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Greener By Degrees: On college eco-activism

In This Series

  • A recent grad follows her passions and finds a green job she digs

    All college students know the feeling — that squeaky little hamster wheel of doubt about life post-diploma. What if I can’t find a job? What if I can’t find a job I like? What if I can’t find a job that aligns with my values? Ditch that hamster wheel and climb on two wheels that […]

  • To engage other students, green activists put their best fête forward

      A pop quiz for the college crowd: Which of the following is no fun? A) Beer B) Doing it in the dark C) Global warming activism D) This is a trick question — they’re all related If you picked C, you’re forgiven, says Maura Cowley, campaign director for the Sierra Student Coalition. But, dude, […]

  • Resources to help you green your college experience

    The sites below aim to help you find the right green-leaning campus, cause, or contest. There’s no way we’ve uncovered all the good ones, so tell us what we’ve missed in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Green College Rankings Sustainable Endowment Institute’s “College Sustainability Report Card” Princeton Review’s “Green Rating Honor […]

  • Incoming Yale student plans to ramp up her activism for the big leagues

    For some people, life starts after college. For Karoline Evin McMullen, it began in middle school. Karoline Evin McMullen Age: 18 School: Yale University By the time she was 14, McMullen of rural Geauga County, Ohio, had already: written a textbook for elementary school kids; started a project with two friends to protect endangered brook […]

  • Seven tips on green campus organizing from a Harvard pro

    Leith Sharp. When Leith Sharp left her native Australia for a five-month tour of the U.S. and Europe in the late 1990s, she could hardly have guessed that she’d be gone for a decade. But that’s exactly what happened. Sharp had spent five years piloting eco-efforts at the University of New South Wales, in a […]

  • 15 creative ways that students and colleges are going greener

    Kappa and Trade Green the Greeks, a student organization at UCLA, is trying to educate the school’s Greek system about sustainability issues. Frats and sororities use a disproportionate amount of energy, the group says, so it’s aiming to “harness the resources of the Greek community for the environment,” its website explains. The rush to get […]

  • Student activist gets Phoenix buzzing with green biz expo

    Chris Samila Age: 23 School: Arizona State University Sometimes people do things because they don’t realize they can’t. If this makes no sense to you, you haven’t met Chris Samila, a (permanent, as he jokingly puts it) senior at Arizona State University in Tempe, where he had some epiphanies, founded a business (Green Summit Inc.), […]