SIUC advances in Princeton Review's Green Rating
August 13, 2009
Jon Dyer
How green is our campus?
For the second year, the Princeton Review released its Green Rating for colleges and universities. Amidst all the talk of going green, Princeton Review's Green Rating attempts to standardize how green a campus really is through surveying their efforts. Campuses are judged in many ways including the percentage of food purchases that are organic to whether or not electricity is purchased from renewable sources.
Over the past year we increased our score 16 points, from 60 to 76 out of 99.
A lot has happened in the last year on the SIUC campus. We went bagless and trayless in our dining halls; instituted a student 'Green Fee' for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainability projects and research; launched a sustainability website; started an organic garden; and initiated the formation of a campus-wide Sustainability Council.
Simultaneously, opportunities are everywhere. As the fall semester approaches I hope we can all work together to increase our score and became a flagship school for sustainability in Illinois and across the country.
With an increase this year like we saw last year, we will only be seven points away from making the Green Honor Roll.