Laudato Si’ and the Consumption Challenge: Giving Students a Visceral Exercise in Saving Our Planet

Laudato Si’ is arguably the most comprehensive, powerful, and influential manifesto in the canon of environment stewardship. Pope Francis calls for nothing short of upending our consumer culture in the service of saving the planet. Gandhi’s plea to “live simply so that others may simply live” is the Pope’s ultimate admonition in his encyclical and the essence of his call to action on behalf of human survival. The following discussion highlights an innovative and powerful classroom experience pioneered in one of Regis University’s capstone interdisciplinary seminars. The transformational learning outcomes of this Consumption Challenge (the name of the assignment) eclipsed all reasonable expectations and delivered to its students a visceral connection to what Pope Francis is asking from us in Laudato Si’. Furthermore, the basic structure of this experiential course assignment can be used across all disciplines in Jesuit higher education. The authors offer this exercise as a tested and proven vehicle for bringing to our students the critical hopes, expectations, and personal challenges of the Pope’s historic encyclical