Sustainability Ranking of US Colleges and Universities Reveal the West is the Best

Sierra magazine’s much anticipated annual ranking of colleges and universities is now in its ninth year. This year the Cool Schools top ten ratings known as the “Eco-Valedictorians” is dominated by west coast schools and the state of California in particular. Two campuses of the University of California (Irvine and Davis) are at the top of the list. A total of five campuses belonging to the UofC have won half of the 10 best spots. When you add Seattle’s University of Washington and Portland Oregon’s Lewis and Clarke, a total of seven of the ten top schools are located on the west coast.

The University of California, Irvine earns the top spot for the second year in a row. Their win is attributable to their increased use of clean energy including a quadrupling of solar. They have also succeeded in diverting 80 percent of campus waste from landfills. Overall they managed to reduce their carbon emissions by an impressive 1,500 metric tons. Their goal is to be carbon neutral by 2025.

Schools in the Sierra rankings are assessed in terms of their efforts to protect the environment, address climate issues and encourage environmental responsibility. These rankings were determined based upon a detailed sustainability survey that was completed by more than 150 schools.

Sierra magazine’s top 10 “Eco-Valedictorians” of 2015 are:

1. University of California, Irvine
2. University of California, Davis
3. University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh
4. Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO)
5. Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH)
6. University of Connecticut
7. University of California, San Diego
8. University of Washington, Seattle
9. Lewis & Clark College (Portland, OR)
10. University of California, Berkeley

To see the full ranking of 153 schools click here.
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