Week-long Purple to Green Transition Comes to an Efficient End!
Holy Cross Celebrates World Environment Day with Sustainability Initiatives
The College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit school with a commitment to environmental action, recently celebrated World Environment Day 2025 with a series of engaging events focused on sustainability and climate awareness.
The Office of Sustainability at Holy Cross, instrumental in the college's efforts towards carbon neutrality by 2040, organised a creative recycling challenge focused on plastic reuse. The event, held in the HASS Learning Area, aimed to promote the importance of recycling and reduce waste.
In addition, a youth-led faith and ecology event took place at Holy Cross Lake View, featuring an Open-Air Green Mass with prayers for climate action, liturgical dancers, and choir. This event demonstrated the college's active engagement in environmental sustainability and climate awareness.
Beyond these events, the Laudato Si Green Festival, held on July 19, 2025, involved schools named Holy Cross Lake View SSS and others. The festival featured youth presentations, eco-exhibitions of green technologies, and initiatives like tree planting and plastic reduction. This event highlighted a broader engagement in sustainability rooted in faith and education likely resonant with Holy Cross-affiliated communities.
Recent initiatives undertaken by the Office of Sustainability include an informational discussion and giveaway, a movie screening, and an SGA pub night with environmental trivia. The 57th annual Howland Memorial Lecture, hosted in the Hogan Ballroom, featured former Secretary of State John Kerry discussing Geopolitics and Sustainability.
Campion House offered a guided Ecological Examen and a discussion about the intersectionality of sustainability and faith. On Thursday, a Hogan lobby table offered baked goods in exchange for students sharing their personal sustainability plans, and a box truck with a tiny home made of repurposed dumpster material was available for touring.
The College of the Holy Cross will be hiring a new Director of Sustainability in the coming months. Cathy Liebowitz, the first Director of Sustainability at the college, shared her vision for sustainability in an interview conducted in April.
The Office of Sustainability at Holy Cross continues to make progress on several environmentally-progressive initiatives since its establishment in April 2020. For the latest activities or events, it may be helpful to monitor official Holy Cross communications or their sustainability office directly.
[1] HASS Learning Area: Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Learning Area [2] Laudato Si Green Festival: A global event inspired by Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' on care for our common home.
- The creative recycling challenge, organized by the Office of Sustainability, took place in the HASS Learning Area.
- The Laudato Si Green Festival involved schools beyond Holy Cross Lake View SSS and was held on July 19, 2025.
- The Office of Sustainability at Holy Cross has recently hosted discussions, movie screenings, and environmental trivia events.
- The 57th annual Howland Memorial Lecture, featuring John Kerry discussing geopolitics and sustainability, was held in the Hogan Ballroom.
- Campion House provided a guided Ecological Examen and a discussion about faith's intersection with sustainability.
- A Hogan lobby table offered baked goods in exchange for students sharing their sustainable living plans, and a box truck made of repurposed materials was available for touring.
- The College of the Holy Cross is planning to hire a new Director of Sustainability in the upcoming months, with Cathy Liebowitz sharing her vision for sustainability in an April interview.
