Conversation 2017 | Westmont College

About the Conversation

In a time of ecological degradation and climate crisis, how can the tools of liberal education direct our engagement with the natural world?

Join us at Westmont College in Santa Barbara March 23-25, 2017 for the 16th annual Conversation on the Liberal Arts, "Liberal Arts for a Fragile Planet." We'll consider the many ways that liberal education might invite attentiveness to one's environment. We'll also share ideas for developing and sustaining programs, pedagogies, and curricula that more effectively address environmental concerns.

How is the "ecology" of teaching and learning embedded in the natural world? Come join the conversation.

Who should attend?

Our conversation will include a broad array of participants: faculty who want to deepen their engagement with environmental concerns; college or university administrators looking for structural ways to promote environmental awareness; undergraduate or graduate students whose scholarship or experience point toward environmental advocacy; environmental activists or other practitioners; and anyone with an interest in the value and practice of liberal education.

Program

Speakers

Andrew Bocarsly | Princeton University

Andrew Bocarsly is a professor of chemistry at Princeton University and a founder of Liquid Light, Inc., a startup company that turns carbon dioxide into fuels and other commercially useful chemicals. Pioneering a process he calls "reverse combustion," Bocarsly aims to combat climate change through carbon reuse, in the process building bridges between cutting-edge electrochemical research and industry. Dr. Bocarsly also serves as a consultant and contractor to various fuel cell and alternate energy companies, as well as the electrochemistry editor for Methods in Materials Research. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from M.I.T.

Steven Bouma-Prediger | Hope College

Steven Bouma-Prediger is a professor of religion at Hope College, where he also directs the Environmental Studies Program. His publications include For the Beauty of the Earth, an award-winning book that makes a case for Christian involvement in the modern environmental movement. A specialist in ecological theology and ethics, Dr. Bouma-Prediger regularly contributes to Western Theological Seminary's Creation Care Study Program in Belize and New Zealand; he also serves on the board of the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of Chicago.

Janet Redman | Oil Change International

Janet Redman is the US Policy Director of Oil Change International, a nonprofit organization that researches and publicizes the costs of fossil fuel consumption and trends toward clean energy. She is also an associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, where she formerly directed the Climate Policy Program. Ms. Redman has long experience advocating for sustainable energy policies in Washington, DC, work that has brought her into alliance with grassroots organizations in the global South and North in search of creative political solutions. She holds a Master's in international development and social change from Clark University.

Ling Zhang | Boston College

Ling Zhang is professor of history at Boston College, focusing on environmental change in pre-modern China. Her most recent book, The River, the Plain, and the State, describes the social and political consequences, as well as the human and ecological costs, of a drastic eleventh-century rerouting of the Yellow River; the American Society for Environmental History awarded it the 2017 George Perkins Marsh prize for best book. Before coming to Boston College, Dr. Zhang served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Program in Agrarian Studies at Yale University and a Ziff Environmental Fellow at Harvard University. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge University.

Papers

Concurrent Session 1

Bridging Cultural and Political Divides | Hieronymus Lounge

Daniel Escher, "Cultural Aspects of Environmental Work"

John Shriver, "Building Collaborative Relationships Between Conservationists and Farmers in a Divided Landscape"

Institutionalizing Integrative Thinking | Alumni Gallery

Paul Turpin, "Educating Interdependence: The Liberal Arts' Contribution to Environmentalism as a Civic Concern"

Rachel Montgomery, "Mission-Driven: Examining the Institutional Identities of Liberal Arts Colleges"

Ryan McIlhenny, "Creating a Storm: The Liberal Arts, Climate Change, and Social Activism"

Concurrent Session 2

Histories of Environmentalism and the Fine Arts | Hieronymus Lounge

Lisa DeBoer, "God Made the Earth but the Dutch Made Holland:Pleasant Places, Sublime Scenes, and Teaching the Liberal Arts for a Fragile Planet" (Visuals--PowerPoint)