Welcome to our SustainAble DePaul site!

SustainAbleDePaul is a blog site administered by Dr. Tavanti and his students in the Sustainable Development course of the Graduate School of Public Service at DePaul University in Chicago. It includes reflections and observations on our current practices and possibilities at DePaul, our sustainable learning community.

To read more on DePaul University's commitment, performance and plans on sustainability Download the Institutional Sustainability Plan




What Must Be Done? DePaul as Sustainable Learning Community
Extract from the White Paper on Sustainability at DePaul University
The Sustainability Initiatives Task Force Committee
August 31, 2009

St. Vincent’s vocation and therefore the Vincentian age emerged in January 1617 when Madame de Gondi turned to Vincent de Paul and asked “What must be done?” Often referred to as the Vincentian Question, it has shaped the Vincentian mission ever since. At various times and in various contexts over the last 350 years, the Vincentian family has faithfully been witness to the profound vision of its founders, Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac. Each effective response over the last few centuries, however, presupposed an accurate response to a prior question: “what is going on?” Reading and responding to the signs of the times, in other words, is what makes the Vincentian mission relevant for us today. In his times, Vincent’s vision allowed him to see the hidden poverty and suffering that so many refused to acknowledge. In response to the poverty he witnessed, Vincent created sustainable and institutionalized solutions to address it.

 

The DePaul website on sustainability is here! www.sustainability.depaul.edu

Indeed, sustainability at DePaul is green, but also brown, blue, red and many other colors. DePaul University as a community has many expressions of sustainability. The area that probably best exemplifies DePaul's social justice and community service tradition with the values and practices of sustainability is the ENGAGEMENT in social justice and local/international community work. This is a short selection of a few initiatives and university centers and institutes engaged in sustainable practices. Please check the SUSTAINABILITY.DEPAUL.EDU website for more information. 

• Haiti Initiatives
• University Ministry, Community Service and Civic Engagement
• Steans Center
• Center for Interreligious Engagement (CIE)
• Institute for Business and Professional Ethics
• International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI)

For more information, contact Dr. Marco Tavanti at mtavanti@depaul.edu

Marco Tavanti, Ph.D.
in the Lacandon Rainforest

Dr. Marco Tavanti has more than 25 years of experience working internationally in the field of sustainable development, poverty reduction and community development. He is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Public Service. He is a member of the presidential Sustainability Taskforce Committee at DePaul University. He is director of various international programs, including the Sustainable Chiapas Program, teaching this course with a human rights based approach to sustainable development. He is a Research Fellow for the International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI), Senior Wicklander Fellow for the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics (IBPE) and Faculty Advisor for the Coleman Center for Entrepreneurship. Since 1998, Dr. Tavanti has been collaborating with various indigenous Mayan community organizations and Mexican NGOs, including International Service for Peace (SIPAZ). Dr. Tavanti is currently working on a book entitled Sustainable Development Leadership. Other publications include Las Abejas: Pacifist Resistance and Syncretism identities in a Globalizing Chiapas (Routledge 2003), an analysis of the collective identity of a Maya indigenous civil society organization in the ongoing struggle for land rights.