Answering Earth’s Call

Santa Clara to form an action plan to create a more humane, just and sustainable world

Laudato Si’ (“praise be to you”) was Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical and call for mankind to recognize the plights of their common home – Earth. Santa Clara is among the 130 universities that responded and agreed to take action. Seven years later, Santa Clara is fulfilling its promise.

As a part of Pope Francis’ Seven-Year Journey Towards Integral Ecology, Santa Clara is looking to its community to create a seven year long action plan. The Center for Sustainability and Division of Mission and Ministry are assembling five “Working Groups” that will develop concrete goals and strategies for building a more sustainable Santa Clara through 2030. These objectives encapsulate the seven goals listed in the Laudato Si’: Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor, Ecological Economics, Sustainable Lifestyles, Ecological Education, Ecological Spirituality and Community Participation.

This project builds upon Santa Clara’s Jesuit tenets and existing sustainability efforts. Communications and Reporting Program Manager for the Center for Sustainability, Maria Judnick, is leading the plan and has high hopes for its impacts.

“Our goal for this year is to make sure that it's inclusive, and diverse voices are involved in this effort,” Judnick said. “We want to see all of Santa Clara come out in support and say, ‘We're committed to acting now, on behalf of our environment’. In terms of the next seven years, I'm excited to see how we're identifying those areas in which we can grow and we can work towards making transformative change.”

The first year of the project will focus on gathering ideas from all corners of the community. To ensure all aspects are covered, the project’s working groups will be sorted into five focuses: Academics, Campus Engagement, Community Engagement, Operations: Energy and Operations: Resources.

One voice deeply involved in this project is Santa Clara’s Division of Mission and Ministry. According to project lead and Vice President of the Division of Mission and Ministry Alison Benders, the Division engages the community to make the university's mission its own. For Benders, a sustainable Santa Clara coincides with its goal of meeting the evolving needs of the community.

“At the intersection of ecological sustainability and care for human life, justice in the Catholic tradition demands that all human beings share in the bounty of creation,” Benders said. “This is our aim when SCU aligns its work with the seven goals of Laudato Si’.”

The collaboration between these two departments is important to fellow program manager Judnick because the project’s mission encompasses Santa Clara’s identity. According to Judnick, the action plan goes beyond checking off boxes and examining data.

“There's more intangible ways that we all connect with each other,” Judnick said. “We connect with our common home, we connect with our fellow humans and we're all called to serve each other. So how are we going to do that in a way that also helps the Earth? In other words, I think it's a broader way of looking at this connection. You don't need to be Catholic to appreciate that we all need to do something for our Earth and for each other.”

Stakeholders are encouraged to attend roadshows where ideas can be freely shared. These efforts are more important than ever for project lead and Director of the Center of Sustainability Lindsey Kalkbrenner.

“We are compelled to act now,” Kalkbrenner said. “Our campus is increasingly threatened by impacts of climate change – whether the smoke from fires, nearby floods or the ongoing drought. Updating our sustainability action plan to do more, better, faster will help us make key transformations for our community by 2030.”