Your real estate connection for Anne Arundel County, Maryland - Home of Fort George G. Meade, Northrop Grumman, BWI and the U.S. Naval Academy 

Have you ever heard of GRIST?  Don't feel too bad - I never did either, until I read that the University of Maryland has been named to their Top 15 Green Colleges and Universities.  That caught my eye!

According to the GRIST website, it is environmental news and commentary - with personality!  Frankly, it's refreshing to see their approach to a topic that could be very dull.

Regarding the University of Maryland, GRIST reports that "Students at this College Park campus recently sent a loud-and-clear message about sustainability: some 91 percent of undergrads voted to raise student fees in order to pay for clean energy, when tuition and fees are already at record highs. If implemented, the fee increase would eventually raise enough money to make UM the largest higher-ed purchaser of renewable energy in the U.S. UM -- one of the many schools committed to going carbon neutral -- is also doing what it can to reduce energy use: a combined heat-and-power plant completed in 2003 received the U.S. EPA's Energy Star award, and motion sensors that automatically shut down unused office equipment are currently undergoing testing."

GRIST senior editor Lisa Hymas indicated that they "researched, asked experts, and consulted other rankings to get a broad picture of green activities on campuses." Based on the online comments, however, some colleges and universities that are excluded from the list are taking exception.  That's one of the beauties of blogging - the opportunity for feedback from readers!

The University of Maryland is the only Flagship of any State Higher Education System listed by GRIST.  Others are:

1. College of the Atlantic
2. Middlebury College
3. EARTH University
4. The Evergreen State College
5. Oberlin College
6. Harvard
7. University of Britich Columbia
8. California State University, Chico
9. Tufts University
10. Leeds University
11. Green Mountain College
12. Yale University
13. Aquinas College
14. Glasgow University

Photo:  UMD Photo Gallery

For additional information about some of Maryland's sustainability successes: 

• Greening the Campus, the World
• Campus Sustainability
• Complete list of GRIST picks, including Runners-up and a brief description of each institution.

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