“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead—his eyes are closed.” — Albert Einstein

What is your personal relationship to the natural world? How did childhood affect your adult experiences and perceptions? In what ways has your Christian faith been connected to or disconnected from your experience of the outdoors?

Behold the Earth is an aesthetically-oriented, music-rich documentary that explores America’s divorce from the outdoors through conversations with highly regarded scientists like E. O. Wilson, Cal DeWitt, and Theo Colborn, as well as a rising generation of creation-care advocates within the American Christian community. These biographical narratives challenge viewers of the film to reckon with the church’s role in environmental stewardship, to reflect on their own faithfulness in this regard, and, ultimately, to restore our capacity for wonder.

Dr. Rick Lindroth, UW-Madison Professor of Ecology, will set the stage for this two-hour event, which includes a one-hour film screening, followed by time for personal reflection and table discussion.

ABOUT THE FILM DIRECTOR

David Conover, film director and conservationist, began work on this bold film twelve years ago, as an inquiry into America’s divorce from the outdoors, before-and-after the arrival of those known as the digital natives. Conover is neither a scientist nor a Christian, but demonstrates great insight with respect to both. Some of the talented field staff who helped to capture the spectacular natural sequences in his series Sunrise Earth and Big Picture Earth contribute significantly to Behold the Earth. With Rhiannon Giddens and Tim Eriksen, four-time Grammy winning musician Dirk Powell arranges traditional American tunes and hymns.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM HOST

Rick Lindroth is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement & Sorenson Professor and recent Associate Dean for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Ph.D. in ecology at the University of Illinois-Urbana, and has spent his entire academic career at UW-Madison. Rick’s research focuses on evolutionary ecology and global change ecology. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and is a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, the Entomological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Rick has served on the editorial boards for multiple scientific journals and on grant panels for NSF and USDA. He is a member of the BioLogos Voices speakers bureau. Rick and his wife Nancy are parents to two extraordinary daughters and grandparents to two grandsons and one granddaughter. They have served in numerous ministry roles at Blackhawk Church in Madison. Rick enjoys outdoor hobbies aided and abetted by carbon fiber technology: cycling, fly fishing, and paddling.