Colleges Compete to Shrink Their Mark On the Environment

"We're greener than Harvard, without a doubt," boasted Sarah Creighton, project manager for Tufts' Climate Initiative.

Tiny Berea plans to reduce its energy consumption 45 percent by 2015 by retrofitting its buildings and shifting from an old coal-fired plant to a gas-fired one half the size. It has embarked on a massive renovation project that will eliminate the need to heat or cool its administrative offices at least three months of the year.

The 1,500-student college's most radical project is Ecovillage, a complex of 32 townhouses, a day-care center, community house and teaching facility where single mothers, married couples and a few other students live. The sunny apartments feature energy-storing concrete floors, recycled carpeting and low-flush toilets. Residents hold workshops on green cleaning products.

Many of the students who live there have become environmental proselytizers, telling friends back home that conserving energy does not mean forgoing showers.

"I'm not afraid of the concept now," said Carrie Watson, 23, a senior from Cincinnati who lives in the Ecovillage with her son, Tzuriel, 2. "That's so liberating."

In interviews, a number of university administrators said they felt an obligation to educate their students about the environment, because graduates will become consumers and policymakers.

"We have a profound responsibility to lead society, and one that is very long-lived, that's not determined by the marketplace, that's regardless of what the political leaning of the administration is," said Leith Sharp, director of Harvard's Green Campus Initiative.

Administrators offer several explanations why academic institutions have often acted more slowly than their corporate counterparts. Schools sometimes lack the money to invest in new technology, and some worry about how donors will perceive these expenditures. Berea officials, Olson said, were concerned whether Ecovillage housing would "look too weird" when it was being built.

"I don't think America's colleges and universities are leading the way," said David Krueger, who teaches business and environmental ethics at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. "American businesses have been [faster to adopt] environment management systems."

But now many colleges and universities are rushing to catch up, and their influence is spreading. Princeton now demands 100 percent postconsumer recycled paper as well as sustainably caught fish from its suppliers, and says it does not pay significantly more for them.

Less wealthy, smaller schools can sometimes pivot more quickly. College of the Atlantic -- where all 280 students major in human ecology -- used utensils, bowls and cups made from compostable starch-based materials for its June 4 graduation. Once graduates and their families finished eating, students and staff threw these items -- along with all the leftover food -- into a campus solar composter built from recycled material.

As a 150-year-old institution that espouses social justice -- it was the first interracial, coeducational college in the South and charges no tuition in exchange for 10 hours a week of campus work-- Berea's officials and students see environmental sustainability as critical to its survival.

Universities do have one advantage over corporations, said Princeton vice president for facilities Michael McKay, because they can afford to think long-term.

"We expect to be here for another 500 years at least," McKay said, "and we'll live with our mistakes as well as our successes."

Staff researcher Karl Evanzz contributed to this report.