The greenest colleges of them all
The Princeton Review has added “green ratings” to its popular best-of college guides.
California colleges were squeezed out of the “Green Rating Honor Roll” consisting of 11 colleges -- including Harvard, the University of Oregon and Emory University in Atlanta -- that scored a perfect score of 99 in the Princeton ratings.
But Sonoma State, with 98 points, came very close. And 10 other California campuses scored in the 90s: UC Davis, UC Riverside, Santa Clara University, UC Berkeley, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Stanislaus, UC Santa Barbara, Claremont McKenna (pictured), Stanford and UC Irvine.
The new ratings are based on information provided by the colleges, covering their avowed commitment to organic and local food; car-pooling and biking; energy efficient certification for new buildings; greenhouse gas reductions; recycling and renewable energy. Points were also awarded to campuses that offer an environmental studies major and that hire a full-time “sustainability” officer.
Students have demonstrated growing interest in attending environmentally friendly campuses, Princeton Review publisher Robert Franek said in a statement. In a survey of 10,300 college applicants and their parents, 63% said they would like to know about campus policies on the environment.
“The ‘green’ movement on college campuses is far more than an Earth Day recycling project or a dining hall menu of organic food,” Franek said. “It is the students of today who will face and hopefully find solutions for the enormous environmental challenges confronting our planet’s future.”
-- Gale Holland
Photo by Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times
