by Campus Sustainability Office
September 6th 2016
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Portland State University ranked today No. 14 among the Sierra Club’s top colleges and universities nationally for sustainability practices, making it the highest ranking school in Oregon.
The “Cool Schools” ranking is published by Sierra magazine, the official publication of the Sierra Club, and recognizes colleges and universities that demonstrate a deep commitment to protecting the environment, addressing climate issues, and encouraging environmental responsibility. The list includes more than 200 schools across the nation.
This is the sixth year that Portland State has been named to the Cool Schools list and the second year in a row landing in the top 20.
“We work really hard at PSU to continuously improve our campus operations, innovate our sustainability programs, and close the gap on reaching our climate action goals,” said Jenny McNamara, sustainability manager at Portland State. “Sierra Club’s ranking is a hat tip to those efforts—we’re honored to be among the nation’s coolest schools.”
The jump to No. 14 from PSU’s position at No. 20 last year reflects the University’s ongoing sustainability efforts. Highlights include:
- The relaunch of PSU’s Living Lab Program, which matches professors and students with University staff to work on campus sustainability projects like ecoroof maintenance and audits of PSU’s waste stream.
- Designation as a Bee Campus, USA resulting from continuing efforts to maintain pollinator-friendly habitat and a student-led project to start a campus apiary.
- Two new sustainability certificate programs: the Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Food Systems and the Graduate Certificate in Energy Policy and Management.
- Water conservation: PSU used 5 million gallons less water last year than the year before, and nearly half of what it used ten years ago.
- Adoption of a sustainable procurement policy to lower the environmental impacts associated with the purchasing of goods and services.
- Opened the Supply Studio to keep reusable art supplies out of landfills and offer them free to students.
- Implemented a new food waste initiative, No Scrap Left Behind, to educate students about healthy, responsible eating.
“I’m so inspired to see the incredible progress that colleges and universities are making when it comes to environmental sustainability,” says Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. "Sierra magazine’s Cool Schools rankings help to recognize those schools that have made sustainability a key part of their mission and are creating future environmental leaders.”
Sierra magazine’s top 20 schools of 2016 are:
- College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME)
- State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry (Syracuse, NY)
- University of California, Irvine
- Colby College (Waterville, ME)
- Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
- Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)
- Loyola University Chicago
- University of California, Davis
- University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT)
- Green Mountain College (Poultney, VT)
- Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO)
- Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT)
- Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH)
- Portland State University (Portland, OR)
- University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA)
- Lewis & Clark College (Portland, OR)
- University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)
- University of California, Santa Cruz
- Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
- Colgate University (Hamilton, NY)
See the full ranking of Sierra Club’s Cool Schools.