Environmentally conscious community members participated in a walk of support for protecting the earth and natural resources Tuesday Sept. 24, 2019.
The Ecology Walk for the Campus included area faith leaders speaking during the eco-walk to reflect on caring for the campus, each other, and the earth.
In addition to the eco-walk, community members took part in the Climate Ribbon Project. They wrote messages on ribbons describing what they fear losing to climate change and then wrapped them around the large oak tree outside St. Ann Apartments.
C.J. Wong, an instruction/liaison librarian at McQuade, and Deb Longabaugh-Burg, assistant director of the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations organized the evening’s events. There are more than 90 libraries across Massachusetts taking part in Climate Preparedness Week.
“It’s part of what Massachusetts librarians are doing, facilitating climate change conversations around the Commonwealth, giving people the opportunity to reflect on what is going on in our world today, and to formulate a response,” Wong said.
“We saw the opportunity in Climate Preparedness Week to heed Pope Francis’ call to action from his 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’– On Care for Our Common Home. This program set out to connect our students to both their global and local campus environments; to connect them with each other, and encourage them to care for one another and the earth,” Longabaugh-Burg said.
Climate Preparedness Week continued with a screening of the movie “Empowered: Power from the People” telling the story of residents of Tompkins County, New York who meet their energy needs through renewable resources at McQuade Auditorium Thursday Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.
A showing of the movie “Fire and Flood: Queer Resilience in the Era of Climate Change” followed by a question-and-answer session with film creator Vanessa Raditz is scheduled to be held at McQuade Auditorium Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. The movie is about flooding caused by a hurricane in Puerto Rico and wildfires in California.
Events are supported by the generous McLaughlin Martin Family Environmental Innovation Fund through the Center for Sustainability and the Environment and co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations, McQuade Library, the Grace J. Palmisano Center for Campus Ministry.
