Eco-friendly Campuses
July 21, 2008
Do you know someone who’s headed to college soon? Encourage them to look into living in the most eco-friendly dorm on their campus, or, if there isn’t one available, urging their dorm governments to create one. More and more colleges are offering students green housing options. For example, Northwestern University just developed the GREEN house for students to live in as of fall 2008. The fifty-person residency will utilize low-flow shower-heads, fluorescent light bulbs, and environmentally friendly cleaning products; furthermore, residential requirements will encourage environmental awareness. Potential activities will include mandatory community service to better the wild and informative lectures. Various other universities are jumping on the bandwagon as well. Wake Forest University uses energy-saving devices in most of its housing, and Emory has a special dorm that shows the cumulative energy consumption in one of its lobbies. Oberlin, Middlebury, and most small liberal art schools have options as well. Many of them are pioneered by an organization called SEED (Student Experiment for Ecological Design).Nationwide, Universities are responding to the demand for sustainability, so request one at yours or your Alma matter’s; even a simple request can make a difference.
