Laura Hartman, professor of environmental studies at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, will deliver the Beck Lecture at Southwestern College on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 4 p.m. in Wroten Hall. The public is invited to attend and there is no admission charge.  

The title of her lecture is “Ethics and Ecological Restoration.”

“If we mess up an ecosystem, can we put it back and make it right again?” Hartman says.  “Some say we delude ourselves if we try to do this. Others say doing this is our sacred duty, a way of making amends and repenting for the sins of humanity. Underneath this question lies insights about the role of the human, the nature of the wild, and the connections between idealism and practicality in a wounded world.”

Hartman earned her bachelor of arts degree from Indiana University and her Ph. D. from the University of Virginia.

She is the author of “The Christian Consumer: Living Faithfully in a Fragile World” (Oxford University Press, 2011). She researches and writes in the areas of environmental ethics, feminist philosophy, and transportation studies. Currently, she is writing a book about the environmental impact of church parking lots.

The Beck lectureship, funded by Paul V. Beck to explore topics relating to science and religion, is an annual event on campus and brings in theologians, scientists, and philosophers from across the nation. 

For more information about the Beck Lecture, call (620) 229-6059.