4 Institutions Honored for Sustainability Efforts

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education handed out its annual Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards this morning at its conference at Ball State University. The winners were Michigan State University; Middlebury College and Green Mountain College, in Vermont; and Chandler-Gilbert Community College, in Arizona. Evergreen State College, in Washington State, and the University of California at Berkeley received honorable mentions.

A news release noted the institutions’ achievements:

— Michigan State was lauded for making environmental stewardship “a major component of its campus vision.” The university has committed to annual reductions of 2 percent in greenhouse-gas emissions, to meet LEED standards for new buildings, and to academic programs and research initiatives related to sustainability.

— Middlebury, long considered one of the greenest institutions out there, won for its commitment to become climate-neutral by 2016, to spend 25 percent of its dining budget on locally grown and produced food, and to recycle 60 percent of its waste. “It is installing a biomass gasification facility that will use wood chips and cut the college’s fuel-oil consumption in half,” the release said. “Middlebury’s long-term goal is to obtain the chips from local suppliers who practice sustainable forestry.” (That plan was the focus of an article in The Chronicle’s sustainability section last year.)

— Green Mountain College, another institution often praised for its environmentalism, was honored for a curriculum that requires students to take courses in sustainability. The college has dabbled in solar and wind power and is increasing its local food purchases.

— Chandler-Gilbert was honored for signing the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, among other steps. “A campuswide lighting retrofit was recently completed, and the college is engaged in a comprehensive energy audit,” the release said. “In addition, a student sustainability pledge has been incorporated into the commencement ceremony.”