Marybeth Lorbiecki, M.A., is the director of Interfaith Oceans (formerly the Interfaith Ocean Ethics Campaign — IOEC) — a multi-faith effort to awaken religious people to the damage to the oceans (and its peoples and species) and the call of faith to restore and protect all of God’s creation.
Lorbiecki came to this work after spending 12 years researching and writing Following St. Francis: John Paul II’s Call for Ecological Action (Rizzoli Ex Libris, 2014), the only comprehensive (and easy-to read) collection of the saint’s teachings on the care of creation in the world (and those of Pope Francis up to 2014). As a result of this work, the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace contacted her for access to her papal research of teachings on faith and conservation to prepare for UN summits on sustainability; this led to correspondence with Cardinal Peter Turkson regarding Pope Francis’ recent encyclical, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home.
She has been a researcher and writer on environmental topics for over twenty-five years, both for adults and for children, beginning with her first biography of the conservation hero, Aldo Leopold. Her award-winning title is coming out in an expanded edition from Oxford University Press in January 2016 — A Fierce Green Fire: Aldo Leopold’s Life and Legacy. Her children’s books on conservation and on other topics have won numerous awards, including The Prairie that Nature Built, Planet Patrol: A Kids’ Guide to Earth Care, Sister Anne’s Hands, Jackie’s Bat, Paul Bunyan’s Sweetheart, and many others.
She is a developmental editor and has been a university professor of writing and children’s books, children’s book editor, youth worker, board member of the Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center, and the president of the Western Wisconsin Prairie Project.
Contributions to Humans & Nature:
- Conservation and the Catholic Imagination
From Minding Nature’s August 2010, Volume 3, Number 2 issue.
Noteworthy Links:
- Marybeth Lorbiecki’s personal website
A more complete list of publications and contact information for Marybeth Lorbiecki
