My alma mater made the list; cue prideThe Princeton Review recently published its 2011 Green Rating Honor Roll for universities. Only 18 schools made the cut—and none from the Philadelphia area. (The closest, geographically, is University of Maryland.) The criteria for inclusion was somewhat complicated, as Ariel Schwartz explains at Fast Company:
What makes a college sustainable? Does it need scores of rooftop solar panels and LEED-certified buildings or will a PETA-approved cafeteria menu suffice?
The lucky recipients, which include Yale, Harvard, Northeastern, University of California, Berkeley, and West Virginia University, have three qualities in common: an overall commitment to environmental issues, a sustainability-minded curriculum, and students that are dedicated to all things green.
Hopefully lists like this will motivate local schools to tackle sustainability issues even more aggressively. We know many of them are already being proactive, whether its Philly U’s Sustainable Design program or Drexel’s groundbreaking Smart Grid.
