Open Access

Biodiversity is quickly diminishing across the planet, primarily owing to human pressures. Protected areas are an essential tool for conserving biodiversity in response to increasing human pressures. However, their ecological effectiveness is contested and their capacity to resist human pressures differ. This dissertation aimed to assess the ecological effectiveness of different protection levels (from strict to less strictly protected: national park, game reserve, forest reserve, game-controlled area, and unprotected areas) in biodiversity (both mega diverse butterflies and mammals), maintaining habitat connectivity, and reducing anthropogenic threats at the wider landscape in the Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem of southwestern Tanzania. To achieve this overarching goal, I employed an interdisciplinary approach. First, I analyzed butterfly diversity and community composition patterns across protection levels in the Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem. I found that species richness and abundance were highest in the game reserves and game-controlled areas, intermediate in the forest reserves, national park and unprotected areas. Species composition differed significantly among protection levels. Landscape heterogeneity, forest cover, and primary productivity influenced species composition. Land-use, burned areas, forest cover, and primary productivity explained the richness of species and functional traits. Game reserves hosted most indicator species. Second, I modelled the spatial distribution of six large mammal target species (buffalo Syncerus caffer, elephant Loxodonta africana, giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis, hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus, topi Damaliscus korrigum, and zebra Equus burchellii) across environmental and protection gradients in the Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem. Based on species-specific density surface models, I found relatively consistent effects of protection level and land-use variables on the spatial distribution of the target mammal species: relative densities were highest in the national park and game reserves, intermediate in forest reserves and game-controlled areas and lowest in un-protected areas. Beyond species-specific environmental predictors for relative densities, our results highlight consistent negative associations between relative densities of the target species and distance to cropland and avoidance of areas in proximity to houses. Third, I examined temporal changes in land-use, population densities and distribution of six large mammal target species across protection levels between 1991 and 2018. During the surveyed period, cropland increased from 3.4 % to 9.6 % on unprotected land and from ≤0.05 % to <1 % on protected land. Wildlife densities of most, but not all target species declined across the entire landscape, yet the onset of the observed wildlife declines occurred several years before the onset of cropland expansion. Across protection levels, wildlife densities occurred at much greater densities in the national park and game reserves and lowest in the forest reserves, game-controlled areas and unprotected areas. Based on logistic regression models, target species preferred the national park over less strictly protection levels and areas distant to cropland. Because these analyses do not support a direct relationship between the timing of land-use change and wildlife population dynamics, other factors may account for the apparent ecosystem-wide decline in wildlife. Fourth, I quantified land-use changes, modelled habitat suitability and connectivity of elephant over time across a large protected area network in southwestern Tanzania. Based on analyses of remotely-sensed data, cropland increased from 7% in 2000 to 13% in 2019, with an average expansion of 634 km2 per year. Based on ensemble models, distance from cropland influenced survey-specific habitat suitability for elephant the most. Despite cropland expansion, the locations of the modelled elephant corridors (n=10) remained similar throughout the survey period. According to ecological knowledge, nine of the modelled corridors were active, whereas one modelled corridor had been inactive since the 1970s. Based on circuit theory, I prioritize three corridors for protected area connectivity. Key indicators of corridor quality varied over time, whereas elephant movement through some corridors appears to have increased over time. Overall, this dissertation underpins differences in ecological effectiveness of protected areas within one ecosystem. It highlights the need to utilize a landscape conservation approach to guide effective conservation across the entire protection gradient. It also suggests the need to enforcing land use plans and having alternative and sustainable forms for generating income from the land without impairing wildlife habitat.

Contemporary society is shaped by the idea that time is, above all, a scarce economic resource that must be used efficiently – “time is money” not to be wasted. Increasingly, however, scientific findings suggest that such a way of perceiving of time seems a major cause of the current global climate and sustainability crisis. So far, this research has often focused on mobility, energy consumption, or the structural conditions of the social organisation of time. Considerably less work has been carried out in relation to the role of individual time-related needs regarding unsustainable consumption behaviour, although consumer research has been addressing needs-oriented approaches to sustainable consumption for a long time. Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) is considered an essential strategy to achieve the global sustainability goals of Agenda 2030. Internationally, as well as on a national level, ESE is increasingly mainstreamed in educational curricula and practice, including in Germany. Given the relation between time, needs and sustainability, it appears valuable to inquire into this field from the perspective of ESE – where time as a resource for sustainability has received comparatively little attention so far. The core research interest of this cumulative dissertation is therefore the question of how the connection between time, our needs and sustainability can be conveyed through pedagogical approaches. The inquiry used an exploratory, qualitative research design to address this question. In a first step, the concept of sustainability-related time use competence was developed. This then served as a guiding concept for the understanding of time used in this work and as the overall objective for the educational intervention developed and piloted as part of the research. Next, a content analysis of German curricula was conducted with the aim of determining whether and to what extent these address the relation between time and sustainability. The results show curricula contain only a few starting points that encourage a connection between time and sustainability in school lessons. The study further indicates that an understanding of time as a scarce resource to be used efficiently has prevailed in school contexts so far. Accordingly, pedagogical approaches to time often focus heavily on time management. The next step involved developing and piloting a time use competence curriculum in cooperation with three partner schools, using an Action Research Approach. This intervention followed the pedagogical approach of Self-Inquiry Based Learning (SIBL) seeking to sensitise learners to the relation between individual needs and consumer behaviour. During implementation, which lasted one semester, students logged their time, were encouraged to reflect on their personal needs, and subsequently implement individual change projects related to time use. This was embedded in continuous reflective individual and group exercises. The results strengthen the hypothesis that there is a relation between time use and sustainability. Furthermore, the pedagogical approach of SIBL has proven suitable to enable students to reflect on their time use and to raise their awareness of the role of individual needs. Participants reported that changes in time use did indeed increase their personal well-being. This, according to existing evidence from sustainability science, has been found to potentially lead to more sustainable behaviour. At the same time, previous research found that behavioural changes that lead to an increase in well-being do not automatically lead to more sustainable consumption behaviour. Rather, personal attitudes and motivation regarding sustainability are important. This suggests that future ESE interventions aiming at changes in time use should always also contain sufficient opportunities for reflection of values and motives. A third empirical study was carried out, inquiring into students’ time use during the eriod of COVID-19-induced school closures, using a Grounded Theory Approach. Since the pandemic disrupted young peoples’ routines drastically, the research focused on which kinds of learning experiences students made during this time and which insights can be derived for ESE. The results of the semi-structured interviews with 69 participants show first that the narrative of students’ learning loss, which is predominant in the current educational science, policy, and media discussion, falls short. Instead, a variety of learning experiences are revealed, such as learning one’s own learning and everyday rhythms or creatively adapting consumption habits to the new situation of “lockdown”. Overall, a key finding of this work is that students are currently unable to adequately realise their time-related needs. In view of the findings from research on time and sustainability, one recommendation is therefore that everyday school life could give students more space to organise their time according to their needs. This might be done through pedagogical measures in the classroom, but would also require a stronger institutional anchoring, for example, within the framework of the Whole Institution Approach to Sustainability (WIA), to bring about lasting changes. Furthermore, it would be advisable to give the topic of time in connection with sustainability more space in curricula and in teacher training. This gives rise to future research needs, such as the need to explore how time use competence can be included into everyday pedagogical practice, for instance, by adapting the SIBL approach piloted in a school setting here. It would also call for longitudinal research designs, and it would be of interest to research how time use competence might be incorporated into school development processes. Given the ongoing debate about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools and education in general, the findings of the research can stimulate both further research and future ESE practice. The experiences during the pandemic have shown that schools and all actors involved including students and teachers, are so far insufficiently prepared to handle crises. Here, the approach to time use competence piloted in this work can offer valuable stimulations for ESE research and practice. This is especially true since it is compatible with existing approaches to key competencies for sustainability by seeking to complement them with a stronger focus on individual, needs-oriented time shaping.

In seinem ersten Kinofilm „Abschied von gestern“ erzählt Alexander Kluge 1966 den Fall »Anita G.«. Ausgehend von diesem Film stellt sich die Frage nach den Rechtsverhältnissen in Kluges Geschichten: vom Sachverhalt zum Fall, vom Gesetz zur Erzählung, von der Ermittlung, die dem Urteil schließlich widersteht. Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang auch die universitäre „Vorgeschichte“ des Autors und Filmemachers. Mit dem Jura-Studium in Marburg und Frankfurt schreibt sich Kluge 1950 in die universitären Abläufe ein, denen er als Referendar institutionell folgt: im Amtsgericht Wiesbaden und im Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt, in der Jugendstrafanstalt, im Landgericht und der Kammer für Handelssachen. An diesen Stationen begegnet er Vorfällen und Prozessen, die seinen filmischen und literarischen Arbeiten voran gehen. Denn Kluges Figuren stehen vor dem Gesetz und folgen eher einer Poetik des Falls als seiner Auflösung.

Freiwillig Engagierte als Koproduzent:innen der Teilhabe geflüchteter Familien in frühpädagogischen Angeboten in Niedersachsen. Deutungen von freiwillig Engagierten, Koordinator:innen und geflüchteten Eltern. Während die gleichberechtigte Teilhabe geflüchteter Familien an frühpädagogischen Angeboten erklärtes integrationspolitisches Ziel ist, gibt es Hinweise darauf, dass diese besonderen Herausforderungen unterliegt und dass freiwillig Engagierte dabei häufig involviert sind. Dabei ist wenig über die Dynamiken bekannt, wie freiwillig Engagierte geflüchtete Familien im Bereich der frühkindlichen Bildung, Betreuung und Erziehung begleiten, insbesondere aus Perspektive von geflüchteten Eltern und ihren Begleiter:innen. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat die vorliegende kumulative Dissertation das Ziel, durch die sinnverstehende Herausarbeitung von Deutungen der Begleiter:innen und geflüchteten Eltern zu einem besseren Verständnis der durch freiwilliges Engagement begleiteten Teilhabe geflüchteter Familien an frühpädagogischen Angeboten beizutragen. Die Dissertation begreift freiwillig Engagierte als ‚Koproduzent:innen‘ von integrationspolitischen Zielen. Auf Grundlage von 34 Interviews mit Engagierten, Koordinator:innen und geflüchteten Eltern, welche in neun Kommunen in Niedersachsen geführt wurden, wurden in drei Artikeln die folgenden Schwerpunkte bearbeitet: Deutungen der Zusammenarbeit zwischen zivilgesellschaftlichen und staatlichen Akteur:innen durch die Begleiter:innen durch Anbindung an das Konzept Koproduktion (Artikel 1), Deutungen von Problemen und Lösungen durch die Begleiter:innen anknüpfend an die Konzepte Vulnerabilität und Agency (Artikel 2) sowie Deutungen der Eltern als Zielgruppe, mit Blick auf deren Aufbau von Vertrauen gegenüber frühpädagogischen Angeboten (Artikel 3). Die Dissertation trägt zu den folgenden wissenschaftlichen Debatten bei: zu Dynamiken der Umsetzung von Policies, wenn zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement dabei eine zentrale Funktion einnimmt, sowie zur Umsetzung integrationspolitischer Ziele im konkreten Bereich der Nutzung frühpädagogischer Angebote durch geflüchtete Familien. Es zeigt sich, dass freiwillig Engagierte zwar staatliche Akteur:innen ergänzen und damit maßgeblich zur Umsetzung integrationspolitischer Ziele beitragen. Gleichzeitig deutet dies aber auf strukturelle Hürden hin und wirft die Frage auf, inwieweit das freiwillige Engagement hier die Verantwortung für staatliche Aufgaben übernimmt. Dabei treten in der Zusammenarbeit zwischen zivilgesellschaftlichen und staatlichen Akteur:innen häufig Konflikte auf, welche auf divergierende Deutungen des Begriffs ‚Integration‘ und eine fehlende Ausdefinition konkreter sich aus den integrationspolitischen Zielen ableitender Bedarfe beruhen.

Können die kulturellen Praktiken und wertschöpfenden Handlungen innerhalb von Musikkulturen mit dem Begriff der Produktivität erfasst werden? Dieser Frage geht diese Dissertation am Beispiel der Technokultur nach. Sie zeigt auf, wie Menschen in solchen Vergemeinschaftungsformen für sich und andere Werte schaffen. In Abgrenzung zu wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Formulierungen wird hier von Werte-Schöpfung gesprochen. Zugrundeliegend ist ein kulturwissenschaftliches Verständnis von Produktivität, welches den Fokus auf unterschiedliche Arten der Produktion und Werte-Schöpfung legt. Es wurden Akteur*innen, ihr Handeln und ihre musikalischen, kulturellen, sozialen, sinnstiftenden sowie ökonomischen Produktionen innerhalb der Technokultur auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen analysiert. Dies umfasst Produzierende und Partizipierende, Gemeinschaften, Szenen, Städte, Festivals und Ökonomie. Das methodische Vorgehen basiert auf (Szene-)Ethnographie als Verfahren der Datengenerierung, was Interviews mit Experten (DJs, Produzenten, Labelmacher, Angestellte von Musikwirtschaftsbetrieben, Veranstalter) und Partizipierenden sowie teilnehmende Beobachtungen (Clubs, Festivals, Berlin, Köln, Lärz und Ruhrgebiet) umfasst. Zusätzlich wurden Technotracks musikhermeneutisch analysiert, um die Vielfalt der Affordanzen an Technomusik aufzuzeigen. Zur Datenauswertung wurde auf das Grounded Theory-Verfahren der Situationsanalyse (Clarke 2012) zurückgegriffen. Leitend für die Analyse sind die Konzepte der „Sonic Bodies“ und des „Soundings“ von Julian Henriques (2011), des Musickings (Small 1998) sowie der Begriff des „Sonischen“. Im Zentrum der Arbeit steht das Handeln von Menschen mit Klang und Musik in musikalischen Soziokulturen und der wechselseitige Einfluss mit der umgebenden Stadt und Gesellschaft. Die Dissertation zeigt auf, wie die Sonic Bodies der Technokultur persönliche, soziale, kulturelle und ökonomische Werte für sich schöpfen, auf dieser Grundlage ihr Handeln austarieren und sich mit anderen Produzierenden und Partizipierenden zu temporären oder beständigen Werte-Schöpfungsnetzwerken zusammenschließen. Die Möglichkeiten der Werte-Schöpfung sind durch mehrere Konfigurationen gerahmt. Darunter fallen sozialstrukturelle, subjektive und subkulturelle bzw. kulturindustrielle Faktoren, die das Handeln und die Werte-Schöpfung der Sonic Bodies prägen. Diese umfassen u. a. Faktoren sozialer Ungleichheit, individuelle Faktoren und Faktoren, die der Feldstruktur der Technokultur entspringen.

This cumulative dissertation "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Communication: Four empirical studies on the German banking industry" presents how commercial banks in Germany communicate their ambitions and commitment regarding corporate responsibility - i.e., CSR. The results of the first article show that the quality of mandatory non-financial reporting needs to be improved and that certain characteristics (e.g., previous reporting experience, reporting format and standard) have a positive influence on reporting quality. The second article shows that the CSR reporting scope on bank websites also has room for improvement and that various banking characteristics such as size, capital market orientation, media visibility or public ownership have an influence on communication. The third article illustrates that credit institutions in Germany are increasingly using social media for CSR communication, but that CSR communication strategies differ (Facebook vs. Twitter). The fourth article discusses CSR communication using advertisements and shows that the conceptual design of advertisements should be in line with the credit institution's business model and is therefore beneficial.

Consisting of three articles and a framework manuscript, this cumulative dissertation deals with sustainable compensation of chief executive officer (CEO) with a focus on climate-related aspects. Against the backdrop of the European action for sustainability and the EU Green Deal, the dissertation pays special attention to the consideration of climate-related aspects of corporate performance in CEO compensation. In this context, sustainable compensation is characterized by the consideration of long-term interests and sustainability of the company as well as by the inclusion of financial and non-financial aspects of environmental, social and governance performance (ESG) in compensation agreements. While this novel instrument of corporate governance aims to incentivize the implementation of sustainability-oriented corporate strategy, it is particularly important to unfold this incentive effect at the individual CEO level in view of their managerial discretion. The framework manuscript discusses the research objectives, the regulatory and theoretical background, the results of the dissertation and their implications in the context of regulation, research, and business practice. The essence of the dissertation are the three articles. The first article, "Determinants and effects of sustainable CEO compensation: a structured literature review of empirical evidence," examines the current state of empirical research based on 37 articles that were published between 1992 and 2018. Based on a multidimensional research framework, the structured literature review compiles past research findings, identifies contentual and methodological foci in the research area, and derives questions for future research. The second article, "Mapping the determinants of carbon-related CEO compensation: a multidimensional approach," addresses the topic from a conceptual perspective. Taking the existing work as a starting point, a conceptual framework is derived, which organizes the determinants of carbon-related CEO compensation at societal, organizational, group and individual levels of analysis. On this basis, eight propositions are presented that seek to distinguish between the determinants which support and challenge the implementation of carbon-related CEO compensation. The third article, "Climate change policies and carbon-related CEO compensation systems: an exploratory study of European companies," focuses on the use of CO2-oriented performance indicators in CEO compensation. The empirical-qualitative study analyzes corporate disclosure of the 65 largest companies in the EU for the years 2018 and 2019. The study addresses the use of CO2-oriented performance indicators in corporate strategy and CEO compensation. It also examines which compensation components are determined with the help of CO2-oriented performance indicators, which type of performance indicators are used, and whether CO2-intensive and less CO2-intensive companies differ in this regard.

Nachhaltigkeitsziele im Sinne einer Ökologie, Ökonomie und Soziokultur lassen sich im Bauwesen auf verschiedene Instrumente zurückführen. Optimierung des Wärmeschutzes durch die Energieeinsparverordnung (Effizienz) oder Minimierung von Abfall im Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz (Suffizienz). Um jedoch eine neue Qualität der Nachhaltigkeit zu schaffen, ist ein Paradigmenwechsel notwendig. Dabei können Cradle to Cradle Prinzipien als ökoeffektive Methode angewandt werden, in dem exemplarisch die Biodiversität eingebunden, gesunde Bauprodukte verbaut und erneuerbare Energien genutzt werden. Die Natur dient als Vorbild (Konsistenz). Demnach werden Gebäude nützlich für Mensch, Umwelt und Gesellschaft umgesetzt und gleichzeitig Werte geschaffen. Für den deutschen Einzelhandel bestehen vielschichtige Potenziale, da der Gebäudebestand mit mehreren Millionen Quadratmetern bedeutend ist und die Bauwerke aufgrund von Konzeptänderungen oder Verschleiß der Ladenflächen regelmäßig umgebaut werden. Die Forschung beginnt mit einer Bestandsaufnahme von Cradle to Cradle Bauprodukten und Analyse eines real umgesetzten Einkaufszentrums. Um Einflussfaktoren von Stakeholdern zu identifizieren, wurden qualitative Experteninterviews mit ausgewählten Projektbeteiligten aus Bauherrn, Betreibern, Beratern, Mietparteien und Herstellern durchgeführt. Im Rahmen des Forschungsvorhabens wurde erforscht, inwieweit sich Bauprodukte aus der Gebäudeplanung in wissenschaftlicher Theorie und praktischer Bauwirtschaft umsetzen lassen, Geschäftsmodelle anwendbar sind, Trends und Innovationen im Zusammenhang stehen oder Änderungen in Politik oder Wirtschaft notwendig sind. Im Ergebnis wurden Maßnahmen für eine neue Qualität der Nachhaltigkeit bei Einzelhandelsgebäuden identifiziert. Exemplarisch wird anhand der Interviews deutlich, dass neben einem staatlichen Umweltzeichen oder einer Green Building Planungsdisziplin, insbesondere die Ökonomie in Form von Investitions- und Betriebskosten den größten Stellenwert besitzt. Es braucht einen staatlichen Regulierungsrahmen und neue Geschäftsmodelle, damit nachhaltige Bauprodukte wirtschaftlich werden und durch Stakeholder in den Prozessen der Planung, Bauausführung und dem Betrieb berücksichtigt werden.

Increased international compliance with human rights and democracy standards is a core issue for both human rights and democratizing actors as well as for victims of human rights abuse. International human rights organizations (IHROs) are expected to make positive contributions to this end, even though they possess low levels of authority. This authority has been renegotiated multiple times in various reform processes. An oversimplified expectation would have us assume that democracies would want to strengthen IHROs, and that autocracies would seek to weaken them. As the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was reformed in 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2011, some autocracies strived to abolish parts of the UNHRC. Other autocracies aimed “merely” to weaken them. Democracies displayed an even larger variance. Indonesia and India predominantly favored weakening the UNHRC, whereas Ghana and Spain supported exclusively strengthening of the organization. Additionally, some attitudes towards the UNHRC changed from one year to the next. Autocracies diverge not only in their stances towards the UNHRC, but also across their domestic and international dimensions. Nigeria allows different levels of participation by societal actors than, say, Belarus. Cuba does not have the same domestic institutions as Russia. Iran enters international negotiations from a different position than Thailand. Democracies vary on the domestic and international dimensions as well. The Czech Republic is not the US, and Costa Rica is different from South Africa. The question that drives my research is how we can explain the broad variety of state preferences for strengthening or weakening IHROs. Previous research has mostly concentrated on democracies, leaving autocracies understudied. It also treated countries as black boxes. To account for such shortcomings, first, I systematically test the relationship between the UNHRC and its authoritarian and democratic members by means of inferential statistics. Second, I analyze a bottom-up process inherent to New Liberalism. It scrutinizes the role of domestic societal actors, domestic institutions, as well as pressures on the international stage. The results reveal that societal actors, along with the interplay of wealth and regime type in the international realm, figure as the most important predictors of delegation preferences voiced by autocracies and democracies during the reform of the monitoring bureaucracy Special Procedures of the UNHRC. Societal actors play a more important role in democracies than in autocracies. Institutionalized domestic oversight mechanisms help societal actors to conduct effective lobbying at the domestic level. Oversight mechanisms are more important than the rule of law and electoral institutions. Regarding international coalition building, authoritarian regimes turn out to be better organized than democracies. I conclude that supporters of strong IHROs shall 1. empower domestic societal actors; 2. disrupt cohesive delegation preferences of authoritarian regimes; and 3. invest in independent domestic oversight mechanisms.

Understanding that entrepreneurship can be better modeled from a systemic point of view is a primordial aspect that determines the important role of universities in entrepreneurial ecosystems. What makes the ecosystem approach a valuable tool for understanding social systems is that, from a holistic perspective, their behavior seems to have emerging characteristics. The impact of this “research object” can only be revealed through interrelated causal chains similar to the behavior of natural ecosystems (Mars et al., 2012). Therefore, the entrepreneurial ecosystem concept provides a unique perspective that complements previous studies on networked economic activity with a clear focus on the systemic elements that support entrepreneurship, and an emphasis on policy that promote the entrepreneurial process. This dissertation presents a dual scientific account of the entrepreneurship phenomenon in universities. The work is divided into two equal parts, each of which is composed of two research papers. The narrative of the first half takes on a macro perspective view, consisting of one theoretical and one empirically-based conceptual case study. This part conceptually depicts a systematic approach to entrepreneurialism in higher education, namely an ecosystems perspective. The second half concentrates on the meso- and micro levels of study from the university’s point of view, comprising of a case study as historical account for the emergence of the entrepreneurial university, and of a metasynthesis of empirical case studies in entrepreneurial universities, which serves as the basis for the development of entrepreneurial university archetypes. This doctoral work contributes to an in-depth understanding of Entrepreneurship in universities regarding its systemic qualities and archetypal characteristics of entrepreneurial universities. It argues for an ecosystem’s perspective on the phenomenon of entrepreneurial activity, highlighting the fundamental role that universities play as the heart of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Furthermore, this research expands on the novel concept of the entrepreneurial university by using extensive case study literature to empirically identify distinct archetypes that better reflect the diverse reality of how universities engage as entrepreneurial actors by way of differentiated entrepreneurial structures, systems, and strategies.

Beginning with the theology of Martin Luther and drawing on a selection of feminist theologians, this thesis proposes a relational, agential model of human flourishing. It is rooted in Luther’s doctrines of the hiddenness of God and of God’s alien and proper work in the lives of believers. Such an approach gives rise to questions concerning human freedom and agency, sin, and the nature of our relationship with God and with other persons. Many feminist theologies provide an inadequate account of sin and its effects on the person and their relationships. This thesis asserts that taking sin and its effects seriously is essential to developing a secure and healthy self, and a healthy relationship with God and other persons. It therefore proposes a reworked understanding of religious incurvature as a relational model of sin which supports the goal of human flourishing. This concept of the self curved either inwards, or towards another, speaks to the nature of sin in its traditional understanding of sin as pride, as well as addressing feminist criticisms that the notion of sin as pride is not relevant to the needs and experiences of women. The model of human flourishing proposed here is specifically Christian in its assertion that we do not exist as persons, are not fully human, without our being in relationship with the triune God and other created persons. We flourish in community. Further, it supports the idea that true Christian freedom consists of a life dedicated to service of God and others.

The industrial food system is by far the largest greenhouse gas emitting secto