I was reading Northeastern University’s newspaper a few weeks ago and was happy to see that out of the 697 schools that had been given a Green Rating from the Princeton Review’s 2010 college guide, Northeastern was the one of the fifteen to receive a perfect score (99). This score made Northeastern able to receive Honor Roll status.
The newspaper wrote that the selection process was based on three things. One was the sustainability of campus life. Another was how well the students are being prepared to lead an eco-friendly lifestyle when they leave Northeastern University. The third topic was the school’s overall commitment to environmental issues. All three of these topics are indeed broad, so I decided to look more into Northeastern as a green school.
After looking around the world wide web, the most helpful site that I fond was the College Sustainability Report Card site. Northeastern University’s overall grade was a B. This report card was for the 2009 year and was based on how the Administration views going green, what the climate change and energy use is like, the food and recycling efforts, having a green building, how the students are involved, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. Those topics are a lot more specific than the ones looked at by the Princeton Review.
In terms of the administration, NEU received an A because President Aoun signed the Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Also, a sustainability committee has been in existence since 2006. In terms of climate change and energy, the university has begun a carbon emissions inventory. They also have increased energy efficiency via replacement of lighting, equipping rooms with occupancy sensors, purchasing Energy Star appliances, and more. NEU is proud of the fact that they recycle and compost–though there should be more recycling bins outside of buildings rather than just at the entrance of a building. They also serve fair trade coffee, cage-free eggs, local produce, harvested fish, and antibiotic-free pork.
NEU also just opened a brand new, green certified building called International Village. The university has adopted a policy of LEED certification for all new buildings and major renovations. NEU has a Huskies Energy Action Team, but they are not too active on campus yet.
