Green College Spotlight: Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC

Warren Wilson College, nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, has received numerous accolades for their environmental policies, including being named ‘Greenest College of the Southeast’ by Blue Ridge Outdoors for the second consecutive year, making the Daily Green’s list of greenest colleges and being named one of the Top 10 Eco-Friendly Colleges in 2007 by the Sierra Club.

Located in the small town of Swannanoa just outside Asheville, Warren Wilson isn’t just a college – it’s a 300-acre working farm and 700-acre forest that operates as a research laboratory for sustainable practices. Two of its buildings are LEED gold certified. LEED, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, is the green rating system of the U.S. Green Building Council. By the end of this year, the college hopes to have 5 LEED certified buildings including an ‘EcoDorm’, for which it’s seeking the Platinum certification, which is the Green Building Council’s highest rating. Check out a video explaining some of the green aspects of the EcoDorm below.

Environmental sustainability is a major theme at Warren Wilson, seen everywhere from the compost bins and biodiesel car fleets to the organic gardens and use of passive and active solar heating. Staff use solar-charged electric golf carts to get around, there’s a vegetarian café on campus and students enjoy a ‘free store’ where donated goods find new homes. There’s a deep-rooted awareness of conservation and sustainability on this campus, where students, faculty and staff do everything they can to minimize their impact on the environment.

Warren Wilson has put an emphasis on making sure that it, as a school, is the best example it can be for students seeking leadership in sustainable initiatives. They’ve taken things like biodiversity conservation into account when planning their land use, have an Environmental Leadership Center, a Recycling Crew, and a Campus Greening Seed Grants program that allows students and a staff co-sponsor to apply for grants up to $500 to put environmental restoration projects in motion on campus. Their college press uses 100% post-consumer chlorine-free paper and soy inks. A campus shuttle gets students to nearby Asheville for social and shopping excursions, since first-year students aren’t allowed to have their own vehicles.

They’re not done by any means – Warren Wilson has made a commitment to continue growing as an environmentally responsible college as technology and sustainable practices evolve. This liberal arts college, offering majors like Art, Biology, Environmental Studies, Global Studies, Humanities, Outdoor Leadership and Social Work has a lot to offer for students who have set themselves on a greener path.

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Link [Warren Wilson College]

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