College of the Atlantic tops green college list for fourth year in a row

Courtesy / College of the Atlantic A rendering shows the College of the Atlantic's planned Center for Human Ecology, which is a passive house design. The college for the fourth straight year was named the country's top green college by the Princeton Review.

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By Staff

College of the Atlantic has topped the Princeton Review’s list of the nation's most environmentally responsible colleges for the fourth straight year.

The Review named the Bar Harbor-based college as No. 1 of 413 schools in it's "Guide to Green Colleges: 2019 Edition," highlighting the college’s integration of sustainability into all areas of its curriculum.

Three other Maine colleges are in the top 50 — Bowdoin is 7th, Colby 8th, Bates 15th and Unity College 32nd. Schools that don't make the top 50 aren't ranked. Other Maine colleges and universities on the list are Husson University, Saint Joseph's College. University of Maine, University of Maine at Farmington and University of New England.

“Higher education is an essential driver of a more sustainable future, both locally and globally,” said COA president Darron Collins in a news release. “Our students, staff, and faculty are passionate about making positive change through teaching, learning, knowledge creation and creative enterprise — and it’s our responsibility and honor to provide the platform for making that happen.”

Princeton Review chose the 413 schools it profiles in the guide based on a survey the company conducted in 2018-19 of administrators at hundreds of four-year colleges about their institutions’ commitments to the environment and sustainability. The publication's editors analyzed more than 25 data points for the final selection. The criteria for each broadly covered the schools' academic offerings and initiatives, campus policies and practices, and green-career preparation for students.

"We salute — and strongly recommend — College of the Atlantic to the many environmentally minded students who want to study and live at a green college," said Rob Franek, Princeton Review's editor-in-chief.

Princeton Review cites COA’s Energy Framework, which lays out steps for becoming a fossil fuel-free campus by 2030, and highlights that implementation involves students through hands-on, interdisciplinary classes and student-led projects to inspire and educate students to conceive of and implement similar work at larger scales in the world.

“Already, COA classes have researched, sited, and installed solar panels and a wind turbine on campus. These add to the college’s baseline renewables and environmentally sound building practices,” the publication said. Princeton Review also features COA’s food systems, two organic farms, composting and discarded resource efforts, and sustainability in the curriculum.

Every College of the Atlantic student designs his or her own major in human ecology, which integrates knowledge from across academic disciplines and seeks to understand and improve the relationships between humans and their natural, built, and social environments. The college has 350 students and 35 faculty members, and was founded in 1969.

Of the top 50 green schools, 22% of them purchase all food from local sources or purchase organic food; 50% of them divert waste from incinerators or solid-waste landfill, 98% of them offer a sustainability focused undergraduate major or degree; 100% have a sustainability office.

The profiles in Princeton Review's Guide to Green Colleges provide information about admission requirements, cost and financial aid, and student body demographics. They also include "Green Facts" about the schools, with details on such matters as the availability of transportation alternatives at the schools and the percentage of the school food budgets spent on local/organic food.