Todd LeVasseur

Senior Instructor

Education

Ph.D., Religious Studies, University of Florida, 2011  

M.Sc. Human Ecology, Centre for Human Ecology, 2005

BA, Religious studies, College of Charleston, 1997

Research Interest

I operate at the inter- and transdisciplinary intersections of the environmental humanities, with a focus on religion and nature, environmental ethics, environmental history, critical theory, posthumanism, sustainability science and education, energy humanities/climate change, material feminism, queer ecologies, sustainable agriculture, and ecological animisms.  In this, I examine and study the interface of cultural narratives and identities, with a specific focus on those in the domain we label religion, and how these both shape and are shaped by the natural, “more-than-human” world within globalized political ecologies and the onset of climate triage. My work is thoroughly interdisciplinary, while being comparative and historical in scope and method. I utilize a variety of social scientific and humanistic research methods to engage the overarching research question that guides my scholarly path: how can the human animal, from individual to global scales, learn to actively generate just, regenerative, resilient, and sustainable behaviors and lifeways as we move into the Capitalocene/Carboncene/Anthropocene/Plantationcene, if at all? 

Courses Taught

  • ENVT 200
  • ENVT 210
  • ENVT 350/355
  • ENVT 352
  • ENVT 395
  • HONS 381
  • HONS 390
  • FYSE
  • RELS 276 

Publications

2021. Climate Change, Religion, and Our Bodily Future. New York: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield.   

2017. Religious Agrarianism and the Return of Place: From Values to Practice in Sustainable Agriculture. Albany: SUNY Press. 

Finalist, 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award, Religion category 
Gold Medal, Religion Category, 2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards 
Edited Books 

2017. Lead editor, with Anna Peterson. Religion and Ecological Crisis: The “Lynn White Thesis” at Fifty. New York: Routledge. 

2016. Lead editor, with Norman Wirzba and Pramod Parajuli. Religion and  Sustainable Agriculture: World Spiritual Traditions and Food Ethics. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 

Selected Journal Articles

“An Assessment of Attitudes and Perceptions of International University Students on Climate Change.” With Desalegn Ayal, Walter Leal Filho, Tony Wall, et al. Climate Risk Management. 100486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2023.100486 

“Linking Sustainability and Spirituality: A Preliminary Assessment in Pursuit of a Sustainable and Ethically Correct World.” With Walter Leal Filho, Adriana Consorte-McCrea, Arminda Paco, Amanda Salvia, Barbara Gomes, Mark Mifsud, Nandhi Varman, and Rohana & Nandanie Ulluwishewa. Journal of Cleaner Production. 380.2. doi.org/10.1016/j.clepro.2022.135091   

“International Trends and Practices on Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education Institutions.” With Walter Leal Filho, Fernanda Frankenberger, Amanda Salvia, et al. Sustainability. 14.19. doi.org/10.3390/su14191223 
 
“Social Values and Sustainable Development: Community Experiences.” With Walter Leal Filho, Vanessa Levesque, Subarna Sivapalan, et al. Environmental Sciences Europe. 34: 67. doi:10.1186/s12302-022-00641-z  

“Sustainability Literacy: Faculty, Staff, and Students as Agents of Change.” With Ira Feldman. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.  Editorial introduction to special section. 
“Activism, Religious Studies, and Embodied Teaching.” Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion. 25.1: 1-16. doi:10.1163/15685357-20211003

“Sustainability Practices at Private Universities: A State-of-the-Art Assessment.” With Walter Leal Filho, Barbara Gomes, Marina Kovaleva, Kay Emblen-Perry, Johannes Platje, et. al. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology. 28.5: 402-416. Published online December 23, 2020. https://doi.org/10/1080/13504509.2020.1848940  

“Dark Green Humility: Religious, Psychological, and Affective Attributes of Pro-Sustainable Behaviors.” With Bron Taylor and Jen Wright. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. 10.1: 41-56. Digital (2019): https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-019-00578-5  

“Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping: Contemporary Religious Production on a Planet Passing Tipping Points.” Nova Religio. 23.3.

Press & Media

February 10, 2021. “Dispatches from the Rhodian Shore: A (Tough) Love Letter to Religious Studies.” Religion Dispatches. https://religiondispatches.org/dispatches-from-the-rhodian-shore-a-tough-love-letter-to-religious-studies/   

January 27, 2021. “Expanding the Understanding and Definition of a Sustainability Manager.” Sustainability Education Academy. https://sustainabilityeducationacademy.com/expanding-the-understanding-and-definition-of-a-sustainability-manager/   

November 4, 2020. “If We Don’t Take Human Extinction Seriously, How Integral Are We?” Berkley Forum on Religion and Integral Ecology: Five Years of Laudato Si, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs.  https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/if-we-don-t-take-human-extinction-seriously-how-integral-are-we   

December 26, 2016. “College football has a ‘carbon bomb’ problem.” The Post and Courier.  http://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/college-football-has-a-carbon-bomb-problem/article_15f30036-cbad-11e6-8a66-bb2c05f9abd2.html   

September 22, 2015. “Pope Francis challenges ideologues on climate change.” The Post and Courier. http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150922/PC1002/150929833/1021 /  

Spring 2014. “A Species-Inclusive Sustainability: Extending the Concept of Community Outwards.” Synergies: A Reader for Regional Sustainability. Issue 1. 

March 24, 2013. “Charleston ‘ground zero’ for climate change.” The Post and Courier. http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130324/PC1204/130329639/1268/charleston-ground-zero-for-climate-change