Committed to the Environment
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" 2012
— Princeton Review Guide to 322 Green Colleges (2012)
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 a strong commitment 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.
Princeton Review tallies a Green Rating for each school, based on data from a 50-question survey it conducts among hundreds of school administrators about their school’s environmental and sustainability-related commitments and initiatives.
The rating, on a scale of 60-99, provides a comprehensive measure of a school’s performance as an environmentally aware and prepared institution. The University of Maine at Farmignton received a Green Rating of 91.
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.
