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Sierra magazine
Cool Schools: The Third Annual List

Extra Credit

To support green creativity, we awarded up to five bonus points to schools with unique initiatives that didn't fall into one of our eight categories. These institutions didn't make the top 20, but they did earn top marks in the bonus column.

Emory University
Located in Atlanta, a metropolitan area that loses roughly 50 acres of open space each day, Emory has designated 54 percent of its campus as off-limits to development. And for every tree removed to make room for a new building (all of which must be LEED certified), a new one is planted.

Carleton College
Minnesota's Carleton maintains a 880-acre campus arboretum filled with native species like prairie grasses and upland forest trees. It's a great place to study for your botany exam.

University of Pennsylvania
Penn diverts more than 800 gallons of used cooking oil each semester to waste-oil recyclers who turn the goop into biodiesel. Its cafeterias use only compostable and biodegradable take-out cups and packaging and have switched to a trayless system to discourage eaters from heaping more food than they need.

Berea College
This tuition-free Kentucky school has created the Ecovillage, where students, faculty, and their families study, work, and live hyper-sustainably.

Pomona College
The Southern California campus recently revamped its housekeeping policies by switching to 100 percent green cleaning supplies, 100 percent recycled toilet paper, and microfiber cleaning cloths (instead of disposable towels), laundered in Energy Star–rated machines. —Michael Fox

This article has been corrected subsequent to publication.

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