Special Edition Spring 2023: Submission: Sustainability Revisited
Activism leads to cross-campus collaboration
By Mollie Pierson
Last spring, I wrote a letter to President Becky Roloff addressing the state of sustainability at our university. It was initially intended to be an article about increasing composting engagement at St. Catherine University, but as I dove into the state and history of sustainability at SCU, it became clear that there was a much more complex narrative driving sustainability at our university.
During my deep dive, I found little official information. Past SCU leadership signed an agreement that the university could not fulfill for various reasons. While I would later learn that many of these reasons had very little to do with sustainability (for example, our campus facilities can’t measure and report energy data necessary for the agreement), at the time of my initial research, I was unable to find any information at all. Any details I could gather about sustainability at SCU were from informal interviews with staff, faculty and students involved with sustainability work.
From this, I came to understand the powerful action, past and present, surrounding sustainability taking place in our university through student, staff and faculty engagement. Both the Biology Club and the fashion department have infused sustainability into the work they already do: Bio Club has led multiple campus projects surrounding pollinators and environmental restoration, and the fashion department integrates sustainable practices into coursework and created a sustainability minor.
Compared to the enriching conversations I had with these campus leaders, the official information about sustainability at St. Kate’s fell short of capturing the beautiful grassroots work of our community. I sought to understand: How has our university leadership uplifted these individuals and helped to support the infusion of sustainability? Why do we not have a published sustainability plan? Seeking to answer questions many other students and I were asking, I wrote an open letter to Roloff in hopes of sparking a conversation surrounding institutional support of sustainability efforts at our university.
Shortly after the letter was published, Roloff reached out to me and offered further conversation with herself and other university leadership. A discussion took place that acknowledged and addressed concerns in complete transparency. After this conversation, it became clear to everyone involved that despite various sustainability initiatives on campus, we needed a link between movements. We realized there was an immediate need for a centralized place to call home, where cross-campus collaboration could be cultivated and celebrated.
That’s exactly what we did. The current working committee consists of President Becky Roloff, Dr. Anupama Pasricha, Durate Worika, Jennifer Tacheny, Zachary Ludwig, Kiara Gomes, Luul Adam, Lisa Babbs, Michael Hara, Sarah Voigt and myself. I truly believe the whole campus is represented by this group, as we have representatives from university administration and Marketing and Communications to the Food Access Hub (FAH) and the Center for Spirituality and Social Justice, along with many other areas of campus.
In the meetings, the FAH, a collaborative between St. Kate’s and CSJs with sustainability and food security initiatives, introduced the idea of signing onto the CSJ’s congregational Laudato Si’ Action Platform. The Laudato Si’ is the Catholic encyclical letter on sustainability and earth stewardship.
The decision to sign onto the Action Platform came with thoughtful consideration and guidance from the CSJ community. CSJ staff at the FAH reached out to CSJ Congregational Leadership team member Sr. Patty Johnson for consultation. Sr. Patty Johnson works as the Laudato Si’ Action Platform steering committee member and as a UN representative for the CSJs.
In addition to being the first CSJ-founded university to sign the Action Platform, we enter an international community dedicated to sustainability and stewardship of the earth.
The sustainability committee meets regularly to develop a plan tailored to the needs, values and interests of the entire St. Kate’s community. Below are the working mission statement and goals of our Laduato Si’ Action plan proposal:
Mission Statement
St. Catherine University, as lived by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, is committed to sustainability initiatives, education, and awareness so Earth and all people thrive. We strive to:
Provide academic and experiential learning by integrating sustainability education through social justice teaching to foster personal growth and behavioral change in students.
Model and display sustainability practices that educate and empower students, staff, and faculty to apply in their personal lives, on campus, and in their communities.
Continuously improve institutional practices and processes that promote campus sustainability including reduction of waste, health of nature and ecosystems, efficiencies in energy consumption, and reduction in overall carbon footprint.
Seek collaboration and partnership with local, national, and global initiatives with the spirit of “dear neighbor” related to climate change and sustainability.
Laudato Si’ Action Platform Goals
Goal 1: Response to the Cry of the Earth
The Response to the Cry of the Earth is a call to protect our common home for the well-being of all, as we equitably address the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and ecological sustainability. Actions could include adopting renewable energies and energy efficiency measures, achieving carbon neutrality, protecting biodiversity, promoting sustainable agriculture and guaranteeing access to clean water for all.
Goal 2: Response to the Cry of the Poor
The Response to the Cry of the Poor is a call to promote eco-justice, with the awareness that we are called to defend human life from conception to death and all forms of life on Earth. Actions could include projects to promote solidarity, with special attention given to vulnerable groups such as Indigenous communities, refugees, migrants and children at risk; analysis and improvement of social systems and social service programs.
Goal 3: Ecological Economics
Ecological Economics acknowledges that the economy is a sub-system of human society, which itself is embedded within the biosphere — our common home. Actions could include sustainable production and consumption, ethical investments, divestment from fossil fuels and any activity harmful to the planet and the people, supporting circular economies and prioritizing care labor and protecting the dignity of workers.
Goal 4: Adoption of Sustainable Lifestyles
The Adoption of Sustainable Lifestyles is grounded in the idea of sufficiency and promoting sobriety in the use of resources and energy. Actions could include recycling, reducing waste, adopting sustainable dietary habits, greater use of public transport, active mobility (walking, cycling, etc.) and avoiding single-use items (e.g. plastic, etc.).
Goal 5: Ecological Education
Ecological Education is about rethinking and redesigning curricular and institutional reform in the spirit of integral ecology to foster ecological awareness and transformative action. Actions could include ensuring equitable access to education for all and promoting human rights, fostering Laudato Si’ themes within the community, encouraging ecological leadership and ecological restoration activities.
Goal 6: Ecological Spirituality
Ecological Spirituality springs from a profound ecological conversion and helps us to “discover God in all things,” both in the beauty of creation and in the sighs of the sick and the groans of the afflicted, aware that the life of the spirit is not dissociated from worldly realities. Actions could include promoting creation-based liturgical celebrations, developing ecological catechesis, retreats and formation programmes, etc.
Goal 7: Community Resilience and Empowerment
Community resilience and empowerment envisage a synodal journey of community engagement and participatory action at various levels. Actions could include promoting advocacy and developing people’s campaigns, encouraging rootedness and a sense of belonging in local communities and neighborhood ecosystems.
So what comes next? If Laudato Si’ is our strategic outline, what is our action? By the end of this academic year, Roloff will submit our initial proposal and sign onto the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. Next year will serve as a time to fill in our plan with our best practices, or in other words, specific past, current and future direct action to be taken to uphold and further our commitment to sustainability. With a detailed plan, not only can we celebrate and recognize all the moving parts of sustainability alive at our university, but we can grow to infuse sustainability into all aspects of our community. Academic departments can look to the work of the fashion department to inspire sustainability initiatives of their own; Bio Club and OAKs can serve as models for other student groups on campus.
Our action platform will be located on our newly launched sustainability landing page, which you can find by searching for “Sustainability at St. Kate’s” or by going to St. Kate’s homepage. Considering that so many sustainability initiatives have been student-led, we want to develop the sustainability plan with a student-centered approach, so the committee will continue to have student representatives. The sustainability landing page will include a form for anyone in the St. Kate’s community to be able to share their thoughts about potential sustainability focuses for the ‘23 - ‘24 school year.
Over the past year, I have learned that sustainability is not “done” but lived. We are one of the first generations to feel the impact of climate change and face unprecedented environmental catastrophes, natural disasters and the exploitation of people and earth. The call to care for our planet has never been more imminent than it is today. Sometimes this future sounds daunting, perhaps even doomed, but I challenge the narrative that we are powerless. Just as the current destruction and exploitation of our planet is not solely caused by the actions of an individual, sustainability is not carried out by one person or policy change, but rather is the result of collective and ongoing action. We can realign our relationship with earth and build a future where we can achieve peace and harmony. But to live out sustainability, we must not just demand a shift in mentality from those in power but from ourselves and each other. As students, we have an especially crucial role in this fight for justice. Through our ideas, actions and speech, we can (and will!) achieve lasting sustainability and cultivate a more sustainable future for generations to come.
