Ethics event will pair efforts to control criminal behavior, climate change

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Efforts to control criminal behavior and reduce climate change will intersect in an upcoming event that is part of the Western Michigan University Center for the Study of Ethics in Society's fall 2017 season.

Dr. Ronald Kramer, WMU professor of sociology, will draw parallels between the two issues when he speaks at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in the Bernhard Center's Brown and Gold Room. The presentation, titled "Criminal Justice, Social Justice and Climate Justice," is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.

Kramer will draw some lessons from efforts to prevent and control criminal behavior and see if they can be applied to the efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Kramer will argue that the avoidance of militarization and the attainment of some form of social justice are necessary for responding appropriately both to crime and climate disruption.

Kramer

Kramer is a longtime peace and justice activist and founding member of Kalamazoo Nonviolent Opponents of War. He has been on the board of the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society since its founding in 1985, and he founded the annual Peace and Justice Education Week at the University in 1983. Formerly the co-producer and host of the community access television program WMU Forum from 1987 to 1995, Kramer is also part of the collective that produces the award-winning television program "Critical Issues, Alternative Views," airing on the Public Media Network in Kalamazoo and available on YouTube. He is co-chair of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Study Group on Climate Change at the WMU Center for the Humanities.

This lecture honors Kramer's service to the Ethics Center. He is leaving the center's board to devote more time to his work on climate change.

For more information, visit wmich.edu/ethics.

For more WMU news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.