Get lectured on saving the world

Get lectured on saving the world

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE

Dr Leslie E Sponsel, author of the awarding-winning Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution, will give a public lecture on “Spiritual ecology: Is it a possible solution to the environmental crisis?” on Thursday July 10.

Dr Leslie E Sponsel.

Since 1970, there have been many significant advances in dealing with environmental problems and issues involving science and technology as well as government ministries, laws, regulations, and so on.

However, these secular approaches have proven inadequate because environmental problems and crises continue from the local to the global levels, and many are getting worse rather than better.

Global climate change is the greatest threat of all to national security and that of the entire world. In recent years extreme weather events have increased markedly in frequency and intensity, and the
overwhelming consensus of thousands of scientific authorities is that humans are an important causal factor.

Many believe that religion, and more generally, spirituality, can be extremely powerful forces in motivating and guiding individuals and societies. Since the 1990s, spiritual ecology has been growing exponentially to pursue religions and spirituality in relation to ecology, the environment, and environmentalism, giving some hope that eventually the situation may improve significantly.

In the upcoming lecture, Dr Leslie will provide an overview of some of the more important ideas and actions involved in spiritual ecology in the contexts of academia and more generally of society. He will also address obstacles facing spiritual ecology and draw on many sources, including his latest book, Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution, which was the winner in the science category of the annual Green Book Festival in San Francisco on May 17 this year.

Dr Leslie earned a PhD (1981) in biological and cultural anthropology from Cornell University and has taught at seven universities in four countries over the last four decades.

His courses include Ecological Anthropology, Environmental Anthropology, Anthropology of Religion, Spiritual Ecology, Sacred Places, Anthropology of Buddhism, Ethics in Anthropology, and Anthropology of War and Peace. His research, publications and teachings have focused on the interface of ecology,
religion, and peace.

Presented by the Spirit in Education Movement under the Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation, the lecture will be conducted in English with Thai translation by Dr Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel at Ruen Roi Chanam on Charoen Nakhon Road on July 10 from 4.30pm to 7.15pm.


There is no admission but donations are welcome. For reservations, email semsikkha_ram@yahoo.com, visit www.semsikkha.org or call 02-314-7385/6.

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