Green Colleges

A few of the blogs I read seem to have picked up this story from Grist listing 15 top Green Colleges and Universities. While the whole list is worth reading, there are a few that mean more to me than others.

Their number 1 choice, College of the Atlantic, is simply awesome. I got to spend a week there 10 years ago this summer and it was an incredible experience. I had breakfast with Ian McHarg (who was credited with giving the school's founder the idea in the first place) and I was inspired daily by the setting and their school's devotion to its mission.

Chico State sounds like a great example of a state school where the atmosphere of learning and exchange of ideas is being transformed by the energy that students and faculty have brought to campus. It isn't enough for some administrators simply to commit to buying solar panels or green electricity, it has to sink in.

I can't help but notice how few of thes schools are schools with landscape architecture programs. It is a a lost opportunity when more LA programs aren't pushing their campus harder, but it is also shame that some of these great efforts are happening in places where it is harder for the nation's small pool of future professional landscape architects to learn from the experience.

It is interesting to ask what it means for Rutgers. Some of the efforts, like solar arrays and purchasing green energy, seem like easy and quick advances. But it would be nice if we could see a Cook campus-wide response that gets students excited about spending 4 years at SEBS energized by trying to find new ways to improve our campus.