Paula Gonzalez

Paula González, SC entered the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in 1954. She earned her Ph.D. in biology at the Catholic University in Washington, DC, and was a biology professor at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio, for 21 years. Sister Paula has worked for more than three decades to promote sustainable living. She has developed audiotape courses in Earth-healing; has written several articles and book chapters on ecospirituality, conservation, renewable energy, and spiritual ecology; and has given over 1800 presentations.

Sister Paula founded EarthConnection, an environmental learning center where tours, internships, and environmental educational programs have been conducted. The EarthConnection Center showcases various renewable-energy technologies including daylighting, passive and active solar thermal, grid-tied photovoltaic, and geo-exchange energy systems. The American Solar Energy Society's Ohio Chapter, Green Energy Ohio, gave Sister Paula their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. In 2007, Sister Paula and Keith Mills founded Ohio Interfaith Power and Light, a coalition of religious people responding to the climate-change crisis. Ohio Interfaith Power and Light is an affiliate of The Regeneration Project's national Interfaith Power and Light campaign, which has programs in 26 states involving over 4000 congregations.