University campuses are often touted as “living labs,” yet many continue to operate on inefficient, decades-old steam loops and poorly insulated housing. When administration officials echo the government’s sentiment that radical change isn’t immediate, they undermine the credibility of their own environmental science departments.
Leading by example is the most potent form of education. If a billion-dollar endowment cannot prioritize a deep energy retrofit, how can we expect a first-year student to believe that individual efficiency measures matter? True institutional literacy requires a visible alignment between what is taught in the lecture hall and how the building itself breathes.