It came to my attention today that SMU has a sustainability web site: I've added the link to this blog as well. There are many items of interest on the site. If you have additional suggestions for content, feel free to pass them along via this blog or to me to pass on to the Sustainability Task Force.
I also wanted to inform you of a few historical milestones that occurred at Saint Mary's University, courtesy of Anne Marie Dalton. The course Ecology and Religion was first taught in 1976 by Emero Stiegman who is now Professor Emeritus in Religious Studies at SMU. Research indicates that this was the first course in Canada entitled Ecology and Religion. Since there is no way to be 100% sure, Dr. Dalton wrote in the article for Academic Matters that it was definitely one of the first, if not the first. Apparently it was difficult to get a course like this at the time, so some universities cloaked the topic under names like Contemporary Issues in Religion. In any case it was definitely very early for such courses and took a couple of years prior to 1976 before it was given the go-ahead for the calendar. Out of that course, the students started the Environmental Society. Dr. Dalton is unsure if this was the first such society at a university in Canada (perhaps doubtful given that the 60s had a large student movement for the environment). However, again it was quite early on. So we can certainly say that Saint Mary’s was engaged in the environmental movement early on. Dr. Dalton is following up with Dr. Stiegman for clarification and more details on the history of the Ecology and religion course.
If you are interested in this subject, there is a Forum on Religion and Ecology that has a lot of information and other links that are interdisciplinary(not just religion).
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