Energy Cafe

Is There a Role for Religion in the Sustainability Debate? Hosted by Dr Ralitza Nikolaeva (School of Management, St Andrews).

A review of the extant literatures on religion and ecology indicates an affirmative answer. Yet, there is a wide chasm between two opposing views: on the one hand, religion is held accountable for fueling unsustainable modes of production and consumption; and on the other hand, religion is defended for combating such undesirable practices.”[1]

Join us for a lively conversation with Dr. Hounaida El Jurdi – Assistant Professor of Marketing at the American University of Beirut and co-author of the article which inspired the topic. The Cafe will host two other academics who come from the opposing camps of the discourse and who have the knack of keeping a leg firmly on the ground outside the ivory towers of academia: Prof. Mario Aguilar – the Chair of Religion and Politics at the School of Divinity of the University of St Andrews – who has written books on and accompanied the Pope and the Dalai Lama on important international missions; and Prof. Rabi Mohtar – Dean, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut (FAFS-AUB) and TEES Research Professor at Texas A&M University – who is the Founding Director of Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), his research focuses on conserving natural resources, and has served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on water security.

For more information or for the link to registration email: [email protected].

N.B. This event will be recorded for public distribution. 

[1] El Jurdi, H. A., Batat, W., & Jafari, A. (2017). Harnessing the power of religion: Broadening sustainability research and practice in the advancement of ecology. Journal of Macromarketing, 37(1), 7-24.