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Justin Catanoso, journalism program director at Wake Forest University, brings his Pulitzer Center-supported reporting on the Pope and his impact on the conversation surrounding climate change to Westchester Community College on November 12 and 13 as part of a two-day Campus Consortium visit. Catanoso is one of several Pulitzer Center grantees whose reporting on climate change issues took place in the run-up to the December 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 21, set for Paris.
Catanoso's reporting considers the impact of Pope Francis and his landmark encyclical on climate change and the environment, called Laudato Si, On Care for Our Common Home.
Catanoso's latest dispatches related to the papal encyclical cites the call for legally binding carbon-reduction standards by Catholic prelates representing bishops’ conferences from every continent. At Westchester Community College, he will delve into these developments in the wake of the pope's efforts to exert his moral authority for the cause of environmental protection. Catanoso's remarks build on his reporting from Peru for his "Saving Eden" Pulitzer Center-supported project among other work.
Betsy Saavedra, Westchester Community College's 2015 student fellow, also will join the visit fresh from her travels to Peru where she is investigating the nearly 10,000 families struggling with homelessness and displacement. Born and raised in Lima, Peru, Saavedra traveled back to her birthplace to explore how people who cannot afford housing use dynamite to build “invasion homes” in the hillsides.
In addition to directing the journalism program at Wake Forest University, another Campus Consortium partner, Catanoso is a North Carolina-based journalist with 30 years of experience covering health care, science, economic development and business.
“Saving Eden: Pope Francis, Moral Authority and Environmental Protection"
Thursday November 12-Friday, November 13
Westchester Community College
75 Grasslands Road
Valhalla, NY 10595