Are You Green Enough For The Sierra Club?

Years ago, the commons between dorms was the biggest green element on most college campuses. Now, it seems America's institutions of higher learning are racing to out-do each other with green buildings, locally grown cafeteria food and carbon-neutral footprints.

It was probably inevitable, in this rankings-mad era, that someone would step in to see which colleges were really the greenest of the green. Enter the Sierra Club, with a list of "Cool Schools" that do environmentalism proud. It has named 10 schools to the list, with Oberlin College coming out as No. 1.

It's an interesting list, both for the schools picked and the greening efforts that they have undertaken. But the Sierra Club isn't looking at the environmental science education these institutions are providing and, if you subscribe to the views of Allegheny College's Michael Maniates, greening may just be so much lip service to the environment.