Knox College students in the course 'Examining the Anthropocene' planting a rain garden to control water runoff. Knox College / Peter Bailley / Yale Climate Connections
Last spring, students at Knox College in Illinois traded their notebooks for shovels and planted a rain garden on campus. The garden is not just a bunch of pretty plants. It's designed to reduce stress on the campus drainage system during heavy rain.
During the university conference on racial reconciliation, a multi ethnic group listens as a young adult woman speaks. SDI Productions / E+ / Getty Images
By Marty Swanbrow Becker
When college students seek help for a mental health issue on campus — something they are doing more often — the place they usually go is the college counseling center.
In the 12 years since Sierra began highlighting the best environmental practices of colleges and universities, the competition to be the ecofriendliest in all of academia has gotten fierce. This year, we received a record 269 responses from qualified institutions, which now include Canadian schools and community colleges. Our annual Cool Schools Rankings assess colleges' performance in everything from what they teach to how they obtain their electricity to their sources of cafeteria food and how they manage their water. Please join Sierra in congratulating the very green—and diverse—schools that are mastering the art and science of campus sustainability.
