On Monday, April 22, Houghton College will be observing Earth Day. This is a day intended to raise awareness about the effects of climate change on the earth and on individuals. Allen Johnson—the coordinator and co-founder of Christians For The Mountains (CFTM)—will be speaking in Chapel at 11:30, leading an open discussion over dinner between 5:00-6:30 in the alumni dining room, and giving a lecture in the CFA at 8.
Allen Johnson helped develop the Evangelical Environmental Network while earning a masters degree from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as a founding leader of the Religious Coalition for Creation Care of which he continues on the Steering Committee. Johnson has presented papers for The National Association of Environmental Professionals and The Colloquium on Violence and Religion, has written articles on faith and the environment, and wrote a chapter in Holy Ground: A Gathering Of Voices On Caring For Creation.
Johnson retired in 2011 to pursue CFTM work. CFTM is an initiative to summons Christians to act responsibly to God’s creation with a specific focus on the central Appalachian Mountains region. Their chief objective is the end of mountaintop removal extraction. They have been has been featured in numerous publications including Newsweek, Prism, Grist, documentary programs such as Bill Moyers Journal, and films including Mountaintop Removal and Renewal. Johnson also produced the DVD film, Mountain Mourning.
Johnson’s Chapel sermon, We Either Will Be Lovers or Else the Earth Will Die (Calling all Lovers!),will discuss the decreasing viability of Earth and its inhabitants, and the efforts of science to offer society practical solutions to restore planetary ecological equilibrium. A distinction that Johnson makes is that science, as beneficial as it is, only touches the mind. Social movements come from the heart.
Johnson’s evening lecture, Economic, Political, And Moral Considerations On The Health Externalities Of Mountaintop Mining in Central Appalachia, will be focusing more specifically, as the title suggests, on mountaintop mining in Central Appalachia. Mountaintop mining is a method of extracting coal by blasting apart a mountain layer by layer in order to extract the coal. The remaining 97% of rock debris pushed down into the valleys. Naturally this causes health concerns for local population which are some of the most impoverished in the nation.
These events will be a time where students will be encouraged to focus on the impact they have on the Earth and how we can become better stewards of our natural resources.