It's hard not to notice the vast range of environmental consciousness among the people I meet. There are people like my friend Janna Turadek, a Senior applied math major at Johns Hopkins University, who passionately believes that each and every one of us should take daily action, big and small, to help ameliorate our current climate crisis and has begun a group on her campus to talk about how that can be done. I also have a friend, who I won't name, that stopped recycling his cans and bottles when he moved to South Carolina because it was inconvenient. There is me, who uses a ridiculous amount of gas for my 40 minute commute to New Paltz, but always says "I don't need a bag" when I pick up something from the store, and there's my friend Kara, who chuckles at my efforts and says "I'm gonna double bag mine."
It's a spectrum; people show their environment friendliness in different ways and to varying degrees. According to an article posted in July in the New York Times, so do universities across the US. That's why The Princeton Review has begun ranking schools based on their "green rating." SUNY Binghamton was one of the highest ranks schools in the country. "When I was on campus after 1 am, the lights always dim," said Chris Harnick, a senior at SUNY Binghamton, "and a lot of the new buildings are going to be LEED certified," he added. The acronym, which stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a way to rank the energy efficiency of buildings, and was developed by the US Green Building Counsel.
So, how is New Paltz doing? According to the campus website, New Paltz is involved in "many green and sustainable initiatives." And much of the current construction will make us greener. For example, the roof of Elting gym is now made of special Solar Panels that converts sunlight into solar energy. And when the renovation of Old Main is complete, it will become the first LEED certified building on campus. As far as rankings go, the Princeton Review gave New Paltz a 60, on a scale of 60-99 for environmental friendliness. However, as Julian Dautremont-Smith is quoted as saying in the NY Times article, "There is a suspicion that those lists are based on the strength of the P.R. office rather than the strength of actual efforts." Who knows, maybe our rankings will be higher next year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/education/edlife/27green.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
http://www.princetonreview.com/college/college-rankings.aspx
http://www.newpaltz.edu/green/greennews.html
http://bupipedream.com/current/index.php/articles/view/8339
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