October 20, 2006

Saving the Planet, by Degrees

By PIPER FOGG

Programs in sustainability draw from many disciplines

For a course at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, undergraduates must keep a "trash journal," recording every scrap of paper or banana peel they chuck in the garbage. At Miami Dade College, interior-design students experiment with "green" materials, such as bamboo and nontoxic paint and carpeting. And at Rochester Institute of Technology, engineering students help test methods for turning used automobile parts into new