Sierra Magazine: New Paltz is a Cool School (thanks to its sustainability efforts)
SUNY New Paltz has again been recognized as one of the 200 most environmentally friendly colleges in the U.S. in the latest edition of Sierra Magazine’s Cool Schools rankings.
The list is a leading resource for prospective students and employees looking for schools that show an exceptional commitment to sustainability in campus management and operations, academic curriculum, and student life and engagement.
New Paltz has now been honored on the Cool Schools list for six years straight. It’s truly a community-wide effort, involving everyone from faculty who teach courses and run programs focused on sustainability, to students who volunteer and advocate on environmental issues, to the Facilities Management staff who make green practices an element of their everyday work.
Much of this work is coordinated and supported by the Office of Campus Sustainability, which not only maintains and reports on the College’s STARS data, but also endeavors to boost our performance through programs like the Sustainability Faculty Learning Community and the Sustainability Ambassadors student engagement program (Students: There’s still time to join for fall 2021! Apply by Oct. 8 to get involved with this important work).
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, sustainability has remained a core priority for our community. In April 2021, the College announced plans to form a Carbon Neutrality Task Force to identify a target date and a comprehensive strategy to becoming a net-zero carbon campus by reducing emissions and increasing offsets.
SUNY New Paltz also continues to embrace the Global Goals for Sustainable Development for purposes of strategic planning throughout the campus community.
To learn more about these and other happenings at SUNY New Paltz, please visit the Office of Campus Sustainability online and follow @sustainablenewpaltz on Instagram.
About Sierra Magazine’s Cool Schools
Sierra Magazine builds its annual Cool Schools rankings using verified, Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) data that colleges and universities self-submit to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
SUNY New Paltz currently holds a STARS Silver Rating for excellence in sustainability, a badge of honor that places the College in the upper echelon of American colleges and universities.
More details about the Sierra Magazine Cool Schools methodology can be found here.