Today people are more willing to express their opinion over the Internet and less likely to do so in person, according to communication research done by Shirley S. Ho and Douglas M. McLeod of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their study found that "fear of isolation, communication apprehension, future opinion congruency and communication setting significantly predict willingness to speak out.

Last year the U opened an Office of Sustainability and officially joined other U.S. colleges and universities moving toward a more sustainable, or "greener" future. Why are institutions that traditionally avoid rapid transformation making this shift in vision and operations? What has induced more than 550 college and university presidents, including the U President Michael Young, to commit to the non-trivial task of making their campuses climate neutral? How might this green campus transformation prepare graduates to live in a world with finite limits on resources and honor the needs of future generations? Consider the incoming 2008 freshman class.

Next week the U will break ground for the new Utah Museum of Natural History. The design is generally positive and a landmark for sustainable construction. Unfortunately, poor administrative decisions have tarnished the overall goal of the new museum. The building will be one of few in the state to be awarded gold-level LEED certification-a rating system based on awarding project design points in six categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation.

Secondhand smoke kills. Environmental Tobacco Smoke, a human carcinogen, was found to be the cause of premature death in people who do not smoke, and there is no risk-free level of exposure, according to a 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's report. ETS is the cause of more than 3,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States, and any exposure to it increases the risk of developing lung cancer by up to 30 percent.