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We salute the following 16 colleges that received a Green Rating of 99 (the highest score) in our rating tallies this year.
American University is taking a series of practical steps to make sure that its students are green-equipped all the way from the classroom to Congress. A signatory of both ACUPCC and the Talloires Declaration, and a STARS charter participant, the university has established a Green Teaching Certification Program to reward professors for incorporating sustainability content into the curriculum and has a climate plan that targets neutrality by 2020. Two fulltime and 14 part-time sustainability staff oversee efforts to integrate sustainability across all campus activities, including the implementation of zero waste, sustainable purchasing, and green building policies.
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At Arizona State University, sustainability is a fundamental precept underlying its teaching, learning, research and business missions. ASU President Michael Crow is co-chair of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The Tempe campus has the largest collection of energy-providing solar panels on a single U.S. university campus.
Established in 2007, ASU's School of Sustainability, the first of its kind in the U.S., offers transdisciplinary degree programs that advance practical solutions to environmental, economic and social challenges. The school has over 60 faculty representing over 40 disciplines and offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs along with a professional certificate. ASU subsidizes bus and light rail passes for all students and employees and offers car-sharing and a carpool program with special parking privileges. A student-run bicycle co-op offers low- or no-cost bike repairs and free bike rentals.
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College of the Atlantic has one major, Human Ecology. How humans relate to our environment is on the minds of all at COA—artists, scientists, and social activists. And COA practices what it teaches: It has been carbon neutral since 2007. All electricity comes from renewable hydropower; new buildings and some old are cleanly heated via renewable wood pellets.
An organic Beech Hill Farm (partially powered by a wind turbine, thanks to student effort) offers organic produce to campus, local schools and food banks. COA has a new Trans-Atlantic Food Systems program and a growing undergraduate green and socially responsible business program. Recycling bins are in every office, composting bins in every kitchen and composting toilets in all new buildings. Alumni take on the environment in Congress, business and global negotiations—including those that created the world's largest underwater preserve.
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An impressive half of Dickinson College’s energy comes from renewable sources. The 15-member Presidents’ Commission on Environmental Sustainability focuses on how the campus can reduce pollution, preserve natural resources, promote environmental education, and develop initiatives to reduce both cost and consumption on campus. In line with this, in 2007 President Durden signed the American Colleges and Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment, moving Dickinson toward climate neutrality. All new buildings on campus must achieve LEED Silver certification, and Dickinson grows much of the produce that is served in the dining hall on its three-acre farm.
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Georgia Institute of Technology has 21 endowed chairs, 23 research and more than 100 classes that include significant sustainability components. Sustainability is a key component of Georgia Tech's Campus Master Plan and Landscape Master Plan. In 2008, Georgia Tech was recognized as a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation – quite an accomplishment for an urban campus.
Besides using environmentally friendly hand soap, paper products, cleaning equipment and other supplies, Georgia Tech requires that all vendors provide green products. The Institute's cleaning equipment uses 70 percent less water and 90 percent less chemicals than traditional equipment. To further conserve water resources, Georgia Tech's dining halls initiated a trayless system. The Institute's inaugural football game day recycling program collected nearly 12 tons of aluminum cans and glass and plastic bottles from home game attendees.
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Harvard College is dedicated to confronting the challenges of climate change and global sustainability both through academic research and by translating that research into action on campus. Harvard's goal is to reduce emissions 30% below a 2006 baseline by 2016. These commitments are administered through the Harvard Office for Sustainability.
Harvard now has 62 building projects in process toward achieving LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, a 55% recycling rate, renewable energy projects on campus, composting in residential and commercial dining halls, organic landscaping in Harvard Yard, and a drive-alone rate of only 16.5%, to name just a few examples.
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Northeastern University has integrated energy efficiency and conservation into its facilities management plans and outreach materials since the 1980s. Since 1990, CO2 emissions/1,000 square feet were reduced nearly 25% despite 40% growth in square footage. Sustainability represents one of Northeastern's three major research areas and is fully integrated into more than 100 academic courses as well as the experiential learning and co-op programs. A recent campus-wide installation of 70,000 low wattage T-8 fluorescent lamps reduces annual carbon emissions by 686 tons. Over 8% of building square footage under University operational control is now LEED Gold certified. International Village, NU's new 1,200 bed mixed-use dorm/office building, was awarded LEED Gold certification March 2010. IV is the first college/university dining facility in the U.S. to earn LEED Gold certification and a 3-star certified Green Restaurant®.
As a result of "Compost Here", an aggressive food composting program entering its fourth year, approximately 660 tons of dining hall service and catering food waste is composted annually. A local food initiative,"Eat Local-Get Closer To Your Food", is available in all dining halls. Northeastern's recycling program, over 20 years old, has expanded to include 15 different categories of collected items including construction and demolition materials. In 2011, Sustainable Service, a Residential Life-based sustainability programming initiative, is launching a Sustainability and Green Science Living Learning Community.
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Oregon State University has a history of creating innovative projects to reduce energy use. OSU is installing a large solar hot water system in its recreation center and students using one of the center’s 22 elliptical machines help generate power for the building. In 2008, it won a Green Power Leadership Award from the EPA, and is the seventh largest purchaser of renewable energy among U.S. colleges and universities. Seventy-three percent of campus electrical use is offset with either green tags or green tag purchases. Recycling is also big on campus: The school placed first in the 2006 RecycleMania competition and today boasts an overall waste diversion rate of 52 percent.
OSU offers a degree in Ecological Engineering, opened the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, and hosts a Nonprofit Career Day, with significant participation from national and local green groups. Student-organized green job events are also held throughout the year.
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San Francisco State University offers many environmentally focused degrees, including a BA and a BS in Environmental Studies and an MBA with an emphasis in Sustainable Business. Many students use the school's marine and estuarine research facility to study the San Francisco Bay. SF State students put their studies to practical use with help from the school's career services office, which offers an extensive list of environmental jobs and internships.
The Bicycle Working Group worked with the administration to install new bike racks and to build an additional path connecting the campus to the city of San Francisco's bike routes. Organic and fair trade coffee is available across campus, and all food waste from the Student Center and the Dining Centers is composted. The school aims to be zero waste by 2050, the custodial services department is transitioning to a green cleaning program, and the Climate Action Plan aims to reduce emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
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State University of New York at Binghamton has established innovative and creative opportunities both inside and outside the classroom to engage and educate students in 'going green.' An energy conservation contest pits residential communities against one another to see who can reduce energy consumption the most over a nine-week period. The 2009 contest resulted in a 7.5 percent overall reduction in electricity consumption.
The Binghamton campus encompasses almost 900 acres of land, of which a large proportion is undeveloped and in its natural state. The core of this undeveloped land is officially designated the Nature Preserve, and includes hiking trails and a 20 acre wetland. Each year approximately 2,500 pounds of compostable waste is collected around campus. Binghamton either recycles or composts more than 90 percent of its current service ware.
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University of California—Santa Cruz has been awarded several honors in recognition of its sustainability efforts, including making the top ten of the Sierra Club's Coolest (i.e. greenest) Schools list. The EPA ranks the campus among the top ten green power purchasing colleges, and faculty and students have won a number of awards for specific sustainability-focused projects and research. The campus boasts a 70 percent waste diversion rate and gets 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources.
UCSC's Sustainability Office is building a database of project ideas submitted by students, faculty, and staff to improve sustainable practices on campus. The Sustainability Office also offers internships, organizes green events, and coordinates sustainability working groups.
Among the many sustainability-focused student groups are the Student Environmental Center, Friends of the Community Agroecology Network, California Public Interest Research Group, California Student Sustainability Coalition, Education for Sustainable Living Program, and the Environmental Media Project.
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The University of Maine provides free bicycles to be used by faculty, staff, students, and even visitors not affiliated with the school. Old bikes are donated by members of the community, refurbished by student groups, and placed around campus. A free shuttle also takes students from campus to downtown Orono. UM has a full-time Sustainability Coordinator as well as a Sustainability Council made up of students, faculty and staff. Under their guidance, the university has made a commitment to avoid sprawl, restore local habitats, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.
UM's new student orientation includes sustainability programming, and Eco Reps in residence halls coordinate recycling programs and lead other environmental initiatives. UM recycles over 500 tons of paper products per year, and every office and classroom has at least one paper-recycling bin. All new buildings on campus must meet LEED Silver standards, and existing buildings are going green—two are already outfitted with residential-scale solar thermal systems.
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University of Washington's environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee takes clear aim at finding solutions to issues involving climate, conservation, consumption reduction, leadership in economic development, growth management, and sustainability on campus. The university currently has 13 LEED-certified buildings, with 25 more in the works. UW's comprehensive composting and recycling program is responsible for diverting more than half of the school's total waste from landfills. In order to reduce energy charges (nearly $50 million in 10 years) and increase energy efficiency, UW has installed solar panels, retrofitted fixtures, and replaced 1,500 old toilets (resulting in about 30 million gallons of water saved yearly!).
Twenty-six percent of food served on campus is organic, local, or fair trade. The university also has a fleet of more than 300 alternative-fuel vehicles. In 2008, UW founded the College of the Environment, and offers interdisciplinary opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to create programs tailored to their research topics through its Program on the Environment.
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University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point created the nation’s first Conservation Education major back in 1946, and then founded the College of Natural Resources in 1970. Each residence hall is equipped with recycling chutes. The university has a first of its kind initiative, that includes its new Operations and Waste Management Facility—featuring a pilot wastewater treatment plant, a composting lab, a microbiology lab, and an adjoined recycling center.
Also on campus is a compost tea harvesting machine as well as vermi-composting, where worms do the work. UWSP also demonstrates examples of how students, faculty, staff, and the public can live in environmentally friendly and affordable ways with Knutzen and Pray Sims Halls, which feature a solar-paneled roof. UWSP’s career services helps green-minded students find green-thinking jobs. Steven’s Point’s Student Government is the only such organization in the UW system to have an Environmental and Sustainability Issues Director and Environmental and Sustainability Issues Committee.
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Virginia Tech is a nationally recognized campus sustainability leader. In 2009 the Board of Visitors approved “The Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment Resolution,” which created the Office of Energy and Sustainability, established targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, emphasized energy efficiency, and committed the institution to pursue LEED Silver certification or better for all new construction and major renovation projects. VT has 17 undergraduate and 15 graduate majors and degrees and more than 200 undergraduate and 140 graduate courses that integrate sustainability concepts and practices into areas of engineering, science, technology, design, natural resources, health, humanities, planning, and policy.
VT’s solar house entry Lumenhaus won first place in the 2010 European Solar Decathlon. Dining Services’ Garden at Kentland Farm provides sustainable produce for on-campus dining centers such as the “Farms and Fields” venue. VT achieved a 48 percent alternative transportation rate, a 36 percent recycling rate, and last year composted more than 300 tons of food waste.
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Environmental Studies is a popular major at Warren Wilson College, with six different concentrations and a new cross-disciplinary sustainability curriculum available.
The school was one of the first in the country to institute on-campus recycling in the 1980s. Much of the food served by the school's dining halls comes from an on-campus farm and garden. An Environmental Leadership Center provides sustainability-focused events and opportunities for both students and the local community, including a regular radio program broadcast on Asheville's WPVM.
Among the residence halls on campus is the LEED Platinum EcoDorm built by student teams with wood that was repurposed or sustainably harvested on campus. The dorm also features solar panel window awnings, compost toilets, a rainwater catchment system that helps irrigate the adjacent garden, and many other waste-minimizing features.
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