Office of Sustainability

The Evergreen State College praised for green efforts by national magazine, ranks sixth on list

Sierra magazine has named the nation’s top 20 “coolest” schools for their efforts to stop global warming and operate sustainably. From Harvard’s 17 LEED-certified buildings to Penn’s biodiesel recyclers, the magazine’s September/October cover story spotlights the schools that are making a true impact for the planet, and marks Sierra’s third annual listing of America’s greenest universities and colleges. The complete list is available online at http://www.sierraclub.org/coolschools

The Evergreen State College placed sixth on the list. Initiatives at the college include a pervasive focus on working toward sustainability and justice by integrating these topics into the graduate and undergraduate curriculum and student academic experiences, leadership in environmental design and organic agriculture, and sound conservation policies, including protection and preservation of natural spaces on campus.

“We’re thrilled to see The Evergreen State College making a real commitment to greening its campus,” said Carl Pope, the Sierra Club’s executive director. “The next generation of students cares deeply about stopping global warming, and schools like Evergreen that take the initiative to become environmentally responsible are doing the right thing for the planet and are better poised to attract the best students.”

The announcement comes just weeks after the Princeton Review noted Evergreen as one of its 15 ‘Green Honor Roll’ colleges for receiving a score of 99, the highest possible green rating score possible.  More on this: http://www.evergreen.edu/news/archive/2009/07/princeton

This year’s top-20 coolest schools are taking dramatic steps to curb climate change.  Whether it’s UCLA, with 38,476 students, The Evergreen State College with its 4,696 students, or the College of the Atlantic with 321 students, Sierra’s list shows that schools of all sizes are taking action.

Sierra’s Top 20 coolest schools of 2009 are:

1. University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, Colorado)

2. University of Washington at Seattle (Seattle, Washington)

3. Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vermont)

4. University of Vermont (Burlington, Vermont)

5. College of the Atlantic (Bal Harbor, Maine)

6. The Evergreen State College (Olympia, Washington)

7. University of California at Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, California)

8. University of California at Berkeley (Berkeley, California)

9. University of California at Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California)

10. Oberlin College (Oberlin, Ohio)

11. Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

12. University of New Hampshire (Durham, New Hampshire)

13. Arizona State University at Tempe (Tempe, Arizona)

14. Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut)

15. University of Florida at Gainesville (Gainesville, Florida)

16. Bates College (Lewiston, Maine)

17. Willamette University (Salem, Oregon)

18. Warren Wilson College (Asheville, North Carolina)

19. Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)

20. New York University (New York, New York)

Sierra magazine has 1.2 million readers and is a publication of the Sierra Club, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental group. For full descriptions of each winning school’s green efforts, visit Sierra magazine online at: http://www.sierraclub.org/coolschools

MES student Kyle Murphy did his thesis on the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) pilot project for campus sustainability.

Kyle’s work has been showcased by AASHE as a resource and example for other educational institutions around the country.

Kyle’s work is referenced HERE.

NEW YORK, July 27, 2009, Noon EDT — The Princeton Review – known for its education services helping students choose and get into colleges – today reported its second annual Green Ratings of colleges: a measure of how environmentally friendly the institutions are on a scale of 60 to 99.

The company tallied its Green Ratings for 697 institutions based on data it collected from the colleges in 2008-09 concerning their environmentally related policies, practices, and academic offerings. The Princeton Review named 15 colleges, including The Evergreen State College, to its “2010 Green Rating Honor Roll” – a list that salutes the institutions that received the highest possible score – 99 – in this year’s rating tallies.

Said Robert Franek, V.P. / Publisher, The Princeton Review, “The ‘green’ movement on college campuses is far more than an Earth Day recycling project. It is growing tremendously among students and administrators alike. This year we saw a 30% increase in the number of colleges participating in our Green Rating survey. We thank the nearly 700 institutions  (697 vs. 534 last year) that supplied us with the data we requested to tally their scores. Many have shown extraordinary commitments to environmental issues and to the environment in their practices and programs. We are pleased to play a role in helping students who care deeply about these issues identify, get into, and study at these schools.”

Franek noted the rising interest among students in attending colleges that practice, teach and support environmentally responsible choices. Among almost 16,000 college applicants and parents of applicants The Princeton Review surveyed this year for its annual “College Hopes & Worries Survey,” 66% of respondents overall (and 68% of students vs. 59% of parents) said they would value having information about a college’s commitment to the environment – a 4% increase from last year’s respondents. Among that cohort, 24% of respondents overall (26% of students vs. 18% of parents) said such information would “very much” impact their (their child’s) decision to apply to or attend the school.

The Princeton Review has dedicated a resource area on its website for students and others interested in learning more about the rating and the benefits of attending a green college.  The area <www.princetonreview.com/green> has information on colleges with exemplary environmental programs, questions to ask on school visits, and links to organizations that promote higher education and campus sustainability programs.

The Princeton Review developed its Green Rating criteria and institutional survey in 2007 with ecoAmerica, a non-profit environmental organization that continues to participate in this project.  The criteria for the rating cover three broad areas:

1/ whether the school’s students have a campus quality of life that is healthy and sustainable

2/ how well the school is preparing its students for employment and citizenship in a world defined by environmental challenges

3/ the school’s overall commitment to environmental issues.

The institutional survey for the rating included ten questions on everything from energy use, recycling, food, buildings, and transportation to academic offerings (availability of environmental studies degrees and courses) and action plans and goals concerning greenhouse gas emission reductions.

The Princeton Review college ratings are scores on a scale of 60 to 99 in eight categories. The ratings are based primarily on institutional data.

Evergreen has joined 5 other forward thinking universities from the United States, Spain, China, and the United Kingdom in the UNEP Climate Neutral Network.

See HERE for more information.

The National Climate Seminar will launch a bi-weekly, national phone conversation featuring top climate scientists, political leaders, and policy analysts. Hosted by the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, the seminars will be available live to educators, students and citizens—just dial-in.

The half-hour seminars will be held the first and third Wednesday of each month, at 3:00 PM Eastern, Noon Pacific. Questions for the presenters can be submitted on-line prior to the seminar, and all conversations will be available in podcast.

National Climate Seminar– 2009-2010

Fall Semester: The World Decides

9-Sep Dallas Burtraw/RFF Policy: Strong Enough?

23-Sep Stephen Schneider/Stanford Meaning of Business as Usual

7-Oct Bill McKibben/350.org Climate Citizens

21-Oct Hunter Lovins/Natural Capital Business on Board

4-Nov Andy Revkin/NYT Copenhagen Prospects

11-Nov Hon. Ed Markey* What Needs

18-Nov Mohan Monasinghe/IPCC China, India and the US

2-Dec David Orr/Oberlin Educators, Citizens, Copenhagen and Beyond

16-Dec Jessy Tolkan/Energy Action Spring 2010: The Youth Voice

*Invited

Courtesy of The National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions.

Evergreen’s Office of Sustainability coordinated a climate action planning symposium hosted on campus on Saturday, June 27th. Over 40 participants, including elected officials, public sector employees, business owners, and concerned citizens discussed the planning process and teamwork necessary for positive responses to climate change. See HERE for a summary of the event.

This event was the fourth in our South Puget Sound Climate Action Series, see HERE for more information.

Microsoft StudentTV features two short videos about Evergreen’s food practices for Earth Day. Aramark Food Sustainability Intern, and Evergreen graduate, Halli Winstead talks about the Greenery, and T Claw talks about the Flaming Eggplant. Take a look!

Microsoft Student TV or watch the other college videos on YouTube

Want to get an idea how your lifestyle compares to the average american lifestyle in terms of carbon emissions?

Try the Nature Conservancy’s personal carbon footprint calculator:

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/

Take a look at a Bike Plan recently completed by student, Alex Bertolucci.

The Evergreen State College now sports 4 electric-charging-station public-parking spaces in C lot to accommodate electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.  They are located just down from the disabled-access parking at the edge of C lot closest to the Child Care Center.

This is a strong step towards supporting new transportation habits. Congratulations to the Facilities staff who made it happen!

(A concern has been voiced regarding the electric charging stations in C lot: if two vehicles are charging at the same time, will the circuit breaker blow? Each duplex receptacle has its own circuit so there should not be a problem when two electric vehicles are charging from both receptacles on the same post.)