The highlight of the fourth annual Green Summit is an interactive market in which participants make real-life choices between consumer products and do their best to make the most eco-friendly decision.
“Eco-labels and false claims of sustainability are flourishing in the marketplace,” said Jenny Mish, Assistant Professor of Marketing and one of the keynote speakers at the Summit. “It is an enormous challenge to define what is and isn’t sustainable, to live up to it, and to communicate it with credibility.”
This year’s Summit is titled “Purchasing Power” and will take place on Friday February 25th from 3 to 5pm in the Monogram Room at the Joyce Center. The program features a Middle Eastern menu and keynote speakers who will discuss topics ranging from how Notre Dame is trying to green its purchasing to how individuals can accurately sort through the dizzying array of eco-advertising.
Each year, the Green Summit brings together over 150 faculty, staff, and students to explore an aspect of sustainability and its role in campus life. Recommendations from the Summit’s hallmark round-table discussions are used as a resource for developing new campus sustainability initiatives over the coming year.
“The Summit is unique among campus events in the diversity of participants that it brings together,” said Alicia Vasto ‘11, co-president of Students for Environmental Action and a member of the Summit planning committee. “It’s a chance to come up with fresh ideas and build community at the same time.”
Green Summit IV is free and open to all members of the Notre Dame community. Registration is required by noon on February 21st in order to attend.