Yes, Harvard University is one of the premiere universities in not only the United States, but the world. Their academics are matched by non other, and their athletics aren’t too shabby either! Well, there is another aspect of this prestigious school that is making heads turn – their green campus initiatives.

t’s Earth Day so dust off your cassette of Michael Jackson’s “Heal The World” and get out and make a difference on your campus. Companies all over the country are participating in Earth Day awareness… you can even get a free cup of Starbucks coffee if you bring in a reusable cup!

Dickinson College, a distinguished leader in global education and sustainability is offering students the opportunity to explore complex issues and increase their awareness on issues related to sustainability in a global setting. The program, Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East: Challenges in the Southern Arava, will be led by Dickinson experts and faculty from their abroad partner institutions including the University of Bremen in Germany, University of Yaoundé in Cameroon, and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel.

The government is making a huge push to incentivize universities across the country to go green and transform themselves into eco-friendly campuses. For the 2010-2011 academic year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has engaged universities in the well established Green Power Partnership Program whereby it will track the colleges as well as athletic conferences with the highest green power purchases throughout the country.

Traveling by bike is one of the healthiest ways to get around a campus. Many universities that pride themselves on being a green campus promote the use of bikes. Not only do they help decrease emissions of cars or buses, but they help with the personal health of the rider. Nokia has come up with another incentive to bike around campus. While biking, charge your phone!

<

With the added sense of environmental awareness, The Princeton Review, a program dedicated to helping students succeed by giving them information on tests, college prep and college statistics, has added a list to the countless amounts of information they have on colleges; The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges.

The Princeton Review took surveys of parents, students and college employees and found out in 2009 having an eco friendly campus and living an eco-lifestyle was important to 66% of high school-age college applicants. Students today feel the urge to learn more about environmental issues and to make their college a green campus.  Rachel Gutter, director for the Center for Green Schools at the Green Building Council said students realize the environmental problems they are inheriting and feel empowered to make a change.

Even though you may think that the desert is no place for anything green, the students at California’s College of the Desert located in Palm Desert are determined to prove you wrong.

Working with the Riverside County Economic Development Agency, an organization aimed to enhance the economic growth of the surrounding county, and using $2 million in economic stimulus funds, the college will train students in several projects for renewable energy. These projects will focus on wind energy and solar energy.

Middlebury College, which we have mentioned in previous 2008 Sustainability Report Card and Sierra Club’s Cool Schools posts, is considered to be one of the greenest colleges in our country. After switching a few years ago to burning wood chips in addition to oil to heat the campus, the college is now going for a cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative green energy fuel resource: willow shrubs.

The college currently buys 20,000 wood chips a year from local loggers to heat half of the campus, and the other half is heated by oil. By switching to willow shrubs as an alternative fuel source the school will save over $1.5 million a year in oil costs.

For the past 3 years the Sierra Club, one of the largest environmental organizations in the world, has put together a “Cool Schools” list of the top eco-friendly universities in America, and it has been published in the organization’s Sierra magazine.  These schools represent the best in green energy efficiency, waste management and food operations.

Bates College, a private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, was recently recognized as a top green school by the Princeton Review and ecoAmerica’s Green Honor Roll, which rated over 600 colleges on their environmental policies, practices and academic offerings.

Maybe Bates received the rave review because 82% of its entire campus food waste is composted, recycled, or sent to a food bank or pig farmer, or maybe it’s because of the annual trash to treasure Trashion Show, which showcases some of the coolest outfits made from trash that was once bound for the landfill.