This course is the fourth in a series of five that are part of our 2024 certificate program in process thought and practice. A limited number of seats are available for individuals not participating in the program.
Exploring Crises and Possibilities for Ecological Justice and Wellbeing
This course explores visions of ecological civilization, drawing upon process-relational understandings of the cosmos, ecological movements, and central ideas and practices in diverse human communities and fields of thought. The purpose is to gather and build upon practical wisdom, seeking to dive deeply into crises and possibilities. Practical wisdom has power to transform the downward spiral of ecological destruction and to foster movements for protecting, healing, and regenerating our broken planet.
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or work at your own pace.
Course Summary
This course explores visions of ecological civilization, drawing upon process-relational understandings of the cosmos; the history of ecological struggles and movements; and central ideas and practices that have emerged in philosophical, scientific, economic, artistic, religious, and activist communities of reflection. The purpose is to gather and build upon practical wisdom that has power to transform the downward spiral of ecological destruction and to foster movements for protecting, healing, and regenerating our broken planet. The course is an invitation for participants to travel into the midst of crises and seek possibilities for ecological justice and wellbeing.
Over the course of six sessions, we will identify and analyze dominant assumptions about the human and more-than-human natural world, critiquing and reshaping them from the standpoint of process-relational and other traditions of thought. We will explore these assumptions through case studies, readings and videos, presentations by experts, student projects, and probing conversations.
“. . . ecological civilization requires not only a fundamental transformation of modes of production and a different model of development, but also a fundamental transformation of worldview, values, and lifestyle. It will take a post-modern worldview, accompanied by the appropriate actions and structures, in order to bring about this transformation.”
–Philip Clayton and Andrew Schwartz in What is Ecological Civilization?
Course Outline
The course centers around six themes:
- Crisis & Possibility – Historical & Process-Relational Analyses
- Philosophical & Scientific Propositions
- Economic Realities & Possibilities
- Aesthetic Prehensions of Land & Water
- Wisdom Traditions
- Wisdom In Communities of Action
About the Instructor
Mary Elizabeth Moore is Dean Emerita and Professor of Theology and Education in Boston University School of Theology and Chair of the Cobb Institute Board. Her passion is to journey with others to build compassionate and prophetic communities, and a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. She feels privileged to work toward those ends as a board member of the Cobb Institute, especially in the practices of nurturing spirit, building justice, resisting violence, struggling against oppression, and caring for the earth. Her books include: Teaching as a Sacramental Act; Covenant and Call; Ministering with the Earth; Teaching from the Heart: Theology and Educational Method; and Education for Continuity and Change. She has engaged actively in justice work in the church and in intercultural, interreligious relationship-building in local, professional, and academic settings.
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Price
- Lifetime access to session recordings
- Receive early notification of future courses
- Watch live or follow your own schedule
- Interact with class members via discussion forums
- *If you cannot pay this amount, please contribute whatever you feel the course is worth or whatever you can afford to help support this and other programs like it.
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