Committed to Environmental Sustainability
The University of Maine at Farmington is committed to environmental stewardship and to graduating responsible global citizens who care about our environment.
As an educational institution, we have the opportunity to be a leader in promoting the sustainable use of the Earth's resources. We will learn about, and understand, sustainable environmental practices, making their benefits apparent to students, faculty, staff, and our community. Environmental issues will be studied broadly in courses throughout the curriculum.
In addition to educating our campus and the community, we will demonstrate by our own policies and practices that we are good environmental stewards. Sustainable practices will be an integral part of our campus management and operations in building and renovating, in reducing pollution and waste, in using appropriate energy resources and materials, and in protecting and incorporating the native environment in our campus spaces. Indoor and outdoor environments should be healthful and aesthetically pleasing.
Committing to environmental responsibility means that we will also set goals for ourselves and monitor our progress towards them.
"A Top Green College" 2013
— Princeton Review Guide to 322 Green Colleges (2013)
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges profiles institutions of higher education in the United States and three in Canada that demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation. The guide is the only free, comprehensive, annually updated guide that focuses solely on colleges that have demonstrated a notable commitment to sustainability.
To produce their guide, Princeton Review partnered with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), a national nonprofit organization best-known for developing the LEED green building certification program. This past fall, USGBC launched its Center for Green Schools to increase its efforts to drive change in how campuses and schools are designed, constructed, and operated.
The Princeton Review chose the schools based on a survey it conducted of hundreds of colleges across the U.S. and in Canada in 2012 to tally its "Green Ratings" (scores from 60 to 99) it reports in school profiles in its annual college guidebooks and website. The survey asked administrators more than 50 questions about their institution's sustainability-related policies, practices and programs.
The rating, on a scale of 60-99, provides a comprehensive measure of a school’s performance as an environmentally aware and prepared institution.
Specifically, the Green Rating includes:
- Whether students have a campus quality of life that is both healthy and sustainable.
- How well a school is preparing students for employment in the clean energy economy of the 21st century as well as for citizenship in a world now defined by environmental concerns and opportunities.
- How environmentally responsible a school’s policies are.
