<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}james-stephen-mastaler-phd-candidate-1-adjusted-500pxl.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 250px; float: right;" />Jim Mastaler is an Au Sable alum with an extensive Au Sable course list: Ecology of the Indian Tropics, Tropical Agriculture and Missions, Environmental Ethics, Field Botany, and Land Resources. What is striking is how this course list maps with his current studies and research as a PhD student in Christian Ethics at Loyola University Chicago. Jim studies the &quot;ethical implications of the contemporary ecological crisis,&quot; particularly how environmental degradation impacts the poor and vulnerable among us. His route to getting to this point marks his deep commitment to the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues and the necessity of providing a clear, Christian voice in the public arena on these issues. Since his studies at North Park University, where he received a bachelors degree in Environmental Studies and two certificates from Au Sable, he&#39;s received a Master&#39;s in Social Justice from the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago and a Leadership in Sustainablility Management certificate from the University of Chicago. He has also worked as a Global Warming Solutions Advocate with the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club. We caught up with Jim to learn more about his story:</p>
<p>
	<strong>What do you do in your current position?</strong></p>
<p>
	My dissertation research is focused on the moral and ethical implications of the contemporary ecological crisis, specifically climate change. &nbsp;As an ethicist, I rely on the hard and social sciences in order to inform my research and confront the moral challenges emerging at the nexus of structural poverty, gender disparity, ecological degradation, and climate-induced displacement. &nbsp;This is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary project to which I bring a social justice lens and a deep concern for the systemic predicament of those carrying the heaviest burdens of the ecological crisis.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Why is this work important to creation care? &nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>
	My work makes an appeal to all those open to critical and serious engagement with Christianity&rsquo;s moral and intellectual traditions while also calling for an attentive, grounded response to the needs of the planet&rsquo;s most vulnerable communities. &nbsp;The interconnectedness and dependency of all life upon a shared, &ldquo;shrinking planet&rdquo; expands the range of felt moral concern. &nbsp;Equitable human flourishing and sustainable ecological integrity must increasingly be seen as shared goals. &nbsp;Social justice is only possible in tandem with climate justice&mdash;sustainable development and ecological stewardship. &nbsp;A concern for the human person can no longer be fully separated from environmental concerns.</p>
<p>
	<strong>What about your work gives you hope?</strong></p>
<p>
	During my graduate studies at Loyola&rsquo;s Institute of Pastoral Studies (IPS), I had the opportunity to take a graduate course where I traveled to Kenya to study various social justice issues&mdash;we studied both problems within their living context and also community-based solutions to those problems. &nbsp;It was an opportunity to see the creativity of various communities, who were very often joined together and inspired by their faith traditions, working to solve &ldquo;real world&rdquo; problems while also empowering some of the world&rsquo;s poorest and most marginalized populations. &nbsp;I am inspired by the commitment of those people I met in Kenya and by the dozens of fellow student-leaders IPS graduates each year with a commitment to social justice concerns wherever they emerge.</p>
<p>
	<strong>What was most memorable and important to you about your time at Au Sable? &nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>
	It was wonderful to be able to spend so much time with friends and faculty and in such a pristine natural environment as offered at Au Sable&rsquo;s various campuses. &nbsp;I will forever cherish the conversations over common meals in the dining room, gathering with classmates around a fire&mdash;hot cocoa in one hand and lecture notes in the other during winter sessions at the Great Lakes campus, as well as the fun involved with getting dirty from direct, ecological field work during the summer sessions. &nbsp;We were students and scholars gathered together to learn from each other and from the Earth&rsquo;s ecological systems, in order to help make the world a better place.</p>
<p>
	<strong>How does your faith in Jesus Christ affect the work you do today? &nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>
	I remember a time when Calvin DeWitt gathered together a group of students and recounted a story on stewardship and earth care. &nbsp;He told us about a time he confronted a group of young people who were recklessly despoiling a sensitive ecological area on public lands. &nbsp;When they asked what business it was of his to say anything, Cal recounted to us how he informed them he was a &ldquo;steward&rdquo; of that land and that it was very much his business to care. &nbsp;I&rsquo;ve kept that story in the back of my mind every time I lobbied a legislator while working as a Global Warming Solutions Advocate for the Sierra Club. &nbsp;If Cal&rsquo;s faith could embolden him to defend a vulnerable forest ecosystem, then surely I could muster the courage to use my voice in the political arena, inspired by Jesus&rsquo; commitment to the &ldquo;least among us,&rdquo; and plant my stake with the poorest of the global poor who are suffering from climate change.</p>
<p>
	<strong>How did your time at Au Sable help prepare you for what you are doing now? &nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>
	I was fortunate enough to have been able to take a considerable number of ecological field courses through Au Sable, including winter and summer courses at the Great Lakes campus in Michigan, the Everglades campus in Florida, and even an Ecology course in India. &nbsp;The scientific methods of observation and inquiry I learned in these courses informs the research that I do now as a part of my work in religious ethics, regarding global poverty and ecological concern.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Why do you think people should continue to study at Au Sable today? &nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>
	Au Sable grounded my undergraduate education with direct exposure to the scientific investigatory process and ecological fieldwork. &nbsp;It opened doors to places around the world and learning experiences that would have otherwise been unavailable&hellip;and it did all this while providing space for a community of dedicated faculty-scholars to engage students in mutually edifying research and learning. &nbsp;There are not very many other places like this&mdash;Au Sable is a very special place.</p>
