Environmental Sustainability

Mission Statement

Environmental Sustainability at Fordham Prep endeavors to educate, inspire and mobilize the Fordham Prep community to become lifelong, active stewards of God’s creation and to create an environmentally just and sustainable school community in accordance with our Catholic Jesuit ideals and teaching.

Our Commitments

Fordham Prep is Committed to:

• Understanding and putting into practice Catholic Social Teaching on the environment.

• Increasing awareness of our impact on the environment.

• Reducing waste and the use of paper and plastics.

• Increasing the use of renewable energy and reducing our carbon footprint.

• Ongoing evaluation of sustainability practices.

Committee Work

In response to Fordham Prep’s strategic priority in Igniting Our Mission to “Adopt environmentally sustainable practices standards and practices relating to the operation, redevelopment and expansion of the school complex” and the Universal Apostolic Preference of the Society of Jesus “to collaborate for the care of our Common Home”, Fordham Prep formed an Environmental Sustainability committee in September of 2019. The committee’s goals included researching  best practices, developing a plan to introduce new environmental sustainability practices and educating the Fordham Prep community.  

The committee conducted a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Challenges) analysis about environmental sustainability at Fordham Prep, researched best practices and developed a set of recommendations related to three key areas; recycling and waste reduction, the school’s greenhouse, and energy and building construction. The recommendations began being implemented during the 2021-22 school year.

Informational Videos

Links to Other Websites (with Maps)

Facts about the Environment

1. 25% or more of all bottled water is tap water; there is no need to buy plastic bottles.

2. Supermarkets use approximately 60,500,000 paper bags per year; bring reusable bags.

3. Humans have added 2.4 trillion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; half of this was added in the last 50 years.

4. Recycling one aluminum beverage can save enough energy to run a 14 watt CFL bulb (60 watt incandescent equivalent) for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.

5. It takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose.

6. More energy is used to make 1kg of paper than is used to make 1kg of steel.

7. According to NASA, at the present rate of destruction, the Amazon rainforest will be gone by 2100.

8. By 2050, sea-level rise will push average annual coastal floods higher than land now home to 300 million people, according to a study published in Nature Communications.

9. 90% of energy expended by washing machines is used to heat water; use the cold setting.

10. Soil is not "pretty much a living organism" - soil is an ecosystem that helps grow plants and stores gases.

11. Selecting a vegetarian diet can reduce agricultural emissions by 63%.

12. Rainforests get cut down at a rate of 100 acres per minute. Between 2004 and 2017, over 43 million hectares, equivalent to the size of Morocco, were lost due to deforestation. 

Resources

Encyclical letter Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home
www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf /encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_ enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf

Universal Apostolic Preferences:
www.educatemagis.org/mission-and-identity-in-jesuit-schools/universal-apostolic-preferences

Healing Earth:
healingearth.ijep.net/ United Nations Sustainable

Development Goals:
www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustain able-development-goals Laudato Si

Laudato Si’ Action Platform:
www.laudatosiactionplatform.org

Laudato Si’ Movement:
www.laudatosimovement.org

Ecojesuit:
www.ecojesuit.com

Reconciling God, Creation and Humanity: An Ignatian Examen:
www.ecologicalexamen.org

References

1. “50 Facts for 50 Years.” (2020, April 07). Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://sustainability.georgetown.edu/50-facts-for-50-years/

2. “Inspirational Environmental Sustainability Facts.” Circular Ecology, 30 Apr. 2020, circularecology.com/environmental-sustainability-facts.html.

3. Cowan, Shannon. “Composting.” Eartheasy Guides & Articles, learn.eartheasy.com/guides/composting/.

4. Rinkesh A. Founded Conserve Energy Future with the sole motto of providing helpful information related to our rapidly depleting environment. Unless you strongly believe in Elon Musk‘s idea of making Mars as another habitable planet . “17 Disastrous Current Environmental Issues That Are Seriously Eye-Opening.” Conserve Energy Future, 9 May 2020, www.conserve-energy-future.com/current-environmental-issues.php.

5. Evans, Marni. “What Is Environmental Sustainability?” The Balance Small Business, 8 July 2020, www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-sustainability-3157876. 

6. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20, 2021, from https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/amazing_environmental_facts

7. Deforestation fronts. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2021, from https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/forests_practice/deforestation_fronts_/

8. Datta, Anusuya. "World bank's interactive map shows where deforestation is severe." (2018, March 23). Retrieved March 24, 2021, from https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/world-banks-interactive-map-shows-deforestation-severe/