Keeping Cool

Sierra Magazine

Sierra Magazine

Dickinson is one of the Top 20 'Coolest Schools' in the nation according to Sierra magazine 

by Christine M. Dugan

A new week, a new honor for Dickinson and its mission of sustainability education.

Sierra magazine, the official publication of the Sierra Club, has released its annual roundup of America’s greenest colleges and universities, and Dickinson is cool again. More than 150 schools filled out the questionnaire about their sustainability practices—everything from academics, energy, investments, food, transit, waste and water. After compiling all the data, Sierra selected Dickinson as one of its Top 20 Cool Schools based on the college’s overall commitment to upholding the highest environmental standards.

"We're so inspired to see how colleges are taking the lead on addressing climate change,” said Avital Andrews, Sierra magazine’s lifestyle editor. “From building green to saving water to offering hundreds of eco-classes, these schools' efforts are profound and are changing not only the campus grounds, but also the minds of the students they're educating."

This accolade comes on the heels of the Aug. 4 announcement by The Princeton Review that Dickinson is one of 24 schools on its Green Honor Roll, one of many national honors the college has received for curricular innovations and leadership in sustainability. The Association of the Advancement for Sustainability in Higher Education gave Dickinson its STARS 2.0 Gold rating, a designation shared by only 53 colleges nationwide. The college garnered top marks on the Green Report Card of the Sustainable Endowments Institute and earned Second Nature's inaugural award for Institutional Excellence in Climate Leadership. Dickinson also earned a “silver” rating as a Bicycle Friendly University from the League of American Bicyclists.

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters nationwide. It works to safeguard the health of communities, protect wildlife and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying and litigation.

Learn More

Published August 11, 2015