Speakers

David Gushee
 

David P. Gushee is the Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University. Raised in Virginia, he earned his Bachelor of Arts at the College of William and Mary (1984), Master of Divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1987) and both the Master of Philosophy (1990) and Doctor of Philosophy (1993) at Union Theological Seminary in New York. And he recently received an honorary Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) from the John Leland Center for Theological Studies. Dr. Gushee came to Mercer in 2007 from Union University, where he served for 11 years.

As Distinguished University Professor, Dr. Gushee teaches at McAfee School of Theology and throughout Mercer University in his specialty, Christian ethics. Beyond his work at Mercer, he is the president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, a weekly columnist for Associated Baptist Press , a periodic contributor to the editorial page of USA Today , and a contributing editor for Christianity Today . Dr. Gushee also currently serves as Co-Chair of the Scriptural/Contextual Ethics Interest Group of the American Academy of Religion, as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics , on the Christian Ethics Commission of the Baptist World Alliance, and on the Church Relations Committee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Washington. 

He has published eleven books, over 90 scholarly essays, book chapters, articles, and reviews, and hundreds of magazine articles and opinion pieces. His books include the award-winning Kingdom Ethics (now in its 8th printing, with 20,000 copies in print, and available in six translations) as well as Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust and Only Human . He was the principal drafter of both the Evangelical Climate Initiative (2006) and the Evangelical Declaration against Torture (2007).

Currently, Dr. Gushee’s research interests focus on issues emerging at the intersection between Christian faith, ethics and public policy. He published two books in 2008, The Future of Faith in American Politics (Baylor University Press) and The Scholarly Vocation and the Baptist Academy (Mercer University Press). In 2009, working with co-editors Jillian Hickman Zimmer and Drew Zimmer, Dr. Gushee will publish a collection of essays entitled Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul (Mercer University Press). He also plans to complete work on a long-term academic project with Eerdmans Press on the sanctity of human life.

Jonathan Merritt
 

Jonathan Merritt is a faith and culture writer who has published over 100 articles in respected national outlets such as USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Newsweek’s “On Faith” and Relevant magazine. His first book, Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet (FaithWords), releases nationwide in April of 2010. Merritt is a sought after speaker, known for his ability to tackle the toughest questions, and has become  a respected voice for rising generations of Christians. He has been interviewed by ABC World News, NPR, PBS’ Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, UK Guardian, and The New York Times. Merritt holds a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, N.C.), and he is currently a Th.M. candidate at Emory University's Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. Merritt resides outside of Atlanta where he serves and teaches at Cross Pointe Church and blogs at jonathanmerritt.com. He first entered this conversation when he founded the Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative in 2008.

Judith Curry

Dr. Judith Curry is Professor and Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Curry received a Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of Chicago in 1982.  Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, she has held faculty positions at the University of Colorado, Penn State University and Purdue University. Dr. Curry’s research interests span a variety of topics in climate; current interests include air/sea interactions, climate feedback processes associated with clouds and sea ice, and applications of satellite data to interpreting recent variations in the climate data record. Most recently she has been investigating the variability of hurricanes on global scales, in the North Atlantic, and landfalling hurricanes striking the U.S. and Latin America. Dr. Curry has recently on the National Academies Climate Research Committee and the Space Studies Board, and the NOAA Climate Working Group.  Dr. Curry is coauthor of the book Thermodynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans and is editor for the Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences.  She has published more than 150 refereed journal articles. Dr. Curry is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union. 

Jeremy Hess

Jeremy Hess is an assistant professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Environmental and Occupational Health at Emory University's Schools of Medicine and Public Health. He is also a consultant to the Director at CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, where he works primarily on climate change and issues related to energy and health. Jeremy received his B.A. in international health at Brown University, his M.D. and MPH in global environmental health at Emory University, and completed his residency training in Emergency Medicine at Emory as well. His other areas of interest include complex emergencies and disaster response, health systems, and injury prevention and control. He is the author of several peer-reviewed publications on the public health and response to climate change, the health effects of energy scarcity, and health system preparedness for climate change and the energy transition. In addition to his public health work, Dr. Hess is a practicing emergency medicine physician and lives in Atlanta with his wife and two children.

Paul Epstein
 

Paul R. Epstein, M.D., M.P.H., is associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School ( http://chge.med.harvard.edu ) and is a medical doctor trained in tropical public health. Paul has worked in medical, teaching and research capacities in Africa, Asia and Latin America and in 1993, coordinated an eight-part series on Health and Climate Change for the British medical journal, Lancet . He has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to assess the health impacts of climate change and develop health applications of climate forecasting and remote sensing.

Sharon Astyk

Sharon Astyk is a writer, teacher and subsistence farmer, and the author of three books on Ecological and Energy Issues – Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front  and A Nation of Farmers, the latter co-authored with Aaron Newton.  Her latest book,  Independence Days, will be published this fall and explores food preservation, food storage and its links to our national well-being.  She and her husband Eric used to run a small, Jewish themed CSA, but now they are concentrating on subsistence agriculture, growing food to share and teaching others to grow food. Sharon did graduate work in literature, focusing on the Renaissance and demographic and cultural crises of the 17th century. Recently she has switched to focusing on the demographic and cultural crises of the 21st century, but she retain an interest in all things literary. She maintains a blog at sharonastyk.com.  In her spare time (of which there isn’t much), she and her husband are raising Eli, Simon, Isaiah, and Asher, and assorted critters and livestock, building an agrarian future.

Linda Brennan

Linda L. Brennan is a professor of management at Mercer University in Macon. Her teaching portfolio includes operations management, leadership and international management. She conducts research and consults in the areas of technology impact assessment, process and project management, and instructional effectiveness. Her most recent book, Computer-Mediated Relationships and Trust: Organizational and Managerial Implications , was published by IGI Global in 2008. Dr. Brennan’s prior work experience includes management positions at The Quaker Oats Company and marketing and systems engineering experience with the IBM Corporation. A licensed professional engineer, she received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University, her MBA from the University of Chicago, and her B.I.E. from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Allan Rene' de Cotret

Allan Rene’ de Cotret is the laboratory coordinator for the Department of Biology at Mercer University. Since coming to Mercer in 2006, he has conducted research on leatherback turtles in Trinidad, collected sediment cores from frozen lakes in Wisconsin, and worked on a marketing project for Mercer Village. He serves on Mercer’s Environmental Issues Committee and is the advisor for Students for Environmental Action (SEA), Eco-Reps, and Mercer Cycling Club. In 2007, he started Mercer Bear Bikes, a community bike share program that was featured in the New York Times. Allan is also the Recycling Chair for the Susan G. Komen Central Georgia Race for the Cure, member of the College Hill Corridor Commission, Rivers Alive coordinator, and a certified Georgia Adopt-A-Stream volunteer. His current projects include campus vermicomposting, starting a geocaching club, reclaiming soils utilizing phytoremediation, and establishing a bicycle co-op. De Cotret received a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Georgia and a Certificate in Core Public Health Concepts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is currently a second-year MBA student at Mercer University and lives in Macon with his wife and their adopted greyhound.

Farmer D/Daron Joffe

Daron "Farmer D" Joffe is an organic/biodynamic farmer, environmental educator and social entrepreneur. He is the founder and president of Farmer D Organics, creators of farms and products for the earth and its people. Farmer D Organics retail organic garden center is located in Atlanta near Whole Foods at Briarcliff Road. Farmer D’s signature products includes Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Organic Compost made from Whole Foods Market spoils and is available for sale at Whole Foods Market’s throughout the Southeast.

Over the past 14 years, Farmer D has founded and managed a number of organic farms around the country. In 1998, Farmer D was selected as the Biodynamic Rookie Farmer of the Year and was one of only eight recipients nationwide to receive the 2003-2005 Joshua Venture Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs. He was also selected as one of the top 20 brightest talents under 40 years of age by Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Magazine in February 2006 and as one of the Top 40 under 40 by Georgia Trend Magazine in October 2006.  In 2008, Farmer D Organics received the Spirit of Innovation Award for “Most Sustainable Business” by the Savannah Economic Development Authority’s Creative Coast.

John Hintermaier

Dr. Hintermaier grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., and later completed degrees at Indiana Wesleyan University, Purdue University, and Princeton University.  He has served as an associate professor of history at Mercer since 2005 and teaches British and European history.  Since the fall of 2007, he has also served as the chair of Mercer’s Environmental  Issues Committee.  His research interests include 17th Century religious history, the history of Christian spirituality, and the connection between Christian spiritual disciplines and environmental sustainability.  He lives in Macon with his wife and four children and is a member of St. Innocent Orthodox Church.

Glen Hooks

Hooks is the regional director for the Eastern United States for the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal Campaign.”  In that capacity, he works with organizers in numerous states to stop dirty coal-fired power plants from being constructed, to accelerate the retirement of old coal-fired power plants, and to stop destructive coal mining practices. Before joining the Sierra Club staff in 2003, Hooks worked as a private and public sector attorney, a college and graduate school professor, as executive director of the Arkansas Democratic Party, and as a campaign consultant for numerous political candidates and causes.  He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he is the father of the two sons. 

Tracie Jenkins