By Jacqueline Pollis and Daniela Verma, Student Development Coordinators at Gonzaga in Florence
Over the past two years, Gonzaga in Florence (GIF) has pushed forward an effort to become a more environmentally-conscious community. Our Campus Ministry team led the effort in creating a student-run committee that would pave the way for accomplishing this green goal. In the past year, this student-run committee was able to introduce recycling receptacles both on-campus and in the pensioni, give their fellow students Sustainability Tips in the daily GIF newsletter, and -together with GIF staff and faculty- lead an initiative to learn more about sustainability in the city of Florence. The Spring 2015 committee’s dedication and passion for continuing sustainability efforts in the future lead them to submit a request for support and funding from Gonzaga in Spokane’s Green Fund. Because of their continued persistence, their request was accepted in Summer 2015, which will allow the Sustainability Committee to continue making strides in its green initiative, as well as to hire one intern and eight representatives for the 2015-2016 academic year.
The Fall 2015 semester has brought us a new batch of passionate and driven students interested in helping the environment. We recently conducted interviews to hire one intern and eight representatives to carry the torch into the new year. With students from diverse majors and professional interests including education, business, art, marketing, leadership and environmental studies, GIF has a very promising team of students all working toward the same objective. Our goals for the semester include, but are not limited to, increasing recycling in the pensioni and on-campus, creating awareness among students about their personal ecological footprint while traveling and living in Florence, and finding new ways to engage and improve the Florentine community.
As our Jesuit Pope Francis said recently when speaking to the United Nations regarding the environment:
“[Man] possesses a body shaped by physical, chemical, and biological elements, and can only survive and develop if the ecological environment is favorable. Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity”.
With Pope Francis’ encouragement, Gonzaga in Florence too will strive to help our new home become more green, more beautiful, and more favorable to our current students and future students to come.
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