Not a Road Map but a Trail: Environmental Justice in the Commons
February 21, 2018 | 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
St. Clare Room, Harrington Learning Commons
Ecology and economy share the same word origin and should be supportive of the whole of humanity and our common home and ‘oikos’ when both are balanced. But ecology and economy are becoming mutually exclusive. The commons is now in the hands of corporate extraction and pollution. The tollgates of technological intervention too often restrict the basic access of the most vulnerable to any form of sustainability. The path forward is not simply a flip-over of the present economic model. The path begins with every person and with every community so that we change from within and discover anew what we value and are willing to commit to in solidarity and in reconciliation.
Pedro Walpole, S.J. works in sustainable environment and community land management in Southeast Asia, with mainly local communities, universities, international organizations and governments. He has a people-focused approach to capacity building and seeks to promote more lasting partnerships through research, consultation, and policy building to support local populations and governments.
Fr. Walpole is the Coordinator of Ecojesuit, a global ecology network of Jesuits and partners from around the world, moving an ecological agenda and exploring collaboration. He is the Director for Research of the Environmental Science for Social Change (ESCC), a Jesuit research and training institute in the Philippines that promotes environmental sustainability and social justice through the integration of scientific methodologies and social processes. He seeks to communicate the real causes of landslides and flooding as they occur in different areas of the Philippines, undertakes site assessments of relocation areas and housing for disaster through exploring broader collaboration with various stakeholders. His doctorate is in land use change from King’s College, London, UK. He teaches a course on integrating human development in natural resource management for graduate students of the UN-mandated University for Peace and the Ateneo de Manila University.
Fr. Walpole directs the Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center that operates an upland basic education program and technical training for indigenous children in northern Mindanao that has its own culture-based curriculum and promotes multi-language education and the use of the mother tongue. He continues to live with the Pulangiyen, an upland indigenous community in Mindanao, Philippines.