The GreenSpot School designation indicates that a school has taken initiatives to educate their students and staff about sustainability, water issues, conserving energy, reducing waste, and green transportation. St. Mary School Catholic school has become the first in Columbus to earn this designation. They have implemented a recycling program, local garden, and composting, which qualified them to become a GreenSpot School. They have created a short video of students discussing their engagement and staff discussing the impact of becoming a GreenSpot School.
How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy is the subtitle of Joanna Macy’s book Active Hope. The book was the inspiration for the Sisters of Earth gathering that took place July 12-15, 2018 at Mount Saint Joseph, home of the Sisters of Charity in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati was chosen as the location partly because of the ancestral inspiration of Sister of Charity Paula Gonzalez, who promoted solar power and sustainability projects and teachings throughout the Catholic world. This year, nearly 100 women from the United States and Canada gathered, in part, to remember Sister Paula and also to address concerns about the ecological/spiritual crises of our times by asking questions such as: Who are we? Where are we? How did we get here and what is possible? And — where do we go from here?
In 2009, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati signed on to the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation. Since then, they have started their own Climate Change Task Force. This task force has adopted the mission of committing themselves to work towards a sustainable world based off of the responsibility to Care for God’s Creation. They work to implement the five pillars of the pledge: praying, learning, assessing, acting, and advocating for the environment and the poor.
With the release of Laudato Si’ and the visitation of Pope Francis to the United States, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of both Americans and Catholic Americans who have demonstrated concern over Climate Change. Individuals of various faiths have expressed more trust the Pope due to the overwhelmingly positive reception of his message.
Some people may think that water issues in the United States only exist in the west. This is far from the truth. In addition to algae bloom issues throughout the midwest, the Appalachian region of the United States has been experiencing severe water contamination due to mining and chemical spills for the past several years. Fortunately, the residents of this region are kept informed by the Catholic Committee of Appalachia. Once a year, residents from all over the state meet in one location to discuss the issues of their region and try to come up with solutions.
The Creation Care Team of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus has created a Creation Care Guide based on the teachings of Laudato Si’. This guide contains information on energy conservation and efficiency, purchasing and recycling, transportation, and water conservation. Additionally, they have a section on making Laudato Si’ more accessible to younger generations. The inspiration for this guide came from the Archdiocese of Atlanta who wrote a document titled, An Action Plan for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.
