2008 Senator George J. Mitchell
Lecture on the Environment
2008 Mitchell Lecturer: Mary Evelyn Tucker
The Environmental Crisis as a Moral and Spiritual Challenge
DVDs of the lecture are now available. For copies please call (207) 581-3244.
Thursday, September 18th at 1:00pm
Hauck Auditorium, University of Maine, Orono
Sponsors and supporters:
2008 MITCHELL LECTURER:
Mary Evelyn Tucker is one of the world’s most articulate and passionate scholars focused on the role of religion and religious movements in confronting the growing environmental crisis. Together with religious leaders around the world, she has catalyzed a profound dialogue about the moral, ethical, and
spiritual values that are needed to guide society towards more effective environmental stewardship.
Tucker is a Senior Lecturer in Religion and the Environment at Yale University. She is a co-founder and co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, the largest international multi-religious project of its kind. The Forum is engaged in exploring religious worldviews, texts, and ethics in order to broaden understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns.
Tucker is currently a Research Associate at the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Reischauer Institute at Harvard. She is a member of the Interfaith Partnership for the Environment at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and served as a member of the International Earth Charter Drafting Committee from 1997-2000.
Author of many books on religion and ecology, she recently published Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase. She is the co-editor of books on ecological views of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism.
Senator George J. Mitchell resigned the position of U.S. District Judge for Maine in 1980 to accept appointment to the U.S. Senate. He served in the U.S. Senate for 14 years, including six years as Senate Majority Leader. While in the Senate, Senator Mitchell’s efforts led to the successful passage of major legislation to protect the environment, expand public education, and promote free trade.
In 1996, the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland asked Senator Mitchell to chair the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland. The Senator led the negotiations for two years, work that ultimately resulted in the historic Good Friday Accord that ended decades of conflict. In addition, Senator Mitchell has served as chairman of the Special Commission investigating allegations of impropriety in the bidding process for the Olympic Games, the National Health Care Commission, and an international fact finding commission on violence in the Middle East.
In 2008, Senator Mitchell was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. He currently serves as chairman of the global board of international law firm DLA Piper and as Chancellor of Queen’s University in Northern Ireland.
