By Gina Munsey •
February 18, 2009
“I’m going to engage in hands-on organic gardening and culinary studies while immersed in the world of local and sustainable food systems.” If a college student told me this, I would assume that he or she planned to step away from the classroom and take a hiatus from secondary education.
But for Montana State University students, this seemingly implausible scenario is the real deal. Last month at the launch of the spring semester, MSU unveiled the brand-new Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems undergraduate degree program.
How many colleges and universities belong to the NCAA’s Division I? 342
How many colleges and universities are participating in the 2009 Recyclemania? 510
College sports fans will likely say “That’s not an accurate comparison, Jeff.” They’re probably right… but, the question remains: Have you ever heard of Recyclemania?
I hadn’t until checking my feed reader today. Apparently, I’m not alone: I checked most of the other
big green blogs, and found nary a mention in any posts. There was
one passing mention of it on Ecolocalizer, but it was far from the focus of the post.
Now, I don’t bring up this lack of coverage (at least within the green web) to criticize anyone, but rather to express my amazement — this thing’s huge! Founded in 2001 “as a friendly challenge between recycling coordinators at two schools in Ohio, Miami University and Ohio University,” Recyclemania now coordinates participating colleges and universities from all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and, for the first time, schools from outside the United States.
By JD Rucker •
January 15, 2009
Colleges have always been a primary point of rally for green initiatives. Now, a threat to malting barley has created a new call for support as the price and availability of beer is being threatened by climate change according to a study conducted and released in 2008.
The potential for the alcohol industry to be effected by climate change has been a concern for some time, but it is hitting a feverish pitch and garnering support and calls to action from campuses across the country. In Lawrence, Kansas, Greenpeace volunteers held a recruitment event called “Save the Ales” earlier this week to tackle how global warming effects college drinking.
By Summer Minor •
January 13, 2009
Despite the common idea that you need to be wealthy to really be green, there are many ways to both save money and be environmentally friendly. One of those ways, a personal favorite of mine, is buying used instead of new. Especially when you are buying books. Choosing to buy a used book rather than a new one saves a tree, lessens the impact from printing the book, and if you buy it from a local used book shop lowers the impact that shipping has on the environment.
But what about renting books? The Netflix CEO is taking the rental idea from movies to textbooks. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars buying new textbooks for a class you will only be in half the year you can now rent them for a fraction of the cost. It is definitely something I wish had been around when I was in college.
Dog days of August? Not at sustainablog!
While most people are wondering if the summer heat is ever going to end, we were hitting our stride here: many more posts, and much more variety. Perhaps it was the cool breeze created by fingers flying across the keyboard…
August 2008
By Michael A. Weber •
October 28, 2008
Hello, my name is Michael. I am a new writer here at Planetsave and I will be spending my first couple months documenting my personal search for a green job amidst America’s growing economic hardship.
I am in a good position to find a job, or so I hope.
I graduated a few months ago from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington with a B.A. degree emphasizing environmental policy. My studies in college pertained to social and political solutions to environmental problems, particularly global warming. I was part of a group that documented our school’s entire carbon footprint, which is, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive study of a college campus’s footprint to date.
By Jennifer Lance •
October 20, 2008
Freshman entering the University of New England and Ripon College are given free bikes if they promise to leave their cars at home. At Ripon College, 200 Trek mountain bikes, helmets and locks were given to freshman that signed up for the program. Dr. David C. Joyce, Ripon’s president and competitive mountain biker, explained, “We did it as a [...]
By Joshua S Hill •
September 2, 2008
When the future of our planet’s environment is concerned, one of the groups that we hope are paying attention is those currently attending college. They will be the leaders, the decision makers, the discoverers and changers of the future. But at the moment, they are simply learning the value of calculus and being exposed to copious amounts of beer.
But thanks to the National Wildlife Federation’s just released Campus Environment 2008 report card, conducted in partnership with Princeton Survey Research Associates International, we can at least be certain that, in addition to learning about beer and the opposite sex, our college students are getting a lesson in green.
The report follows up on its first run, back in 2001, by providing a review of programs at 1,068 institutions, grading them on an A to D scale for collective, national performance on a range of issues such as energy, water, transportation, waste reduction and environmental literacy.
By Robin Shreeves •
August 12, 2008
According to a recent article in USA Today, Costly College Prerequisite: Decorate Dorm, 17.6 billion dollars is expected to be spent on back to school shopping for students in kindergarten through college this year. That’s $527.08 per family - an 18% rise from last year. Back to school shopping falls right behind holiday shopping for retailer’s most profitable season.
Why?
Sure, there are some necessities that need to be bought when going back to school. My sons both have a page long list of items that they are required to have on the first day of school - pencils, composition notebooks, scissors, a box of tissues, etc. When I was a kid, schools supplied those things, but budgets are ever tightening and now families are required to buy them. I certainly won’t be buying $527.08 worth of necessary supplies, though. I don’t think anyone will be buying $527.08 of necessary supplies, unless their definition of necessary is different from mine.
I was in Target last night, and there was an entire section dedicated to the necessities for a college dorm room. This was separate from the traditional back to school section with school supplies. This section had coordinated dorm bedding, rugs, lamps, wall hangings and desk top accessories. Other items that many college kids consider necessities are computers (okay, I’ll give them that), microwaves, TV’s, DVD players, gaming consoles, mp3 players, hand held gaming systems, and stereos.
What’s the best defense against charges of “greenwashing?” Its measurement, of course: accurate, verifiable assessments provide evidence that an institution is “walking the walk” in its efforts to operate more sustainably. While the business world might have the most to gain in terms of releasing concrete data regarding sustainability initiatives, higher education’s enthusiastic embrace of green initiatives has also drawn scrutiny from a variety of stakeholders: students, faculty, administrators, alumni and board members all want to know that a campus’ efforts to “go green” represent sound investments in both the institution’s, and the planet’s, well-being. While a number of reports have measured various aspects of college and university environmental programs, no single method for assessing campus sustainability exists… well, until now.
Last week, I ran across an article from the Washington University Record noting that it, along with 89 other institutions, was participating in the pilot stage of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). The pilot represents the start of “a collaborative process to develop a campus sustainability rating system” with the following goals:
- Provide a guide for advancing sustainability in all sectors of higher education, from governance and operations to academics and community engagement.
- Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions by establishing a common standard of measurement for sustainability in higher education.
- Create incentives for continuous improvement toward sustainability.
- Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance.
- Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community and promote a comprehensive understanding of sustainability that includes its social, economic and environmental dimensions.
