Earning Grades for Being Green

As a society, and perhaps as a species, we like rewards. Incentives. Little gold stars. Isn’t that the essence of the popular Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, point system? Rack up the points for low-flow toilets and recycled floor tiles and in the end, get a silver, gold, or (whoopie!) platinum prize.

So why shouldn’t it be the same for students? After all, the entire educational system is set up on a point-and-reward model, which (one hopes) leads one day to a real love of learning. Could earning grades for being “green” lead to real concern for the environment and energy conservation?

It’s an idea being tested at St. Lawrence University, according to this news story. Students volunteer to have their dorm rooms evaluated and “graded” based on their energy use, recycling savvy, and so on. (In a way, it’s not so different from student residence halls that have set up real-time energy-monitoring systems. Students living in different buildings end up competing against each other to see who has the lowest energy use.)

According to the story, Peter Culkin, an English major, got a D+ when the evaluators swept through his room. “I’m definitely not as conscious as I thought I was,” Mr. Culkin said in the story. “Obviously, I need some more work and probably some outside tutoring!”

I called the university to find out more about it. The program was organized by the student government and the university’s sustainability director, who is a recent graduate. The grades aren’t real, of course — Mr. Culkin’s GPA is not shot.

But should those grades be real? Should this kind of thing count somehow?