Professor Nancy C. Tuchman says Ignatian leadership must become a driving force for integral ecology
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Jesuit alumni around the world are being called to move beyond merely understanding the environmental crisis and begin leading concrete actions to protect the planet, which Pope Francis described as “our common home.”
The call came from Professor Nancy C. Tuchman, Former Founding Dean and Professor of the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago (USA), during the fourth day of the 11th World Union of Jesuit Alumni (WUJA XI) Congress at the Driyarkara Auditorium, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, on Saturday, August 1, 2026.
Presenting a keynote titled “From Awareness to Action: Ignatian Leadership for Our Common Home,” Tuchman challenged delegates to embrace environmental stewardship as an essential expression of Ignatian leadership and the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) of the Society of Jesus.
“I am worried about our planet,” she began. “I am worried about climate change. I am worried about pollution and the loss of biodiversity. We have to do more, and we have to do it quickly. We do not have much time.”
Humanity Has Exceeded Earth’s Limits
Tuchman explained that Earth possesses remarkable resilience, enabling nature to recover from many forms of human disturbance. Yet that resilience, she warned, has now been stretched beyond its limits.
Using the concept of planetary boundaries, she showed that humanity has already crossed six of the nine ecological thresholds considered essential for maintaining a stable planet.
“The Earth can no longer absorb the damage we continue to inflict upon it,” she said.
The consequences extend far beyond environmental degradation. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and ecosystem collapse increasingly threaten food and water security, intensify natural disasters, deepen social inequality, and disproportionately affect the world’s poorest communities.
“Every time we harm the planet, we harm people—especially those living on the margins,” she said.
Loyola Chicago’s Journey Toward Sustainability
Drawing from Loyola University Chicago’s own experience, Tuchman outlined how Jesuit higher education can translate environmental commitment into institutional practice.
She recalled that in 2002, then-university president Fr. Michael Garanzini, SJ, launched three ambitious environmental goals.
The first required every undergraduate student, regardless of academic discipline, to complete a course on environmental issues, ensuring graduates understood climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and humanity’s impact on creation.
More than 28,000 students have since completed the required course.
The second goal was the creation of the School of Environmental Sustainability, the first Jesuit school in the world dedicated entirely to environmental studies.
Initially established as an institute in 2013, it rapidly expanded into a full academic school offering multiple undergraduate and graduate programs.
Educating Agents of Change
Tuchman noted that teaching environmental science alone is insufficient because many students experience climate anxiety after confronting the severity of today’s ecological crisis.
Instead of allowing students to become discouraged, Loyola adopted solution-based learning, enabling them to become active participants in environmental restoration.
Students cultivate sustainable food systems, conduct campus waste audits, develop circular economy initiatives, produce biodiesel from used cooking oil collected across campus dining facilities, and even transform biodiesel byproducts into liquid soap used throughout the university.
“We want students to become agents of change, not victims of the problem,” she said.
This practical approach, she added, has made the School of Environmental Sustainability the university’s highest-performing school in student retention.
Achieving Carbon Neutrality
The university’s third major goal was to become carbon neutral.
According to Tuchman, achieving that objective required nearly twenty years of sustained investment.
Loyola improved energy efficiency in older buildings, installed geothermal heating and cooling systems, modernized campus infrastructure, and dramatically reduced fossil fuel consumption.
In 2025, the university began sourcing 100 percent of its electricity from a large solar energy project through a long-term power purchase agreement.
The remaining emissions are offset through certified carbon reduction programs, allowing Loyola University Chicago to reach carbon neutrality.
“We are not only teaching about environmental responsibility,” Tuchman said. “We are trying to ensure that our own campus is no longer part of the problem.”
Students Value Environmental Commitment
Environmental responsibility has also strengthened Loyola’s attractiveness to prospective students.
Annual surveys show that 54 percent of incoming freshmen consider the university’s commitment to sustainability an important factor in choosing Loyola.
“They want to study at a university that practices what it teaches,” she said.
Jesuit Universities Can Lead
Looking beyond Loyola, Tuchman emphasized the enormous potential of the global Jesuit educational network.
With 177 Jesuit universities worldwide, she believes the Society of Jesus is uniquely positioned to become an international leader in integral ecology.
Many Jesuit institutions, she noted, are already implementing climate action plans, reducing carbon emissions, joining the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, and integrating ecological responsibility into their curricula.
While acknowledging the importance of scientific research, she argued that Jesuit universities possess a distinctive strength in ethics, humanities, and moral leadership.
“The world needs ethical oversight,” she said during the discussion session. “Climate change and biodiversity loss are not only scientific problems; they are also moral questions.”
Hope Beyond Politics
Tuchman also reflected on environmental politics in the United States, criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the country once again from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Nevertheless, she pointed to the nationwide coalition America Is All In, in which universities, cities, states, businesses, faith communities, and civil society organizations continue pursuing the goals of the Paris Agreement regardless of federal policy.
For Tuchman, this demonstrates that lasting environmental change grows from culture and community rather than political leadership alone.
Indonesian Alumni Offer Inspiration
She also highlighted an example from Indonesia, praising a Sanata Dharma University alumnus who established a sustainable business producing teakwood kitchenware.
The enterprise purchases timber directly from farmers, eliminates unnecessary middlemen, applies environmentally responsible production methods, employs more than 80 local villagers, provides flexible working conditions, and supports local schools through business profits.
For Tuchman, the company illustrates how Jesuit alumni can combine environmental responsibility, social justice, and economic sustainability in everyday business.
A Global Mission for Jesuit Alumni
Concluding her address, Tuchman reflected on her own journey as someone who was not educated in Jesuit schools but found a lifelong vocation alongside the Society of Jesus.
She said the Jesuit mission offers a clear direction amid a world increasingly marked by political uncertainty, ecological crisis, and social fragmentation.
“We are the largest network of Jesuit educational institutions in the world,” she said. “Together, we share the same mission, the same Universal Apostolic Preferences, and the same commitment inspired by Laudato Si’. That gives us extraordinary power to transform culture.”
She ended with a challenge to every delegate attending WUJA XI.
“Can Jesuit universities and schools become the world’s leaders in environmental action and integral ecology education? Can Jesuit alumni, united in spirit, lead with purpose in their life’s work? I believe we can.”
