5 of America’s Greenest Colleges

A view from the southeast of Warren Wilson College, with Warren Wilson Road running north from the bottom left corner of the image toward the south entrance of campus. The river curves along the bottom run of trees. Photo: Warren-wilson.edu

Whether you’re a high-school student or a working mom considering a second degree, you’re sure to find your fit in one of America’s greenest colleges.

Here are five of the most eco-friendly campuses on the map to help you or someone you love make their college choice with the environment in mind.

College of the Atlantic Bar Harbor, Maine

If you’re looking to take green living from a passion to a career, Maine’s College of the Atlantic (COA) is the place for you. The only major this school of less than 400 offers is human ecology, aka human impact on the planet, and they’re going full-boar with their environmental initiatives.

This Acadia National Park-adjacent campus recently became the nation’s first carbon-neutral college, reducing its carbon impact to zero by using 100 percent non-emitting hydropower. And COA doesn’t need much juice to begin with, thanks to innovative green building techniques including solar power, modern insulation and wood pellet boilers for heating.

The green power of this campus doesn’t stop there. Dining services provide tasty meals fresh from COA’s own organic farm, and the school composts all of its food waste. And any scrap of paper you pick up on campus? You guessed it: it’s recycled.

Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

If you don’t already have enough reasons to buy your kids Harvard sweatshirts at birth, here is another to add to the list: this Ivy League landmark is also one of America’s greenest universities.

With a full-time staff of 25, countless student volunteers and a $12 million fund, Harvard’s Green Campus Initiative is one of the top campus-sustainability initiatives in the nation.

Harvard has undergone a green building overhaul and now boasts 75 LEED-registered building projects on campus, 26 of which are certified. That’s the highest number of certified projects of any American university, according to the U.S. Green Building Council.

Campus dining services also feed hungry student mouths with locally-grown food, and Harvard’s 55 percent recycling rate is the highest in the Ivy League. As the university has said lately, green is the new crimson.

Warren Wilson College Asheville, N.C.

If you love being part of a team, this North Carolina college was made for you. The campus is almost completely self-sustaining with the help of its student population.

Impossible? No way. They get food and lumber from a 300-acre working farm and a 700-acre managed forest that have been part of Warren Wilson’s campus since it was founded in 1894. Chainsaws even run on soy-oil, and campus vehicles are powered by biodiesel or solar power.

Every student lends a hand, with a 15-hour work-week as part of the curriculum. Warren Wilson students are also recycling super-stars, and a “free store” is open for business on campus where one student’s trash becomes another’s treasure.

University of California

If you’re looking for that big-school feel, look no further. With 10 campuses spread across the state, the University of California (UC) surely has what you’re looking for, and this state school has taken huge steps to reduce environmental impact.

The university has set goals to generate 10 megawatts of renewable energy by 2014 and achieve zero-waste and carbon-neutrality by 2020. Sounds like a tall order, but UC plans to deliver with some serious green building.

Several campuses, including UC San Francisco, have already begun implementing solar power, and campus buildings across the state are being overhauled for energy-efficiency. UC Berkley, already home to the nation’s first organic kitchen in a college setting, has set up a Cal Climate Action partnership in which the campus voluntarily tracks and reports carbon emissions in hopes of reaching that big ‘zero’.

Carleton College Northfield, Minn.

This quaint Minnesota college may be nestled amongst rolling hills and cornfields, but it’s keeping up with the times in a big way with plenty of innovative green tech on campus.

Inspired by students, Carleton became the first college in the country to own a utility-grade wind turbine in 2004. Its campus has also recently become home to an energy-saving green roof.

If you like to go green the easy way, you’re in luck here. Carleton was the first higher educational institute in Minnesota to implement a single-stream recycling program. That means students don’t have to separate recyclables before tossing them in the bin. And any eco-friendly college student knows, the only thing better than green is easy.

Related articles
Texas Universities Offer Renewable Energy to Alumni and Fans
The Intern Files: How to Green Your Dorm
The Princeton Review Releases Guide to Top Green Colleges