ATHENS, Ohio — The Southeast Ohio History Center will host a political scientist next month to discuss how environmental advocates might bridge a widening partisan gap, part of the center’s ongoing lecture series.
Nancy Manring will present “Building a Bipartisan Environmental Movement in Appalachia” at noon Sept. 24 as part of the history center’s Lyceum Luncheon Brown Bag Speaker Series, according to the history center.
The talk will examine a growing partisan divide over environmental issues, the history center said. According to figures cited in the release, 56% of Democrats identify as environmentalists compared with 27% of Republicans. Manring’s presentation will look at strategies for building a place-based, bipartisan environmental movement to advocate for sustainability across Appalachia, the history center said.
The presentation draws on Manring’s book, “A World of Wounds: Rebuilding a Bipartisan Environmental Movement and Cultivating Authentic Hope,” published by Stanford University Press in November 2025, according to the release.
Manring is a faculty member in Ohio University’s Political Science Department and directs the university’s Environmental Science and Sustainability major, the history center said. She teaches courses on environmental and climate change politics, sustainability and public dispute resolution, and her earlier research examined collaborative dispute resolution processes used by the U.S. Forest Service, according to the release.
More information on the presentation and the speaker series is available by calling the Southeast Ohio History Center at 740-592-2280 or visiting southeastohiohistory.org, the center said.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Southeast Ohio History Center.





