Go figure: Young people care about the environment (consumer habits not withstanding). The Princeton Review now offers, for free, a guide to colleges. Download The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges*Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
With 286 colleges profiled, you can get a quick look into how colleges make green contributions. Here is an example from Albion college:
GREEN HIGHLIGHTS
Every student at Albion College receives instruction in environmental issues through the school’s environmental category requirement. This “graduation requirement for all students” has fostered the development of “over 20 environmental courses spread over the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences divisions of the college.” Environmental Science and Environmental Studies concentrations are available through the Institute for the Study of the Environment, which provides intensive opportunities for green campus living, green research, and green career training for students. The Institute oversees an on-campus E-house, a living and learning community where students investigate and manage residential heating, cooling, lighting, food, grounds, and entertainment in a sustainable way. The Institute’s research efforts have been “directed toward developing an ecological inventory of the upper branches of the Kalamazoo River,” and use this as a basis for encouraging sustainable practices. The college boasts two National Wildlife Federation Fellows, and facilitates student research through the Albion Foundation for Undergraduate Research, which provides stipends for independent projects. The Institute for the Study of the Environment encourages concentrators to complete an internship as part of their course of study. Recent internships have taken students from Albion to Oregon to Brussels to London, where they’ve worked on everything from shark behavior to LEED certification. Albion’s career services office works with students one-on-one and a set of approved online search engines facilitates efforts to connect students with green careers. Active RecycleMania and Focus the Nation student groups on campus are working hard to raise Albion’s sustainability profile nationally.
I like that they include a weblink to highlight their specific efforts:
WEBSITE:WWW.ALBION.EDU/SUSTAINABILITY
GREEN HIGHLIGHTS
- % food budgetspenton local/organic food 2
- Available transportation alternatives: restricting parking, bike share/rent, carpool parking, vanpool, preferred parking for carpools/vanpools, shower facilities for bikers
- School has formal sustainability committee Yes With participation from faculty, students, facilities, dining services, residence life
- New construction must be LEED certified or comparable third-partyrating system No
- Environmental studies degree available Yes
- Environmental literacy requirement Yes
- Public GHG inventory plan No
- School employs a sustainability officer No
- School provides guidance on green jobs Yes
- % school cleaning products that are green-certified 75
- % school grounds maintained organically 40
For the record, California University of Pennsylvania purchases 100% of their food local/organic. That has got to be a record. Naropa College also reports 100% along with University of Portaland
