St. Thomas Aquinas College Hosts Sustainability Event on Water

On Wednesday, November 4, St. Thomas Aquinas College (STAC) of Sparkill, NY held an event to discuss sustainability and water.  STAC’s School of Arts & Sciences, School of Business, and School of Education joined together to host the event, showing how issues around water relate to several areas of study. As part of the national discussion on sustainability, the event featured four presenters, each sponsored by one of the College’s Schools:

• Dr. John Rosko, associate professor of biology in the School of Arts and Sciences at the College
• Peter Coy, Economics editor of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, sponsored by the School of Business
• Don Distante, director of planning at United Water (NY), sponsored by the School of Business
• Dr. Matthew Harke, a post-doctoral research scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, sponsored by the School of Education.

The presentations, given by the above speakers respectively, focused on:

• Sparkill Creek and the local water supply
• “Making Water More Liquid”
• “Water Resources: Current Issues and Future Solutions”
• “It’s Not Easy Being Blue-Green”, a study on fresh-water algae

For more information about STAC’s sustainability efforts, visit the College’s Global Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility website.

How does your campus promote water sustainability? Let us know! 

Food for Thought Friday: UN Mini-series on Laudato Si’

Food for Thought Friday: The call to examine our role in caring for the environment and creation found in Laudato Si’ has inspired many colleges, parishes, and other faith-based organizations to focus on sustainability efforts. The United Nations, through its Sustainable Development Solutions Network, has decided to offer a MOOC mini-series on Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, which may be a helpful resource for these groups.

Among the five presenters is Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who serves as the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, as well as Dr. Anthony Annett, a Climate Change and Sustainable Development Advisor, also at the Earth Institute.

Available to anyone, the mini-series on Laudato Si’ offers a general survey of the overarching themes of the encyclical. No prior knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching or sustainable development is required.The mini-series of lectures will guide the listener through the encyclical. It will touch on the severity of the state of the environment, the theological and philosophical implications, an interpretation of human behavior as it relates to the environment, and a call for institutional and personal conversion.

Professor Sachs and Dr. Annett are joined by three distinguished lecturers. These include:

• Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, a Ghanaian Cardinal, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and one of the primary architects of Laudato Si’.
• Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, an Argentine Bishop, chancellor of both the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
• Dr. William Vendley, the Secretary General of Religions for Peace International.