Sustainability
Welcome
Our committee is dedicated to addressing how the graduate school can implement more sustainable practices while providing graduate students with practical and affordable solutions to sustainability. We work collaboratively with various stakeholders within the University and South Bend, including but not limited to the undergraduate Student Government, Office of Sustainability, GreeND, and Grad Life. We are also part of the University Sustainability Standing Committee responsible for the Comprehensive Sustainability Strategy. This committee looks to the future of sustainability work for the campus. We believe that by engaging with different stakeholders, we can leverage our collective efforts and resources to drive meaningful University policies and initiatives to tackle the environmental issues affecting our common home. The current changes in our climate call upon our University and us as graduate students to find ways to commit to a clean energy transition, sustainability investment, and more sustainable lifestyle, as well as foster new ways of engaging with our environment and its resources. As your co-chairs, we hope to inform you about our ongoing initiatives, valuable educational resources, upcoming events, and ways to get involved. You are welcome to be part of our committee and bring your diverse ideas and approaches to the sustainability conversations.
Projects and Initiatives
The committee is currently working on two platforms: i) co-managing the community garden where ND students, staff, and faculty can grow fresh produce, and ii) sharing and participating in conversations around recycling on campus.
- ND Community Garden
The Notre Dame Community Garden exists to serve current faculty, staff, and students at Notre Dame by providing a space to do the following: grow organic produce; raise awareness of sustainable food practices; learn how to be good stewards of Earth's natural resources; spend time in nature; and foster a community of learning, collaboration, and fellowship. You can get involved by signing up for a plot in the garden. Usually, the plot allocation calls happen in the months of October and late March. We currently have about 60 gardeners, including Notre Dame undergraduates, graduates, staff, and faculty. Still, if you cannot get a plot, the garden space is open to anyone, and there are pick-for-free plots for anyone who would like to tend and harvest any of these plots' products. In addition to tending their own individual plots, some of our current gardeners co-lead our initiatives within the Garden, such as the pick-for-free plots and beehives. For more information, please contact the Sustainability co-chair Julie Wilson.
- Recycling on Campus Information
The service for recycling on campus is provided by the company Recycling Works. The recycled materials must be placed in a blue toter to be recycled.
You will notice every Wednesday big blue toters being placed in front of different buildings across campus. To learn what is accepted in the blue toters, visit the Office of Sustainability website.
For more information on the locaton of the blue toters or about recycling on campus, reach out to the Office of Sustainability staff member Austin Poyar.
As your co-chairs for the Graduate Student Government's Sustainability Committee for 2023-24, our year-long objectives are:
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Continue providing for the short-term needs of the Notre Dame Community Garden while also seeking to establish long-term plans for the Garden's future;
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Continue pursuing our previous advocacy for responsible recycling and composting at Notre Dame;
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Discerning further ways in which our committee can support Notre Dame's institution-wide goals for sustainability; and
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Broadening our network by regularly collaborating with key sustainability players at Notre Dame, such as the undergraduate Student Government, Faculty senate, Notre Dame's Environmental Change Initiative, and the Office of Sustainability.
We look forward to serving you as your Sustainability Committee co-chairs!
Resources
We have compiled a few on-campus and off-campus resources. The following link takes you to a curated document outlining sustainability and how to implement sustainable practices in our daily lives. Recycling is essential, as well as other steps such as policy advocacy that we individuals can take. We also acknowledge that economic disadvantages prevent us from making every needed change and that we, as individuals, can only do so much, especially given the need for sustainable change and development across nations and industries. Still, we hold the power to elevate our voices to push for those changes. We hope this document will help you to opt for the steps that work for you.
This is a living document that will be updated as new information is published or shared with us. If you have any resources that you would like to share, please send one of the committee co-chairs an email (see Contact Information below for email addresses).
Committee Chairs
Julie Wilson (jwilso47@nd.edu)
Benjamin Francis (bfranci2@nd.edu)
