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Vic Thasiah

Vic Thasiah, Ph.D.

Professor of Environmental Studies and Religion

vthasiah@callutheran.edu
Humanities 217

Office Hours: By appointment

About

Vic Thasiah teaches in the environmental studies, religious studies, and honors programs. He's also the founder and president of Runners for Public Lands, a national advocacy organization that empowers runners to protect public lands and expand access to nature; and serves as a board member of Los Padres ForestWatch.

He's currently writing a book on what he calls deep conservation, a conservation ethos based on Chinese rivers-and-mountains poetry (shan-shui), often considered the earliest and most extensive literary engagement with wilderness in human history. The work critically examines topics such as the poets' regenerative cosmology and affinity with wild nature in remote, rural, and urban settings; their respective high-level government backgrounds, disdain for political corruption (i.e., economic elites victimizing "common people"), resignation from civil service, and typical embrace of more simplified and authentic lifestyles close to nature; and their cultivation of wisdom for "sage governing" in these wild places while remaining withdrawn from public affairs. It further explores how the goals of wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity; ecological and social adaptation; and reassembling whole and healthy natural communities in particular rewilding projects today can help us reimagine our partnerships with the natural world and find further common cause between deep ecology and social justice interests in conservation today.

New Courses

Zen and the Art of Leadership (Fall, 2026) This course critically analyzes leadership applications of Zen (historical and contemporary) in areas such as business, military, sports, and civics.

Conservation of the Route of Parks of Patagonia (Travel Seminar, Chile, TBD)

 

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