7 LAUDATO SI' GOALS
Goals, Outcomes, and Actions
Pope Francis asks our universities in Year 1 of the Journey to take these 7 Laudato Si’ goals in hand and 1) see how our university’s actions are already addressing one or more of these goals, 2) find additional transformative actions within our universities that could generate further positive outcomes for the natural world and human society, and 3) bring our current and new actions into a Laudato Si Plan that we monitor and adjust for the next six years.
When your university registers for the Journey on the Vatican Dicastery’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform, it will receive a password that allows members of the university’s Journey committee to see many outcomes and action examples for each of the 7 Laudato Si goals.
In addition to the action examples given on the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, you have here in this University Pathways website even more action examples to explore. As you look over these action examples, you may see that your university is already acting in ways that address one or more of the 7 Laudato Si’ goals.
You may also see that your university may not yet be moving on one or more of the goals.
All universities, no matter how well they are already addressing the environmental crisis, can enhance their Earth-care by participating in Pope Francis’ 7-Year Journey Towards an Integral Ecology
Beginning, Mid-Range, and
Advanced ACTIONS
Our universities exist in vastly different cultural, political, and economic contexts. Therefore, as you look over the outcomes and action examples in this section of Pathways, keep in mind that
1. The action examples are a sampling of what might be called ‘beginning’, ‘midrange’ and ‘advanced’ actions.
2. Your university may already be conducting ‘beginning’ actions related to one LSG, and ‘midrange’ to ‘advanced’ actions related to other LSGs. Remember: these are labels for actions, not institutions.
Transformative Action
Pope Francis is absolutely clear at the beginning of Laudato Si’ that along with the impoverished people in our world, “the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor.” As Johan Rockstrom has effectively shown in his Planetary Boundaries research since 2009, human activity has seriously degraded four of our fundamental earth systems.
The vast majority of scientists and reasonable people around the world confirm that our planet is in crisis. It is also clear that what is needed now is transformative action–action that breaks through the status quo. What is needed are more challenging, difficult actions that reach into the causes of Earth’s crisis.
Pope Francis’ Journey encourages everyone to engage in Earth care actions of every kind, at every level, always recognizing that truly transformative actions are what is most needed.
What are the new, transformative actions that your university can undertake? By joining the Journey, your university commits to answering that question and acting on it for 7 years.
Read over each Laudato Si’ goal in this section of Pathways. Read the opening essay, watch a student video. Move to the Action Example Charts and begin imagining new, transformative Journey possibilities for your university at each Laudato Si’ Goal.
