If you have anything to do with the buildings on your campus, Second Nature's latest offering, Campus Green Builder, is the website for you.

The site promises to act as "a one-stop online resource on campus green building that is free and accessible to all higher education institutions." It will include links to green building resources as well as experts’ directories; case studies (accounts from Spelman College, the College of Menominee Nation, East Los Angeles College, and Richland College are already live); announcements of green building and campus sustainability events, workshops, and webinars; free user accounts; and a blog for commenting and networking.

As the cost for green buildings goes down,and the standards for what counts as "green" go up, this information will be crucial. Amy Seif Hattan, director of strategic initiatives at Second Nature, notes that her experience at Middlebury taught her that with a little ingenuity and the right information, sustainable buildings don't have to break the bank:

"Supporting the local economy through green building was not only the right thing to do, but was not a significant extra expense. At the time the wood was ordered the exact cost was unknown, but what Middlebury College did know is that the timber received might actually be of higher quality than was expected. The estimate was that the wood could cost 2-3% more than non-certified wood, but that it could also save the college money."

She goes on to note that after a streak of new green buildings, the school is now focused on adaptive reuse and retrofitting old buildings for efficiency, which is the kind of thing that under-resourced schools, such as Minority-Serving Institutions, community and technical colleges, and the US Department of Education’s Title III and V institutions, which are the primary intended audience for the site, may find most useful.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute's new green rankings are out, and there is some good news: With all the focus on sustainability in higher education over the past few years, grades are going up. Just over half of the schools surveyed earned an overall grade of B-, compared to only 38 percent in last year’s report. The average overall grade this year is a C+, but 26 schools received the top grade (A-), including Amherst, Harvard, Pomona, University of Washington and University of New Hampshire.

Like last year, the report comes on the heels of a variety of rating systems. Sierra and Greenopia have their own (less rigorous) versions ranking the Top 20 and the 100 largest, respectively, and AASHE has just launched its STARS tracking system for schools to join. Last year, we released the Campus Report Card, which showed improvement on the operations and facilities side of greening, but a lag in curriculum development.

SEI’s report, now in its fourth year, only covers 300 schools in its ratings, leaving out the other 3700 colleges and universities in the U.S, although 32 new schools petitioned to be added this year and are ranked accordingly. It's worth noting that these 300 schools are chosen not on the basis of extraordinary projects or the extent of their efforts—though many are pack leaders—but on the size of their endowments.

The Institute notes, “The profiled schools have combined holdings of more than $325 billion—approximately 95 percent of all higher education endowment assets. Widespread investment declines have impacted almost all schools, with the Report Card finding average endowment value dropping by 23 percent in the past year.”

Its focus on the endowment is the most useful feature of SEI’s research. That enormous pool of money allows the wealthiest schools to support new research and endeavors that might not otherwise get the funding they need. Harvard, for example, reports that it invests in renewable energy companies, and “allocates a portion of the endowment to private equity and natural resource investments that seed companies and/or ventures that may take environmental and sustainability factors into consideration.”

But highlighting only the wealthiest or the largest schools is fraught with its own issues. As the Chronicle and others have pointed out over the years, sustainability is an extremely difficult thing to track, and an even more difficult thing to grade, particularly when looking at an entire campus. For example, if the college is planning to erect a half dozen new buildings that will certainly increase the energy needs of the campus, even if they are built according to LEED standards, should the school's grade go up or down? 

And what about the small schools, lacking in deep pockets but with commitment to spare?

Mitchell Thomashow of Unity College notes the importance of university investment, writing that colleges serve as dynamic economic multipliers, becoming places “where businesses and faculty work with students and community members to develop innovative entrepreneurial approaches.” However, Unity, which received a B on SEI’s report, wasn’t graded on its endowment because it didn’t meet the minimum threshold of $16 million in assets. It also received a D in the transportation category because its 24-car fleet doesn’t include any hybrids, and because “most people walk to their destinations on campus due to Unity’s small size.” Does this mean that Unity's students and staff aren't invested in their community, or that they are emitting more carbon dioxide during their commutes? Quite the opposite. But SEI's system isn't designed to take these small-school factors into account.

The hope is that as sustainability enters the mainstream, expanded systems like STARS will more comprehensively rate these colleges in a way that takes into consideration factors beyond finance, as well as providing a more common standard for measurement. Without those two factors, measuring sustainability won't be possible.  

Our latest issue is live. Here are today's headlines:

Youth Activists Making Their Voices Heard at Climate Talks
Joann Klimkiewicz
At climate talks in Poznan, young delegates from across the world added their voices to the debate, demanding that the global dialogue be refocused on the survival of civilizations and ecosystems.

Hydrogen: Just a Lot of Hot Gas?
Paul Tolme
Humboldt State’s new hydrogen-powered car and fueling station are part of a university-led effort to wean America off gasoline. But is hydrogen the fuel of tomorrow or yesterday’s hype? ClimateEdu goes for a ride to find out.

Service Learning Takes a Climate Approach
Courtney Cochran
A Warren Wilson College project addresses a climate challenge that lies beyond campus, taking advantage of the school's work program and service learning components to help local residents energy-proof their homes.

PERSPECTIVE: Recession is the Mother of Invention
Rachel Barge
As legislators make hard cuts to their budgets, education administrators hunker down on campus spending, particularly when it comes to so-called “luxury” sustainability programs. To compensate, student organizers and campus sustainability professionals are turning to new funding sources to implement vital campus sustainability initiatives.

ClimateEdu, published by National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology program, offers news, best practice analysis, events, resources, and opportunities for climate leadership on campus. To subscribe to our twice-monthly e-newsletter or read our archives, visit the homepage: ClimateEdu: News for the Green Campus.

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

In case you missed all the hullabaloo, let me direct you to our newest report: Campus Environment 2008: A National Report Card on Sustainability. It recognizes colleges and universities for exemplary efforts and awards academic letter grades (A through D) for collective, national performance on environmental literacy, energy, water, transportation, landscaping, waste reduction and more.

Methodology: In partnership with Princeton Research Survey Associates, we sent surveys to Presidents' and Deans' offices at practically every institution of higher education in the country. We got responses back from 1,068 schools, more than a quarter of American colleges and universities, and compiled them to track trends and new developments in environmental performance and sustainability. We last did this study in 2001, and have noticed some interesting changes between then and now.

Results: Essentially, when it comes to school management, American colleges are showing greener overall leadership than they did in 2001. Our research revealed that management generally values environmental, social and economic sustainability and is putting systems in place to broaden and sustain engagement campus-wide. Indicators of this commitment include increased goal-setting to improve performance, more staffing for sustainability programs, and a rise in orientation programs on waste reduction and other sustainability efforts on campus. However, sustainability initiatives still face roadblocks such as inadequate funding and support for faculty development.

Strangely, this commitment to sustainability in day-to-day operations is not quite as visible in academics, the place where one might expect universities to shine. Sustainability-related education offerings and recruitment programs have declined since 2001, as have faculty doing environmental and sustainability research.

To see more, or check the results for an individual school, download the full report here.

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. 

The buzz on green jobs is especially loud in the summertime, when new grads flood the email boxes of HR managers with carefully composed resumes. Luckily, the environmentally-sensitive have more options than they did in the past, and not just in the traditional "forest ranger or nonprofit administrator" range.

This Worldwatch Institute Report on green jobs claims that part of demand will come from the fact that "renewables tend to be a more labor-intensive energy source than the still-dominant fossil fuels, which rely heavily on expensive pieces of pro­duction equipment. A transition toward renewables thus promises job gains." We anticipate that these gains will include everything from the so-called "green-collar" hands-on positions to advocacy and strategy work. And then there are the needs in rapidly expanding sectors such as climate monitoring, public transportation, green building, green agriculture, urban planning, energy conservation, education* ...well, you get the idea.

With all these new opportunities come search engines and job sites designed to help everyone from entry-level to experienced workers find their perfect green niche. Even Experience, once of the biggest job search engines directed at graduates, has launched a Green Internships and Jobs section, which promises to plant a tree for every new member.

Need more proof? Check these out:

Cyber-Sierra: Natural resource, ecology and environmental occupations.
Earthworks-jobs: "Jobs in oil, energy, mining, geoscience, seismology, geodesy, earth science, earth system science, environmental science, environmental engineering, remediation, contaminated land, agriculture, forestry, ecology, plant science, meteorology, atmospheric science, oceanography, marine science, geography, hydrology, hydrogeology, soil science, remote sensing, GIS, geomatics, geotechnical / civil engineering, transport, asbestos surveying, renewable energy, carbon management, EIA, EMS, waste management and related subjects."
North American Asociation for Environmental Education: Mostly media, education, communications and outreach work.
EcoEmploy: All sorts of green jobs, from data managers to naturalists.
EnvironmentalCareer: "Helping people work for the environment"
Environmental-Expert: Jobs are posted at almost all levels of experience, and across categories such as climate, energy and renewables, environmental management, health and safety, monitoring and testing, soil, waste, and water.
Greenbiz: Engineers, project managers, nonprofits, etc.
Idealist: This popular nonprofit site is one of the easiest to use, and lists volunteer and intern positions, as well as full-time and contract jobs.
Stopdodo: More globally focused than the others, this engine offers environmental job listings on every continent.
SustainableBusiness: Focused on the corporate world, rather than nonprofit.
sustainjobs: "Sustainability, climate change and renewable energy jobs."

(*If you're looking for something education-focused, there's always AASHE's email bulletin, which contains a few postings targeted to the higher education community each week, NWF's own Career Gateway, and all kinds of specialized listservs and forums.)

So if you're on the hunt, good luck! And if you know of engines that aren't listed here, please add them in the comments.

Ever wonder whether your power strip or your shower timer saves more energy? David MacKay of Without Hot Air wants you to know for sure what your actions mean. In the author's own words, "We are inundated with a flood of crazy innumerate codswallop." Ergo, the Brit's new book, Sustainable Energy--without the hot air (free PDF download here) is designed to demystify  and contextualize the energy requirements of practically every element of modern life, from farming to gadgets.

For example, the average six minutes of driving takes as much energy as running a bath, which is equal to the amount of "vampire power" that your phone charger sucks from the outlet if left plugged in for a year. It's a telling comparison, especially considering that each of them saves less than one-twentieth of one percent of the average Londoner's energy usage. MacKay believes that people need to be aware of their own tendency to over- and underestimate the importance of various actions. "We need simple numbers, and we need the numbers to be comprehensible, comparable, and memorable," he says. Everything in the book is therefore converted to kilowatt-hours (kWh), making comparisons like the one above easy.

The book also examines fossil fuels, their impact on the climate, and world energy supplies. Most importantly, it explores possibilities for renewable energy, analyzing each individually, and creating a straightforward consumption versus production graph, which is easy to read but meticulously researched in the details. Sadly, you'll only see Britain's renewables examined in depth, with fewer numbers that are globally applicable.

Now, it would be all too easy to cry hypocrite at a book which includes "without hot air" in the title and then continues for 386 pages. However, Sustainable Energy--without the hot air is eminently readable due to the author's tongue tucked firmly in cheek, and illuminating besides. It's also designed to be very skimmable, in case you're pressed for time. For a healthy helping of common sense, a line-by-line comparison of the ways we use energy, and a marked dislike for carbon offsetting and corporate greenwashing, read the book online here.