Section 5: TRACK 5

Agroecology as Foundational for Ecological Civilization

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Track 5: Agroecology as Foundational for Ecological Civilization

When humans began to plough, they began to deplete and degrade the soil. Now its exhaustion is in view. To renew the soil while feeding humankind, we must reimagine and reinvent agriculture. This track will show how we can learn from nature to produce abundance while enriching the soil. It will consider how this urgent transformation can be effected.

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C. Dean Freudenberger

Professor Emeritus at Luther Seminary

C. Dean Freudenberger has been a student of agronomy and social and environmental ethics throughout his forty-four year professional career, both in the areas of practice and reflection. He holds degrees from California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, CA (B.S. Agronomy), and Boston University, (S.T.B., Ph.D.) His years devoted to international agricultural development in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have provided him with global and local perspectives for addressing contemporary issues in agriculture and environmental stability. His work and teaching in the U.S. (Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, CA and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN) have focused on the critical ethical issues of American agriculture. He is the author of many publications including Global Dust Bowl: Can We Stop the Destruction before It’s Too Late (1990), Food for Tomorrow? (1984), and is a contributor to Rural Ministry: The Shape of the Renewal To Come (1997). From 2012 through the present, he has contributed to the work of the Institute for Post-modern Development in China. His paper, “Ecological Civilization and a Post-modern Agri-culture,” co-authored with his son, David, has been widely circulated across China.