Join young Marists from the Philippines and the USA as they share a number of exciting ecological initiatives inspired by faith and care for our common home. Joining us live from Belize, students from Archbishop Molloy High Schoolwill share reflections from their ongoing ecology-based mission trip.

For the second event of Hunger Month, the Department of Spiritual Life and Service (SLS) at Marist University hosted a timely event on food insecurity, which affects 1 in 4 households in Poughkeepsie, and 1 in 7 households across the country.

The event began with an interactive simulation experience shedding light on what impacts food insecurity on a systemic level.

Sam King then offered a talk on “The Ethics of Eating: A Laudato Si’ Approach to Food, Justice, and Care for our Common Home. ”Rooted in the ethics of integral ecology, he framed the presentation with three empty chairs—representing the more-than-human world, the poor, and future generations—raising the question: How do we create a more just and sustainable food system that honors these neglected voices?

Sam highlighted the prevalence of food insecurity globally and locally here in the U.S, especially as SNAP benefits are frozen across the country. He also explored the ecological challenges of industrial food systems, and the injustices of factory farming, before surveying examples of ethical alternatives for the well being of people and the planet. Students then engaged in interactive conversations about how they can combat food insecurity and promote food justice in their own communities.

The talk concluded with a quote from the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who is buried nearby in Poughkeepsie: “The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.”