By Nina Petrou
With college acceptances ringing in for the senior class and applications opening for juniors, many students are choosing where they want to go to school. As the experience may seem daunting, an important factor that is often overlooked is a school’s sustainability practices. Increasingly, college and university campuses are embracing sustainability as it improves the quality of life on campus. According to Chris Adam, Coordinator of Sustainable Campuses at Dawson College, “A sustainable campus is one that has achieved a reduction of its ecological footprint well beyond standards and has done so with an institutional ethos that advocates for justice, peace, respect and action to protect the integrity of natural systems and demonstrates an open willingness to share this information beyond its own walls, wherever it’s needed”. This allows schools to create their own individual path for achieving sustainability and allow for their students to feel protected while conserving resources for future generations.
What should you look for?
Sustainable initiatives can take the shape of many forms. However, a school's use of renewable energy resources, healthy and local food choices, and safe and reliable public transportation should be at the top of your list.
According to the Princeton Review, a few of the top green colleges for 2022 include College of the Atlantic (ME), Dickinson College (PA), University of California—Santa Cruz, Chatham University (PA), and Bates College (ME). They selected these schools because of their locally sourced food and percentage of waste being diverted from landfills. Even if your top choice schools did not make the list, more schools are creating sustainability-focused majors. This is an important step to take as society needs to develop for a warming world. Fields involving environmental health and engineering will inevitably increase in demand.
Universities are at the forefront of a sustainable future, instilling values in students that they will take with them for the rest of their lives. Choosing a school that will change with the times encourages students to be devoted community members. All in all, students should choose to spend their time after high school in an environment that fosters growth and takes action against the climate crisis.