Environment and Sustainability

Appalachian State University's High Country Humanities—in collaboration with the Department of Philosophy and Religion—is pleased to present “Environment and Sustainability” with Dr. Conrad (Ozzie) Ostwalt and Dr. Kirstin Waldkoenig

Dr. Conrad (Ozzie) Ostwalt, professor of religious studies, studies the relationship between religion, culture, and society. Most recently, his interests have been focused on popular culture, and his writing and teaching have engaged movies, popular and classic literature, art, and music. Dr. Ostwalt has authored four books, including Secular Steeples: Popular Culture and the Religious Imagination (Trinity International Press, 2003) and After Eden: The Secularization of American Space in the Fiction of Willa Cather and Theodore Dreiser (Bucknell University Press, 1990). The title of his talk for this series is “Spiritual Ecology and the Nonhuman World.”

Dr. Kirstin Waldkoenig, assistant professor of philosophy, specializes in the philosophical traditions of environmental, feminist, and indigenous thought. Her publications include “Resisting Anthropocentrism with Barred Owls,” “The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, K.P. Harden, 2021,” co-authored with Asher Brandon Caplan, and “Can Moral Enhancement Address Our Environmental Crisis? A Call for Collective Virtue-Oriented Action,” co-authored with Brooke Burns, Rebekah Sinclair, and Nicolae Morar. The title of Dr. Waldkoenig's talk for this series is “Reestablishing Responsible Relationships with Nonhuman Others.”