By Pedro Cruz
Staff Writer
The initiative to spark an ecological movement among students at Cal State Dominguez Hills started in Fall 2016 with a guest speaker, Victor Carmona, an associate professor of biology at Loyola Marymount University.
Carmona’s presentation, “The Climate Change and Latin America,” would set the proceedings for a new series of campus events aimed at raising awareness about the risk of global warming.
On Feb. 25, Juan Tavarez, a modern language professor, in collaboration with Organizacion Latina Estudiantil (OLE), organized the second event of this global-warming movement.
The Climate Change and “Laudato Si’” presentation presided by Loyola Marymount philosophy Professor Brian Treanor emphasized the importance of Pope Francis’s second Encyclical, “Laudato Si,” which is titled “On Care for Our Common Home,” and his contributions to raise awareness about global warming.
“The pope explicitly wrote the book to all people of good will,” Treanor, said.
His main points emphasized decoding the scientific, spiritual and cultural message of the encyclical, a term Catholics use for publications written by the pope, often as a letter to his bishops.
“We want people to be informed in climate change,” said Lacy Lydia Nerud, an O.L.E. advisor.
According to Tavarez, “Laudato Si” contributed to raise awareness about global warming and has had a positive effect.
“It made a difference in my life and how I teach about climate change as part of Latin America’s latest social, cultural and economic challenge,” Tavarez said.
Students who attended the event said the book and Treanor’s presentation reshaped the way they think about global warming.
“Pope Francis and Dr. Treanor’s works were eye-opening and have given me a better appreciation of the beauty of our planet,” said Joseth Siragan, 24, a public administration major.
Future events to strengthen the ecological movement across the campus community are in the works, according to Tavarez.
He plans to incorporate students majoring in biology, chemistry and environmental science so they too can contribute the movement to prevent global warming.
