b'E L C I T R ACOSMOLOGY ANDECOLOGY IN LAUDATO SIby Mary Evelyn Tucker & John Grimhe enormous problems we face as a human community with regard to environmental degradation and social inequity are highlighted throughout Laudato si. The sense of our destiny as linked to that of Earth and all creation is noted in many passages as well. Our larger cosmic story is in the background of this encyclical, while our wanton destruction of nature is in the foreground. Related to this interface of cosmology and ecology are infl uences on the encyclical coming from such major Catholic thinkers as Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry. Teilhard is directly cited in footnote 53 of the encyclical. Thomas Berrys infl uence comes into the encyclical through the works of Leonardo Boff and Sean McDonagh, theologians who have been inspired by Berry (as well as Teilhard) and contributed to the drafting of Laudato si.18 AspireVolume 1//Winter 2020 Subscribe today!smp.org/aspire'