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environment

‘Don’t Look Up’: Three years later

John Fea   |  January 8, 2025

Some of you may remember Adam McKay’s movie Don’t Look Up. Wikipedia describes it an “apocalyptic political satire black comedy.” The film starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Tyler Perry, TimothĂ©e Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl […]

Something out of nothing? Not so fast.

Elizabeth Stice   |  September 30, 2024

One way that we hide hard realities is by pretending that nearly everything can be turned into or made from something else.

Creation at the Crossroads Conference in Madison, Wisconsin

John Fea   |  September 13, 2024

Christian pastors concerned about creation care will gather next week in Madison, Wisconsin for the annual Creation Care at the Crosswords conference sponsored by the Lausanne/World Evangelical Alliance Creation Care Network and the Loka Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. […]

The Author’s Corner with Caleb Wellum

Rachel Petroziello   |  March 5, 2024

Caleb Wellum is Assistant Professor of U.S. History at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. This interview is based on his new book, Energizing Neoliberalism: The 1970s Energy Crisis and the Making of Modern America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). JF: […]

The Author’s Corner with John William Nelson

Rachel Petroziello   |  February 29, 2024

John William Nelson is Assistant Professor of History at Texas Tech University. This interview is based on his new book, Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago’s Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent (University of North Carolina Press, 2023). JF: What […]

The Author’s Corner with Dario Fazzi

Rachel Petroziello   |  November 9, 2023

Dario Fazzi is Professor of Transatlantic Environmental History at Leiden University. This interview is based on his new book, Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (Columbia University Press, 2023). JF: What […]

Environmentalism as the next pro-life movement?

John Fea   |  September 17, 2023

According to Harvard’s Chika O. Okafor, the next pro-life argument will be green. Here is his piece at Lebanon (NH) Valley News:

The Author’s Corner with Thomas Blake Earle

Rachel Petroziello   |  September 1, 2023

Thomas Blake Earle is Assistant Professor of History at Texas A&M University at Galveston. This interview is based on his new book, The Liberty to Take Fish: Atlantic Fisheries and Federal Power in Nineteenth-Century America (Cornell University Press, 2023). JF: […]

When governors and business leaders sought to protect natural resources and “conserve the foundations of our prosperity”

John Fea   |  August 21, 2023

Over Zocalo Public Square, environmental historian Adam Sowards calls our attention to the 1908 Conference of Governors held in Washington D.C. Here is a taste of his piece “When American Governors and Moguls Came Together to Prevent Environmental Catastrophe”: At […]

Ideas in progress: David O’Hara on interdisciplinary humanities, sustainability, and bees

David O'Hara   |  June 21, 2023

Social media can be depressing, but as Andrea Turpin reminded a while back, having a secret list of “Deeply Good People” can be a helpful way to bring to the fore the encouraging content. And some of the most encouraging […]

Pope Francis on “consumerist greed” and “selfish hearts”

John Fea   |  May 26, 2023

Here is Claire GiangravĂ© at Religion News Service: Pope Francis condemned “consumerist greed” and “selfish hearts” as responsible for the climate crisis in his yearly message for World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which occurs on Sept. […]

The Author’s Corner with Joseph Giacomelli

Rachel Petroziello   |  April 10, 2023

Joseph Giacomelli is Assistant Professor of Environmental History at Duke Kunshan University. This interview is based on his new book, Uncertain Climes: Debating Climate Change in Gilded Age America (University of Chicago Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write […]

Episode 47: What Are “Moral Issues?”

John Fea   |  September 15, 2022

And does the Christian Right have a sole claim on them? Episode 47: “What Are ‘Moral Issues?’” dropped today. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: If you […]

Yesterday’s passing of a climate change bill is a step in the right direction

John Fea   |  August 8, 2022

Good news for those of us who care about the planet. Here is Robinson Meyer’s piece at The Atlantic: Climate change was born as a modern political issue in the United States Senate. On a hot June day in 1988, […]

Catholic social teaching as an alternative to neoliberalism

John Fea   |  January 5, 2022

Anthony Annett of Fordham University articulates the differences between neoliberalism and Catholic social teaching. Here are some of those differences: Neoliberalism defines human motivation in terms of self-interest. Catholic social teaching defines human motivation in terms of “solidarity, reciprocity, and […]

Evangelicals seem to be coming around on climate change

John Fea   |  April 29, 2021

In 2007, Richard Cizik, then vice-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, came under attack from some prominent evangelicals for his opposition to global warming. Jerry Falwell Sr. described evangelicals concerned with climate change as “earthism worshippers.” James Dobson called […]