World Religions and Ecology, THST 387, Spring 2011
Monday and Wednesday, 3 to 4:15 p.m., U Hall 3218
Instructor: Christopher Key Chapple, University Hall 3763
Office Hours: Monday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Wednesday, 10 a.m. to noon
e-mail address: cchapple@lmu.edu, phone: 310-338-2846
Course Description
In this course we will explore the responses to ecological degradation from a
variety of the world’s religious traditions. We will also engage in service projects that
relate to actions being taken to correct and improve the environment.
The course will begin with an overview of how the world’s religious traditions are
responding to such issues as global climate change, rising species extinctions, issues over
access to clean water, and the effects of chemicals within the environment. The website
and other resources of the Forum on Religion and Ecology will be used extensively for
this section of the course.
Students will then be grouped into five different “interest groups” that correlate to
the five elements. Their research and service projects will correlate to these five areas.
For instance, students with a deep interest in the earth and plants will be encouraged to
either volunteer to work with the gardeners on campus to further improve our impressive
gardens of plants native to Southern California. They will also be encouraged to
volunteer with Tree People, a world-famous organization started in Culver City that seeks
to plant and maintain an urban forest. Local gardening will be another option, with
possible placements at Holy Nativity Church on 83rd Street and the Learning Garden at
Venice High School Students interested in water will be encouraged to get involved with
Heal the Bay, the various organizations devoted to the rehabilitation of the Ballona
Wetlands, the Surfrider Foundation, or perhaps the Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant
in nearby El Segundo. Energy plays a vital role in human involvement (and interference)
with the world of nature. Those who are interested in the element of fire will be
encouraged to research the various developing options for solar energy, geo-thermal
energy, and electric and hybrid cars. Clean air has been protected for generations by the
South Coast Air Quality Management District. In light of global climate change, the
reduction of greenhouse gases has been touted by politicians and scientists as an
important piece of the puzzle. Students will be encouraged to discover how California
and other states are taking the initiative to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. The final
element to be discussed and studied is space. How do urban issues such as zoning,
housing, and traffic help or hinder environmental health? How have traditional religious
worldviews responded to land usage? Housing size? Students with this interest will be
encouraged to seek out neighborhood associations active in zoning and land use issues.
One of the assignments for the class will include a project on media literacy.
Several feature films and documentaries have received wide acclaim due in large part to
ecological themes. These include A Civil Matter, Erin Brockovitch, An Inconvenient
Truth, The Day After Tomorrow, and The Eleventh Hour. Groups of students will select
one of these films to view in a small group situation, discuss, and form a review report.
The readings for the class will draw from notable literature on service in the
Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions. In addition to completing their service hours
and keeping a journal about the experience, each student will produce a ten to fifteen
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page paper at the end of the course, interpreting their service work in a theological light,
drawing from the writings of Stephanie Kaza, Thomas Berry, Matthew Sleeth, Vandanda
Shiva, and others.
The service placements will be arranged in cooperation with the Center for
Service and Action. Each student will be required to document between fifteen and
twenty hours of service with an organization, which must be pre-approved by the
professor.
Specific descriptions are as follows:
Green Yoga in Santa Monica, Sunday nights, January 16, February 20, March 20, April
17 (work on electronic promotion of events; attend; help set up and take down room)
Green Yoga at LMU: arrange and promote class at LMU
Yoga and Ecology Conference Preparation and Promotion (advance work for
certificate training and conference, September 2011)
Heal the Bay: Cleanup, Grunion Watching
Friends of Ballona: Cleanup, Education
TreePeople: Tree planting and maintenance
Animal Acres: Farm Animal Sanctuary
LMU Office of Sustainability
Dancing Star Foundation: Environmental Film Resource Organization
Coalition for Environment in Jewish Life
Environmental Changemakers, Westchester / Holy Nativity Church Garden
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sivananda Center / Learning Garden
Star Eco Station
Student Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students will be able to articulate the application of a
religiously-inspired ecological ethic as well as write competently about their hands-on
service experience.
Required Texts:
Thomas Berry. The Sacred Universe. Columbia. 2009.
Graham Schweig, tr. The Bhagavad Gita. Harper. 2007.
.
Vandana Shiva. Soil Not Oil. South End Press, 2010.
Stephanie Kaza, ed. Hooked: Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to
Consume. Boston: Shambhala, 2005.
J. Matthew Sleeth, Serve God, Save the Planet. Zondervan, 2007
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Articles and book chapters on electronic reserve/class handouts:
Mary Austin. “The Little Town of the Grape Vines.” The Land of Little Rain. 1903. In
Essential Mary Austin. Edited by Kevin Hearle. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2006.
Annie Dillard. “The Present.” Chapter six in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. New York:
Harper & Row, 1974.
Hugo Reid. The Indians of Los Angeles County: Hugo Reid’s Letters of 1852. Edited by
Robert F. Heizer. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, 1968.
Selected passages from The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology. Edited by Roger
S. Gottlieb. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Selected passages from the Green Yoga Newsletter and Daedalus 130.4: Religion and
Ecology: Can the Climate Change, edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim.
Website:
The Forum on Religion and Ecology maintains a comprehensive website. It includes
excellent bibliographical references that will be helpful as you seek resources for your
final paper. Go to: http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/
Course Work/Expectations:
Each student will be responsible for the completion of six assignments: a movie
reflection paper of five to seven pages; a midterm and a final examination; a service
project journal with ten substantive entries; and a twelve to fifteen page paper explaining
the issue or issues addressed by the agency or organization with which the student served,
the specifics of what was accomplished by the student and what the student observed
about the organization, and how, based on the readings on service that we have read and
discussed in class, this experience fulfilled the goals of performing service to correct and
improve the environment. Each student will report orally to the class on his or her
service as the fifth requirement and a final exam will be administered.
The final grade will be based on an average of all six assignments. The grading scale is as
follows: 93-100 = A; 90-92 = A-; 87-89 = B+; 84-86 = B; 82-83 = B-; 77-81 = C+; 74-76 =
C; 70-73 = C-; 60-69 = D; <60 = F.
D: minimal performance; C: basics are covered with organizational and grammatical errors;
B: solid material, solid presentation; A: creative, articulate, inspired
Please turn of and put out of sight all electronic devices, including cell phones and
computers. Please take your notes by hand.
Please make yourself available for e-mail communication. Forward your LMU account to
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your preferred e-mail account if necessary.
Please follow the Lion's Code and the LMU Community Standards.
Make certain that your research paper includes proper citations and a bibliography of at least
seven sources, only two of which may be web-based. Wikipedia is not appropriate for
citation, because its articles are not signed.
If necessary, this syllabus and its contents are subject to revision.
January 10:
Welcome and Introductions
Formation of Movie Watching Groups
January 17
No Class, Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday
January 24
The Ecology Imperative
Read Berry, 103-177
Formation of Elemental Interest Groups
Movie Report: A Civil Matter
January 31
Awareness and Ecological Connection
Read Dillard; Sleeth, 114-197
Movie Report: Erin Brockovitch
February 7
Engaged Buddhism and Ecology
Kaza, 1-88.
Movie Report: The Day After Tomorrow
January 12: A Sense of Suangna
Campus Walk; Visit to Suangna Springs
Read: Hugo Reid, Electronic Reserve
January 19
California Continued
Read Austin, Electronic Reserve
Berry, pp. 1-100
January 26
Christian Service
Read Sleeth, 1-113
February 2
Animals and Religion
Linzey, “Animal Theology and Ecological
Theology,” Gottlieb
Field trip to Ballona Wetlands
February 9
The Challenge of Desire
Kaza, 89-182
February 14
Movie Report: The Eleventh Hour
What Is Enough?
Kaza, 183-250
February 21
Discussion of Student Placements
Hinduism and a Yoga of Service
Read Bhagavad Gita, 117-242
February 16
Karma Yoga
Read Bhagavad Gita, 1-116
March 7
Yoga and Ecology & India
Read Soil Not Oil, 1-75
March 14
Movie Report: An Inconvenient Truth
Discussion of Newspaper Articles on Household
pollutants
March 21
Student Service Hours
March 9
Third World Prospects
Read Soil Not Oil 76-150
March 16
Electronic Reserve Article,
Donald Brown, Daedalus
February 23
Action without Attachment
Read Bhagavad Gita, 245-278
Midterm Exam
March 23
Student Service Hours
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March 28
Student Service Hours
April 4
Student Presentations
Electronic Reserve Article
“Religion and Environmentalism in America and
Beyond” Bron Taylor in Gottlieb
April 11
Student Presentations
“Models for a New Confucian Ecological Vision”
Berthrong in Gottlieb
April 18
Student Presentations
April 25
Student Presentations
March 30
Student Service Hours
April 6
Student Presentations
“Daoism and Nature”
Miller in Gottlieb
All service journals due
April 13
Student Presentations
April 20
No Class: Easter Recess
April 27
Final Papers Due
Final Group Discussion
Final Examination: Wednesday, May 4, 2 to 4 p.m.
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