With Laudato si’ Towards Deepening University Social Responsibility in Ecology

Abstract

“Everything is related,” says Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato si’ (no. 92) to make us ponder upon whether, as academics, we think globally and act locally in the spirit of university social responsibility, including for ecology. The author discusses (i) the nature and reception of the papal document, including by the academia and lawyers; (ii) foreign initiatives aimed to apply the principles highlighted or reiterated by the pope; (iii) the importance of the law in taking care of “our common home;” and (iv) the need for ecological education of those who will make and implement the law. Regrettably, already a tentative query across the universities of the region reveals the absence of or reduced importance attached to the problems of sustainable development and ecology, both in university strategies and curricula. The establishment of a working group on university social responsibility within the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy seems to perpetuate the business understanding of the phenomenon. On top of the many years of experience of foreign academic centres and their networks, discussed briefly by the author, a useful tool facilitating ecological education and a deeper understanding of the social responsibility of the academia in the field of sustainable development can be the papal encyclical Laudato si’.