school

The college selection process is a rigorous one. As a rising senior, I know how difficult it is to search for a school that meets all your needs, be they class size, student teacher ratio, best dorms, or even best parties. Every little thing counts in order to make sure your four years go smoothly. But when cruising college campuses and digging through acceptance stats, how many of us stop to think about how a school best our meets ecological needs? I doubt most even have a clue how to tell just how green their dream college or university really is.

It might not be a top priority for some, but for those young men and women who are becoming increasingly environmentally aware, it is important for them to have this information at hand.

In fact, according to a Princeton review survey, “six out of 10 college applicants and parents say the environmental factor would affect their decision to apply to or attend a school.”

Groups such the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and the Sustainable Endowments Institute (SEI) have started to release rating systems which students and parents can use to narrow down or even expand their college choices. The SEI in Cambridge Massachusetts gives letter grades to at least 200 public and private schools with the largest endowments. It grades how well a school uses its funds to advocate for the environment, as well as green campus factors.

Among those colleges listed as “Climate Change and Energy Leaders” are: Amherst College, Arizona State, Cornell University, Duke University, Harvard, MIT, New York University, Northeastern University, Tufts University, University of Washington, Wesleyan, and Yale. To find out more about various other colleges and to see who else made the list, check out theSEI’s 2008 Report Card. And while you’re at it, read more about others’ takes on the sustainability reports.

Personally, I love the idea of the reports, and will definitely be factoring them into my ongoing search for the perfect college.

(Shame on you, Northwestern! Go Cornell!)

I won’t lie to you. Camping is not one of my favorite things to do. The outdoors is a beautiful thing, but I’d take the comfort of a good book and my nice warm bed over dirt floors any day.

Matt Schlein and his class of nineteen high school students would most likely disagree. Although what they’re doing might not be considered ‘camping,’ it certainly is roughing it. Schlein, New York Native and teacher started a foundation that raised the money to buy 260 acres of land to use as a classroom.

That’s right, a classroom.

This foundation, The Walden Project, is an alternative program focused on environmental studies and on the teachings of Henry David Thoreau, who did some of his best thinking outdoors at Walden Pond.

Two or three days a week, Schlein and his students gather on old benches and chairs in the woods to study, discuss, and explore their relationship to the natural world. Whether rain, sleet, or snow, they remain outside; their only shelter a tent constructed out of donated sail material.

"Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man. Its presence refreshes him," Schlein says.

How “Thoreau” of them.

Bad puns aside, Schlein and his class are a real breath of fresh air. None of the students have been forced into an environment they’re uncomfortable with. In fact, they describe the experience as much more enriching than anything a traditional high school could offer them.

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