Martine Vonk (1974-2019)

Martine Vonk (1974-2019) studied environmental science and anthropology and specialized in how people deal with the environment. In 2006 she obtained her doctorate with a dissertation on the quality of life in ancient religious communities: the Amish, Hutterites, Franciscans and Benedictines.

stijlelement_Vorm2_wit

Martine developed a great passion for themes such as sustainability and justice at a young age. Themes that she connected with her faith and that were fed by Christian ideas. With her unbridled energy and pioneering spirit, she set a lot in motion. In the 1990s, for example, she founded Time to Turn: a Christian youth movement that drew attention to sustainability and justice. After her studies she worked as an independent consultant and environmental scientist for her company Vonk. She was also a curator at the scientific institute of the ChristenUnie and chair of nature organization A Rocha. From 2016 she became a lecturer in technology and ethics at Saxion University of Applied Sciences. She also wrote several books on sustainability, had a column in the Reformatorisch Dagblad and was a popular speaker. She also volunteered for newcomers, prisoners and prostitutes.

Despite Martine's great passion for sustainability, she was anything but a prophet of doom. She always looked for ways to get people moving through small steps. Her faith provided both inspiration and relaxation. In her latest book 'Enjoying Enough' she expressed this as follows: “Ultimately we humans cannot save this earth, God does that himself. He has already started doing that. Our challenge is to discover where he is working and to connect with it.”

Martine died on November 14, 2019 from the consequences of metastatic breast cancer. She was married to Klaas-Hemke van Meekeren and mother of Mirthe.

"If we have lost the art of wonder, we must practice it again. Any child can do it."

Martine Vonk