Knowledge Bank

This presentation highlights the results of an autumn 2018 "Religion and the Environment Photo Contest" that asked Ohio faith communities to submit photographic images to describe their work to build sustainable and resilient communities. In addition to featuring the winning contest photos, this presentation will describe the main themes and traditions that have animated faith community sustainability work in Ohio and beyond during the past decade. By combining these elements, this presentation provides an inspiring overview of the basic character, challenges, and opportunities of faith-based sustainability work, and suggests multiple pathways by which university-community partnerships can enhance the well-being of Ohio communities. Additional background: The photo contest was sponsored by the Ohio State School of Environment and Natural Resources, in collaboration with multiple faith community partners, including Ohio Interfaith Power and Light, the Columbus Diocese Creation Care Team, the Ohio Council of Churches, and several other regional denominational offices that make up a statewide network of faith communities engaged in environmental work. The photo contest was also designed to solicit images for use in a forthcoming online textbook, "Religion and Environmental Values in America" by Dr. Gregory Hitzhusen (in collaboration with the Ohio State Affordable Learning Exchange (ALX)), and coordinated by a team of Ohio State student religion-environment interns supervised by Dr. Hitzhusen. The book will be published in August 2019, will serve the course of the same name (ENR 3470), and will be available open-source to faith communities in Ohio and beyond. Photo contest submissions required captions that describe values associated with the work portrayed in the photos, and these descriptions will contribute to a larger project of mapping the values and needs of Ohio faith communities related to sustainability. This photo contest is also the first initiative of an ongoing media project designed to help Ohio faith communities communicate and assess values and needs related to their community sustainability work. A video contest will be launched later in 2018 to solicit videos from Ohio faith communities that add further detail (beyond what photos can convey) about the purposes and challenges of their work. All of these efforts will contribute to researchers' understanding of community sustainability needs, and will help inform the development of an online, searchable database that Dr. Hitzhusen and colleagues are currently developing to provide reliable sustainability resources to Ohio communities. Thus, this presentation highlights part of a series of initiatives that are developing this new and emerging area of community engagement.

AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Gregory Hitzhusen, assistant professor of professional practice, Ohio State School of Environment and Natural Resources, hitzhusen.3@osu.edu (Corresponding Author)