Green College Spotlight: Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire

Lately, Dartmouth College is getting just as much attention for its sustainability initiatives as for its academics. Named by Forbes as one of the greenest colleges in the nation, Dartmouth, located in beautiful Hanover, New Hampshire, has put many projects in place on campus to help reduce the school’s carbon footprint.  They’re reducing waste, conserving energy, eating organic and designing campus buildings responsibly.

Student organizations include ECO (Environmental Conservation Organization), which works to educate students about recycling, climate change and energy efficiency; The Dartmouth Organic Farm, where organic food is grown amidst a solar-powered greenhouse and wood-fired bread oven and the Sustainable Living Center, where 18 residents and other dedicated students will teach and learn the daily practices that contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle.  The Big Green Bus is a twelve-member group of Dartmouth students who traveled the U.S. this summer in a school bus running on veggie oil to educate the public about sustainability – check them out on Changents!

Dartmouth also has a Sustainable Move In/Out program.  Students with items they no longer need can leave them on campus to be stored over the summer, and then they’re sold to returning students and first-year students in the fall. It’s a great way to prevent a bunch of stuff from ending up in the landfill – which is what happens on most college campuses.

In 2007, Dartmouth received a grade of A- from the Sustainability Endowments Institute, a Massachusetts organization involved in research and education on the sustainability of higher education endowments.  The SEI specifically praised Dartmouth for its efforts in administration, food and recycling, green building, endowment transparency and shareholder engagement.  It also highlighted Dartmouths’ efforts to buy locally grown food to serve in campus dining facilities, as well as the new waste-free dining option for students.

The waste-free dining option is available at campus eatery Home Plate.  Under the new program, nearly all formerly prepackaged foods such as milk and condiments are now served in bulk containers, and reusable tableware is now offered in place of disposable.  Food waste is composted and put back into campus landscaping.

Two notable Dartmouth alumni who has gone on to focus on green issues are William McDonough and Olivia Zaleski.  William McDonough is an eco-architect and co-creator of the Cradle to Cradle design concept. Olivia is managing editor of Eco-Chick.com and writer for The Huffington Post, The Daily Green and Treehugger.  Both have been featured in EarthFirst.com’s ongoing series, ‘Who’s Who in Green’.

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