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Stewardship Of The Earth: Greening Benedictine
In chapter 64 of the Rule of St. Benedict, abbots are warned to steward resources, human and material, carefully: "… remember to whom [you] will have 'to give an account of [your] stewardship'" (Luke 16:2). Just recently, Pope Benedict described new sins, including ecological abuse and excessive consumption, and now the Vatican has even been equipped with solar panels. Tending to environmental issues is the natural nexus between faith and reason, between science and humanities, and between humans and creation — the place we prize so highly at Benedictine University.
Scientists warn with increasing urgency that we may be reaching a tipping point in climate change. Babies are born contaminated with a toxic array of pesticides, phthalates and other environmental chemicals; cancer, Parkinson’s Disease, autism, asthma and other environmentally linked diseases are on the rise. According to the World Health Organization, billion people use unsafe water sources. The time is right for Benedictine University to go green and step-up its environmental efforts.
As part of a three-year, campus-wide effort to green Benedictine, the University is planning an array of courses, events, speakers and activities. Elizabeth Kolbert’s book “Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change” will kick off the first year, with students, staff and faculty reading the book and discussing the problem of climate change. Courses for the Fall include Ecology of a Changing Planet, Readings in the History of Biology, Disease and the Environment, World Religions and Core courses. Each semester, students and faculty in these courses will meet and discuss links among different disciplines. Faculty will address connections between environment, faith and institutional identity at six Center for Mission and Identity colloquia throughout the year.
In the Fall, the Global Studies Program, having addressed climate change and the population explosion in Spring 2008, will lead a forum on “Faith and Reason: What’s Sufficiency?” Benedictine University will host the Sustainable Cities Symposium on October 24, 2008. For the fourth consecutive year, Benedictine will host the DuPage Conservation Foundation Environmental Summit in January. In addition, a major speaker, student presentations and other activities will cap the year in April.
As part of these environmental efforts, the University has begun examining its own carbon footprint and environmental practices. Last spring, Jay Stuart (Sodexo Services on campus) accepted a Clean Air Counts award on behalf of Benedictine for helping to reduce ozone in the Chicago region. Benedictine was also recognized for a reduction in energy consumption made possible by a grant from The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation to increase lighting efficiency. The prairie garden supervised by Larry Kamin, Ph.D., was also recognized. In addition, 75 percent of the demolition rubble from Kohlbeck Hall was diverted from landfills and will be recycled in various ways, which will support LEED certification of a new building. Sodexo, the campus food service provider, buys Fair Trade coffee and will be switching to potato-starch disposables.
At the heart of the University’s institutional mission
is a commitment to prepare people “for a lifetime as
active, informed and responsible citizens and leaders
in the world community.” There is a growing need
for enlightened business leaders who are able to find
creative ways to benefit not only their organizations,
but also society as a whole. In the upcoming
academic year, the University’s Master of Business
Administration program in the College of Business
will offer two new concentrations to help prepare
the next generation of business leaders: Sustainable
Business and Sustainable Leadership.
Because environmental concerns like clean air, water and food are basic to the health of the public, Benedictine’s Master of Public Health program requires students to take The Environment and Public Health and Biology and Public Health courses to assess the soundness of local environments. The Colleges of Liberal Arts and Science are exploring an Environmental Studies major that emphasizes economic, social and policy issues of environmental science.
Each year, the University will present a full slate of educational opportunities, identify additional ways to reduce its institutional footprint and start conversations that will lead to best practices in sustainability. All parts of the University will be engaged in this effort — academic and business — as this exciting process begins.
St. Benedict admonished abbots, as well as the rest of the community, to listen not just to the most senior of the monks, but also to the youngest, the least in rank. The University hopes to model for its students a better way of coexisting with the world and also to provide them opportunities to take the lead in caring for this precious gift — Earth.
Illinois Sustainable University Compact
mail |
Benedictine University
5700 College Road
Lisle, IL 60532 |
key contacts |
Jean-Marie Kauth |
e-mail |
jkauth@ben.edu |
phone |
(630) 829-6272 |
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