Annette McGee Rasch
Well aware that climate change and other environmental issues will define their future, many students want a “green college” experience.
Princeton Review’s annual Guide to Green Colleges can help you find the schools that best align with your values and concerns. This free online resource is compiled from surveys of 600 schools – it has information on sustainability-related policies, practices, programs and degree options.
The top 50 colleges in The Guide are given a ‘green rating’ that reflects student opinions on quality of campus life in respect to health and sustainability; green academic options; how the school fares in prepping students for employment and importantly, avoiding institutional hypocrisy – how environmentally responsible a school’s policies are.
Polls and surveys show that today’s students want to address climate change and the environment generally. They’ve grown up with the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch, sea ice and glaciers melting and mass extinction. They are experiencing the raft of extreme weather that’s only getting worse, from 1000-year floods occurring each year to scary wildfires.
The College of Charleston, for example, publishes a Sustainability Action Plan. There are several degree options in sustainability, and the college promotes carbon neutrality, zero waste (eg., composting in dining halls), and offers an active sustainability culture at the school. Check out Sustainability in Student Life and Sustainability in Academics.
Another site aligned with the Princeton Review, the Guide To Green Colleges | Sustainability Ambassadors, provides additional resources like interviews with teachers, events and activities for youth to pursue their personal track into a green college. Many colleges have campus sustainability centers and initiatives that offer students everything from sustainable living tips, green and vegan food options, recycling, etc., in addition to strategies aimed to help them jump-start careers in sustainability.
The Princeton Guide’s comprehensive “Spotlight on Green Majors” lists many emerging fields, from bioethics to green food science – so necessary to deal with the grave, complex challenges society faces.
The College Grant Hub is another excellent resource. It lists green colleges that offer top programs in sustainability.
In a profound sign of the times, college counselors and administrators are increasingly aware of the psychological toll the climate crisis is taking on youth. Some colleges are getting guidance from the Climate Psychology Alliance to devise strategies aimed to help students cope with the growing ecological crisis thrust upon them.
The University of Michigan, for example, put together an Emotional Resilience Toolkit for Climate Work which aims to support cultural shifts toward human resilience, regeneration and equity. They published a handbook to provide emotional support along with resources and tools to help address eco-anxiety, grief, anger and the range of feelings that accompany climate work.
This is a terrifying and frustrating time with Trump blocking and obliterating any attempt to make progress on climate change and biodiversity loss. They have to watch – as we all do – him unraveling our basic rights to clean air, clean water, and the quick path to renewable energy we must take. Students know they are the ones who will live with the consequences of turning back to fossil fuels. They connect the dots as they see his administration silence liberal colleges.
More critically than ever before, this generation wants real change. And we are with you!! We all know the only viable path forward is to address climate change head on – by Quickly switching to clean energy – and to protect our lands and waters for wildlife. AI won’t solve these problems. We desperately hope youth will.