The vital importance of environmental sustainability at Georgetown is reflected in the most recent addition to the Spirit of Georgetown, the value of “Care for Our Common Home.” This value emerges from the deep teaching and moral tradition of Catholic Social Thought, articulated in urgent ways by Pope Francis and his teaching documents “Laudato Si” and “Laudato Deum.” Attentiveness to the degradation of the natural environment and taking active steps to remediate this harm is shared across major religious and philosophical traditions as well as among people of good will. The growth of new programs like Earth Commons and a more robust Office of Sustainability also reinforce the University’s deep commitment to healing the Earth.
April is Earth Month and Georgetown’s Office of Sustainability has celebrated it with many activities and programs. SCS participated in Earth Month by organizing a day of service with Anacostia Riverkeeper, a local nonprofit dedicated to “protect and restore the Anacostia River for all who live, work, and play in its watershed, and to advocate for a clean river for all its communities.” This week’s post is an interview with Keenan Courtland, SCS Program Director for the Business & Management degree programs. Keenan took the initiative to help organize this opportunity for the SCS community and reflects on the day and what it means for how SCS lives out its mission and values.
- Tell us a bit about the SCS Earth Day activity that you helped organize. What motivated this event?
Having grown up in this region, I’ve maintained an interest in improving the health of our parks and waterways. When I joined the Real Estate program here at SCS, it was a clear connection to want to do something related to improving the spaces that we look to impact with our work. I’ve known the team at Anacostia Riverkeeper (ARK) for several years, and I value their commitment to improving our local waterways and the support they provide to volunteer groups. This event, the Clean Waterways Cleanup, has removed over 141,000 pounds of trash from the Anacostia River Watershed in the past decade, through regular cleanups at strategic locations throughout the city.
- This effort affirms “Care for Our Common Home,” one of the core values of the Spirit of Georgetown. How do you understand this particular value and how does it relate to all of our work at SCS?
It is more urgent than ever to act to reverse the adverse effects that pollution has had on our ecosystem. In recent years, D.C.’s rivers have seen a noticeable improvement, which is encouraging when it’s difficult to see how our daily actions can impact the bigger picture. At SCS, we have so many innovative students and faculty leading innovative projects that impact the environment that we often lose sight of how each of us can make an impact with our everyday actions. Our collective efforts to use compostable products, reusable water bottles, and public transit alternatives all demonstrate a shared responsibility towards ensuring a healthy environment for current and future Hoyas.
- As you reflect on this experience, how would you like to maintain the momentum around environmental sustainability and service at SCS?
There is something invigorating about physically impacting your community and leaving something better than you found it. ARK hosts a variety of clean-up events that can accommodate people with a wide-range of abilities who are interested in environmental sustainability. As for maintaining the momentum around this work, I would like to organize regular, diverse activities that focus on identifying opportunities to impact the greater D.C., Maryland, and Virginia ecosystem. Waiting until next April is not enough for us to harness the collective power we have here at SCS; we must identify ways to impact our community and build regular intention to this vital work. My hope is that by next year we will have students and faculty from across all SCS programs sharing in this exciting, connective work.
- Anything else you would like to share?
Page 3 and beyond of the 2023 Anacostia Riverkeeper Trash Report [PDF] discuss the impact of this project.