Dickinson Named One of America's Greenest Colleges

Students convert waste vegetable oil to biodiesel fuel.

In Dickinson's Biodiesel Shop, students convert waste vegetable oil to glycerin soap and biodiesel, a clean, renewable fuel that powers the college's farm equipment and other machinery and produces zero net emissions of climate-changing gas.

College takes number-three spot on Sierra Club's 'Cool Schools' list for sustainability leadership 

by Christine Dugan 

Sierra magazine, the official publication of the Sierra Club, has issued its annual list of America’s greenest colleges, and Dickinson has once again made the grade. The college’s unwavering commitment to sustainability education and encouragement of environmental responsibility earned it a spot among the top 10. It is the second time in as many weeks that Dickinson has been the only Pennsylvania school to receive national accolades for sustainability. On Aug. 5, The Princeton Review named Dickinson to its Green Honor Roll.

The annual “Cool Schools” list is a collaboration between Sierra and the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. More than 150 colleges and universities were scored based on their commitment to upholding high environmental standards. Dickinson was one of only three liberal-arts colleges to make the top 10 and qualify for the title of “Cool School.” Rounding out the list are the University of California-Irvine, American University, Loyola University Chicago, Lewis and Clark College, Stanford University, University of South Florida, Green Mountain College, University of Connecticut and Georgia Institute of Technology.

“For eight years Sierra magazine has encouraged America's colleges and universities to fully embrace their unique and multifaceted role in tackling the climate crisis and protecting America's air, water, public health and beautiful places,” said Bob Sipchen, Sierra magazine’s editor in chief. “From innovative research and development to powering campuses with wind and solar, to educating students in the most advanced thinking on sustainability, colleges and universities are leaders and models for the rest of society. Sierra magazine congratulates those that made our annual ‘Coolest Schools’ list.”

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

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Published August 12, 2014