Curry, Janel M. and Steve McGuire. 2002. Community on Land: Community, Ecology, and the Public Interest. Boulder, CO: Rowman and Littlefield.
Community on Land looks to the history of the 'the commons' in American and European social thought to better understand contemporary environmental problems. The argument of the book is that American law governing lands and resources relies on the individualist assumptions of Enlightenment thinkers, who regarded land as 'wasted' when not being 'improved' by European agriculture or colonization. The history of this philosophical and historical legacy is revealed in the strong influence of American concepts on community and land which is shown to show the law's insufficient comprehension of community rights.
The book advocates for realistic policy alternatives whereby community governance can better solve the challenges of resource management and other American social problems.
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability is one of the greatest global challenges of our time. The flourishing of humans and nature together in communities across the world will only be possible with strong leadership, intercultural and international contextual understanding, and knowledge of institutional and natural systems. Action related to environmental sustainability must take place on all scales, from the local level to global movements, and requires that we work together across cultural, religious, and institutional differences.
Much of my work has been spent building capacity in communities and institutions to move toward sustainability with a view toward the flourishing of the whole. To effect change and advance solutions I have focused on building environment-related curriculum in the context of global studies and pursued scholarship related to climate change, sustainable agriculture, and natural resource management. I have worked professionally and personally, at the local level in land use planning, at the national level around legislative efforts, and globally on worldwide networks.
Below is information on some of my past leadership engagements as well as initiatives and publications related to Environmental Stewardship. Across all these experiences, I have desired to understand in order to bring people together to shape a future where all may flourish. We must bring people together for dialogue and action, especially in this area of environmental stewardship.
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Board Member. Care of Creation, Madison, Wisconsin, 2015-present
Planning Board Representative. Community Preservation Committee, Town of Hamilton,
2018-2019
Board Member. Town of Hamilton Planning Board, 2018-2019
Associate Member. Town of Hamilton Planning Board, 2017-2018
Member. Grand Rapids City Planning Commission, March 2009-2012
Board Chair. Evangelical Environmental Network, 2007-2014; Board Member,
2005-2015
Board Member. National Religious Partnership on the Environment, 2011-2015
Board Member. ECHO, a non-profit with a mission to increase effectiveness of those
working with small scale farmers or urban gardeners in developing countries,
2007-2010
Calvin College Representative. Community Sustainability Partnership, Grand Rapids,
2005-2010
Calvin College Representative. Michigan Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability,
2006-2008; Chair, local arrangements, state-wide workshop of MiHEPS, Plugging the Leaks, November, 2007
Board Member. Academic Council of the Global Stewardship Study Program (GSSP), an
undergraduate study abroad program of Target Earth, 1999-2002
Chair of the Board, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State
University, 1990-1991; Advisory Board Member 1987-1991
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Fulbright-Canada-RBC Eco-Leadership Grant. “Understanding the Beauty of Butterflies,” to establish
a butterfly garden with the Lawrence Oliver Partnership School, 2017.
Fulbright Canada-RBC Eco-Leadership Grant. “Building Citizen Understanding Through Upstream
Restoration Activities,” to establish plantings in the Plaster Creek watershed, 2011-2012.
Indiana Campus Compact. Universities as Citizens Institutional Development Grant. “Calvin
Environmental Assessment Program (CEAP): Institution and Research in Community
Context,” 1998-1999.
Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship. “Climate Change: Complexity, Uncertainty and the
Precautionary Principle.” Reading group led with Del Ratzsch (Philosophy) and Jamie Skillen
(Environmental Studies), 2009-2011.
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Curry, Janel (Expedition Leader), Photographs by Greg Smith, and Commentary by Vicki Best
(Expedition Participant). 2019. Birds of New Zealand: A Gordon College/ASA Expedition.
God and Nature (Fall). https://godandnature.asa3.org/curry-photoessay.html
Curry, Janel. 2015. “God, Nature, and Society: Views of the Tragedies of Hurricane Katrina and the
Asian Tsunami.” In The Changing World Religion Map, edited by Stanley D. Brunn, vol 1, 237-253, Dordrecht: Springer.
Curry, Janel and Melanie Gish. 2013. “Creation Care.” Encyclopedia entry for America Goes Green:
An Encyclopedia of Eco-Friendly Culture in the United States, edited by Kimberly Kennedy White and Leslie A. Duram. ABC-CLIO.
http://ebooks.abc-clio.com/reader.aspx?isbn=9781598846584&id=A3227C_V2-393&q=creation%20care
Curry, Janel. 2013. “Attachment to Place and Nature in Our Search for Shalom.” In Integrating the
New Science of Love and a Spirituality of Peace, edited by Christian E. Early and Annmarie L. Early, pp. 113-124, Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.
Curry, Janel. 2012. “God, Nature, and Society: Theological Frameworks Illuminated by Two Natural
Disasters.” Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought 27 (8):14-17.
Curry, Janel. 2009. “Uplink: Janel Curry, Dean of Research, Calvin College, and Chair, Evangelical
Environmental Network.” In Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation, by
Ben Lowe, pp. 120-122. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Curry, Janel M. 2008. “Understanding God, Nature, and Social Structure: A Case Study of Great
Barrier Island, New Zealand.” In Faithful Imagination in the Academy, edited by Janel M.
Curry and Ronald A. Wells, pp. 151-164, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Curry, Janel M. 2008. “Christians and Climate Change: A Social Framework of Analysis.”
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 60(3): 156-164.
Curry, Janel M. 2007. “The Nature-Culture Boundary and Oceans’ Policy: Great Barrier Island, New
Zealand.” The Geographical Review 97(1): 46-66.
Curry, Janel M. 2006. “Ocean Fisheries, Boundaries and God’s Perichoretic Love.” The Other
Journal.com: An Intersection of Theology and Culture Issue 8, Earth to Christians.
www.theotherjournal.com
Curry, Janel M. and Kathi Groenendyk. 2006. “Place and Nature Seen Through the Eyes of Faith:
Understandings Among Male and Female Seminarians.” Worldviews: Environment, Culture,
Religion 10(3): 326-354.
Groenendyk, Kathi, and Janel M. Curry. 2006. “A Communal Perspective: Women, Faith, and
Nature.” The Journal of Communication and Religion 29(1):18-37.
Curry, Janel M. 2006. “Contested Ocean Spaces: Great Barrier Island, New Zealand.” Focus
48(4):25-30.
Wood, John, Janel Curry, Mark Bjelland, Steve Bouma-Prediger, and Susan Bratton. 2005.
“Christian Environmentalism: Cosmos, Community, and Place.” Perspectives on Science
and Christian Faith 57(1): 1-5.
____________. 2005. Guest Editors. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 57(1).
Curry, Janel M., Gail Gunst Heffner, and David Warners. 2002. “Environmental Service-Learning:
Social Transformation Through Caring for a Particular Place.” Michigan Journal of
Community Service Learning 9(1): 58-66.
Curry, Janel M. 2003. “National Structures and their Impact on Forest Policy: A Canadian-United
States Comparison.” In The New Countryside: Geographic Perspectives On Rural Change
edited by Kenneth B. Beesley, Hugh Millward, Brian Ilbery, and Lisa Harrington,
pp. 105-123, Brandon, Manitoba: Brandon University Rural Development Institute and
St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Curry, Janel M. 2002. “Care Theory and 'Caring' Systems of Agriculture.” Agriculture and Human
Values 19(2): 119-131.
____________. 2000. “Community Worldview and Rural Systems: A Study of Five Communities in
Iowa.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 90(4): 693-712.
Curry-Roper, Janel M. 2000. “Embeddedness in Place: Its Role in the Sustainability of a Rural Farm
Community in Iowa.” Space and Culture Issue 4/5: 204-222.
____________. 1997. “Community-Level Worldviews and the Sustainability of Agriculture.” In
Agricultural Restructuring and Sustainability: A Geographical Perspective, edited by Tim
Rickard, Brian Ilbery, and Quentin Chiotti, pp. 101-115, Wallingford, UK: CAB Int.
Curry-Roper, Janel M. and Steven McGuire. 1993. “The Individualistic Imagination and Natural
Resource Policy.” Society and Natural Resources 6(3): 259-272.
____________. 1992. “Alternative Agriculture and Conventional Paradigms in United States
Agriculture.” In Contemporary Rural Systems In Transition: Agriculture and Environment,
vol. 1, edited by Ian Bowler, Chris Bryant and Duane Nellis, pp. 254-264, Wallingford, UK:
CAB International.
Curry-Roper, Janel M. 1990. “Christianity, Individualism, and Natural Resource Policy.”
Perspectives (November): 8-11.
____________. 1990. “Contemporary Christian Eschatologies and Their Relation to Environmental
Stewardship.” The Professional Geographer 42(2): 157169.
“The flourishing of humans and nature together in communities across the world will only be possible with strong leadership, intercultural and international contextual understanding, and knowledge of institutional and natural systems.”