Pulse Magazine
Spring 2017
Reuse. Reread. Recycle
Green for Green: How colleges spend your tuition for ecology
Photo Courtesy of the university, Mary Guiden
By Robert Dolen
In the Princeton Review’s “Guide to 361 Green Colleges: 2016 Edition” and “Top 50 Green Colleges,” schools were recognized for their outstanding commitments to environmental sustainability. From Ivy League to small schools, here’s a look at three different types of schools in the Princeton Review’s top 50 and what they do for environmental conservation and their commitment to our planet.
College of the Atlantic (#1)
Photo Courtesy of the university, Rob Levin
College of the Atlantic (COA), a small human ecology college in Bar Harbor, Maine, is the number one college on the list of “Top 50 Green Colleges,” and for good reason. The college is solely dedicated to the study of human ecology, making COA’s commitment to environmental sustainability unparalleled.
College of the Atlantic became the first carbon-neutral college in 2007, and has built its entire community around environmental and social justice from both faculty and students. The curriculum, the food services, energy consumption and the overall student life contribute to sustainability. COA students and faculty actively develop sustainability policies that govern the college’s environmental commitment.
The students also participate in the “All College Meeting,” a gathering of both students and faculty where they discuss issues on environmental as well as social sustainability. Rob Levin, Director of Communications for COA, describes the process of each meeting:
“We’re not doing things from the top down, we’re not the administration, we [the faculty] function from within the community.”
COA’s curriculum studies multiple aspects of human ecology; sustainability from ecological, economic, cultural and artistic angles. Students have the opportunity to study things like renewable energy, agroecology, climate justice, environmental chemistry, environmental law and many more subjects all under the self-designed major in human ecology. Another interesting fact to note is that around 75 percent of faculty is involved in some form of sustainability research.
The campus itself has many environmentally-friendly facilities, from residence halls to school buildings. Green technologies and practices are employed in developing and renovating facilities such as outfitting structures with solar panels and efficient heating systems. The food services utilize COA’s 300 acres of farmland to responsibly supply its own food supplies that are not mass produced. COA’s eventual goal is to become completely independent from the reliance on fossil fuels and rely solely on renewable energy.
“It’s obviously an honor to be recognized for our educational philosophy. It’s what the school was founded on, although I feel like not much is going to change,” said Levin. “We were recognized for things we’ve always been working hard on. There’s a lot more we can do as a small size school. Our model isn’t built on drawing more students.”
Colorado State University (#4)
Photo Courtesy of the university, Mary Guiden
Colorado State University (CSU) is the fourth highest school on the “Top 50” with its emphasis on greener technologies in tandem with other sustainability practices. CSU is the second biggest university of the three schools on this list, with over 25,000 students enrolled. CSU’s environmental focus is on engineering technology to harness power from nature instead of fossil fuels.
CSU features one of the largest solar plants to be built on a university’s campus; a 30 acre-wide field of solar panels that provides 5.3 megawatts in power, about a third of CSU’s overall energy consumption. The university received a platinum rating on the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System, or STARS, from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
CSU originally intended to reduce its carbon emissions by 75 percent in 2030, and eventually reach 100 percent in 2050 as outlined in their “Sustainability Strategic Plan.” Although according to Tonie Miyamoto, director of division communications at CSU, the president of the university will be fast-tracking their original environmental plan:
“Students from sustainability clubs and organizations across CSU drafted the ‘Climate Reality Pledge’ asking our [the university’s] president to sign the pledge that CSU run 100 percent on renewable energy by 2030,” Miaymoto said. “He signed it, and we became the first educational institution in the nation to sign such a pledge.”
Many of the university’s buildings have been built and renovated with environmental responsibility in mind. Each facility is built or renovated with the national Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design rating system in mind. Along with the aforementioned solar plant, almost all of the campus facilities utilize some form of solar power, with multiple photovoltaic arrays on each building. CSU also utilizes a biomass boiler, which is used to burn approximately 600 tons of wood chips for natural gas used to heat water among other things, which in turn reduces the need for fossil fuels for energy.
Along with the technological approach, CSU’s Integrated Solid Waste program allows the university to recycle over 2 million pounds of material annually. The university even participates in the RecycleMania Tournament, a national competition to inspire and encourage students and faculty to recycle as much as possible.
Other than the tournament, CSU encourages alternative transportation on campus for both students and faculty. CSU was named a Platinum Bicycle Friendly University from the League of American Bicyclists. The campus contains over 10 miles of bike trails as well as over 16,000 bike racks for public use.
90 percent of academic departments at CSU are connected to sustainability studies or sustainability research. 54 academic departments employ at least one academic course centered on sustainability, whether it be service learning, research, activities or case studies.
When describing CSU’s investment in sustainable practices, Lynn Johnson, vice president of university operations, said in an interview:
“We did this because we are passionate about protecting the environment and encouraging sustainability, and not because it’s a ‘feel-good’ response.”
Cornell University (#15)
Photo Courtesy of the university, Flickr user “eflon”
Cornell University is the highest Ivy League university on the “Top 50,” ranked 15th. Despite being a bit lower on the list in comparison to the other two, they’ve adopted similar long term plans to shift the campus towards a “low-carbon future.”
Cornell University similarly develops academic facilities based on the LEED standard rating system. The university also vows that new buildings exceeding $5 million in total budget costs should retain 30 percent energy savings and receive a silver rating from the LEED standard.
Along with building environmentally responsible facilities, the university is powering them with renewable resources such as wind, water and solar. Until March 2011, Cornell University burned almost 63,000 tons of coal on campus annually to provide heating for facilities. In a combined effort to reduce emissions, the university shut down the in-house combustion facility as well as reduced their purchasing of coal-powered electricity, reducing their overall emissions by 80 percent.
Waste at Cornell University is typically repurposed, with less than half of their total waste going into landfills and over 70 percent of their waste being recycled. Waste diversion at the university is a serious commitment for Cornell, encouraging students and faculty to broaden their efforts of sustainability on an individual level with clubs and organizations such as the Cornell Solid Waste Institute, Environmental Health & Safety and more.
Cornell encourages public transportation with free bus passes for the first year and promotes the use of carpooling, biking and walking. The university also has restrictive parking policies in place to discourage the use of automobiles, while also encouraging students to use programs like the Big Red Bikes bike sharing program or carpooling with other students.
Cornell University has taken a proactive approach on all fronts in order to protect the environment by incrementally changing all facets of their campus to meet their reduction goal by 2030.
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