During break on September 20, many Bellarmine students, faculty, and staff marched in solidarity with others throughout the world calling for the need for all to Care for Our Common Home, one of four Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAP) outlined by Society of Jesus Fr. General Arturo Sosa, S.J. Through this UAP, we are called to “collaborate, with Gospel depth, for the protection and renewal of God’s Creation.”
As noted by Mr. Patrick Adams, science instructor and Bellarmine’s Green Initiatives coordinator, the solidarity walk was “an opportunity for any student, faculty or staff member to take a few minutes from their day to send the message that we are aware of and committed to making the changes necessary to protect and care for our common home.”
Adams also noted that the school’s ongoing sustainability initiatives include new planters in the garden using repurposed galvanized steel water tanks, which expand our growing area so that we can supply more herbs to the school kitchen; new composting containers were labeled by Ryan Mee ’20 in the Maker Lab so that we can continue to convert our kitchen waste (with the help of Rocio Carranzo Mendoza) into valuable soil; new Green Team initiatives aimed at reducing waste and improving the health of our environment; single-use, plastic water bottles are no longer being sold on campus; and thin film, plastic bags from the dry cleaners are used by ceramics instructor Jonathon Huang in his classes to wrap projects that need to keep from drying out between sessions.