Vatican Leader Cardinal Peter Turkson Headlines Santa Clara University Conference Nov. 3-4, on Silicon Valley Response to Pope Francis’s Environmental Encyclical

Nov. 3-4 events feature Silicon Valley leaders and experts discussing
ways to further the climate goals of Pope Francis’s historic document

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Responding to the teachings of Pope Francis to engage in dialogue about
the challenges and needs of planet earth in an era of intense climate
degradation, Santa Clara University is hosting a two-day conference, Our
Future on a Shared Planet: Silicon Valley in Conversation with the
Environmental Teachings of Pope Francis.

In June, Pope Francis released the encyclical called “Laudato Si”
(“Praise Be”) on the environment and the global challenge of climate
change. The 184-page document is unprecedented in the long history of
Catholicism, and offers a rich opportunity to bring together experts
from science, economics, business, politics, religion, and more, around
one of the most pressing issues of our time.

The conference at Santa Clara University (SCU) will be headlined by Cardinal
Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice
and Peace, who is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential
Vatican authorities on the content of the encyclical.

“This conference will bring together people from faith communities and
other important sectors who share concern about the consequences of
environmental degradation,” said Michael Engh, S.J., president of Santa
Clara University. “Santa Clara University is pleased to host the
conversation on how we might join our talents and motivation toward
creative solutions to this global challenge. Jesuit education has as its
fundamental purpose to establish a dialogue between faith and culture.”

Public events on Nov. 3 will include a liturgy at 11:30 a.m., celebrated
by Cardinal Turkson, followed by a 3 p.m. keynote address by the
Cardinal. Both events will be in Santa Clara University’s Mission Church
(500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, Calif., 95053). A full list of events
and registration information is available at http://www.scu.edu/ourcommonhome/events.cfm.

Media interested in interviewing Cardinal Turkson or
other speakers should contact Deborah Lohse of SCU Media Relations, dlohse@scu.edu
or 408-554-5121.

After each speaker, respondents from Santa Clara University or Silicon
Valley will provide additional comments and invite discussion. Thane
Kreiner, Ph.D., executive director of Santa Clara
University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, will serve as
respondent for Cardinal Turkson’s address.

Public events on Nov. 4 ($25 admission/free for students) will take
place in the University’s Paul L. Locatelli, S.J., Student Activity
Center, and include talks by:

*San Jose Mayor Sam
Liccardo, who traveled to the Vatican in July to discuss climate
solutions with Pope Francis (Pancho
Guevara, executive director of Sacred Heart Community Service,
respondent);

*UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography atmospheric and
climate science professor Veerabhadran
Ramanathan, an expert on the impact of climate change on
the world’s oceans, who serves on the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences (SCU environmental studies and sciences
professor Iris
Stewart-Frey, respondent);

*Stanford environmental science professor Gretchen
Daily, co-founder of the conservationist Natural Capital Project
and a pioneer in viewing nature preservation as vital to achieving
economic, civic, and safety goals. Daily participated in a summer
2014 Vatican conference on sustainability (SCU economics professor William
Sundstrom, respondent);

*Former Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers green-tech investment
manager John
Denniston, who has created the startup Shared-X to invest
in and advance sustainable agricultural practices, and is also president
of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul District Council, San Mateo County
(Ann
Skeet, director of leadership ethics at SCU’s Markkula Center
for Applied Ethics, respondent).

“The pope’s encyclical challenges us, at a time of unprecedented climate
crisis, to reimagine the way human beings relate to the natural world,”
said David DeCosse, director of campus ethics with the Markkula Center
for Applied Ethics, who coordinated the conference. “Where better than
Silicon Valley, the innovation capital of the world, to imagine new
paths and find solutions?”

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.

Contacts

SCU Media Relations
Deborah Lohse, 408-554-5121
dlohse@scu.edu