U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat, was elected to represent New Mexico in the Senate in 2008 after serving five terms in the U.S. House. He also had served as the state’s attorney general.

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., was appointed to the Senate in May 2011 to fill the vacancy left by Sen. John Ensign’s resignation. Heller previously represented Nevada’s 2nd District in the U.S. House, and before that, he served many years in state government.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is a member of the LDS church.

Read a Sept. 23, 2009, New Orleans Times-Picayune story on Bartholomew’s visit to the United States and the Religion, Science and the Environment Symposium.

John W. Hart is professor of Christian ethics at Boston University’s School of Theology and has expertise in American Indians and North American indigenous religions. He has also written several books about Christian environmental theology

Norman Wirzba is professor of theology and ecology at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C. His research focuses on “understanding and promoting practices that can equip both rural and urban church communities to be more faithful and responsible members of creation,” specifically through eating as a spiritual discipline, theological reflection as informed by place and agrarianism […]

Bruce Mallory is interim director of the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. The institute’s research includes poverty, rural families and communities, and the environment.

Hugh Joseph is a research associate at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Boston, and is project developer of the school’s New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.

John E. Carroll is a professor of environmental conservation at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, and his interests include spiritual and religious attitudes toward ecology. His books include, as author, Sustainability and Spirituality.