MEDIUM 09/23/15 By Michael Shank As Pope Francis arrives in Washington this week, the buzz about what he’ll say to the U.S. Congress and the United Nations is ubiquitous. One need not veer far from what Francis has already summoned in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, to know his exact delivery, […]
DAILY BEAST 09/21/15 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Lloyd Doggett Pope Francis is not just pontificating. His urgent message is about preserving human life. One might imagine, or hope, that Congress would experience the historic address of Pope Francis to a joint session later this week as something beyond […]
USIP Summer 2015 By Katherine Wood In each Newsletter, the Peace Arena offers a space for discussion between scholars and practitioners as they comment on a selected quote. This Summer we feature an exchange between: Dr. Arthur Romano, Assistant Professor, School for Conflict Resolution and Analysis, George Mason University, and […]
MEDIUM 09/08/15 By Michael Shank With the word out that GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to scuttle the Paris climate talks in December, one wonders whether or not the Senator is sensitive to the direction his party, and his people, are headed. Kentucky, the state the Senator […]
THE HILL 08/31/15 By Michael Shank Announced in the quiet of Congressional recess, new data published this week by Consumer Reports indicates that ground beef often contains bacteria that causes sickness in humans and resists drug treatment. Congress should take note. Fortunately, the United States Department of Agriculture already rolled […]
EMU NEWS 08/21/15 AUGUSTA FREE PRESS 08/30/15 By Kara Lofton One of the reasons most of the world has heard about July’s climate change summit at the Vatican is because Eastern Mennonite University alumnus Michael Shank, MA ’05 (conflict transformation), was the media consultant for the event. Shank managed press […]
GMU NEWS 08/19/15 By Buzz McClain Michael Shank has joined an informal White House working group studying how local governments across the country communicate and address climate change in their regions. Shank is a member of the adjunct faculty and a board member of George Mason University’s School for Conflict […]
HUFFINGTON POST 07/21/15 By Michael Shank Rarely am I inspired by a piece of writing so revolutionary that it cuts through the hubris and cacophony of contemporary society. Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, did that for me. There is hardly a more widely and recently distributed piece of literature that […]
HUFFINGTON POST 07/17/15 By Michael Shank When most people think about Kentucky, clean tech and climate change aren’t the first words that come to mind. Most of the chatter about this coal state is that it’s recalcitrant when it comes to acting on climate change. And while some of that […]
ROME REPORTS 07/15/15 The Vatican will be hosting a workshop and symposium next week to discuss how major global cities can help respond to modern slavery and climate change. Dozens of mayors from some of the world’s great cities will attend the event. The bishop who is organizing the conference […]