Building Peace in the Anthropocene: The Practical Wisdom of Hospitality amidst Climate Violence

This dissertation is built on the premise that anthropogenic climate change is more likely than not to result in 2C+ of warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100. In such a scenario, anthropogenic climate change will variously impact virtually all aspects of human social, political, and economic processes during the remainder of the 21st century. Given this premise, this dissertation explores this question: “In the context of 2C+ of anthropogenic climate change, and with the high likelihood of unprecedented human population displacement because of this warming, what are some of the resources that might help empower the construction of systems of peace instead of systems of bloodshed, scapegoating, and violence?”

In response to this question I argue that the tradition and practice of intentional hospitality toward the vulnerable other found within the larger Christian tradition is a practice that contains rich resources which may help empower communities that seek to welcome the vulnerable other in the context of anthropogenic climate change. In addition to a survey of some of the historical and theological foundations for such a practice, I also offer a theological (micro) ethnography of hospitality within three case studies located in Vancouver, BC, among a community and network of people who have been engaging the practice of hospitality toward vulnerable others for approximately three decades.

Ultimately I argue that while the practice of intentional hospitality toward vulnerable others in the context of anthropogenic climate change is unlikely to be sufficient—that is to say, the needs are likely to far exceed the capacities of different communities to sustain the offer of hospitality—the practice of hospitality toward the vulnerable other is a vital practice that is worth engaging in pursuit of peace amidst the Anthropocene. For all who find a way through the challenges that are likely to come, welcome and hospitality and care—in different forms and in distinct manifestations within particular places and particular communities at particular times—will be pivotal in making a way possible.