The concept of sustainability is best expressed through the Catholic commitment to "the integrity of creation," a profound respect for and fundamental attitude of reverence toward the natural world and its interdependent realms of plant, animal and human life.

At Duquesne, we work each day to find new ways to reduce our consumption of natural resources and to promote sustainable living. Achieving the goals of sustainability—whether through green operations, construction projects, research, academic coursework or community engagement initiatives—is one of the principal ways that we have been able to transform respect for the integrity of creation into action, and honor our Catholic founding in the Spiritan tradition.

Honoring Our Spiritan Tradition

Our Spiritan heritage imparts a worldview that challenges us to embrace a deeper understanding of the world's working and accept our role as stewards who must care for creation. And as a Catholic university, in light of the recent encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato Si (Praised Be), we appreciate that it is not only a moral issue, but also a responsibility to confront climate change and other environmental problems and to do what we can to eliminate their causes and mitigate their effects.

The timeliness and persuasive power of Laudato Si as well as the Spiritan, Catholic mission combined to make Duquesne University the ideal environment for a conference focused on the environmental problems that confront us. Our annual Integrity of Creation Conference is a free public event that invites scholars, policy makers and concerned citizens to raise awareness, present research and foster interdisciplinary discourse on a selected topic.