during my first semester at loyola university chicago, i took an introduction to environmental science course. all students pursuing degrees outside of a scientific field are required to take one environmental science course. despite being an english and philosophy double major, i actually liked the content of my introductory course. a large majority of our semester was spent learning about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or pfas, a manufactured “forever chemical” that can and is used in farming fertilizers across the midwest. 

while i had never heard of the chemical before, its impact on the chicagoland area stuck with me. i was shocked to have learned how the systems that large farms across the midwest were using had contaminated every tested fish in lake michigan.  

beyond its effect on the fish, the city of chicago tests every year for evidence of pfas within the city’s drinking water. while detectable levels have never been found in tests as recent as 2024, it’s hard to ignore what a looming threat pfas has become. the united states environmental protection agencyhas listed several health risks connected to exposure to pfas/pfos including; decreased fertility, increased risk in prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, and weakened immune systems. despite all of this, i had lived the first portion of my life and moved to chicago without ever hearing of it. 

a year after this class, in january 2024, loyola was declared one of 15 carbon neutral campuses across the united states. this kind of achievement is not one to be dismissed. after their declaration of sustainability in 2014, loyola worked with swift current energy, a solar farm in springfield, il, to establish a solar energy source for campus.

through a project called double black diamond, swift current energy has supplied energy to 100,000 homes across chicago along with several chicago municipal buildings and all of loyola’s buildings. through support from this solar project along with other on-campus projects, loyola was able to achieve carbon neutrality.

when hearing of this news, i eagerly grabbed an interview with loyola’s director of sustainability, aaron durnbaugh, to ask about the university’s next steps. on a list so small, many are eager to see what they will do next in the fight for environmental sustainability. when questioned on it, durnbaugh’s focus seemed to be on environmental education rather than the school’s shining achievement. 

“i think the decarbonization on campus is important, but it’s sort of a very incremental thing. it happens project by project and i don’t know that that’s necessarily the thing that members of our community get engaged in. they’re not architects or contractors building these buildings,” durnbaugh said. “so then i think the question becomes, what are we doing to help students take action on climate change?”

pushing on this idea i asked durnbaugh what exactly he pictured to get students involved in taking action on climate change. durnbaugh described an educational environment where loyola would be able to require environmental sustainability classes within each major. he used two words to describe it, climate literacy.

“i think the idea of climate literacy or sustainability literacy is something that i think about a lot. how do we make sure that every rambler is climate literate?” he asked.

what becomes more important when discussing climate literacy is what environmental science they are going to push programs to teach. when asked about his final thoughts on our environmental sustainability program, durnbaugh expressed concerns about relating climate literacy back to loyola mission for diversity and inclusion. 

“i spend a lot of time thinking about [how] we could do all this cool stuff, we can do a double black diamond, or a high performing building, but how does that project reflect the other values that we have, related to diversity and inclusion, related to mission and ministry, related to community or global awareness [all of] those kinds of things,” durnbaugh said.

despite efforts to diversify their campuses, loyola university chicago’s student body is predominantly white, white students making up around 50% of its population in 2023. 

in 2022, loyola’s office of diversity, equity and inclusion held a round table to discuss with faculty and students the on campus atmosphere for marginalized communities. in the summary report the university was optimistic about continuing its fight in supporting marginalized communities, despite some of its downfalls. 

the university stated, “participants at the roundtables shared that there is momentum at loyola in terms of work related to race and ethnicity, but there is much work that needs to be done in terms of establishing a culture where all stakeholders can have courageous conversations about race and ethnicity that leads to trust and belonging. participants identified a need to continue the momentum, while also expanding training, data-based decision-making, and resources for dei work so this cultural shift can be realized.” 

recently in 2025, despite push backs from the current administration on dei programs, loyola announced a merging of its dei office and black excellence office to promote better funding and resources for marginalized students. 

in many urban spaces, including chicago, black and hispanic communities are at a much higher risk of exposure to pfas due to their geographical relation to industrial facilities. with such a significant history of redlining, chicago’s marginalized communities are suffering from these environmental injustices. these neighborhoods face higher pollution rates than those in predominantly white neighborhoods. overexposure to toxic fumes, waste, and other hazardous materials, such as pfas, have in turn created a public health crisis. 

when consulting those i knew in the environmental science program, they cited that many of their classes did discuss environmental racism but there were no required classes explicitly covering the topic. while none of them made an official statement on the program, it appeared the lack of requirement was simply because the topic was heavily touched upon in other classes. 

with the new age of environmental science at loyola comes a new perspective on requiring topics such as environmental racism to be integrated not only into its environmental studies program, but all undergraduate programs. loyola has an opportunity to bring light to such a significant, chicago-specific, environmental concern and uplift diverse learning opportunities while promoting climate literacy. 

the question is, will they take it?