Tyson-Lord Gray

Dr. Tyson-Lord Gray holds a BA from Trinity International University, a MDiv from Morehouse School of Religion and the Interdenominational Theological Center, a STM from Boston University, a PhD from Vanderbilt University, and a JD, with a certificate in Environmental Law, from Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. He is a licensed minister in the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. and served as a Chaplain Candidate Program Officer (LTJG) in the United States Navy from 2005-2011.

A frequent speaker and panelist, Dr. Gray has presented environmental research at Harvard, Yale, Wake Forest, and Vermont Law School as well as at academic conferences in Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. His publications include “Consider This,” in Holy Ground: A Gathering of Voices on Caring for Creation, where he urges religious communities to respond to the ethical and moral implications of climate change and global warming; “Beauty or Bane: Advancing an Aesthetic Appreciation of Wind Farms,” in the online journal Contemporary Aesthetics, where he critiques the aesthetics of Immanuel Kant and John Dewey in the pursuit of a positive aesthetic valuation of wind turbines; and “Eco-protest Music and the U.S. Environmental Movement,” in Sounds of Resistance, where he discusses the role of music as a catalyst for multicultural activism during the Environmental Movement in the 70’s.

Dr. Gray is currently a Research Associate at The Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at NYU Stern Business School. He previously worked at Richman Law Group, where he focused on holding industries accountable to environmental regulations and protecting consumers from “green washing” via false advertising and deceptive food labeling. He has also worked with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, NRG Energy, the Legal Aid Society, and Natural Resources Defense Council.

Dr. Gray is a founding member and president of Green Community Vision Inc., a non-profit organization aimed at increasing environmental consciousness and environmental activism within minority communities and has worked with the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, West Harlem Environmental Action, Harlem Grown, and a variety of organizations within New York City on environmental advocacy. He also raised over $95k in his 2017 campaign for City Council for District 9 (Harlem, NY), where he highlighted issues of food insecurity, environmental injustice, affordable housing, and education.

A recipient of numerous awards/honors, he was the 2009 Finger Lakes Environmental Film Fellow, the 2011 Graduate Scholar for the International Conference on Climate Change, the 2015 New York State Bar Association Environmental Law Fellow, the 2016 Inaugural Pace-NRDC Food Law Extern, and a 2017 New York State Pro Bono Scholar. He also served as the 2011 Visiting Professor of Ethics at Seoul Christian University in Seoul, South Korea.

Dr. Gray splits his residency between Harlem, NY and Dallas, TX and serves as a board member for Mercy for Animals and Green the Church. He has traveled to over 80 countries and in his free time he enjoys wine tasting and drone photography.

Research Interests

• Environmental Ethics
• Environmental Law
• Cannabis Law and Policy
• Critical Race Theory

Courses Taught

• Animals and Public Policy
• Environmental Activism: From the Local to the Global
• History of American Environmental Policy
• Professional Responsibility & Leadership
• Professional Responsibility for MBAs
• The Emerging Cannabis Industry

Academic Background

J.D., Environmental Law, 2017 Pace Law School

Ph.D., Environmental Ethics, 2014 Vanderbilt University

S.T.M., Philosophical Ethics, 2008 Boston University

M.Div., Systematic Theology, 2007 Morehouse School of Religion

B.A., Religion, 2002 Trinity International University

Selected Publications

Tyson-Lord Gray (2020) Staring at the Sun: Tragedy, Trauma, and Ecological Harmony

(2014) Beauty or Bane: Advancing an Aesthetic Appreciation for Wind Turbine Farms (eds.) Jozef Keulartz & Martin Drenthen, Fordham Press

(2013) Eco-Protest Music in the U.S. Environmental Movement (eds.) Eunice Rojas & Lindsay Michie Eades, Praegar Publishers

Tyson-Lord J. Gray (2012) “Beauty or Bane: Advancing an Aesthetic Appreciation of Wind Turbine Farms.”

Consider This (2008) Holy Ground: A Gathering of Voices on Caring for Creation ed. Lyndsay Moseley, Sierra Club Books