As part 2 of last week's post on college sustainability rankings, here's a little more information on the Sustainable Endowment Institute's newly issued Green Report Card.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute relies heavily on a small core of schools for its College Sustainability Report Card: "colleges and universities with the 300 largest endowments in the United States and Canada, representing more than $380 billion in endowment assets, or more than 90 percent of all university endowments."

While 300 is only a small fraction of American colleges and universities (about 13%), the study is designed to examine how schools are using their endowments to work towards sustainability, NOT to rank general sustainability trends. (For a more general overview of trends in higher education, have a look at NWF's Campus Environment 2008 report, which covered more than 1,000 schools of all sizes and types.)

That said, there are a few obvious patterns among the schools who participated. In the good news category, two of every three schools that were evaluated in 2008 and 2009 have improved their scores, with more than four out of five improving since their 2007 rating.

Also good, a majority (66%) of these schools have full-time staff dedicated to sustainability efforts on campus, and most have signed the ACUPCC or made a commitment to massive carbon reductions. Green building, local food purchases, recycling and alternative transportation projects are on the rise. And most importantly for the SEI, endowment transparency and investments in renewable energy are increasing at many schools.The list of all-star schools shouldn't surprise anyone: Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Oberlin, Stanford and and University of Colorado are a few of the top 15, and they well deserve the recognition.

Of course, there are still a few F's among the accolades, some going to schools such as Brigham Young University, Howard University and Hillsdale College, which did not respond to the survey. While the F doesn't mean that these schools don't have any green efforts -- for example, BYU does have a recycling program and student eco-clubs -- it does mean that those efforts are not obvious enough for SEI to track them without the school's involvement, and that the school hasn't yet made it a priority to lead by example. Because the report is intended to rank the schools with the largest endowments, a school's non-participation didn't exempt it from inclusion, as with other sustainability-tracking reports.

Perhaps one of the most refreshing things about this particular report is its web navigability. The site, which is hosted outside SEI's, is designed to be a destination for the competing schools, who can pull up side-by-side comparison charts between any set of schools to compare factor by factor, or year by year. Rather than presenting results in document form, the site makes it easy to move from school to school and filter summaries.

As we and others have discussed before, the plethora of ranking systems raises difficult questions. How do independent organizations weight initiatives that have varying levels of effect on climate and CO2 emissions? Should curriculum shifts or operations changes be prioritized? Is it unfair to favor administration-led changes and ignore small-scale, grassroots involvement? Or should the programs that cut the most carbon be our primary goal? How do we address globalization concerns and find the balance between social justice and the need for open markets? What about habitat, biodiversity, and water quality?

In my (mostly unqualified) opinion, it seems we have a long way to go towards a holistic and healthy relationship with our natural surroundings, as well as the fuels, industry and machinery which have provided such unprecedented educational opportunity. However, I also think that a certain amount of gratitude is in order for the hard work of university presidents and administrators, students, faculty, reporters, researchers, conservation organisations, and supporting nonprofits, which are finally getting some of the attention they deserve.

A few weeks ago, hot on the heels of our Report Card, came Sierra's annual "Cool Schools" feature, profiling some truly tremendous campus efforts. Days later, Plenty’s Green Campuses 3.0 highlighted a few more. Grist weighed in with a “Top 15” list of schools more recently, and supplemented their offerings today with a special series on eco-activism on campus, which focuses on both student work and operational changes. I could go on with many more illustrious examples of the media (finally!) paying attention to campus climate efforts, but since these are just a few of the publications that have written recently about greening efforts in higher education, and many of them have already gotten coverage on this blog, I’ll stop there. Back-to-school days are here for sure! 

Unfortunately, these articles only rarely delve into the full-length research studies done by university reviewers and nonprofits. The magazine coverage is cool, but not nearly as meticulous in its methodology as some of these studies, as reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education's Buildings & Grounds blog. 

Our Campus Environment 2008 report falls into this second category, by covering over 1,000 schools in the US rather than cherry-picking a few for a top ten list. Princeton Review rated 534 schools in its version, and next week the Sustainable Endowments Institute is scheduled to release its own Green Report Card, which covers 300 schools that were selected based on their large endowments. AASHE is in the pilot stages of another system, called STARS, which is intended to create a common standard for measuring sustainability in higher education. For a more in-depth comparison of the differences between these reports (and a few additional ones), see this exellent article from Inside Higher Ed, which explains the differences in methodology and intent of the various systems. 

The idea of rankings and ratings can be a sticky one. When dealing with so many schools, impartiality is usually easy, but deciding how to weight factors is definitely not. Because we here at NWF’s Campus Ecology tend to focus on climate issues as the greatest threat to wildlife and our own human habitat, we are more likely to prioritize renewable energy purchasing than something like a small-scale local food co-op, since the first is more measurable and directly related to reducing GHG emissions. However, that small food co-op may be student-driven (as opposed to a facilities dept. decision), and therefore more likely to engage youth leaders that will go out in to the world and effect all kinds of change. It is also more personally relatable, since such food usually tastes better and puts local communities on a more direct path towards overall sustainability. Depending on the values of an organization, prioritizing is difficult, and it’s rare that any single entity can cover everything it wants to in a coherent way. 

That difficulty is why we're glad that campus environmental work is getting so much attention. From the outside, it probably looks like a lot of noise and competing reports, but most of us in here tend to look at it as filling in each others’ holes, raising new solutions and doing our best to support the colleges at the forefront of investing in a new energy future. Surely, it’s a wonderful development that 2008 seems to be one of those years when forces combine.

With the new semester starting, opportunities abound for students interested in putting their screenwriting and film skills to work:

Climate Matters: Inspire Your Next President

These 30 or 60 second short videos must relate to climate change and not to the support of or opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party. Brighter Planet and 1Sky have teamed up with Vimeo to host the contest, and judges include Maggie Gyllenhaal, David Jenkins and Tia Lessin. Winners receive a cash prize the screening of their video on various sites and events. Deadline: September 22, 2008

Vulnerability Exposed: Social Dimensions of Climate Change

The Social Development Department of the World Bank is looking for micro-documentaries (2-5 minutes) on how climate change affects people's lives and communities around the world, especially in developing countries, and on what can be done to reduce their vulnerability and build climate resilience. Categories include Conflict, Urban Space, Social Policy, Migration, Gender, Human Rights, and others. There is a category for Youth entrants (24 and under) and a general category.Winners will receive an all expenses paid trip to Washington, DC, for a screening of their film and a series of networking and learnign events with the World Bank id December 2008.  Deadline: October 24th, 2008 

Building Dashboard Student Contest

Lucid will award its Building Dashboard to a U.S. or Canadian college or university whose student-led team submits the best YouTube video (3-10 minutes) demonstrating a creative initiative that engages people to conserve energy and resources and how a Building Dashboard® would benefit those efforts. Winners receive a Building Dashboard which can track energy usage in up to three buildings for their campus. Deadline: October 24, 2008

Voices and Visions from the Next Generation of Conservationists

The National Council on Science, Policy and the Environment is seeking short videos (up to 5 minutes) focusing on how today’s youth are and will be addressing the challenges that threaten biodiversity. Entrants must be aged 12-25. Winners will receive one complimentary registration to the NCSE conference in Washington DC, a pass to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and select winners will have their video displayed during the 2009 DC Environmental Film Festival. Deadline: Oct 31, 2008

Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming

Show the world how you are confronting global warming on campus: create a three minute video about an initiative, project or campaign going on on campus or in the surrounding community and share it with the world. NWF's Campus Ecology sponsors the competition, and winners will be awarded grant money and a spot in Chill Out, our national broadcast in April 2009. Deadline: November 30, 2008

Several weeks ago, Congress passed the Higher Education Sustainability Act (as part of HR 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act), and on the 14th of August, the President signed this act into law. This is the first authorized bill in 18 years which provides funding for environmental and sustainability work at higher education institutions.

Kevin Coyle, NWF's own Vice President of Education, says, “We have to prepare the next generation for a new energy economy and give them the skills to address future environmental challenges, like global warming. And sustainability education is the right way to do it.” The overwhelming support from institutions and individuals, partly through organizations such as the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, has made this opportunity available.

For colleges and universities, of which there are 4,100 in the US, this bill means several things:

--The creation of a University Sustainability Grants Program, which will provide competitive grants to institutions of higher education. These grants are intended to expand sustainability curriculum as well as help the institutions themselves become more energy-efficient. It also provides more funding for alternative energy research on campus. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that this bill was passed in time to earn funding for  FY09, but Jim Elder of the Campaign for Environmental Literacy expects that we can look for these grants by FY10. The budget is expected to support anywhere from 25 to 200 campuses, to the tune of $50 million.

--The Department of Education will also convene a national sustainability summit to support curriculum development and sustainable management practices on campus.

It goes without saying that nationwide change often begins at universities, where critical thought and innovation (usually!) rule the day. Given that many of the implications of climate change are still unclear, and student enrollment in graduate science programs has been dropping for several years, perhaps this sort of funding can provide more of the research and experimentation that the US needs so desperately.

In case you missed this new report on our home site or in our e-newsletter, let me direct your attention to our new Climate Action Planning Guide for universities and colleges.

The report is designed to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly and cost effectively, by analyzing the steps needed to create a comprehensive strategy for reducing the climate footprint of an institution. It shows how other schools have brought together a wide range of staff, faculty, administrators, and students to analyze and prioritize low-carbon plans, eventually providing a complete policy with timelines for GHG reduction. 

We hope you'll find it useful to efforts at your own school. Download the PDF here. 

Being part of National Wildlife Federation, those of us at Campus Ecology talk a lot about wildlife habitats. Not only are we invested in maintaining biological diversity and preserving the migration paths of plants, birds, butterflies and animals, we also know that creating spaces for wildlife means that we are providing natural carbon sequestration opportunities.

We recently hosted a teleconference on campus habitat restoration (available here) and learned about some great things that schools have been doing to green their campuses through the use of habitat. The University of Central Florida, for example, focused their efforts on education by creating several distinct ecosystems in the UCF arboretum that replicate habitats exclusive to central Florida. The 12-acre biogeographic garden is crisscrossed with trails for students and visitors. The university has also started a temperature tracking system on campus to explore the "urban heat island effect." Native vegetation will be planted on roofs and in hot spots, and then temperature will be tracked again. Staff hope to see significant cooling in certain areas.

Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, Illinois, took a different approach by restoring habitat that had already been damaged.  Oakton's acres of habitat had been overrun with buckthorn and a Eurasian garlic mustard plant which crowded out native species and plants. With a grant from BP and a lot of help from student volunteers, these plants are slowly being eradicated to make room for seeds from local (within a 25-mile radius) northeastern Illinois. Once these take hold, the ecosystem can return to its natural state and attract pollinating insects and other wildlife. Oakton also uses controlled burns, as local species are adapted to fire and will survive, while invasive plants often won't.

An even bigger project is currently taking place at The University of Washington Bothell Cascadia Community College, where staffers looked at a dilapidated section of the North Creek floodplain on campus lands, and embarked on a decades-long restoration to manage watersheds and coax the forest back to life. (Look here for more details.) The ongoing restoration acts as a valuable case study to students, while it also attracts good press to the school as one of the biggest floodplain restorations in the Pacific Northwest.

It can sometimes be difficult to convince other campus decision-makers that habitat restoration is important and effective. It took several years to formulate the plan and gain permits for the wetlands restoration project at UWB/CCC, and even though progress is being made, it takes several decades for an ecosystem to reach maturity. Many of the people who contributed to the project may never see this part of North Creek functioning in its full glory. Also, seeing energy costs go down due to increased efficiency is, to many people, more satisfying than knowing that green space is sequestering carbon. This means some campuses are more willing to retrofit buildings than create habitats. Both are important, but we think that the Wildflower loop at UCF's aboretum is good evidence that habitats are important for well-being, not just carbon capture.

Check out our podcast and powerpoint of the web conference if you want to get more details on these projects. You can also contact us for more research and examples if you're interested in implementing this kind of project on your own campus. To start small, consider dedicating a small section of your campus as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. And for extra credit, check to see if Fritz Haeg's Animal Estates exhibit is coming to your town. This traveling installation reintroduces animals into environments such as strip malls, garages, office parks, freeways, front yards and parking lots to examine the displacement of wildlife by humans and bring species back into harmony. 

I spent a few hours this morning reading through the New York Times Magazine's intensive survey of new green projects in buildings, energy, food, transportation, lifestyle and technology. There are some interesting new developments, as well as plenty of caveats for the possibility of negative unintended consequences, and a vast difference of opinion in regards to the efficacy of government involvement in emissions.

The section titled "Learn" mentions higher education institutions (as well as public schools) that are making serious progress in fighting climate change, such as the University of Washington, Carleton, Harvard, MIT, and Middlebury College. The article also mentions the Energy Action Coalition, which started the Campus Climate Challenge. Take some time to browse; the NYT's report will mean that some of these projects will be receiving a lot more attention in future!

Hundreds of colleges and universities, schools and businesses all across the world are hosting the National Wildlife Federation’s second annual broadcast, Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming as part of their series of activities leading up to Earth Day on April 22. The Chill Out competition and awards program continues the National Wildlife Federation’s tradition of recognizing and celebrating innovative solutions to global warming on our nation’s campuses. The inspirational examples illustrate how it is possible to dramatically reduce our use of fossil fuels and human impact on the climate to achieve what the science is necessary: a minimum 2% annual reduction in CO2 emissions.

For example, Butte College in Oroville, California expects to be carbon neutral by 2015 without relying on carbon credits by employing solar panels and fuel cells for energy storage; the University of Missouri has grown by 60% but has reduced energy consumption by 19%; students at the University of Montana have taken 1,000 cars off the road every day through green transportation policies; Cascadia Community College and the University of Washington-Bothel are sequestering carbon dioxide and protecting wildlife through extensive habitat restoration; and students at the Berkshire School in Massachusetts capped carbon emissions and trade allowances among the residences.

As noted by moderator, Andrew Lee, a member of the National Wildlife Federation’s Youth Advisory Council and former Campus Ecology Fellow, “we have a moral responsibility to lead, especially in the US, where we have only about 5% of the world’s population, but use almost 25% of the world’s energy resources. Our colleges and universities are among the wealthiest in the world and are recognizing more and more that our higher education institutions bear a profound responsibility to lead.”

Host sites include colleges and universities, high schools, schools and businesses in the US, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Canada, China, India, Iran and Syria. An additional 150 sites or more are anticipated to host the program in the month of April 2008 and beyond. To date, Chill-Out is the only nationwide program with a global reach that specifically showcases solutions to global warming on US campuses.

Media coverage of the 2008 program includes radio, on-line and print news, blogs and websites. See: AOL Money and Finanance, Chronicle of Higher Education, WBEN 930 AM, Citizen Tribune, Green BayPress Gazette (Wisconsin), Charlotte.com, Climate Change Solutions, Stonyfield Farm. The program is sponsored by Stonyfield Farm, Climate Counts, and the Kendeda Fund. Presenting partners include the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA), the Earth Day Network, and the Energy Action Coalition’s Campus Climate Challenge.

Image by Fritz Myer, all rights reserved.

Christopher Hill, a biochemistry professor at the University of Utah, recently published a great op-ed in the Daily Utah Chronicle about the potential of wind power at his campus. Currently about 9% of the university's grid power comes from wind turbines, but with a very small percentage of additional per-student costs, this amount could be increased dramatically:

"One hundred percent of the U's share of grid electricity would come from new wind sources if the ASUU [Associated Students of the University of Utah] donation were increased by $10 per student per semester, each faculty and staff member donated $30 per year, or the administration contributed less than 0.04 percent of total U revenue."

We are especially impressed that individual departments can campaign for wind power (see the breakdown here) to cover their share of electricity needs. Many are already at 100% or more! It's a very tangible way for campus offices to get involved on a voluntary basis, and see the results of their involvement.

Photo credit www.nrel.gov

We're less than a week away from the second annual Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming webcast! This FREE webcast will feature colleges from around the country that are leading the fight against global warming. Ask our panelists questions, learn more about what you can do to confront global warming on your campus, and watch student videos.

Chill Out is next Wednesday, April 16 at 7pm Eastern. Sign up today to host this free webcast on your campus!