Cool Schools 2009: Sierra Magazine Announces This Year's Greenest Schools

College: among other things, it’s where we get inspired and define how we want to live. So more and more, students are looking for schools that make living and teaching sustainably a priority.

For the third year in a row, Sierra magazine has scoured the nation to find 10 colleges and universities that are doing the most to make the world a cooler, greener place.

Sierra ranked 135 schools in terms of eight eco-criteria: efficiency, energy, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, and administration. The ratings, plus feautres about the top campuses' most exciting efforts, are online here.

If you’re college-bound and eco-minded, this is the place to find the edgiest schools, those that are walking the walk. For those of us who are already alums, Cool Schools is an excellent resource by which to find out whether your alma mater is keeping up with the times. Don’t like its rating? Make the case for why your school is the greenest here.

--Jamie Hansen