The overwhelming scope and dire nature of the ecological crisis often leads to a feeling of helplessness and frustration for students, teachers, and administrators. Luckily our faith illuminates for us another path. One filled with hope, love, and care for one another. The reality is that most of the ways we cause harm to our environment are unintended consequences of seeking a meaningful Jesuit education. Electricity for our classrooms, transportation to and from school, food in our cafeterias. All of these things have immense positive ripple effects in the lives of our students and are part of infinitely complex systems that connect every member of our school, broader community, and the planet.

To initiate change, instead of telling well-meaning people that they are doing their jobs wrong, it is important to understand what it is they contribute to our communities and then thank them for their contributions. From there a relationship can be fostered where we can discover what needs to be done to minimize our negative environmental impacts and imagine a more ecologically just school. At Brophy we call this approach Gratitude Based Learning (GBL).

To learn more about the wonderful initiatives our students have created through this way of proceeding check out our Ecological Justice Plan. To learn more about GBL, check out this resource from our partner Onora Global.