Innovate~Educate~Collaborate

Category: Laudato Si

  • There’s no better time for a movement to stand up. By Julie Peller, Ph.D.

    “Morality, at its core, is about putting ourselves in others’ shoes and treating their interests as we do our own.” Oxford University Professor of Philosophy William MacAskill is the author of “What We Owe the Future.” In this writing, he imagines “living the life of every human being who has ever existed — in order…

  • Rest In Peace Frederick Buechner — Pastor Michael Moore’s Blog

    A great book to read. This is a book of wisdom! This is a book Thomas Merton would have been encouraging others to read. Photo from Amazon.com Frederick Buechner (July 11, 1926 – August 15, 2022) was an early inspiration and mentor to me in the early 80’s and continued to touch my heart through…

  • Green Junction: Plastic materials manufactured since 1950 is over 9 billion tons: By Julie Peller Ph.D.

    According to the World Economic Forum, the production of plastic is expected to double over the next 20 years. Half of the plastics in our world now have been made over the past two decades. The accumulated amount of plastic materials manufactured since 1950 is over 9 billion tons, which some researchers describe as over…

  • Are we becoming uneducated?

    “An educated person is one who through the travail of his own life has assimilated the ideas that make him representative of his culture, that make him a bearer of its traditions and enable him to contribute to its improvement.“~Mortimer J Adler KEY: contribute to its improvement. An educated person is a curious person; when…

  • Green Junction: How exactly can carbon dioxide be removed from the air?By Julie Peller Ph.D.

    A recent statement by the United States Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, suggests that one of the many ways to address climate change is through the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “..removing legacy carbon pollution from the air through direct air capture and safely storing it is an essential weapon in our fight…

  • Green Junction: Carbon footprints By Julie Peller Ph.D.

    Leaders from countries with the largest carbon footprints recently met to discuss last November’s climate goals in Glasgow. An overall conclusion was that the necessary actions to reduce carbon emissions and slow climate change are not being implemented fast enough.  As an example, the world used 9% more coal in 2021 than in 2020. While we look…

  • Green Junction: The Band Coldplay by Julie Peller Ph.D.

    Many people and organizations are making the critical changes that are required for a sustainable planet. My students recently brought to my attention the eco-responsible actions of the music group Coldplay on their current world tour. The British band started their eco-friendly world tour this past March in Costa Rica, a country that the band…

  • Green Junction: Masks are becoming vogue again By Julie Peller Ph.D.

    Health protection measures throughout the pandemic have involved an enormous amount of one-use plastics. These have included personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, gowns), take-home food packaging, test kits, syringes, wipes, and more, unfortunately intensifying the global plastic waste problem. Billions of disposable masks, mostly made of a plastic called polypropylene, have been used and thrown…

  • Green Junction: Existential Threat to Human Health by Julie Peller Ph.D. threat to human health 

    A newly released article describes modern-day pollution levels as “an existential threat to human health and planetary health, and jeopardizes the sustainability of modern societies.” The authors studied 2019 data from Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors and determined that 9 million people, or 1 in 6 people, die each year due to…

  • Green Junction: We take for granted Water by Julie Peller Ph.D.

    Many areas worldwide experience shortages of fresh water and/or severe problems with contaminated water supplies. At the same time, populations of people use significant amounts of water to create unnatural green lawns through daily watering and overuse of fertilizers. In contrast, Nature’s rainfall is concentrated along or near the equator; daily rain is rare in…