“Jesuit universities are called to lead the care of our Common Home”

IQS welcomed Nancy C. Tuchman, PhD, Assistant to the Secretary of Jesuit Higher Education on Integral Ecology (Rome, Italy), Emeritus Professor, former Founding Dean of the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago (USA) and Special Advisor to the CIR UNIJES Environment and Ecology, on March 19. Her visit was part of the IQS academic dialogue series: “The Cry of the Earth: What Jesuit Universities are Doing to Meet the Climate Crisis.”

This interview was conducted by Cristina Alonso Alija, PhD, Director of the UNIJES Reference Research Center in Environment and Ecology at IQS, an inter-university initiative that places the Care of the Common Home at the heart of the Jesuit university mission.

I grew up in a setting with nature all around me – the Great Lakes of the midwestern United States.  My parents were nature lovers and we spent family weekends hiking, picnicking, fishing, swimming in lakes and streams, or skiing in the winter.  My mother taught us the trees, and both of my parents were good at identifying birds, fish, mammals and insects.  We kids “caught the nature bug” and fell in love with nature’s wonders. 

So, I spent my years in college and graduate schools becoming an expert in the structure and function of natural ecosystems, and I am still inspired by what I continue to learn about nature’s incredible beauty, complexity and fragility. 

It is important for students to fall in love with nature, and to learn about and nurture their own spiritual connections to Creation.  If they have spent most of their lives in cities, it is important to get them out into the field to learn about nature’s complexities and be awed by its beauty. 

So, education is key, not just in higher education, but in grade school and high school as well.  It is also critical that we as organizations lower our own environmental footprints so that we do no harm to the environment through our operations.  This means taking an inventory of our consumption and waste, neutralizing the greenhouse gases we emit into the atmosphere, and conserving water use.  Students respond to a campus that lives in the way that the professors are teaching us to live!

“When a campus lives what it teaches, students respond enthusiastically“

As Jesuit institutions, we have a particular responsibility to care for our common home.  We have been called collectively to lead on environmental care, and it is both a privilege and an asset to be part of the largest network of higher education on the planet, where all institutions are united by our common mission to care for the marginalized, the planet, and for our youth through education and action.

4. How do we help young people believe in a common future? How do we engage with them?

First of course, we must listen to what is coming from their hearts and minds.  What are they feeling, and what do they need from us as educators/leaders?  I think we will find that they want to see concrete action in the form of caring for Creation and caring for them.  In my experience young people also want to be part of the solution, and they really engage in concrete activities on campus that help to reduce the campus environmental footprint.  These activities give them a sense of hope, agency, and empower them to do more rather than giving up.

“Young people want to be an active part of the solution, and that gives them hope“.

To achieve real impact, it is essential to integrate environmental issues into the curriculum as broadly and deeply as possible across the entire university.

It is also essential to adopt an environmental ethic on campus, so that everyone becomes aware of every purchasing decision they make and of the waste and environmental consequences generated by their choices. This work should be carried out through workshops, clear signage across campus, and by enforcing specific policies such as eliminating single-use plastics, avoiding everyday printing stations for students, staff and faculty, offering water-bottle refill points, and ensuring well-marked waste and recycling sorting stations throughout campus. Cafeterias should serve less meat and introduce “meatless Mondays” or other similar measures to reduce the campus’s environmental impact.

Another essential step is to drastically reduce the campus’s environmental impact, first by achieving carbon neutrality and then by progressing toward full decarbonization, so that no greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere. It is also important to work toward a zero-waste campus, implement water conservation measures, and plant local and native vegetation in any open campus spaces, including rooftops, to support biodiversity and contribute to carbon sequestration. It is also crucial to involve students in these projects, having them measure progress and report results along the way.

I have seen genuine commitment and rigorous work to reduce emissions and address the impact of mobility. Increasing the presence of environmental issues in academic programs is an immediate area for improvement: it has great impact and requires no budget, only strategic planning.

Developing a culture of environmental care is also essential. The campus community should be as committed to environmental sustainability as it is to social sustainability, because the two are mutually dependent: social sustainability cannot exist without clean air, water, and a reliable source of food.

Of the three “C’s”, Carbon, Curriculum and Culture, IQS are advancing very well in reducing Carbon, and they have many opportunities to integrate these issues into the Curriculum and to build a campus Culture of care for Creation.

“Increasing the presence of environmental issues in academic programs is an immediate area for improvement.”

This role will allow me to identify shared opportunities for the five Jesuit universities in Spain. We will work on projects that reduce our environmental footprints, integrate Integral Ecology into university curricula, and develop an environmental care ethic that can be measured and demonstrated.

The CIR will also be a space where research, both basic and applied, contributes to the transition toward a decarbonized economy, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The environmental crisis is considered by most scientists to be the existential crisis of our century. Amid the chaos caused by world leaders who disrupt peace to gain power, we are the ones who love and care for one another and for our beautiful shared planet Earth. We are the ones who will carry out the Great Transition, and although it is not easy, it is a privilege to have been called by Pope Francis and the Society of Jesus to advance the cause of caring for our common home and accompanying young people toward a hope-filled future.

In the United States, 66% of all citizens remain within the Paris Agreement even though the current president has declared that the country is not part of it. If we add up the GDP of all these people and their businesses, universities, states, cities and tribal nations, they account for 75% of the nation’s gross domestic product. We, the people, are making the Transition, and we need all hands on deck from around the world, especially in privileged countries of the global north, to embrace this work and transition our lifestyles, as well as those of our businesses and places of worship, to care for Creation.

Although we have already surpassed the IPCC’s 1.5°C target, every additional tenth of a degree is critical, so our collective work today will benefit all people and life forms tomorrow.

It is an extraordinary privilege to be part of the Jesuit Higher Education network, where this work is being carried out on campuses around the world. I am delighted to have such strong partners in IQS to make this Transition together.

“Our collective work today will benefit all people and life forms tomorrow.”