Simon Appolloni
Fostering Resilience and Hope
About Me
I am an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, at the School of the Environment, University of Toronto. I received my doctorate in the Study of Religion, in conjunction with the Collaborative Program in Environmental Studies, School of the Environment, University of Toronto. I have taught at the School of the Environment, Humber College and at Brock University.
My current research interest lies in understanding and utilizing pedagogies of hope that build resilience within students as they navigate paths toward sustainability.
What I Do
Publications
Click on Learn More to see a selection of my writing.
Research
My main research is entitled Pedagogies of Hope and Resilience. To learn more, click below.
TEaching
My teaching is interdisciplinary yet grounded in a rigorous humanities approach.
videos
My Simon’s Asides and Chatting about the Environment videos and others can be found here.
Select Publications
“How to stay hopeful in a world seemingly beyond saving,” The Conversation (2023).
Generation Laudato Si’: Catholic Youth on Living out an Ecological Spirituality. Toronto: Novalis Press (2023). I edited this along with Rebecca Rathbone. The book comprises the voices of 40 youth (aged 17-35) from 23 countries around the globe discussing their hopes and dreams for a future based on the teachings of Laudato Si’.
“Engendering a Canadian Catholic Conversation about Care for Our Common Home.” In Looking to the Laity: Reflections on Where the Church Can Go from Here. Edited by Anne Louise Mahoney. Toronto: Novalis Publishing, 83-97 (2020).
Convergent Knowing: Christianity and Science in a Conversation with a Suffering Creation. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press (2018).
“Eco-Tethered Liberation: A New Spirituality for the Anthropocene,” Trumpeter Journal of Ecosophy 34, no. 1: 131-152.
(with Christopher Hrynkow), “In Search of an Authentic Pax Gaia: Connecting Wonder, the Moral Imagination and Socio-Ecological Flourishing,” Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology 20, no. 2:103-124 (2018).
(with Heather Eaton), “Religions and Ecology in Canada,” Alternatives Journal, 42, no. 1 (2016): 44–47 (2016).
“Wondering about Wonder as a Possible Antidote to Our Violence against Earth,” Advancing Nonviolence and Social Transformation: New Perspectives on Nonviolent Theories. Edited by Heather Eaton and Lauren Michelle Levesque. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 265-280 (2016).
“The Roman Catholic Tradition in Conversation with Thomas Berry’s Fourfold Wisdom,” Religions 6, no. 3, 794-818; doi:10.3390/rel6030794 (part of the special issue: Religion and Ecology in the Anthropocene, 2015).
Research
Ensuring youth have wherewithal to cope and hope!
shout out to Mallory furlong for desiging this logo
With the goal of supporting the 800+ students that I teach annually to cope with their eco-anxiety, I am researching methods and processes to incorporate into the curricula. In 2022, I began my research with the assistance of one undergraduate (Mallory Furlong) and one graduate student (Nolan Scharper) to assist me in my initial research on eco-anxiety. My team and I were able to define the phenomenon and determine avenues practiced widely to address it.
In 2023-2024, with support from my Masters of Environmental Studies student, Annika Harley, and my undergrad Work Study Program student, Salvatore Cormaggi, I have been able to create and send out a survey to 161 instructors of environmental issues at 5 Canadian universities to ascertain what these instructors of environmental issues and sciences are doing at other post-secondary institutions across Canada to address this issue. With a response of 41 participants, I am currently working on analyzing the responses and conducting follow-up interviews with select participants. The work will culminate with a published paper.
Teaching
UNDERGRADUATE
Introduction to Environmental Studies
Environment, Culture and Film
Environmental Psychology
Religion, Ethics, Environment
World Religions
Religion and Science
Tourism Ethics
Introduction to Philosophy
GRADUATE
Environmental Decision Making
Worldviews and Ecology
Environmental Ethics
Videos
Attached are some of my recent pedagogical videos (“Chatting about the Environment” and “Simon’s Asides”) and one recording of a talk I gave at St. Basil’s Church, Ottawa.
My gratitude to the Free Website Guys for their assistance on creating this website