Today’s NY Times Green Inc reports on several different rankings of the “greenness” of colleges and universities. The rankings are compiled based on a school’s own sustainability efforts including renewable energy purchases and generation, local and organic food in the cafeterias and waste reduction through reuse, recycling and composting. Several of the rankings also include the school’s curriculum in energy and environment, which is rapidly growing at many universities. I teach in economics and environmental studies at the University of Chicago and also try to contribute to our Sustainability Council efforts, when time allows. Our academic environmental policy program is small but growing and I have noticed the amount of student interest has increased dramatically in the past 5 years. Students regularly come to me with very creative and thought-provoking ideas about environmental policy research. They are interested, engaged and motivated to contribute in many tangible ways.
Unfortunately, we are a bit behind many other schools and did not make any of the rankings but we do have many innovative programs underway through the Sustainability Council and new director. The students are exceptionally pro-active in finding research projects as well as practical internships within the community to fit their environmental interests. There is also evolving collaboration across faculty members, which has led to transdisciplinary research in ecology, economics, public policy and other physical, natural and biological sciences.
Colleges and universities have long been the epicenter for emergin leadership and collaborative research. The efforts can only be enhanced by cross-campus forums such as the Climate Community which allow us to connect with other schools and institutions and both lead and follow other sustainability examples.
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