sundance

San Francisco State University adds sustainability to general education requirements

Freshman composition, world civilization, college algebra… and, now, intro to sustainability? Yep, the core curriculum at San Francisco State University will look something like that in a couple of years, as the university has approved the addition of three units of environmentally-themed coursework to its general education requirements.

NuRide rewards UVA community for green transportation choices

Colleges and universities are at the forefront of experimenting with transportation alternatives to drive and park: car sharing and bike sharing services are popping at campuses all over the US to provide greener transportation alternatives… as well as hold off on parking lot expansions.

Next green car technology hub: Starkville, Mississippi?

If you’re a betting person, what university would you wager on for creating the next generation of cleaner vehicles? MIT? Cal Tech? Stanford? Turns out you may want to look a little further south… the student team from Mississippi State University took the flag at the second year of EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge.

New UMass Dartmouth “classroom” requires no building

According to South Coast Today, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth is kind of famous for its buildings: big hulking futuristic concrete structures (Wikimedia Commons has several great photos). But the school’s latest plans for new classrooms won’t require any concrete at all; rather, UMass Dartmouth plans to develop its 400 acres of “forests, meadows, and wetlands” into a “living classroom.”

How to pay for making biodiesel: sell soap

Like many schools, the University of Florida has developed a number of programs and efforts to produce and promote renewable energy. Mechanical and aerospace engineering major Eric Layton saw an opportunity to learn in a proposed biodiesel plant, and threw himself into the project whole-heartedly: according to the Gainesville Sun, “He helped build and maintain the plant and served as the coordinator for more than 50 volunteers who learned about plant management and operations.” He even received an award for his efforts.

And then, last Spring, the funding ran out.

College Sustainability Report Card: Who made the grade?

Got a child looking at colleges? Or, are you looking for yourself? More and more, sustainability efforts may be one of the criteria you and others use to choose a “good” school. For several years, the Sustainable Endowments Institute has made the search for that information a little easier with the publication of its College Sustainability Report Card. The 2009 edition was released last week, and colleges and universities around the country are bragging (or not) about their “grades.”

Creative re-use: the Dominican University cistern

For 90 years, a 60,000 gallon cistern at River Forest, Illinois’ Dominican University has done its job of collecting rainwater from 1920s-era buildings. That’s great… the problem is that everyone kind of forgot about it. Dan Bulow, the school’s director of building and grounds, told Trib Local’s Patrick Rollens “We knew [the cistern] was there, [...]

What’s in your fridge?

The blogosphere’s been taking a peek behind the chilly mini-doors of “What’s in my dorm fridge,” a Flickr photo pool devoted to “photos of the insides of those little refrigerators college students have in their rooms.” It makes me nostalgic for my college days where the mini-fridge consisted primarily of ingredients for a liquid meal, [...]

Michigan universities launch online tools for planners, activists, citizens

Are you looking for information on lightening your neighborhood’s or town’s environmental footprint? Want to figure out how to reduce your own energy and material consumption? Or, just need facts on hand for that annoying climate-change denying brother-in-law? Michigan’s largest universities have released new online tools that may have you covered in all of these [...]