Top 20 green colleges 14

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1. 

   Johnnie Posted 10:33 am
   22 Aug 2009

   Very glad to note the arrangements for young citizens to mingle with nature.Johnnie 

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2. 

   Sean Casten Posted 1:36 pm
   22 Aug 2009

   Would be helpful for the Sierra Club to explain how they did their ranking.  As a Middlebury grad, I'm both delighted to see them at #3 and wondering how much they've changed since I was there (with memories of overheated dorm rooms in the winter that required me to leave my window open, and random tracks of melted snow from uninsulated steam pipe.)  Maybe those things are all fixed, maybe they don't matter - but I can't tell from the description how their results were quantified.  Does anyone know?  Have the divulged and I haven't seen?

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3. 

   ohfercleanenergy Posted 12:37 pm
   24 Aug 2009

   A quick shout out to the University of Minnesota's Morris Campus (efficiency, on-site wind and biomass, local foods) www.morris.umn.edu/greencampus/. Also 100 public high schools, colleges and universities are participating in the Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon program www.schoolscuttingcarbon.org. Public schools in the great Midwest, woo-hoo!

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4. 

   Quinn94 Posted 2:53 pm
   24 Aug 2009

   Bates is on the list, but not Bowdoin? Pish Posh!

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5. 

   adamdouze Posted 10:31 am
   25 Aug 2009

   Re: #20I'm always disappointed to see or hear someone talking up offsetting. I don't think that offsetting is valuable or that it contributes to being sustainable in any substantial way.I feel like it's related to green washing.

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6. 

   savethepolarbear Posted 10:51 am
   25 Aug 2009

   I'm kind of dismayed that they didn't mention my university: Western Washington University.We offset 100% of our electricity, we were the first college to offer an environmental program, Huxley College of the Environment, we have a couple of LEED certified buildings and all new buildings must be LEED certified. The students and the school faculty work closely together to actively pursue conservation programs through out the entire school, there are way too many of these to list. We have an Office of Sustainability soley dedicated to reducing waste, pursuing green energy and offer sustainability-mind courses. And we should soon have a student run food co-op going on campus.

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7. 

   steve7138 Posted 2:56 pm
   25 Aug 2009

   As I thought, most colleges in the South and Mid-Atlantic states have yet gone green, or adopted green policies. Policies promoting Greenness--even Democracy for people--have yet to arrived nor be fulfilled in those areas.Surprised NYU made this list--it should NOT be part of it!--the off-campus areas, and the entire "CITY" of New York is trashy everywhere you look--the area looks like a third-world undeveloped ghetto--as does nearby New Jersey.

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8. 

   srwohl Posted 3:07 pm
   25 Aug 2009

   Calling BS on the grading scale.  My Alma mater is at 37, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, but there is no recognition for its work in the Adirondacks.  The school is part of protecting and managing the ONLY Constitutionally protected park in the United States.  As the ADKs are a regrowing forest that sequesters carbon in the form of biomass (as opposed to an old growth forest that is carbon neutral) I can not understand a "green" scale that does not account for the 20,000+ acres of forested property which offset the schools production of carbon.  Sorry but the grading seems a little skewed to rewarding only the schools who have the purchasing power for LEED certification (only 1 of the 6 buildings on my campus is LEED certified, but we don't expand our facilities often) and carbon offsets.  More attention needs to be put on the actions of the school in relations to the living environment.  Of course green is a catchall word used to confuse the public, not inform. I write this not out of anger for my schools placement on an arbitrary list, but that the way in which a schools commitment to the environment fails to be considered.  For some it is not their business goal, but their mission statement.

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9. 

   amanda2280 Posted 9:02 am
   27 Aug 2009

   Catawba College in Salisbury North Carolina has been increasingly present in showing their commitment to sustainable and green initiatives. Their Center for the Environment was one of the first green buildings in the region when it was constructed. The school also offers four majors in the environmental field with a BS in Environmental Science, BA in Environmental Studies, BA in Environmental Education, and a unique and groundbreaking Sustainable Business and Community Development program. They deserve a look. http://www.catawba.edu

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10. 

    oddtree Posted 11:43 am
    27 Aug 2009

    Go Buffs!  It is true that CU has a spending-happy student body that may be more willing to fund LEED buildings than others, but if you look at the ratings its transportation and waste management that really won it for us.Colorado State University (#42 on the full list) also has a lot of green programs: http://www.green.colostate.edu/images/green-research-areas-csu.pdf. I think in general colleges are more green than the rest of the world, so I think we should all think about how we can influence our businesses/ apartment buildings/ community centers to follow in these footsteps.

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