Envisioning a Livable Future
An online, serial conference, spring and fall 2025, marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home
Explore the Series
In the spirit of Pope Francis's Laudato Si', this series aimed to create lively interdisciplinary dialogues raising ecological consciousness, drawing attention to climate-forward initiatives, and encouraging both personal discernment and social action. Seven events took place over spring and fall 2025.
January 29, 2025
The Current State of Climate Science
What's happening? Are we too late? Can we bend the curve even now? What has changed since 2015? Further, what needs to be done, by when, and how to do it?
Speakers
Katharine Hayhoe, Nature Conservancy & Texas Tech
Ben Sovacool, Boston University
Nancy Tuchman, Loyola University Chicago
February 17, 2025
The Contribution of Catholic Social Thought
Ten years after the publication of Laudato Si', what are, or ought to be, the growing edges of Catholic social thought? What does it have to contribute to our understanding of the climate crisis and to the development of an ecological conscience?
Speakers
Emily Burke, Catholic Climate Covenant
Vincent Miller, University of Dayton
"Ram" Ramanathan, UC San Diego
Susan Solomon, MIT
March 11, 2025
The Political Economy of Climate Change
How do we move from what Pope Francis called an "economy that kills" both people and planet to an economy that is truly sustainable and just? What are the levers of such a system change, and what are the obstacles to it?
Speakers
Brian Boland & Katie Boland, Delta Fund
Nathan Schneider, CU Boulder
Felipe Witchger, Francesco Collaborative
April 9, 2025
Environmental Politics
What are practical, effective forms of political action to counter the climate crisis and build both solidarity and momentum? Are all the winds countervailing, or are there promising movements and trends?
Speakers
Alexandria Nichols, City of Cleveland
Jesús Sanchez, Restore America's Estuaries
Philip Stoddard, Florida International University
Pete Williams, John Carroll University
September 23, 2025
After Greenwashing
How can finance and investment be used as tools to care for and cultivate creation? What needs to change for them to support what Pope Francis called an "integral economy" that both respects our common home and is "with and for the poor"?
Speakers
Hendrix Berry, Obran Capital
Yichen Feng, Acumen America
Mika Weinstein, Just Futures
Jonathan Welle, Cleveland Owns
Felipe Witchger, Francesco Collaborative
October 15, 2025
The Promise and Peril of Technology
Are there forms of technology that can help us, if not save us? At the same time, what are the risks of turning to technology? Do we thereby more deeply entrench what Pope Francis criticized as the "technocratic paradigm"? Or is that critical lens itself limited?
November 11, 2025
The Role of Literature and the Arts: A Conversation with Margaret Renkl
How can literature and the arts help us understand what we've lost and save what we can?
Speaker
Margaret Renkl, New York Times columnist and author of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year
About the Conference
Envisioning a Livable Future was an online, serial conference marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home. This groundbreaking document called climate change "one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day," proposed an analysis of "the human roots of the ecological crisis," and advanced a new ecological vision for the challenges ahead.
Guided by the Jesuit apostolic preferences to "accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future" and to "collaborate in the care of our common home," the conference sought to inspire lively interdisciplinary dialogues aimed at:
- Raising ecological consciousness,
- Drawing attention to climate-forward initiatives, and
- Encouraging both personal discernment and social action.
About the Organizer
As Catholic, Jesuit institutions, these universities are dedicated to rigorous inquiry, the dignity of the human person, the promotion of justice, and care for creation.
The series was made possible through the support of the Boler College of Business, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Office of Mission & Identity at John Carroll University and the Hank Center at Loyola University Chicago. Special thanks to the organizing committee, which included faculty, staff, and students who worked to bring this vision to life.
For more information about the conference, contact Bernard Prusak, Raymond & Eleanor Smiley Chair in Business Ethics, bprusak@jcu.edu.
