Ethos

The author of the previous post, ‘Thank you Rosa Parks’, is Steve Chase. Steve is one of the most remarkable activists in highter education. We met years ago while we both lived in Minneapolis, and he had deeply influenced my understanding of environmental justice, as well as nonviolent action. His activism is akin to that of the abolitionists of slavery and child labour, the early union movement, and in his time, the civil rights movement. At his core is a moral sensibility about the dignity of human being, our mutual responsibilities to each other, and our wider obligations to other animals and the natural environment. He became an ethics advisor for Practical Ethics (www.practicalethics.net) in 2005.

Steve earned both his MS (1996) and doctorate (2005) from the environmental studies program of Antioch New Englad Graduate School. He also directs Antioch’s innovative program in Environmental Advocacy and Organizing — the only graduate program in the US specifically tailored to the training needs of public interest advocates and community organizers. Taking a broad view of environmental politics, the program addresses the overlapping issues of environmental protection, corporate accountability, and social justice.

Steve currently teaches courses in Patterns of Environmental Activism; Corporate Power, Globalization, and Democracy; Organizing Social Movements and Campaigns; Organizational Leadership in the Nonprofit World; and Environmental Justice Along the Mississippi. He also supervises Advocacy and Organizing student practicums, and is developing a course on Popular Education for Social Change, as well as a summer on-line reading seminar in Radical Political Theory.

Steve’s research interests include activist education, ecological politics, environmental justice, corporate globalization, and democratic social movements. His publications include being guest editor for a special Orion issue on “Nature and Justice” in 1996, as well as editing and writing the introduction for the book Defending the Earth: A Dialogue Between Murray Bookchin and Dave Foreman. His essay “Changing the Nature of Environmental Studies: Teaching Environmental Justice to ‘Mainstream’ Students” was recently published in The Environmental Justice Reader, a University of Arizona Press anthology. Other articles and essays of his have appeared in Orion; Terra Nova; The Trumpeter; Whole Terrain; Z Magazine; Race, Poverty, and Environment; Environment, Place, and Ethics; and The Journal of Multicultural Environmental Education.

A long time activist and activist educator, Chase is currently a member of the National Organizers Alliance, the Boston-Area Popular Educators Network, Human Rights Educators Network, and United for a Fair Economy’s National Trainers Network. He also does consulting for the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund and Training for Change’s Strategy Project.

You can learn more about his advocacy program, or request Steve as a guest speaker, through the contact information below.

Steve Chase, PhD, MS Director, Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program Antioch New England Graduate School 40 Avon Street, Keene, NH 03431 603.357.3122 x298 steven_chase@antiochne.edu www.antiochne.edu/es/eao/

cheers, Bill

William Lynn :: Nov.19.2005 :: Politics :: 1 Comment »