Associate Professor Peter LaPuma, together with recent MPH alumni and students from PUBH 6130, Sustainable Energy & Environment, attended a climate rally organized by the Earth Day Network. The rally took place while Pope Francis’ message to the U.S. Congress was being broadcast on a jumbotron.
The students and alumni with Dr LaPuma included Environmental Health Science and Policy (EHSP) MPH Student Mamta Chaudhari, Global Environmental Health MPH Student (GEH) Student Liz Manfredini, EHSP MPH Student Andrea Nance, GEH MPH Alumna Linda Nguyen, and EHSP MPH Student Joanna Podrasky. EHSP MPH Student Jeff Carman was also in attendance, “but we never caught up with him at the rally,” LaPuma said.
In his address, the Pope alluded to Laudato Si’, his encyclical on climate change. He told the Congress that it calls for a courageous and responsible effort to “redirect our steps” to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. “I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play,” he said. “We have the freedom needed to limit and direct technology” to place it “at the service of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral,” said Pope Francis. The Pope stressed that he is “confident that America’s outstanding academic and research institutions can make a vital contribution in the years ahead.”
“It was refreshing without all the emotions and politics to hear the Pope speak of simply making the right choices in caring for our common planet,” LaPuma said.