Sierra Club’s Sierra magazine released its annual list of top 10 greenest colleges — and University of California, Los Angeles made the list at #9!
UCLA Today’s got more details on what gave Bruins the eco-competitive edge. My alma mater, University of Southern California, didn’t even make the list of the top 135. Trojans have cause to worry — Auden Schendler at Grist argues that colleges without rocking enviro programs are failed businesses.
That said, UCLA could still be doing a lot better. UCLA’s office of media relations bragged about the school’s” current 60% waste diversion rate” in an email to me about Sierra magazine’s list. But according to L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti’s blog, “Los Angeles has the highest recycling rate out of the 10 largest U.S. cities. The recycling rate here is 65 percent.”
Bruins — Recycle at least as much as the average Angeleno!
These numbers make me shudder at how little the other colleges in the U.S. (including USC) must be recycling — despite the fact that recycling’s the easiest — and least effective — eco-move in the “reduce, reuse, recycle” triumvirate.
How did your alma mater do?
I went to the Climate Change Forum that UCLA hosted yesterday and was stunned to see that the 6 speakers all had plastic water bottles in front of them! I long for the day when speakers are expected to bring a reusable bottle – or are provided with one. Definitely a mixed message from such an accomplished group of speakers on climate change.
Comment by Sherri — August 22, 2009 @ 7:35 am
Another great post, and timely, as yesterday I was walking into Leavey Library (at USC) and was appalled when I counted no less than 6 trash bins outside the main entrance and no recycling bins! Plan to find out exactly what is up with that. I know I can’t be the only student who notices and cares that there is nowhere to toss my yogurt cups.
Comment by Katrina — August 22, 2009 @ 9:56 am
And SoCal’s Pomona College was one of five colleges to get extra credit, for its green housekeeping. It got a pitiful B- overall, though.
Comment by meg — August 22, 2009 @ 11:32 am
Trojans–recycle at least as much as the average Bruin!
Now that would be a rivalry that could have some results.
Comment by How Green Is My Valley — August 22, 2009 @ 4:28 pm
Ha! Or Trojans — crawl out of wherever embarrassing ranking you’re at right now however you can, cuz you rank so low you’re not even ranked!
Honestly, I really don’t think recycling’s a good measure of a school’s eco-ness. I’ve spoken to USC student groups a couple times, and each time I’ve tried to get the student groups to think beyond compostable utensils and recycling bins for dining halls — options that’re better than nothing, but represent a high added cost and little eco-benefit compared to a switch to reusables.
What I really found both amusing and disappointing about UCLA’s press release — and I say this while still being glad L.A. was at least able to represent — is that they seriously highlighted the 60% recycling rate as the top item. I have friends who are actually involved with serious eco-initiatives at UCLA, ranging from sustainable building to support for the subway to the sea.
The fact that UCLA chose to highlight the recycling rate — that’s lower than the city of L.A.’s — above other issues shows both how UCLA’s PR department’s still clueless about what eco-initiative actually make a significant difference — and similarly, how everyone else who might be reading press releases or at least paying some attention to eco-issues get impressed by big, over 60% numbers vs. less sexy, less quantifiable things like walkable neighborhoods, local business support, local food commitment, and many other green moves Bruins are pushing for beyond simply recycling Gatorade bottles.
If you asked me what I thought was the biggest issue L.A. colleges and universities should be dealing with now, I’d say it’s water stuff. Both UCLA and USC boast crazy, unnecessary, unused lawn space — and un-drought-tolerant flowers planted simply in time for parents’ weekend, graduation, and other public events with the full knowledge that the plants are for temporary show, doomed for sure death under the strong SoCal sun post event. I’d like numbers on how much these schools have actually reduced their water consumption since June, when new water rules and rates went into effect.
Comment by Siel — August 22, 2009 @ 11:10 pm
Yeah, but most people reading that release are looking for the stats for easy quoting.
By the way, what did they say when you asked about water consumption rates?
Comment by How Green Is My Valley — August 23, 2009 @ 12:35 am
Pomona College is making some effort to cut back on landscaping water, even though it has its own wells and doesn’t get water from external agencies. So far this has meant keeping the quads green, putting in some drought-resistant shrubs, and covering the formerly-floreate easements and edges with mulch and/or pine straw.
Comment by meg — August 23, 2009 @ 10:45 am
I was happy to see that my little college made the list (#95 — Pacific University). It got a C- though, and I know it can be doing better. But all the new buildings are some level of LEED, and they’re working on making big changes over there. Even when I started there in ‘01, we had “brown is beautiful” signs on the lawns and big posters in all the buildings showing energy use over time and challenging us to be more frugal with electricity.
Comment by Leah — August 23, 2009 @ 11:26 am
How Green – Unfortunately, water wasn’t actually one of the criteria that Sierra looked at. The categories were: academics, administration, efficiency, energy, food, purchasing, transportation and waste management. So I guess the first step in getting schools to think about the water issue is to get Sierra asking about it.
Comment by Siel — August 25, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
Actually, I meant: what did UCLA say? There’s contact info on press releases. Maybe that person can provide that information.
Comment by How Green Is My Valley — August 25, 2009 @ 7:56 pm
Happy update: Lately I’ve spotted more recycling bins around USC’s campus, including a very visible one (the kind with the vertical sign on it that says “RECYCLE” with an arrow pointing downward into the bin) outside Leavey Library!
Comment by Katrina — September 2, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
How Green — Call them then.
Katrina — Now we just need to get Trojans to actually use the bins :)
Comment by Siel — September 2, 2009 @ 5:12 pm