Fostering Sustainable Actions at the University and Beyond
June 2008
Christian Wedemeyer, assistant professor of the history of religions in the Divinity School, walks to work and is a committed vegetarian. He also serves as committeeman of Chicago’s Fifth Ward for the Illinois Green Party, earning him the title “The Honorable.”
Christian’s commitment to protecting our planet dates back to his youth, when he lived and worked on a farm. That experience, together with teenage treks through the wilderness and several years in the developing world as an adult, gave him a visceral sense of what it means to leave footprints on the earth and forced him to confront the tremendous responsibility we face in tending it.
Since joining the Sustainability Council in 2007, Christian has helped organize the Energy Conservation Subcommittee, which aims to reduce energy usage on campus. He dreams of the glorious day when we cover the rooftops of Regenstein Library with photovoltaic arrays and take it “off the grid.”
