by Ken Sayre
Notre Dame has entered a new era of environmental stewardship, signaled by a new Office of Sustainability, the recent Forum on that topic and a serious recycling program energized by student participation. Efforts to recycle wastes, to conserve electricity and to install energy-efficient equipment are commendable and should be continued. But such efforts are quantitative (how many pounds recycled?) rather than qualitative, and are already commonplace among Notre Dame’s peer institutions. To assume a position of environmental leadership, Notre Dame will have to make qualitative changes as well.