Environmental Agenda
Coordinator
Luiz Felipe Guanaes Rego, PhD
http://www.nima.puc-rio.br/index.php/en/agenda
The environmental crisis is a global and local reality that must be faced by all of us who inhabit the planet earth. The University must collaborate in the production of knowledge, through teaching and research, looking for sustainable solutions and promoting creative actions that might help society with adaptive processes derived from the climate changes and with the search of minimizing resolutions for current and future socioenvironment impacts. Due to this challenge, we have to put our efforts toward the construction of systems and alternatives ecologically correct and socially fair and solidary.
The power and testimony of local actions are extremely important to illuminate and enrich global proposals of planetary sustainability, contributing to changes of habits and construction process of new habits (ethos). Only this way we will realize the utopia of a world where environmental and social relations are really more balanced to current generations and to those who in the future will succeed us.
In this local action perspective, we believe in the proposal strength of PUC-Rio Environmental Agenda. The agenda is a result of a long discussion and reflexion process of a competent group composed by teachers and students, from different centers and departments, coordinated by PUC-Rio Environment Interdisciplinary Center (NIMA).
We are aware of academic difficulties in summarizing and synthetizing convergent and divergent aspects from the various scientific knowledges. On the other hand, we believe that due to the union of different efforts we will put in practice actions that contribute to the future construction of a truly sustainable university. The socioenvironment issue is a reference capable of gathering diverse ideas and to suggest practical and reasonable solutions in order to improve patterns that control the fundamental principles of social and academic excellence institution, such as PUC-Rio.
The Environmental Agenda is, above all, a symbolic expression of the institution collective effort of looking for sustainable alternatives in short and long terms. Its symbolic force is a clear demonstration that the local testimony is fundamental to mirror the global wish of a planet more ecologically well balanced and socially fairer and greater in solidarity.
Fr. Josafá Carlos de Siqueira, S.J.
President of PUC-Rio |