A “Green” Kataphatic Theology: The Ecospirit of Springbank Retreat Center in Kingstree, South Carolina

This paper explores the emerging “green” theology of Springbank Retreat Center, located in Kingstree, S.C. (www.springbankretreat.org). Springbank labels itself as a “Center for EcoSpirituality and the Arts,” and is a 5,000 acre Christian Center-Dominican Retreat House staffed by Dominican Sisters, whose mission is “to live simply, to create beauty, to respect Earth and all beings and to share the learned wisdom as co-creators with the Divine for a sustainable future. We are called to be a courageous and prophetic voice in today’s world, contributing to the transformation of human consciousness.” Springbank attempts to put this mission into practice by hosting ecumenical ecospiritual workshops and conferences, and by greening its campus. I use participant observation and discourse analysis to analyze Springbank’s history and contemporary practice, where this history and practice is situated into the larger greening of religion hypothesis and the current “ecological reformation.” Because Springbank is part of the Catholic tradition, I utilize Belden Lane’s hermeneutics of a kataphatic theology to also help make sense of Springbank’s mission statement, institutional structure, and workshop

Is Trash Hybrid?

[From first paragraph] The scholarship focusing on globalization over the last thirty years has achieved impressive gains in nuance and understanding. Some of the more prominent approaches to study globalization that have developed in this period include network, feminist, gender, economic, political, media, religious, diaspora, and migratory lenses. All of these lenses are adroitly utilized by scholars to help us better understand globalization and their use helps to shape the field of global studies. This article argues that environmental humanities scholars must build upon insights from these disciplines, while bringing scholarly tools from the environmental sciences into their research projects, if we are to better understand the contested ways that processes of globalization shape and are shaped by both nature and culture

Social Justice and Racial Equity and Animals

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/inclusion-initiative-prompts/1008/thumbnail.jp

International Trends and Practices on Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education Institutions

Sustainability reports are regarded as important tools in offering information about the environmental, social, economic, and institutional performance of an institution, and in demonstrating a commitment to matters related to sustainable development. But even though sustainability reporting has been used by a variety of higher education institutions to date, it is not as widely practiced as it should be. To further investigate this topic, a twofold approach was used: a study focusing on sustainability reporting approaches deployed in a sample of 30 universities across a set of countries; and a survey with a sample of 72 universities from different global regions to assess the extent to which they are deploying sustainability reporting as part of their activities. The scientific value of the paper resides in the fact that it offers a comprehensive overview of the subject matter of sustainability reporting, and how higher education institutions handle it. It also outlines the efforts in developing these documents which may catalyse further progress in this key area

Ocean acidification has different effects on the production of dimethylsulfide and dimethylsulfoniopropionate measured in cultures of Emiliania huxleyi and a mesocosm study:a comparison of laboratory monocultures and community interactions

The human-induced rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide since the industrial revolution has led to increasing oceanic carbon uptake and changes in seawater carbonate chemistry, resulting in lowering of surface water pH. In this study we investigated the effect of increasing CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) on concentrations of volatile biogenic dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), through monoculture studies and community pCO2 perturbation. DMS is a climatically important gas produced by many marine algae: it transfers sulfur into the atmosphere and is a major influence on biogeochemical climate regulation through breakdown to sulfate and formation of subsequent cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Overall, production of DMS and DMSP by the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi strain RCC1229 was unaffected by growth at 900 μatm pCO2, but DMSP production normalised to cell volume was 12 % lower at the higher pCO2 treatment. These cultures were compared with community DMS and DMSP production during an elevated pCO2 mesocosm experiment with the aim of studying E. huxleyi in the natural environment. Results contrasted with the culture experiments and showed reductions in community DMS and DMSP concentrations of up to 60 and 32 % respectively at pCO2 up to 3000 μatm, with changes attributed to poorer growth of DMSP-producing nanophytoplankton species, including E. huxleyi, and potentially increased microbial consumption of DMS and dissolved DMSP at higher pCO2. DMS and DMSP production differences between culture and community likely arise from pH affecting the inter-species responses between microbial producers and consumers

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on routines of higher education institutions : a global perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disturbances in the work of hundreds of millions of people around the world. One of the groups affected is the academic staff at higher education institutions, whose original business model, i.e., presence teaching, suddenly changed to online learning. This has, in turn, exacerbated pre-existing problems such as shortage of time, busy schedules, and challenges to a work-life balance. Since academic staff plays a key role in respect of teaching and research, often acting as leaders in their fields, it is important to reflect on the influences of the lockdowns on their work routines. In order to address this research need, this paper reports on a study that examined the impacts of the lockdowns on the work of academic staff at universities. Using a bibliometric analysis and investigation of a set of case studies, the study sheds light on the difficulties encountered and the means deployed to address them. Our study did not identify a one-size-fits-all response to manage the manifold changes brought on HEIs by the COVID-19 pandemic. Selected arising priorities include creating a culture of educational resilience through a container of complementary measures.peer-reviewe

Sustainability Literacy in a Time of Socio-Ecological Crisis: Using Reaccreditation as a Leverage Point for Innovation in Higher Education

This article presents a case study of innovation in sustainability education in higher education. It does so by explaining the to-date progress of a multi-year reaccreditation process begun in 2016 for the College of Charleston (CofC), a public liberal arts and sciences university in Charleston, South Carolina of approximately 10,000 undergraduates and 1300 graduate students. The question addressed is how can a higher education institute strategically embed sustainability literacy that is focused on social/environmental engagement, in a way that contributes to measurable student learning gains? We argue that the leverage point of institutional reaccreditation provides a strategic entryway into embedding such sustainability across curricular and co-curricular settings in innovative capacities. We do so by discussing how sustainability education was implemented into a co-curricular civic engagement program, alternative break, to build students’ sustainability literacy at the College of Charleston. The article concludes by reflecting on lessons learned at CofC on how to use institutional reaccreditation as a driver of sustainability education through civic engagement in an era of socio-ecological collapse

Methane Dispensers and Bio-Dynamic Beings: Cattle as Polysemous Symbols in Environmental Religious Discourse // // ¿Dispensadores de metano o seres bio-dinámicos? Significados polisémicos de los bovinos rumiantes domesticados

      This paper approaches thinking animals via the animal humanities, focusing on the conflicting meanings ascribed to domesticated cattle: are they destroyers of the environment, or saviors of the planet? By investigating narrative tropes, especially those grounded within the at times competing and overlapping worldviews of religious environmentalism, biodynamic agriculture, and sustainable agriculture, this paper explores the iterative interaction between how cows are conceived, and thus managed, in relation to human-nature interactions. Management questions may include: Who can kill a cow, when, why, and for what purpose? How should cows be raised and treated? Do cows have their own form of intelligence, and even spiritual intelligence? Are cows a leading cause of climate destabilization and deforestation, or can they help avert runaway climate change? Should cows be the entry point into animal abolitionism? Investigating the competing answers to these and other such questions is important, for if humans are to have any form of functional habitat that enables the flourishing of human and non-human lifeforms in the coming decades, then how humans conceive of, manage, and interact with other lifeforms, especially in the context of religion and agriculture, matters. Emerging metrics suggests that the narrative, ethical, religious, and biological understandings of non-human evolutionary kin in the dawning Anthropocene will be fluid and contested. Therefore, scholars must be prepared to interpret and analyze emergent meanings that will be ascribed to other lifeforms on a climate changed planet. Investigating cows—their labor, their environmental impacts, their role in shaping human societies and providing calories, the art of interacting with them on agricultural fields—presents a chance to rethink the human in a world of limits. Resumen Este trabajo analiza los animales pensantes a través de las humanidades animales, centrándose en los significados conflictivos atribuidos al ganado domesticado: ¿son destructores del medio ambiente, o salvadores del planeta? Al investigar los tropos narrativos, especialmente aquellos basados en las visiones del mundo, a veces rivales y superpuestas, del ecologismo religioso, la agricultura biodinámica y la agricultura sostenible, se explora la interacción iterativa entre cómo las vacas son concebidas y gestionadas en relación con las interacciones entren el ser humano y la naturaleza. Las preguntas de gestión pueden incluir: ¿Quién puede matar a una vaca, cuándo, por qué, y con qué propósito? ¿Cómo deben ser criadas y tratadas las vacas? ¿Tienen las vacas su propia forma de inteligencia, e incluso de inteligencia espiritual? ¿Son las vacas la principal causa de la desestabilización del clima y la deforestación, o pueden ayudar a evitar el cambio climático? ¿Deberían ser las vacas ser el punto de entrada en el abolicionismo animal? La investigación de las respuestas conflictivas a estas y otras preguntas es importante, ya que si los seres humanos han de tener algún tipo de hábitat funcional que permita el florecimiento de las formas de vida humanas y no humanas en las próximas décadas, es importante cómo los seres humanos conciben, gestionan e interactúan con otras formas de vida, especialmente en el contexto de la religión y la agricultura. Métricas emergentes sugieren que la narrativa, los entendimientos éticos, religiosos, familiares y biológicos de la evolución no humana en el Antropoceno naciente será fluida y controvertida. Por lo tanto, los especialistas deben estar preparados para interpretar significados emergentes que se pueden atribuir a otras formas de vida en un planeta frente al cambio climático. La investigación de las vacas—su trabajo, sus impactos ambientales, su papel en la conformación de las sociedades humanas y la disponibilidad de calorías, el arte de interactuar con ellos en los campos agrícolas—presenta la oportunidad de reconsiderar al ser humano en un mundo de límites.

¿Dispensadores de metano o seres bio-dinámicos? Significados polisémicos de los bovinos rumiantes domesticados

This paper approaches thinking about animals via the animal humanities, focusing on the conflicting meanings ascribed to domesticated cattle: given the amount of biomass cattle currently occupy on earth, are they destroyers of the environment, or saviors of the planet? By investigating narrative tropes, especially those grounded within the at times competing and overlapping worldviews of religious environmentalism, biodynamic agriculture, sustainable agriculture, and Vedic/Hindu cosmologies, this paper explores the iterative interaction between how cows are conceived, and thus managed, in relation to human-nature interactions. Who can kill a cow, when, why, and for what purpose? How should cows be raised and treated? Do cows have their own form of intelligence, and even spiritual intelligence? Are cows one of the leading causes of climate destabilization and deforestation, or are they able to help avert runaway climate change? Should cows be the entry point into animal abolitionism? Investigating the competing and conflicting answers to such questions matters, for if we are to have any form of functional habitat that enables the flourishing of human and non-human lifeforms in the coming decades, then how we conceive of and manage and interact with other lifeforms, especially in the context of both religion and agriculture, matters. Emerging metrics suggests that our narrative, ethical, religious, and biological understandings of our evolutionary kin in the dawning Anthropocene will be fluid, contested, and in flux, and as scholars we must be prepared to interpret and analyze emergent meanings that will be ascribed to other lifeforms on our climate changed planet. Investigating cows—their labor, their environmental impacts, their role in shaping human societies and providing calories, the art of interacting with them on agricultural fields—presents a chance to rethink the human on a world of limits.En trabajo analiza los animales pensantes a través de las humanidades animales, centrándose en los significados conflictivos atribuidos al ganado domesticado: ¿son destructores del medio ambiente, o salvadores del planeta? Al investigar los tropos narrativos, especialmente aquellos basados en las visiones del mundo, a veces rivales y superpuestas, del ecologismo religioso, la agricultura biodinámica y la agricultura sostenible, se explora la interacción iterativa entre cómo las vacas son concebidas y gestionadas en relación con las interacciones entren el ser humano y la naturaleza. Las preguntas de gestión pueden incluir: ¿Quién puede matar a una vaca, cuándo, por qué, y con qué propósito? ¿Cómo deben ser criadas y tratadas las vacas? ¿Tienen las vacas su propia forma de inteligencia, e incluso de inteligencia espiritual? ¿Son las vacas la principal causa de la desestabilización del clima y la deforestación, o pueden ayudar a evitar el cambio climático? ¿Deberían ser las vacas ser el punto de entrada en el abolicionismo animal? La investigación de las respuestas conflictivas a estas y otras preguntas es importante, ya que si los seres humanos han de tener algún tipo de hábitat funcional que permita el florecimiento de las formas de vida humanas y no humanas en las próximas décadas, es importante cómo los seres humanos conciben, gestionan e interactúan con otras formas de vida, especialmente en el contexto de la religión y la agricultura. Métricas emergentes sugieren que la narrativa, los entendimientos éticos, religiosos, familiares y biológicos de la evolución no humana en el Antropoceno naciente será fluida y controvertida. Por lo tanto, los especialistas deben estar preparados para interpretar significados emergentes que se pueden atribuir a otras formas de vida en un planeta frente al cambio climático. La investigación de las vacas—su trabajo, sus impactos ambientales, su papel en la conformación de las sociedades humanas y la disponibilidad de calorías, el arte de interactuar con ellos en los campos agrícolas—presenta la oportunidad de reconsiderar al ser humano en un mundo de límites

¿Dispensadores de metano o seres bio-dinámicos? Significados polisémicos de los bovinos rumiantes domesticados

This paper approaches thinking about animals via the animal humanities, focusing on the conflicting meanings ascribed to domesticated cattle: given the amount of biomass cattle currently occupy on earth, are they destroyers of the environment, or saviors of the planet? By investigating narrative tropes, especially those grounded within the at times competing and overlapping worldviews of religious environmentalism, biodynamic agriculture, sustainable agriculture, and Vedic/Hindu cosmologies, this paper explores the iterative interaction between how cows are conceived, and thus managed, in relation to human-nature interactions. Who can kill a cow, when, why, and for what purpose? How should cows be raised and treated? Do cows have their own form of intelligence, and even spiritual intelligence? Are cows one of the leading causes of climate destabilization and deforestation, or are they able to help avert runaway climate change? Should cows be the entry point into animal abolitionism? Investigating the competing and conflicting answers to such questions matters, for if we are to have any form of functional habitat that enables the flourishing of human and non-human lifeforms in the coming decades, then how we conceive of and manage and interact with other lifeforms, especially in the context of both religion and agriculture, matters. Emerging metrics suggests that our narrative, ethical, religious, and biological understandings of our evolutionary kin in the dawning Anthropocene will be fluid, contested, and in flux, and as scholars we must be prepared to interpret and analyze emergent meanings that will be ascribed to other lifeforms on our climate changed planet. Investigating cows—their labor, their environmental impacts, their role in shaping human societies and providing calories, the art of interacting with them on agricultural fields—presents a chance to rethink the human on a world of limits.En trabajo analiza los animales pensantes a través de las humanidades animales, centrándose en los significados conflictivos atribuidos al ganado domesticado: ¿son destructores del medio ambiente, o salvadores del planeta? Al investigar los tropos narrativos, especialmente aquellos basados en las visiones del mundo, a veces rivales y superpuestas, del ecologismo religioso, la agricultura biodinámica y la agricultura sostenible, se explora la interacción iterativa entre cómo las vacas son concebidas y gestionadas en relación con las interacciones entren el ser humano y la naturaleza. Las preguntas de gestión pueden incluir: ¿Quién puede matar a una vaca, cuándo, por qué, y con qué propósito? ¿Cómo deben ser criadas y tratadas las vacas? ¿Tienen las vacas su propia forma de inteligencia, e incluso de inteligencia espiritual? ¿Son las vacas la principal causa de la desestabilización del clima y la deforestación, o pueden ayudar a evitar el cambio climático? ¿Deberían ser las vacas ser el punto de entrada en el abolicionismo animal? La investigación de las respuestas conflictivas a estas y otras preguntas es importante, ya que si los seres humanos han de tener algún tipo de hábitat funcional que permita el florecimiento de las formas de vida humanas y no humanas en las próximas décadas, es importante cómo los seres humanos conciben, gestionan e interactúan con otras formas de vida, especialmente en el contexto de la religión y la agricultura. Métricas emergentes sugieren que la narrativa, los entendimientos éticos, religiosos, familiares y biológicos de la evolución no humana en el Antropoceno naciente será fluida y controvertida. Por lo tanto, los especialistas deben estar preparados para interpretar significados emergentes que se pueden atribuir a otras formas de vida en un planeta frente al cambio climático. La investigación de las vacas—su trabajo, sus impactos ambientales, su papel en la conformación de las sociedades humanas y la disponibilidad de calorías, el arte de interactuar con ellos en los campos agrícolas—presenta la oportunidad de reconsiderar al ser humano en un mundo de límites