College All-Stars (From an article in Organic Style Magazine, March 2005)
Twelve more schools earn high marks for their sustainable campuses and eco-activist students.
Brown University
The Brown Is Green campaign is retrofitting buildings on the Rhode Island campus to be more energy- and water-efficient. The school now recycles nearly 20 percent of its garbage.
Colby College
The Maine campus runs on 100 percent renewable energy. The school purchases only seafood that is not in danger of being depleted—one of the first college initiatives of its kind.
College of the Atlantic
This campus in Maine runs entirely on renewable wind energy and serves food grown on its own organic farm and by other local farmers.
Harvard University
The campus in Massachusetts recycles more than 40 percent of its waste. A school partnership with Zipcar, a program that provides rental cars by the hour or the day, gives students reduced-rate car sharing, which cuts down on campus air pollution.
Middlebury College
This Vermont school recycles about 60 percent of campus waste. The buildings and furniture are made of wood from local, sustainable forests, and the dining halls serve organic coffee and purchase food from local farms.
Oberlin College
A "living machine," the environmental science building operates by recycling and reusing its energy and waste. Dining halls serve local organic food.
SUNY Buffalo
The campus recycles more than 35 percent of its waste and buys renewable wind power. That and other energy-saving practices save the school at least nine million dollars a year.
Tufts University
The Tufts Climate Initiative works to reduce carbon emissions on the Massachusetts campus, and eco-reps organize Do It in the Dark!, an annual energy-saving contest between dorms. The school also offers car sharing through Zipcar.
University of California, Berkeley
The school has a commitment to run on 10 percent clean energy by 2014 (already there's a solar-powered student union). The dining hall is energy- and water-efficient and donates food to the homeless.
University of Colorado, Boulder
Students buy wind energy for the campus. Shuttle buses run on biodiesel fuel, and the school makes interest-free bicycle loans available to students.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Students buy wind energy for the campus, and students and faculty use Energy Star computers through a partnership with the EPA. The school also offers car sharing through a deal with Zipcar.
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Campus dining halls serve local, organic food. The university's energy-saving practices should save the school $75 million over the next 30 years.
Considering a school that's not on the list above? Visit the college's Web site and do a search using the keywords "campus greening."