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| princetonreview.com |
If you and your high school student are currently in the
process of searching for a college that is "just right", you may be interested in more than a school's average SAT scores. Ideally, my daughter's desire to live a healthy, sustainable
lifestyle will not have to be put on hold during her college years. However, locating information on sustainability using the typical college data bases has been difficult.
While touring a cafeteria during a recent college visit, I asked our tour guide if they served local produce, given its close proximity to central Pennsylvania’s farms. Standing in front of a basket of oranges, bananas, apples, grapefruit and grapes in mid-February, she responded, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I think all our produce is locally grown.” We decided to search for more dependable information on a college's commitment to sustainability and found some great resources.
While touring a cafeteria during a recent college visit, I asked our tour guide if they served local produce, given its close proximity to central Pennsylvania’s farms. Standing in front of a basket of oranges, bananas, apples, grapefruit and grapes in mid-February, she responded, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I think all our produce is locally grown.” We decided to search for more dependable information on a college's commitment to sustainability and found some great resources.
The Princeton Review's Green College Honor Roll lists 16 colleges that received the highest scores on “their environmentally-related policies, practices and academic offerings”. The top scorers for 2012 are:
Arizona State University
College of the Atlantic
Dickinson College
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard College
Northeastern University
Oregon State University
San Francisco State University
State University of New York at Binghamton
University of California—Santa Cruz
University of Maine, University of Washington
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point
Virginia Tech
Warren Wilson College
College of the Atlantic
Dickinson College
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard College
Northeastern University
Oregon State University
San Francisco State University
State University of New York at Binghamton
University of California—Santa Cruz
University of Maine, University of Washington
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point
Virginia Tech
Warren Wilson College
If you are curious about colleges beyond this short list, the Princeton Review partnered with the United States
Green Building Council, a national nonprofit organization, to publish a guide
to 311 Green Colleges. It summarizes each school’s green highlights—details of the school's "most impressive
environmental and sustainability initiatives”—and offers green facts—information
on things such as:
- % of food purchased that is organic/local
- alternative transportation availability
- school’s formal sustainability committee
- LEED-certified buildings
- Environmental studies degree availability
- % of school energy from renewable resources
- School’s guidance on green jobs
- % school grounds maintained organically
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| sierraclub.org |
The Sierra Magazine asked schools to voluntarily complete a comprehensive survey including: energy supply, efficiency, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, financial investments, and other initiatives. A summary of the responding schools is available in a concise chart of the 118 Coolest Schools or you can access the school's detailed responses for a thorough view of the school's self proclaimed sustainability efforts. Their list of the Top Ten "Planet-Minded" Coolest Schools:
Green Mountain College – Poultney, VT
Dickinson College – Carlisle, PA
Evergreen State College – Olympia, WA
University of Washington – Seattle, WA
Stanford University – Stanford, CA
University of California, Irvine – Irvine, CA
Northland College – Ashland, WI
Harvard University – Cambridge, MA
College of the Atlantic – Bar Harbor, ME
Hampshire College – Amherst, MA
Dickinson College – Carlisle, PA
Evergreen State College – Olympia, WA
University of Washington – Seattle, WA
Stanford University – Stanford, CA
University of California, Irvine – Irvine, CA
Northland College – Ashland, WI
Harvard University – Cambridge, MA
College of the Atlantic – Bar Harbor, ME
Hampshire College – Amherst, MA
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| sushimori.com |
The College Sustainability Report Card
The College Sustainability Report Card includes a college search box that directs you to extensive details related to a specific school's: administration, climate change and energy, endowment transparency, food and recycling, green building, transportation, student involvement, investment policy, and shareholder engagement.
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| thedailybeast.com |
The Daily Beast's 25 Greenest
If you don't have the time to weed through the comprehensive information offered on the above sites, The Daily Beast created their own list, "Top 25 Greenest Schools", based on a review of other published lists and student interviews. They chose the schools that ranked highest in their concern about "climate change and environmental
degradation, working to reduce their environmental impact".
By the way, our tour guide was correct about her school's effort to serve local produce (even if she was a bit generous with her statistics). One of these guides reports that they purchase 25% local/organic food. These sites give insight into each college's efforts toward sustainability, information often hard to unearth. When added to information on each school's programs, activities, and costs, this data will enable my daughter to pick a college that is truly the "right fit".
