The real price of cheap Walmart eggs? 
This New Agtivist wants to grow food in old K-Marts 
How bad are the next few years going to suck? 
See which colleges got top marks from Grist, then grade our effort in the comments section at the bottom of this page.
College of the Atlantic
This small school in Bar Harbor, Maine, has just one major: human ecology -- or "the study of our relationship with our environment." So it only makes sense that it was the first college in the U.S. to pledge carbon neutrality. And it kicked off quite a trend: Now more than 270 other U.S. colleges and universities -- including many of the following -- have pledged to do the same as part of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.
Middlebury College
This Vermont college is a hotbed of climate activism. Student group MiddShift pushed the board of trustees to approve a plan to make the school carbon-neutral by 2016. Students have also led the charge to host energy-saving contests in residence halls, increase use of public transportation to and from campus, and turn down campus thermostats. A handful of students and recent alums, along with scholar-in-residence Bill McKibben, helped organize the Step It Up 2007 campaign demanding action to fight climate change, and now a Middlebury delegation has joined up with the Climate Summer campaign in New Hampshire.
EARTH University
This appropriately monikered university in Costa Rica is dedicated to promoting sustainable development in the tropics. Students from more than 20 different countries go through a four-year program to earn an agronomy degree as they learn to balance ecological preservation and agriculture. EARTH University's "rational use of resources" program aims to instill an eco-ethic in everyone on campus.
The Evergreen State College
True to its roots -- and its name -- this Washington state school maintains a strong commitment to sustainability: An organic farm, almost an acre in size, produces enough food to have leftovers after selling to the campus food service, and proceeds go into financing farm projects and other student endeavors. A massive composting program is also in place -- complete with a compost reactor, worm bins, and food-scrap collection at residence halls. And after students voted to approve a fee increase, the school was able to purchase 100 percent (ever)green power.
Oberlin College
Hoping to get an ober-view of energy use, faculty and students at this small liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, collaborated in 2005 to create a web-based monitoring system in some of the dorms that shows how much energy and water is being used, giving students real-time feedback that can help change their consumption habits. Last year, students worked with Cleveland-based CityWheels to create a car-sharing program on campus. The college's Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies is housed in a pioneering green building that opened in 2000. Oberlin also boasts Ohio's largest solar array and is transitioning to 100 percent earth-friendly cleaning products.
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Harvard University
This Ivy Leaguer began a Green Campus Initiative in 2000 and has continued to grow its green roots [PDF] since then. Harvard has made major investments in energy conservation in campus buildings, introduced a green cleaning service, and integrated local and organic produce into school cafeterias. Plus, 20 new-construction and renovation projects have been certified for green credits since 2002, more than at any other university in the country. The Crimson's green tide is also extending to transportation, with biodiesel being made from kitchen oil and used in university buses.
University of British Columbia
A leader in the greening of Canadian campuses, UBC adopted a sustainable development policy in 1997 and a year later opened a campus Sustainability Office -- both firsts for the nation's colleges. Offering more than 300 sustainability-related courses, this Vancouver campus was Canada's first and only university to receive Campus Ecology Recognition from the U.S.-based National Wildlife Federation, in 2003 and again in 2005. And just last year, UBC developed a comprehensive sustainability strategy to keep the eco-momentum moving.
California State University, Chico
This year, Chico State won grand prize in the National Wildlife Federation's Chill Out competition, which challenges colleges to find effective ways to fight global warming. Chico State's dedication to sustainability also includes LEED-certified buildings and solar arrays atop some campus rooftops, and students have taken up the charge with energy-saving projects and sustainability-minded service-learning programs.
Tufts University
Tufts is getting tough on climate change. It has committed to meeting or exceeding the Kyoto target for emissions reductions, and it was the first university to join the Chicago Climate Exchange. The Tufts Climate Initiative won the U.S. EPA Climate Protection Award in 2005. The university has a strong history of incorporating sustainability throughout its operations and campuses.
Leeds University
The U.K.'s second-largest university, Leeds is a leader in eco-friendly waste management, and the school's work in that area has won it a Green Gown Award [PDF] from U.K.-based HEEPI (Higher Education - Environmental Performance Improvement). By replacing trash bins with recycling containers, it doubled the amount of recycling happening on campus. The school has also changed its purchasing practices to favor recycled goods.
Green Mountain College
Calling itself "Vermont's environmental liberal arts college," GMC uses the environment as a central theme in its core curriculum. Also central to its operation? Methane from nearby dairy farms that provides half of the school's electricity. Additionally, GMC's efforts to save energy helped earn it the first Energy Star Showcase Campus award from the U.S. EPA in 1999.
Yale University
Yale President Richard Levin wants to make his school the greenest in the U.S. The university has committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020. (Hello, DIY Kyoto.) To reach its goal, it plans to tap into renewable sources of energy, purchase carbon offsets, make its energy systems more efficient, and build new buildings greenly. Taking the commitment even further, the university hopes to aid China in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and educating its leaders on environmental issues.
Aquinas College
When it comes to sustainability, this Grand Rapids, Mich., school gets right down to business. Literally. Aquinas bills itself as the first college to offer an undergraduate major in sustainable business -- a four-year curriculum that combines formal biz training with environmental studies. Growing interest in green biz led to the creation of the Center for Sustainability, an online resource center.
Glasgow
Glasgow University
The first Scottish university to get energy-efficiency accreditation (in 1998), Glasgow draws almost 45 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and is constantly on the lookout for new ways to reduce overall energy use. Recognized by HEEPI for its sustainable procurement practices [PDF], the school has ensured that construction of new buildings involves energy assessments and energy-saving designs.
University of Maryland
Students at this College Park campus recently sent a loud-and-clear message about sustainability: some 91 percent of undergrads voted to raise student fees in order to pay for clean energy, when tuition and fees are already at record highs. If implemented, the fee increase would eventually raise enough money to make UM the largest higher-ed purchaser of renewable energy in the U.S. UM -- one of the many schools committed to going carbon neutral -- is also doing what it can to reduce energy use: a combined heat-and-power plant completed in 2003 received the U.S. EPA's Energy Star award, and motion sensors that automatically shut down unused office equipment are currently undergoing testing.
Runners-Up
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University of New Hampshire
Forget organic eaters, the University of New Hampshire hopes to educate future organic farmers with a multimillion-dollar dairy farm on 30 acres near Lee, N.H. The project is funded in part by Stonyfield Farm, an organic yogurt maker based in the state. As part of the school's effort to be a Climate Protection Campus, UNH also sponsors programs like WildCAP, which offers student discounts on Energy Star and other energy-efficient products.
Stanford News Service
Stanford University
The school's recently built Global Ecology Research Center was named one of the American Institute of Architects' Top 10 Green Projects in 2007. The two-story structure features walls made of redwood salvaged from century-old wine casks, rainwater collection, and a number of recycled building materials. Stanford's cutting-edge climate and energy research has also garnered quite a bit of interest (and some controversy); the university had to turn away attendees at a recent student-organized renewable-energy symposium that attracted more than twice as many people as expected.
Arizona State University
With one of the nation's largest enrollments on a single campus, sustainability is a huge issue for ASU. And it's a degree program, too, via the newly opened (and world's first) School of Sustainability, which will serve both undergraduate and graduate students. Located in the Phoenix area, ASU is well aware of the effects global warming could have on the city's hot, dry clime -- which is why the school's Biodesign Institute will focus on emulating natural systems to innovate for tomorrow's environment.
University of California, Berkeley
Last year, UC-Berkeley served up an organic salad bar. Though many schools are moving in this direction, Berkeley's dining hall is the first in the nation to feature an officially certified organic kitchen. And it's not just food these students are hungry for: demand for introductory energy courses at Berkeley has almost tripled in recent years.
St. Olaf College
Is this Minnesota school into sustainability? Ya sure, you betcha. For 2005-2006, it was the theme for the whole school year, making its way into courses, lectures, and campus tours. A "college of the church," St. Olaf is invested in creation care from a spiritual standpoint as well and created a black & gold & green website to give "an honest accounting of [its] successes and failures" in sustainability.
Sarah van Schagen contributed to this list.
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Greener research enginesDon't overlook universities like Auburn and Nebraska that bring entrepreneurial action together with academic sense. Making the marketplace's demand a driver for green services and products while tapping the latest ideas from university minds is an effective way of going green and staying green. Auburn's newly formed Natural Resources Management & Development Institute is the best new example of leveraging university talent in the marketplace. Check out http://www.nrmdi.auburn.edu/.
As Vinod Khosla pointed out during a recent Caltech renewable energy summit, economic factors will hasten the adoption of the green ideas that research generates.
Prescott CollegePrescott College , "for the liberal arts and the environment"
http://www.prescott.edu
I was surprised not to see Prescott College on this list or even on the runner up list. I was surprised to see two other colleges in the Eco-league, Green Mountain College and College of the Atlantic, but not Prescott College.
The Mission statement is:
"It is the mission of Prescott College to educate students of diverse ages and backgrounds to understand, thrive in, and enhance our world community and environment. We regard learning as a continuing process and strive to provide an education that will enable students to live productive lives while achieving a balance between self-fulfillment and service to others. Students are encouraged to think critically and act ethically with sensitivity to both the human community and the biosphere. Our philosophy stresses experiential learning and self-direction within an interdisciplinary curriculum."
Anyways, I felt a little let down when reading this article at the crossraods center, which was constructed using eco-design practices and outfitted with solar panels that bring energy back to the grid. Maybe next time grist will pick a college of 500 people that fits into a town, not expands it ,such as ASU.
Uh...The University of Maryland is on your list, but not Northland College, "the environmental liberal arts college"?
Green British Universities' League TableMajor UK student organisation People and Planet published its "Green League" earlier this year, in which Leeds Metropolitan University (as opposed to Leeds University, above) achieved the top rank, with Plymouth, Hertfordshire and Oxford Brookes all getting high marks.
The table generated quite a lot of interest in the British media, with the Guardian and Independent running stories, and it was published in the Times Higher Education Supplement.
I helped to select some of the parameters for the table and developed the original Go Green campaign, to improve universities' environmental performace, for P&P.
I'm surprised that the South Carolina Sustainable Universities Initiative has not been mentioned, nor Harvard's efforts.
Green CollegesThe Colorado College has got to make this list and be at the top.
its home to the first on campus all organic restaurant
recently purchased acres to have an organic farm run by students
has a sustainable living themed house for students
certified green academic buildings and is building more!
students are active in embodying what it means to be sustainable while incorporating its ideas into their studies
Really the list only goes on and on and on...
Check it out!
http://www.coloradocollege.edu
Join Together"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
CONGRATS to every college and university listed OR NOT.
We ALL are the solution and we ALL need to join together. It is time to reach out to other universities, colleges, and community colleges.
If you are a univeristy in the United States, get involved with FOCUS THE NATION. It is way past time.
Check out http://www.focusthenation.org/main.php
--Amelia Gulling
Chico Green Campus Program Director
Contact us at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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California State UniversityBe sure and check out all of the other CSU campuses' sustainability efforts here.
http://blogs.calstate.edu/cpdc_sustainability/
UC-Boulder not included?Whoever compiled this list got a lot of it right; however, omitting the University of Colorado at Boulder means that somebody hasn't done much research. UCB's Environmental Center is the oldest, largest, and most accomplished in the nation. Founded on Earth Day 1970 (even before the EPA), the E-Center has led higher educations' travels toward sustainability for over 37 years. UCB students:
Began the nations first college recycling program (1973)
Began the nation's first student bus pass program (1991)
Funded the nation's first campus wind energy purchase (2000)
Became the first student government to commit to climate neutrality for student run facilities (2007)
UCB was one of the earliest signators of the President's Climate Commitment to achieve climate neutrality--which many of your alleged top schools(like Harvard and Yale) have refused to do. And UCB each year is among the top campuses for funded environmental research--if not at the top of those rankings.
The top five achievers are likely, in no partucular order: Oberlin, Middlebury, UCB, UBC, and Tufts. They have all been doing it for a while. The rest in your list are great, but are probably not among the early leaders.
It is indeed difficult to cover all the good things college campuses are doing--espicially lately; but nobody in the know denies UCB has been setting the pace for decades. Please do better research in the future.
Ignoring AASHE?It's curious and shocking to me that not a single winner of the 2006 AASHE Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards (Lane Community College, Warren Wilson College, Berea College, or the University of British Columbia) was included in this extensive list!
Clearly a lot of folks have advocated for their institutions with their comments, and I agree that this work is important regardless of who is among the chosen. However, I still think it's strange to omit every single one of the institutions selected last year by AASHE, which is considered the premiere national association for sustainability in higher ed.
Oh well... I was interested to learn about the initiatives at some schools I haven't even heard of!
Gators Going GreenThe University of Florida should be included in at least the runners-up. We were the first to sign the President's Climate Commitment and we are home to the Florida Institute for Sustainable Energy (FISE). We have a recycling program for all the fans at every home football game and a Zero-Waste goal by 2015.
See what else we've been doing at http://www.sustainable.ufl.edu/
Look out for the Gators next year, Grist! We win a lot more than just NCAA National Championships!