About the Editors
Georgia is an OSU alumna who majored in Environmental Policy and Decision Making with a minor in Cultural Anthropology. Following her graduation in May 2022, she plans to attend law school and focus on environmental and human rights law. Her chapter, “Manifest Destiny: The American Dream, or an Ecological Crisis?” discusses the alleged anomaly of westward expansion and its apparent Christian motivations.
Hallie is an OSU alumna who majored in Environmental Policy and Decision-Making with a specialization in Environmental and Social Justice. She is broadly interested in community-based solutions to climate change, equitable city planning, and the intersections of gender, race, and environmental issues. Her chapter, “The Sacredness of Water” examines the ways in which water is featured in the texts, traditions, and beliefs of four major world religions, and how these unique/similar interpretations of water may serve as potential motivations for water conservationism or activism.
Emerson is an OSU alumnus who majored in Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainability with a minor in French. He plans to work and study in the field of environmental regulation, continuing his interest in agriculture and sustainability. His chapter, “Reconnecting with Creation Through Regenerative Agriculture” examines a new style of style agriculture that is gaining traction, and how many farmers are using it to re-connect to nature and religion.
Sophia is a third-year studying Political Science with a minor in Legal Foundations of Society. She has been interested in environmental politics and climate policy throughout her education, and enjoyed this course as a way to expand her understanding of these issues. Her chapter, “Love and Environmentalism”, explores how love and care impact how people interact with the environment, and how spirituality views and impacts this.
Dr. Gregory Hitzhusen is an OSU professor teaching ENR 3470: Religion and Environmental Values in America. His father was a professor of environmental economics at Ohio State, so he grew up with lots of dinner-table conversation about sustainable development, and the connection between poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation. He majored in biological sciences with an ecology concentration at Cornell University, and continued his education through joint theology and ecology studies at Yale University at the Divinity School and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The following chapters were term papers written by students who took his class, and this book will continue growing as new students continue to learn and develop their own perspectives.
