politics and policy, with specific attention to the role of religion. Religious beliefs are the most

fundamental of human society’s value systems: they influence our ideas of where we came from, why we

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exist, what is right and wrong, what is virtuous and what is evil. They even shape our social and

economic systems in powerful ways: Max Weber famously attributed the rise of capitalism and its

associated social, economic and political structures and behaviors, to Protestant religious beliefs, in his

still-relevant Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

And religion shapes our responses to the environment as well, and especially in the case of climate

change. During the course, we will assess the relationship of various religions, and particularly

Christianity, in climate change politics and policy. This approach is a bit unconventional, though by no

means any longer novel: there is a robust debate about religion and ecology, nature, the environment that

we’ll draw on in the course. Questions the course will address include:

What is the role of religion is influencing our beliefs about environment and nature?

How do differing cosmologies interpret the scientific understanding of climate and environmental

change?

How do religious beliefs affect their adherents’ responses to climate change as a problem?

What ethical or spiritual challenges does climate change present?

Does religion provide guidance to faith communities, and the wider public, about how to respond?

Can, or does, the faith community serve as a galvanizing force for effective social movement to

combat climate change?

Learning outcomes

By the end of the semester students will be able to:

Identify important elements of climate science and climate change;

Explain relevant policy controversies;

Identify the core aspects of the major religious beliefs relating to nature and the environment;

Identify and use key concepts relevant to climate communications and social movements.

The course teaches students pertinent approaches to the study of climate and environmental politics and

policy, through the lens of ethics and religious belief. By the end of the course, students will be well

positioned to pursue further work on environmental and climate change policy in any context.

Books

These books are on order at the bookstore. I strongly encourage you to check used book websites, such as

http://www.alibris.com before buying new copies. They can often be found for a fraction of the cost.

Hulme, Mike, Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction And

Opportunity, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) ISBN-13: 978-0521727327

Garvey, James, The Ethics of Climate Change, (London: Continuum, 2008), ISBN-13: 978-0826497376

Requirements, grades and examinations

Blackboard postings 15 percent

Participation in class discussions 15 percent

Assignment 1 10 percent

Assignment 2 20 percent

Assignment 3 20 percent

Final exam 20 percent

Total 100 percent

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Writing Intensive course requirements

The Faculty Senate Writing Across the Curriculum Committee has approved this course to fulfill all/in

part of the Writing Intensive requirement in political science major. These requirements will be met in

three ways, outlined in more detail in the Assignments section below:

1. A 2-4-minute video and accompanying 1,000-word minimum reflection paper on your personal

understanding of religious belief and climate change,

2. A 5-minute video produced by a small team, and an accompanying individually-written 2,000-

word minimum research paper on community beliefs about religious beliefs and climate change

that will undergo several drafts before final submission, and

3. A 1,500-word minimum analytical reflection essay on climate change lobbying by religious

advocacy organizations that will receive extensive comments from me.

Assignments

The major writing assignments are designed to explore our three topics, climate change and environment,

religion and politics, using unconventional deliverables, including video, peer interviewing and lobbying.

1. Assignment 1 is a personal reflection on your understanding of science, climate change, and

ethical or religious beliefs. In a 2-4-minute video, you will describe your thoughts and feelings

about the environment, climate change and their relationship to your spiritual or religious

sentiments.

The assignment also requires a 1,000-word reflection paper on the material you discuss in the

video; it is expected that preparation of the paper is preparation for the video itself. I will provide

feedback on the initial outline, on the rough draft and on the final paper.

2. Assignment 2 is to listen to and understand spiritual or religious community members’

conceptions of science, climate change, and ethical or religious beliefs. This assignment is

focused on how spiritual or religious communities see the problem of climate and environmental

change.

Teams of two or three students will identify a target religious or spiritual community group, either

on campus or in the surrounding region that has articulated a position on climate or

environmental change, and will produce a 5-minute video based on the template used in

Assignment 1.

As with Assignment 1, each team member will produce a 2,000-word analytic paper that supports

the video presentation with research on the target community or religious organization and its

theology or cosmology as they relate to climate change or the environment. I will provide detailed

feedback on the initial outline, the rough draft, and on the final paper.

3. Assignment 3 is participating or observing lobbying of political leaders on science, climate

change, from a spiritual or religious community perspective. Arrangements for lobbying training

and scheduling are underway. The assignment deliverable is a 1,500-word memo on the

experience: what you did, what you observed, and what you concluded about the process and its

impact.

As with previous assignments, I will provide detailed feedback on the initial outline, the rough

draft, and on the final paper.

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Blackboard posting, presentations, précises and class discussion

We will use the public Discussion Boards on Blackboard to jumpstart class discussions. Comments and

critiques online will give you time to consider what your classmates have to say about the readings, help

us focus on core issues more quickly, and provide a shared resource to prepare for exams. Students will

be assigned ahead of each session to present a summary of the readings and begin our discussion.

The class will be divided into three groups, and will post before class in rotation, as specified on the

assignment schedule.

Last names

beginning with …

… are in Group

A - B A

C - K B

L - Z C

Comments must be posted no later than midnight the day before class. Postings should be 250 words

minimum, in which you:

1. Summarize the main ideas about the reading for the session.

2. Raise issues or problems you see with the arguments: this is essential.

3. Connect the readings with earlier sessions, helping synthesize the material.

4. These postings will be the basis of your Blackboard posting grade: thoughtful postings will be

highly valued, superficial postings will be seen as inadequate.

You should respond to comments on forum threads, and you are encouraged to respond to earlier posts in

the thread. The main idea is to add to the discussion, so staying on topic is essential.

Late postings: I give no credit for late postings, no exceptions.

No laptops or mobile phones in class

Laptops and mobile phones are not welcome in class. The only exception to this policy is if you have

permission from the Office of Disability Services. Despite our heavy reliance on them, electronic devices

turn out to be detrimental to learning in classrooms for two reasons:

1. Devices impede knowledge acquisition by turning note-taking into unreflective information

transcription rather than concept synthesis (Dynarski, Mueller and Oppenheimer).

2. “Always connected” devices divert attention whenever they ping or buzz, regardless of our best

efforts to ignore them (Barnwell).

The bottom line: When devices are present grades are lower by a full point for every person in the class,

not just their owners. Here are links to the research:

Dynarski, Pamela, “Laptops are great. But not during a lecture or a meeting,” New York Times, November

22, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/business/laptops-not-during-lecture-or-

meeting.html

Mueller, Pam A., and Daniel M. Oppenheimer, “The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of

longhand over laptop note taking,” Psychological science, vol. 25, no. 6 (2014), pp. 1159-1168,

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797614524581

Barnwell, Paul, “Do cell phones have a place in the classroom?” The Atlantic, April 27, 2016,

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/do-smartphones-have-a-place-in-the-

classroom/480231/

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Essential news and information sources: you are required to subscribe to at least one each of

* general media, climate and environmental sources, and religion.

For research help, check out the GMU Library Environment InfoGuide --

http://infoguides.gmu.edu/environmentalpolicy -- this should be your first stop.

Media

*New York Times https://myaccount-nytimes-com.mutex.gmu.edu/grouppass/access

Washington Post http://washingtonpost.com

*The Economist http://economist.com

Guardian http://theguardian.com

Climate change coverage

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/scienceofclimatechange

Environment coverage

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change

Climate and environment daily

media

The Daily Climate

http://www.dailyclimate.org/

E-mail newsletter: http://www.dailyclimate.org/subscribe

*Inside Climate News https://insideclimatenews.org/

E-mail newsletter: https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter

Climate News Network http://climatenewsnetwork.net/

ClimateWire http://www.eenews.net/cw/

GreenWire https://www.eenews.net/gw

For E&E publications:

Account Type: “Not sure what type of account I have”

E-mail: “[@gmu.edu]” email address

Organization “[George Mason University] [Division]”

*Google News Alert http://www.google.com/news

Create an alert in Google News using “religion,” “environment,”

“climate change”

Religion and environment

*Religion New Service https://religionnews.com/subscribe/

Use the tag https://religionnews.com/tag/environment/

Yale Forum on Ecology &

Religion

http://fore.yale.edu/news/

Religion News – Science Daily https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/science_society/religion/

Climate changescience

resources

Real Climate: rich resource by

climate scientists

http://www.realclimate.org

Climate Central: journalist-,

public-friendly resource, strong

on charts and visual data

http://www.climatecentral.org/

Skeptical Science: resource for

opponents of climate skeptics

http://www.skepticalscience.com/

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SYLLABUS

First class: Session 1: Introduction to the course: what does religion have to do with the politics of

climate change?

We’ll set the stage for this course with a brief encounter with some provocative statements about the

problems the world faces: the challenge of climate change. We’ll also watch (before class) several recent

popular media presentations that raise questions about climate change and energy in easily accessible

ways.

1. Films to watch before the first class: You may have already seen Al Gore’s 2007 film, An

Inconvenient Truth. If so, watch at the first episode of the 2014-present documentary series, Years of

Living Dangerously, a Showtime production, listed below.

In fact, while we’re at it, in addition to the above, watch any one of the films below. We will revisit the

subject of climate and communications later, but these films are worth watching as we kick off the

semester.

An Inconvenient Truth (2006) many streaming services

Years of Living Dangerously (2014-) http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/watch-years/

Chasing Ice (2012) Netflix

Three Seconds (2016), Prince Ea, https://youtu.be/sacc_x-XB1Y

2. Readings required for first class

McKibben, Bill, “Global warming’s terrifying new math,” Rolling Stone, July 19, 2012,

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719

Subramanian, Meera, “Seeing God’s hand in the deadly floods, yet wondering about climate change,”

Finding Common Ground series, Inside Climate News, October 24, 2017,

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19102017/christianity-evangelical-climate-change-flooding-

west-virginia

“Climate Change — Faith and fact,” interview with Katherine Hayhoe, Moyers & Company, September

12, 2014, http://billmoyers.com/episode/climate-change-faith-and-fact/ (25:15)

Smith, David, “For the future of our nation, have coffee with someone who causes you outrage,” Harvard

Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program, April 3, 2017,

http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/hnmcp/blog/why-i-will-take-a-trump-supporter-to-coffee/

3. Discussion questions for our first class, be prepared to discuss:

McKibben argues societies need to keep in the ground a large quantity of already-discovered fossil fuels

if the planet is to avoid a climate catastrophe. In other writing he has argued that humankind has

irrevocably changed Earth, that our traditional reliance on economic growth is a source of our

environmental problems, and that we need new ways to think about the place of humans on it.

Subramanian’s series of articles from Inside Climate News shows how in some areas a traditional

understanding of weather conflicts with scientific explanations. This article on how some rural West

Virginians interpret natural disasters highlights the challenges of finding common ground on the issue, a

prerequisite for more effective response.

The Moyers and Company broadcast looks at how Christian evangelical leaders and scientists are divided

separating them over matters of climate change and faith. Katherine Hayhoe is both a climate scientist

and an evangelical Christian. She is engaged in trying to convince her co-religionists that climate change

is real, yet at the same time is not against the fundamental values of her religious faith.

Finally, we have to recognize that since the election of 2016, the country has been riven by political

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conflict, on many fronts, not least of which concerns environment and climate matters. How we engage

with others with whom we profoundly disagree is of utmost importance if democratic norms are to be

preserved, and important public problems are to be solved, if not in the immediate present, then in the

near future. David Smith’s posting on talking through outrage outlines the struggle many of us face.

So, let’s get started with some questions arising from these introductory, and provocative, pieces:

1. What are McKibben’s conclusions about climate change and human involvement? Does he make a

persuasive case? Why or why not? What, in your opinion, will it take to achieve the goals McKibben

lays out?

2. What are the main reasons dividing climate scientists and conservative religious groups? Is it a

question of skepticism about science? Or is it a reluctance to accept the necessity of specific responses

to the problem?

3. What aspects in the stories from West Virginia, and the interview with the evangelical climate scientist

did you find the most interesting? Most surprising?

4. Finally, is Smith on the right track, about meeting and listening with people with whom you may

disagree? How can we bring ourselves to act on his advice?

4. Climate primers, if needed, before the first class: If you are really unfamiliar with the main scientific

and policy issues surrounding climate change, one of these primers is for you.

Climate Reality Project, “Climate 101,” https://www.climaterealityproject.org/climate-101

Gillis, Justin, “Short answers to hard questions about climate change,” New York Times, July 6, 2017,

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/28/science/what-is-climate-change.html

United States Forest Service, Climate Science Primer, subpages “Current Climate Change,” “Climate

Mechanisms,” “Natural Climate Cycles,” and “Effects in the U.S.,”

https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/education/climate-primer

Woods Hole Research Center, “Understanding Climate Change: A Primer,” http://whrc.org/publications-

data/understanding-climate-change-a-primer/

United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Climate change,” webpages as of January 19, 2017,

https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange_.html. Navigate all the links on this page.

Climate Communication website, https://www.climatecommunication.org/

Session 2: Religion and ecology: God, man and nature

Bauman, Bohannon and O’Brien, “Religion: what is it, who gets to decide, and why does it matter?” in

Grounding Religion: A Field Guide to the Study of Religion and Ecology, (New York: Routledge,

2011), pp. 13-26.

Berry, Tomas, The Dream of the Earth, “Introduction,” ch. 1, “Returning to our native place,” ch. 2, “The

Earth community,” pp. xi-xv, 1-12.

Roser-Renouf, Connie, Edward Maibach, Anthony Leiserowitz and Seth Rosenthal, “Global warming,

God and the ‘end times,’” Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, July 26, 2015,

http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/global-warming-god-end-times/

Session 3: Taking science seriously and religiously

Barbour, Ian, When Science Meets Religion, Introduction and ch. 1, pp. 1-38.

Roberts, David, “The soul of DeWitt: An interview with environmental scientist and evangelical leader

Calvin DeWitt,” Grist, Oct 17, 2006, http://grist.org/article/dewitt/

Pew Research Center, Forum on Religion and Public Life, America’s Changing Religious Landscape,

May 12, 2015, http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

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Session 4: Human impacts on the environment and climate

Steffen, Will, Paul Crutzen and John McNeill, “The anthropocene: Are humans now overwhelming the

great forces of nature?” Ambio, vol. 36, no. 8, December 2007, pp. 614-621, https://www.pik-

potsdam.de/news/public-events/archiv/alter-net/former-ss/2007/05-

09.2007/steffen/literature/ambi-36-08-06_614_621.pdf

Wallace-Wells, David, “The uninhabitable Earth, annotated edition,” New York Magazine, July 9, 2017,

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans-

annotated.html [This is a worst-case scenario, but scrupulously documented.]

Horton, Tim, “On the Chesapeake, a precarious future of rising seas and high tides,” Yale Environment

360, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, January 22, 2018,

https://e360.yale.edu/features/on-the-chesapeake-a-precarious-future-of-rising-seas-and-high-

tides

Global Footprint Network, https://www.footprintnetwork.org/. Browse the site, and view the video.

Calculate your own footprint: http://www.rprogress.org

Session 5: The scientific consensus about climate change

U.S. Global Change Research Program, Fourth National Climate Assessment, vol. 1, “Climate Science

Special Report,” (Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2017), “About the

report” and “Executive summary,” pp. 1-34, https://science2017.globalchange.gov/

Hamilton, Clive, “No escaping the science,” ch. 1 in Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth

About Climate Change, (London: Earthscan, 2010), pp. 1-31.

IPCC, Climate Change Synthesis Report, 2014: Summary for Policymakers, pp. 1-8, 9-31 and supporting

materials, https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/AR5_SYR_FINAL_SPM.pdf

Session 6: Climate policies: the economics of climate change

Hulme, Mike, “The endowment of value,” ch. 4 in Why We Disagree About Climate Change:

Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2009), pp. 109-141.

Speth, James Gustave, The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing

From Crisis to Sustainability, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), chs. 1-2, pp. 17-66.

Session 7: Climate science in the policy process

Hulme, Mike, “The performance of science,” ch. 3 in Why We Disagree About Climate Change:

Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2009), pp. 72-108.

Session 8: Risk perceptions and skepticism …

Hulme, Mike, “The things we fear,” ch. 6 and “The communication of risk,” ch. 7 in Why We Disagree

About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity, Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge, 2009), pp. 178-210, 211-247.

Hamilton, Clive, “Many forms of denial,” ch. 4 in Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About

Climate Change, (London: Earthscan, 2010), pp. 95-133.

Session 9: … and the organized politics of denial

Oreskes, Naomi and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the

Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010),

pp. 169-215, 240-265.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 3, “Climate Change Debate,”

http://www.hbo.com/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver/episodes/01/03-may-11-

2014/video/climate-change-debate.html (4:23)

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Skeptical Science, http://www.skepticalscience.com/

Documentary films: watch one

Climate of Doubt, Frontline, Public Broadcasting Service, Catherine Upin, director, October 23, 2012,

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/climate-of-doubt/ or

https://www.kanopystreaming.com/product/climate-doubt (53:47)

Greedy, Lying Bastards, Craig Scott Rosebraugh, director, One Earth Productions, 2013,

http://gmu.kanopystreaming.com/video/greedy-lying-bastards or

http://fod.infobase.com.mutex.gmu.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=93973 (1:30:32)

Session 10: Climate change, responsibility and ethics I

Garvey, James, “Responsibility,” ch. 3, “Doing nothing,” ch. 4, “Doing something,” ch. 5, in The Ethics

of Climate Change, (London: Continuum, 2008), pp. 57-87, 88-112, 113-135.

Session 11: Climate change, responsibility and ethics II

Hulme, Mike, “The things we believe,” ch. 5 in Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding

Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp.

142-177.

Maniates, Michael F., “Individualization: plant a tree, ride a bike, save the world?” Global Environmental

Politics, vol. 1, no. 3, 2001, pp. 31-52.

Forget Shorter Showers, Derrick Jensen, writer, Jordan Brown, director,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2TbrtCGbhQ, (11:00), based on Jensen’s essay in Orion

Magazine, July 7, 2009, https://orionmagazine.org/article/forget-shorter-showers/

Session 12: Christian traditions: Dominion…?

White, Lynn, “The historical roots of our ecologic crisis, Science, vol. 155, no. 3767, March 10, 1967, pp.

1203-1207, http://www.jstor.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/1720120

Nash, Roderick Frazier, Wilderness and the American Mind, 5th ed., (New Haven: Yale University Press,

2014), Prologue, pp. 1-22, ch. 2, pp. 23-43.

Merchant, Carolyn, “Dominion over nature,” in Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment, Richard C.

Foltz, ed., Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2003), pp. 39-49.

Session 13: Christian traditions: … or stewardship…? Responses to White

Norgaard, Richard B., “Can science and religion better save nature together?” BioScience, vol. 52, issue

9, September 1, 2002, pp. 842–846, https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-

3568(2002)052[0842:CSARBS]2.0.CO;2

Stoll, Mark, “The quest for green religion,” Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation,

vol. 22, issue 2, pp. 265–274,

http://www.jstor.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/pdf/10.1525/rac.2012.22.2.265.pdf

Documentary film:

What Would Jesus Buy? Rob VanAlkemade, director, Palisades Pictures, 2007,

https://vimeo.com/63120451 (1:31:08)

Session 14: Indigenous traditions, ecology and climate change

Grim, John A., “Indigenous traditions,” in The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology, Roger S.

Gottlieb, ed., (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp.

Berry, John, “The historical role of the American Indian,” The Dream of the Earth, (New York:

Counterpoint, 2015), pp. 180-193.

Bremer, Thomas, S., “Beginnings: The diversity of religion in America,” in Formed from this Soil: An

Introduction to the Diverse History of Religion in America, (New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014),

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pp. 1-9. E-book: https://ebookcentral-proquest-

com.mutex.gmu.edu/lib/georgemason/detail.action?docID=1811430

Indigenous Environmental Network, http://www.ienearth.org/

Session 15: Early Buddhism

Smith, Huston, The World’s Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions, (New York: HarperCollins, 1991),

pp. 82-

Strong, John S., The experience of Buddhism: Sources and interpretations, (Wadsworth Publishing,

2002), pp.

Buddhist Climate Statement to World Leaders, Global Buddhist Climate Change Collective, October 29,

2015, http://gbccc.org

Session 16: Islam, ecology and climate change

Foltz, Richard C., “Islam,” in The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology, Roger S. Gottlieb, ed.,

(New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, “Living in a multi-religious world,” in The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr,

William Chittick, ed., (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2007), pp. 3-20.

Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, Istanbul, August 18, 2015, http://www.ifees.org.uk/wp-

content/uploads/2016/10/climate_declarationmMWB.pdf

Session 17: Womanist/feminist theology, wilderness, and sense of place

Ruether, Rosemary Radford, Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism and

Religion, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2005), Introduction, pp. 1-8.

Baker-Fletcher, Karen, “Re-membering who we are,” Sisters of Dust, Sisters of Spirit: Womanist

Wordings on God and Creation, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), pp. 49-58.

“Alliance Statement,” International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers,

http://www.grandmotherscouncil.org/alliance-statement

Session 18: Contemporary Catholic approaches: Pope Francis weighs in

McKibben, Bill, “The Pope and the planet, New York Review of Books, August 13, 2015,

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/08/13/pope-and-planet/

DeWitt, Calvin B., “Earth stewardship and Laudato Si’,” The Quarterly Review of Biology, vol. 91, no. 3,

September 2016, pp. 271-284, http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/688096

Maibach, Edward, et al., The Francis effect: How Pope Francis Changed the Conversation about Global

Warming, George Mason University and Yale University, Center for Climate Change

Communication, 2015, https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/all/thefranciseffect/

Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, 2015, Introduction, para. 1-16, ch. 4,

“Integral ecology,” para. 137-162,

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-

francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

Session 19: Mainstream religions, science and ecology

Wilson, Edward O., Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, (New York: Knopf, 1998), ch. 11, “Ethics and

religion,” pp. 238-265.

Berry, Wendell, Life Is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition, (Berkeley: Counterpoint,

2000), ch. 4, “Reduction and religion,” pp. 93-103.

Session 20: Mainstream religions, science and climate change

Berry, John, “Technology and the healing of the Earth,” The Dream of the Earth, (New York:

Counterpoint, 2015), pp. 50-69.

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Tucker, Mary Evelyn, “Can science and religion respond to climate change?” Zygon, vol. 50, no. 4,

December 2015, pp. 949-61.

Tucker, Mary Evelyn and John Grim, “Religion and the new environmental ethic,” Forum on Religion and

Ecology, School of Forestry and Environment, Yale University, January 13, 2009, (12:50)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG0bQ3SwDI8

Session 21: Supernatural to natural: ecologies as sacred spaces

Taylor, Bron, “Religion and environmentalism in America and beyond,” in The Oxford Handbook of

Religion and Ecology, Roger S. Gottlieb, ed., (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. .

Leopold, Aldo, “Land ethic” and “Odyssey,” in Sand County Almanac, many editions.

Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” in This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, Roger S.

Gottlieb, ed., (New York: Routledge, 2004), pp. 29-31. Originally published in The Atlantic

Monthly, June, 1862, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/06/walking/304674/

Thomas, Lewis, “Medusa and the snail,” in Medusa and the Snail, (New York: Viking Press, 1979), pp.

1-6.

Thomas, Lewis, “Lives of a cell” in Lives of a Cell, (New York: Viking Press, 1974), pp. 3-5.

Wilson, Edward O., "The little things that run the world (the importance and conservation of

invertebrates)," Conservation Biology, vol. 1, no. 4, December 1987, pp. 344-346.

Session 22: Cosmology and ecology

Berry, Thomas, “The universe as cosmic liturgy,” in The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth, Mary

Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, eds., (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009), pp. 96-116.

Berry, John, “Bioregions: The context for reinhabiting the Earth,” The Dream of the Earth, (New York:

Counterpoint, 2015), pp. 163-170.

Documentary film:

Journey of the universe: an epic story of cosmic, earth, and human transformation, Patsy Northcutt and

David Kennard, producers and directors, Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker,

writers, Shelter Island, 2013, https://www.coursera.org/learn/journey-knowledge-

action/lecture/VgJUR/journey-of-the-universe-full-film, (56:30)

Session 23: Christian evangelicals and climate science …

Review: “Climate Change — Faith and Fact,” interview with Katherine Hayhoe, Moyers & Company,

September 12, 2014, http://billmoyers.com/episode/climate-change-faith-and-fact/

Nuccitelli, Dana, “Katharine Hayhoe is successfully convincing doubtful evangelicals about climate

change,” The Guardian, August 28, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-

consensus-97-per-cent/2017/aug/28/study-katharine-hayhoe-is-successfully-convincing-doubtful-

evangelicals-about-climate-change

DeWitt, Calvin B., “Spiritual and religious perspectives of creation and scientific understanding of

nature,” in The Good in Nature and Humanity: Connecting Science, Religion, and Spirituality

with the Natural World, Steven R. Kellert and Timothy J. Farnham, eds., (Washington, DC:

Island Press, 2002), pp. http://faculty.nelson.wisc.edu/dewitt/docs/yale-complementarity-of-

science-and-religion.pdf

Session 24: … and the political religious right

Bruinius, Harry and Amanda Paulson, “How climate change became a question of faith,” Christian

Science Monitor, August 8, 2017, https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2017/0808/How-

climate-change-became-a-question-of-faith

Smith, Sonia, “Unfriendly climate,” Texas Monthly, May 2016,

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/katharine-hayhoe-lubbock-climate-change-evangelist/

12

Bailey, Sarah Pulliam, “Why so many white evangelicals in Trump’s base are deeply skeptical of climate

change,” Washington Post, June 2, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-

faith/wp/2017/06/02/why-so-many-white-evangelicals-in-trumps-base-are-deeply-skeptical-of-

climate-change/

Brendan O'Connor, “How fossil fuel money made climate change denial the word of God,” Splinter,

August 8, 2017, https://splinternews.com/how-fossil-fuel-money-made-climate-denial-the-word-

of-g-1797466298

Session 25: Climate change communications and behavior change

Moser, Susanne C., Lisa Dilling, John S. Dryzek, Richard B. Norgaard and David Schlosberg,

“Communicating climate change: Closing the science-action gap,” in The Oxford Handbook of

Climate Change and Society, (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 161–174.

Smith, Sonia, “Lessons in communicating climate change, from a scientist and evangelical Christian,”

Columbia Journalism Review, October 27, 2017, https://www.cjr.org/special_report/texas-

katharine-hayhoe.php

Krygsman, Kirra and Meighen Speiser, Let's Talk Faith and Climate: Communication Guidance for Faith

Leaders, ecoAmerica, 2016, https://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/eA-Lets-Talk-

Faith-and-Climate-WEB.pdf

Maibach, E. W., Roser-Renouf, C. and Leiserowitz, A., “Global warming’s six Americas,” Yale Project

on Climate Change and George Mason University, 2009 and recent updates,

http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/about/projects/global-warmings-six-americas/

Session 26: Environmental social movements…

Skopol, Theda, “You can’t change the climate from inside Washington,” Foreign Policy, January 24,

2013, http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/01/24/you-cant-change-the-climate-from-inside-washington/

Tramel, Salena, “Social movements gain momentum in the fight for climate justice,” Huffington Post,

November 3, 2014, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/salena-tramel/social-movements-gain-

mom_b_6102184.html

Gitlin, Todd, “The climate change movement is not wishful thinking anymore,” Mother Jones, October 6,

2014, http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/10/climate-change-movement-peoples-

march-wishful, originally posted at TomDispatch.com, October 2, 2014,

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175902/

Liacas, Tom, “The social strategy that is super-sizing the climate movement, Mashable, July 19, 2015,

http://mashable.com/2015/07/19/climate-change-social-movement/#zE2cuV3g0Gqs

Session 27: … and Christian climate social movements: are they different?

Teirstein, Zoya, “Seeing red on climate,” Grist, January 18, 2018, https://grist.org/article/climate-change-

isnt-just-for-democrats-anymore-meet-the-eco-right-republicans/

ecoAmerica, American Climate Leadership Summit, Recommendations Report, Washington DC, October

25-26, 2017, http://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/recommendations-report-2017-

.pdf

Bean, Lydia and Steve Teles, Spreading Gospel Of Climate Change: An Evangelical Battleground, New

America Foundation, Political Reform Program, New Models of Policy Change, November 13,

2015, https://na-production.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Climate_Care.pdf

Session 28: Future of climate policy: how should climate be governed?

Hulme, Mike, “The way we govern,” ch. 9, and “Beyond climate change,” ch. 10, in Why We Disagree

About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity, (Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 284-321, 322-366.

Final exam

13

Assignment schedule Spring 2018

Date Ses

sio

n

BB

po

stin

g

gro

up

Assignment

due Session topic

1/23 1 A, B, C Introduction to the course: what does religion have to do with the

politics of climate change?

1/25 2 # 1 outline Religion and ecology: God, man and nature

1/30 3 A, B Taking science seriously and religiously

2/1 4 #1 rough draft Human impacts on the environment and climate

2/6 5 C, A The scientific consensus about climate change

2/8 6 #1 video and

final paper

Climate policies: the economics of climate change

2/13 7 B, C Climate science in the policy process

2/15 8 #2 outline Risk perceptions and skepticism …

2/20 9 A, B … and the organized politics of denial

2/22 10 C Climate change, responsibility and ethics I

2/27 11 #2 rough draft Climate change, responsibility and ethics II

3/1 12 A, B Christian traditions: Dominion…?

3/6 13 C, A Christian traditions: … or stewardship…? Responses to White

3/8 14 B Indigenous traditions, ecology and climate change

3/13 Spring break

3/15 Spring break

3/20 15 #2 final draft Early Buddhism

3/22 16 C, A Islam, ecology and climate change

3/27 17 B, C Womanist/feminist theology, wilderness, and sense of place

3/29 18 A Contemporary Catholic approaches: Pope Francis weighs in

4/3 19 #2 video and

final paper

Mainstream religions, science and ecology

4/5 20 B, C Mainstream religions, science and climate change

4/10 21 #3 outline Supernatural to natural: ecologies as sacred spaces

4/12 22 A, B Cosmology and ecology

4/17 23 C, A Christian evangelicals and climate science …

4/19 24 #3 rough draft … and the political religious right

4/22 Earth Day

4/24 25 B, C Climate change communications and behavior change

4/26 26 A, B Environmental social movements…

5/1 27 C … and Christian climate social movements: are they different?

5/3 28 #3 final paper Future of climate policy: how should climate be governed?

5/15 Exam