Churches on the Front Lines of Climate Change

I never really set out to do environmental ethics. But in today’s world, where environmental harms magnify social imbalances, anyone concerned with the moral life must focus on reconciling human relationships with the natural world as well as with one another. My work in environmental ethics examines the ways cultural and social imaginations interact with environmental crises and seeks resources for shaping more constructive imaginations, drawing in particular on the work of ethicist H. Richard Niebuhr. I am especially eager to explore the implications of these ideas for the Church’s ministry, and can imagine no better place to do so than in the midst of Sewanee’s abundant natural gifts.

The Rev. Simion Kinono is a parish priest and Diocesan Coordinator for Environmental Protection and Christian Education in the Anglican Diocese of Buye in Burundi. He is a graduate of the School of Theology at the University of the South and St. Paul's University in Nairobi, Kenya. Since beginning his current ministry, Simion has led environmental workshops for Church and community leaders, teachers, and young people, and has been responsible for the planting of over 10,000 trees at three different sites.