Laudato Si' is central, not extracurricularYour weekly newsletter about faith and climate change January 26, 2024  The dome of St. Peter's Basilica can be seen in the background of this photograph taken in the Vatican Gardens Oct. 5, 2023. (CNS/Lola Gomez)The importance of education has figured into Pope Francis' teachings on integral ecology from the start, with "Ecological Education and Spirituality" being one of the six sections in his 2015 encyclical "Laudato Si', On Care for Our Common Home." And when Francis talks about ecological education, he doesn't just mean imparting information about the state of the environment today. As he wrote in Laudato Si': Environmental education has broadened its goals. Whereas in the beginning it was mainly centred on scientific information, consciousness-raising and the prevention of environmental risks, it tends now to include a critique of the "myths" of a modernity grounded in a utilitarian mindset (individualism, unlimited progress, competition, consumerism, the unregulated market). It seeks also to restore the various levels of ecological equilibrium, establishing harmony within ourselves, with others, with nature and other living creatures, and with God. Environmental education should facilitate making the leap towards the transcendent which gives ecological ethics its deepest meaning. It needs educators capable of developing an ethics of ecology, and helping people, through effective pedagogy, to grow in solidarity, responsibility and compassionate care.
And it's that understanding of ecological education that makes the teachings of Laudato Si' something that should be central, not secondary, to the mission of Catholic universities. San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy argued this point in a recent presentation at a higher education conference, and the NCR Editorial Staff agrees. Read more: Editorial: Catholic universities should make 'Laudato Si' ' central, not extracurricular Even those who are not currently attending a university have a new opportunity to increase their knowledge of the integral ecology about which Francis' so often speaks, through a just-launched online course from a collaboration among the nine pontifical universities and athenaeums in Rome. "The initiative hopes to promote a mass movement of people from below and from all walks of life for the care of our common home and the most vulnerable in our midst," Salesian Fr. Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, a professor at Salesian Pontifical University and one of the course instructors, told NCR environment correspondent Brian Roewe for EarthBeat. Read more: Pontifical universities' online course to unpack Francis' ecological teachings
What else is new on Earthbeat:
by Brian Roewe The scientific community reports that 2023 was the hottest year on record. Carmelite climate scientist Fr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel says this evidence should empower Catholics to do something about climate change.
by Ngala Killian Chimtom, OSV News Cardinal Michael Czerny has warned that humanity is in danger of "losing its home" as the world continues to reel from the effects of climate change. The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development made the comments Jan. 20 in Cotonou, Benin, during a roundtable on the Green Church Program, an initiative of the Archdioceses of Cotonou that was launched in March 2023.
by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced a $1 million grant to leaders of the Church of God in Christ as part of a national program to plant and maintain trees in American cities. Vilsack said 'structuring this program so that it's empowering more tree planting and more workforce development gives us the opportunity to partner with the church.'
by Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service "Wine, the land, farming skills and entrepreneurial activity are gifts from God," the Pope Francis told winegrowers, winemakers and others taking part in an international wine and spirits exhibition in Verona, Italy. The event was dedicated to Italian wine and "the economy of Francesco," an economy inspired by St. Francis of Assisi that respects the earth and promotes peace and justice.
by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service The obligation to care for creation is not only about the environment, "it has to do with human life, as the Creator conceived and arranged it," Pope Francis told a group from northern Italy dedicated to remembering the 1,910 people who died from the Vajont dam disaster.
by Deepa Bharath, The Associated Press Mawphlang is one of more than 125 sacred forests in Meghalaya. These forests are ancient, virgin woodlands that have been protected by Indigenous communities for many centuries. Today, climate change, pollution and deforestation threaten these spaces. They have also been affected by the Indigenous population's conversion to Christianity.
by Eduardo Campos Lima, Religion News Service The Indigenous population sees lithium extraction as a disruption of their ancient relationship with the mountains that surround their homes, which they hold as sacred.
by Josephine Kwenga Receiving the prestigious People's Choice SDGs Award for our regenerative agriculture project was an exceptional experience of communion for us, not only in Kenya, but the entire St. Joseph of Tarbes family.
by Kat Armas The world moves and the world shifts and life happens beyond our door even if we don't take the time to notice. But imagine if we did? | 
Stephanie Clary
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