Green living author to speak at Day of Learning in Community

Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth, author of Serve God, Save the Planet, is the keynote speaker for Northwestern College’s second annual Day of Learning in Community April 1. All events are free; community members are invited.

A former emergency room physician, Sleeth says he felt like he was “straightening deck chairs on the Titanic,” saving one patient at a time while the whole ship—earth—was going down. Together with his wife and two teenage children, he began to bring his lifestyle in line with his values, cutting back their fossil fuel use by two-thirds and electricity use by nine-tenths.

Sensing a new calling, Sleeth resigned his position as chief of medical staff and ER director to teach and write about faith and the environment; he is currently the executive director of Blessed Earth and a visiting scholar in creation care at New York’s Houghton College. Sleeth will speak at 9 a.m. in the Bultman Center and again at 7 p.m. in Christ Chapel.

Between Sleeth’s presentations, visitors will have four opportunities to choose from among more than 30 workshops offered by campus and community members, including students. Workshop topics include biblical approaches to environmental issues, community gardening, food ethics and eating healthy, genetically modified organisms, green home building and housekeeping, neurotoxins, prairie restoration, recycling, solar and wind energy, and water quality.

Northwestern classes and regular activities are canceled on April 1 so faculty, staff and students can participate in Creation Care events. For more information about the Day of Learning in Community, visit www.nwciowa.edu/dlc or contact event planner Jill Haarsma, 712-707-7100.