Arjun Muralidharan, aka the Productive Student, has a list of 14 ways college students can strive for greenness on Earth. You’ll want to do them all to slow the destruction of the planet, but you’ll actually do them to save yourself some coinage.

14 Ways to Be a Greener Student (and Save Money Doing It):

-Eat less meat or go vegetarian
-Do more efficient laundry
-Buy groceries with less packaging
-Eat out less
-Buy a greener computer
-Optimize your commute
-Decompose organic waste
-Bring your own bag for shopping
-Recycle paper
-Buy recycled notepads and textbooks
-Put old and unwanted textbooks up for sale
-Use a durable water bottle
-Be conscious about lights everywhere
-Reduce and manage electronic devices

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(recycled notebooks)

Meat school! That might be it. That may be all I’ve got to say about this NPR story. Meat school. One can attend meat school. It makes sense, of course. How else would one learn to cut meat in the days of supermarkets, Styrofoam, and the possibly extinct neighborhood butcher?

Meat school, however odd it sounds, is actually a good thing. The month-long intensive certificate course at SUNY’s meat lab in Cobleskill, near Albany, teaches everything a student needs to know to run their own small meat-processing business. Graduates can then do good things, like keep well-raised, local, small-farm meats local. The farmers can send their animals to a nearby small slaughterhouse, have their meat prepared and handled by a professional.

Raising meat that has been treated well is a lot of work. In the end it’s worth it, as it’s better for the animals, the planet, and the consumer. It would be a shame, and a bit of a backward path, if the animals were raised so particularly only to be shipped off to a slaughterhouse and a market hundreds of miles away. It’s better to do all that work for yourself and your neighbors.

The phrase “meat school” is still weird. Meat school meat school meat school meat school. I’ve thought it too many times. The phrase has lost all meaning.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

It’s a marvelous sign when institutions of higher learning join forces to make the world a better place.

From the UMN press release:

– New partnership links IonE with Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund –

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (06/30/2010) —The University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment today announced a new partnership with the Natural Capital Project, a worldwide effort to align economic forces with conservation. The other partners include Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund.

Founded in 2006, the Natural Capital Project aims to mainstream the values of nature into major resource decisions. Working with public, private and nonprofit partners around the world, “NatCap” is developing practical, science-based software for mapping and valuing societal benefits provided by healthy ecosystems. The Natural Capital Project is using this software in major policy decisions now underway in Canada, China, Hawaii, Indonesia, South America and Tanzania.

The Natural Capital Project is led by an interdisciplinary team of scientists and project leaders from Stanford, The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund. U of M applied economics professor Steve Polasky, an IonE resident fellow, is one of the leaders of the project’s ecosystem service mapping and valuation effort. This new partnership will increase opportunities for collaboration between IonE and other Natural Capital researchers and collaborators.

“We would be nowhere without the world-class expertise and experience from U of M, and we’re thrilled to recognize that formally now by teaming up as full partners,” said Gretchen Daily, Stanford-based co-founder and chair of the project.

“The Natural Capital Project is one of the most important environmental projects in the world,” said Jon Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment. “It’s answering one of the really big questions: How much is nature worth, and how do we start to include ecosystem goods and services into our economic system? By joining this project, the Institute on the Environment will be working with world-class ecologists, economists and practitioners, and in return, we will be contributing our expertise in ecological economics, land use and agriculture, and environmental systems modeling. It’s a fabulous partnership for everyone involved.”

You can learn more about the Natural Capital Project here: http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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The Princeton Review and the U.S. Green Building Council have just released their Guide to 286 Green Colleges. I require people who review and/or guide young adults anywhere along their college path to prove that they aren’t out to sell biased information for a profit (e.g., the U.S. News and World Report’s annual college ranking lists are against all laws of good and the back-boned members of humanity and isn’t worth wiping one’s college-bound heinie on). This guide may have some merit as it has, at the very least, aggregated planet-saving information and it’s free. Also: downloadable (saves the trees and whatnot).

Here’s the pertinent info:

NEW YORK, APRIL 20, 2010 — In an effort to recognize the impressive environmental and sustainability programs at universities and colleges across the country, The Princeton Review, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), today announced the release of “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges” – the first, free comprehensive Guidebook solely focused on institutions of higher education who have demonstrated an above average commitment to sustainability in terms of campus infrastructure, activities and initiatives.

Just in time for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day (April 22nd), the Guide – which is based on a survey of hundreds of colleges nationwide – profiles the nation’s most environmentally-responsible campuses. From solar panel study rooms to the percentage of budget spent on local/organic food, “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges” looks at an institution’s commitment to building certification using USGBC’s LEED green building certification program; environmental literacy programs; formal sustainability committees; use of renewable energy resources; recycling and conservation programs, and much more.

You can download the entire guide (in four bite-sized chunks) at The Princeton Review or at the U.S. Green Building Council’s site. You can also see the full list of schools or the full list of schools by state.

Not every starving college student in this economy can afford to buy organic all the time (seriously, organic chickens are $12), but attending a college or university that’s making a palpable effort to be green is a huge help toward saving the planet.

Further Reading:

M.S. in Sustainability Management: Earth Institute, Columbia University
UCLA Anderson MBAs Go Global
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Green Toilets at ASU Polytechnic
Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice
Beware the College Rankings Machine
New System for Ranking Colleges
College Rankings
U.S. News and World Report 2008 College Rankings

Posted by Alexa Harrington

I just lerves me some forward motion! The University of Minnesota’s News Service sent this press release my way:

University of Minnesota to host Idealist.org Nonprofit Career Fair and Working for Change Conference

– Joint events provide opportunity to learn about and apply for careers in social justice, health care, nonprofit and government work -

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/07/2010) — For those interested in pursuing or advancing a career in social justice, nonprofit or government work, the University of Minnesota is hosting the 2010 Idealist.org Nonprofit Career Fair and Working for Change Conference on Tuesday, April 13, at Coffman Union, Great Hall, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis. Both events are expected to draw attendees from across the region. The events are free of charge and open to the public, with no registration required.

“The goal of the conference and career fair is to help people answer the key question, ‘What’s in my future?’” says Laurel Hirt, director of the university’s Community Service-Learning Center, which helps organize the event. “There is a great interest in social justice and nonprofit careers among both students and non-students, and we are excited to provide a forum for exploration and getting the proverbial ‘foot in the door.’”

The Working for Change Conference will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and provide an opportunity to learn about a range of social justice-oriented careers, with a particular focus on jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities in the nonprofit sector and government. The conference will feature panel discussions and workshops. A schedule and list of sessions is available at www.servicelearning.umn.edu/Events/idealistfair.html.

The Idealist.org Nonprofit Career Fair is open to students and non-students and will feature a broad range of organizations looking for prospective employees. Attendees will be able to network, distribute resumes and meet with recruiters about job, internship and volunteer opportunities. The fair will take place from 12 to 4 p.m. A list of organizations attending is available at http://bit.ly/9ZQ8Bo.

A special health professionals careers fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in rooms 304 and 305, with advance registration required at www.healthcareers.umn.edu/shortcourses/home.html or by phone at (612) 624-6767.

The workshop and fair are co-hosted by the university’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, the Community Service-Learning Center, the Health Careers Center and the Carlson School of Management Undergraduate Business Career Center. Other partners include the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Minnesota’s Private Colleges Career Consortium, Minnesota College and University Career Services Association, Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA) and the Minnesota Association for Experiential Learning.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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If you’re in the neighborhood on March 4, 2010, and you’re pondering a Master’s in Sustainability Management, the Earth Institute, Columbia University has an invitation for you:

The Earth Institute, Columbia University invites you to join us for an information session on Thursday, March 4th at 6:30 p.m. to learn more about the brand new M.S. in Sustainability Management co-sponsored by Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education and the Earth Institute.

All organizations, whether they are multinational corporations or local nonprofits, face a growing number of environmental challenges from limiting carbon emissions to managing water resources. The M.S. in Sustainability Management is a highly specialized professional program that will formally train and educate sustainability practitioners for a broad range of fields. The program is designed to meet the growing demand for sustainability managers and will train leaders to bridge the gap between the principle of sustainable development and its practice. Students in the program will learn sophisticated environmental measurement tools and cutting-edge environmental science to fully understand the systematic and organizational role of sustainability in any organization. This program is ideal for practitioners and aspiring professionals working in organizational management, regulatory compliance, facilities operations, and environmental stewardship.

The program is offered on a full-time or part-time basis to accommodate the schedules of working professionals.

Date: Thursday, March 4th
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Columbia University, Morningside Campus, Low Memorial Library, Faculty Room

To register for the information session, please go to:

https://register.applyyourself.com/?id=col-scems&pid=1953&eID=27667&rid=1

Master of Science in Sustainability Management
School of Continuing Education and The Earth Institute
Columbia University

http://ce.columbia.edu/Sustainability-Management

Further Reading:

Blogs From the Earth Institute
It’s Blog Action Day
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Green Toilets at ASU Polytechnic
Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice
Sustainability Degree Offered at Arizona State University

Posted by Alexa Harrington

It’s Blog Action Day, and the politically correct bloggers (of which I am, mostly, on my less-sarcastic days) are supposed to tell everyone to save the planet, damnit. So reduce, reuse, recycle, walk, don’t drive, eat local, think global, compost, be as organic as is everly possible, don’t tangle up dolphins or club baby seals, and if you can possibly swing it, please consider adopting some polar bears or penguins (they’re in trouble and it’s totally our fault).

Previous Planet-Saving Posts:

Sustainability Degree Offered at Arizona State University
Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice
Textbook Rental Saves Money and Trees
Green Toilets at ASU Polytechnic
Penguin Games
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Free Money For Textbooks
No More Tray Sledding For You!

Posted by Alexa Harrington

In an effort to reduce waste and do their part to save the planet, college dining halls have begun to go trayless. Plates are still available (they’re not barbarians), as are eating utensils.

It turns out that the trayless policy has reduced water and energy use, and because the students can only gracefully carry so many plates and bowls in their arms, they’ve been wasting 30% less food due to the decrease in my-eyes-were-bigger-than-my-stomach syndrome.

The traditional using of the dining tray as a sled during Winter Term will be much reduced as well, about which the schools are stoked and the students are understandably pi**ed. Times change, people.

You’ll have to stick with surfing down the dorm hallway on bathmats (rubber side up, yarn side down) and baby powder. My dorm had carpeting, which sucked until we invented Flame Ball (it involves a fuzzy tennis ball, hairspray, lights off, and no one getting their deposit back).

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)

Big dreams and no money. Such is the situation colleges, universities, and the students who attend them are struggling with. The schools want to teach students to think outside the box, to be able to look ahead and improve the future of humanity. The students want to learn how to think wider and deeper and bigger and more. The President wants the schools to kick some researching butt and find ways to get us out of this mess (pick one).

Too bad there’s a global economic crisis, and the recession our country is experiencing is sucking the life and the funding out of everyone’s Big Dreams balloons. Now the schools and the students are walking around carrying sad little limp and deflated aspirations, jettisoning the deeper-thinking, big-picture courses and degrees for the more utilitarian/practical ones.

I won’t bore you with numbers, but there are an astonishing number of folks doing pre-professional undergrad work, and a ridiculous number of business degree holders in this country. I think we’re good on the ‘future of money’ front; someone learn something that’s helpful in a different way. Think outside the box, people. Don’t give up on the idea that knowing how to think in non-linear directions is conducive to the survival of mankind.

Read this piece in the NY Times:

The world economic crisis and the election of Barack Obama will change the future of higher education. Even as universities, both public and private, face unanticipated financial constraints, the president has called on them to assist in solving problems from health care delivery to climate change to economic recovery.

American universities have long struggled to meet almost irreconcilable demands: to be practical as well as transcendent; to assist immediate national needs and to pursue knowledge for its own sake; to both add value and question values. And in the past decade and a half, such conflicting and unbounded expectations have yielded a wave of criticism on issues ranging from the cost of college to universities’ intellectual quality to their supposed decline into unthinking political correctness. More…

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Sometimes it’s hard to change your ways so as to avoid evilness. I love books (have I mentioned that before?) and am probably the last human on Earth who would buy a damn Kindle thingy and start reading my “books” on a screen. However (here comes the part where I clear my throat and mumble about how sometimes change is good and it’s possible I was wrong), in light of the unavoidable fact that textbook publishers are vile bastards with severely bankrupt karma, digital textbooks may be the way to go. Cheaper, lighter, easier on the back, healthier for the trees, etc.

Digital textbook company, iChapters, is currently running a series of campaigns highlighting how the lives of students have been changed by technology (good changes, one hopes). Part of their campaign strategy involves a $1,000-for-textbooks sweepstakes, which is good for you if you’re an under-funded college student and would just pee your pants if someone gave you that much money for books.

I read all the fine print. You have to be 18 and live in the U.S. Five students will win, and apparently all you have to do is sign up here. According to the rules, you don’t have to buy anything to win, just sign up by filling out the little entry form. Also, you can sign up once every day during the promotion period (July 15th 2009 through August 29th 2009) and it will count as a valid entry. Good luck, people.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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