“Father Jett,” Member of the 2007 Nobel-Prize-Winning Climate Panel, Defines a Path to Addressing Climate Change
Speaking April 6 on “Overcoming Insularity, ” the president of Manila’s Ateneo de Manila University will elaborate on Pope Francis’ call for interrelated responses to climate change
SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 1, 2016 –Pope Francis’ call to “care for our common home” resonates differently depending upon where people live. For people living in more ecologically vulnerable parts of the world, such as the islands that compose the Philippines, it can define a path to survival.
Jose Ramon “Jett” Villarin, S.J., president of Ateneo de Manila University and one of the scientists who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 along with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, will be at Santa Clara University April 6 to discuss pathways of hope that he sees, for those who seek to care for our common home.
His talk will take place from 4 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. in the Saint Clare Room of Santa Clara University’s Harrington Learning Commons. It is part of a series of Santa Clara Lectures funded through the generosity of the Bannan Institute of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education at SCU.
He was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. In 2000, he was declared National Outstanding Young Scientist and in 2002, his book Disturbing Climate was given an Outstanding Book Award by the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines. He also writes a column (“God’s Word Today”) with other Jesuits for the Philippine Star newspaper and has written a book of homilies entitled Startle.
The Manila-born Villarin, known as Fr. Jett, received his doctorate in atmospheric sciences from Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia), where he worked on urban air quality and the global atmospheric circulation -- spurring his ongoing passion for the issue of global warming. He received his master’s degree in physics from Marquette University (Milwaukee, Wisconsin).
He is currently the chairperson of the Manila Observatory, a scientific research institute, and a member of the National Panel of Technical Experts of the Philippine government’s Climate Change Commission.
About the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education at Santa Clara University
As one of the University’s three Centers of Distinction, the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education promotes and enhances that distinctively Jesuit, Catholic tradition of education at Santa Clara, through a range of signature programs presented here. The Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education will be recognized throughout Silicon Valley as providing leadership for the integration of faith, justice, and the intellectual life.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry, and theology; and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
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Jose Ramon "Jett" Vaillarin, S.J., was on the panel of climate scientists that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, along with former U.S. VP Al Gore. He will be speaking at SCU April 6.