Events & Calendars Between God and Green

Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson, a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, where she specializes in organizational culture and behavior change, will speak on "Between God and Green," Tuesday, October 30 at 4:30 p.m. in the Paino Lecture Hall in the Beneski Museum of Natural History. Both a Rhodes Scholar and a Udall Scholar, Wilkinson holds a doctorate in environmental studies from Oxford and a BA in religion from Sewanee: The University of the South. Her extensive experience in sustainability includes work for the Natural Resources Defense Council, consulting on strategic communications and stakeholder engagement, and teaching environmental social science at Oxford. Her book, Between God & Green, explores the phenomenon of climate care, from its historical roots and theological grounding to its visionary leaders and advocacy initiatives. Wilkinson examines the movement's reception within the broader evangelical community, from pew to pulpit. She shows that by engaging with climate change as a matter of private faith and public life, leaders of the movement challenge traditional boundaries of the evangelical agenda, partisan politics, and established alliances and hostilities. These leaders view sea-level rise as a moral calamity, lobby for legislation written on both sides of the aisle, and partner with atheist scientists. Wilkinson reveals how evangelical environmentalists are reshaping not only the landscape of American climate action, but the contours of their own religious community. Though the movement faces complex challenges, climate care leaders continue to leverage evangelicalism's size, dominance, cultural position, ethical resources, and mechanisms of communication to further their cause to bridge God and green.The talk is sponsored by the Department of Environmental Studies, the Religion Department, and the Willis D. Wood Fund. The event is free and open to the public.