Green For Thought

America's 100 Greenest Schools
The Sierra Club sent out questionnaires to 900 colleges and universities around the United States. The questionnaire asked details about their sustainability efforts. They received 162 responses and measured each school's commitment to sustainability on ten categories; energy supply, efficiency, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, financial investments, and a catchall section titled "other initiatives." 


Western Washington University came in at 48 on the list, while University of Washington made the top 10 with a score of 84.7.

10 Big Green Ideas

"The stories of thoughtful citizens who are trying to make great green ideas a reality."

Newsweek gathered a list of 10 green ideas from people taking the initiative to improve the environment. Two stood out to me; "Catch a Wave" and "Turn Smoke Into Rocks". These two ideas explained a different kind of renewable energy I have never really thought of, and described a CO2 reducing process using biomimicry.

Catch a Wave: This idea referred to using the enormous power generated from ocean waves. Turns out this idea is an old one, however, the equipment needed to harness wave power has not been able to withstand the harsh power of the waves. Also, the power generated is expensive. With new technology and newly discovered materials, a new generation of equipment has been created that survive everything the ocean throws at it. Plans are being set in place to set up plants across the world that will generate enough power to power thousands and thousands of homes.

Turn Smoke into Rocks: What? Is this Possible? Well, apparently it is. Inspired by nature, Calera's Brent Constantz has developed a process that takes CO2 from a power-plant smokestack and turns it into cement. Constantz had studied coral reefs and how they formed. In nature carbon dioxide mixes with calcium to form calcium carbonate, creating coral. Constantz developed a process that mimicked this natural creation. He utilized biomimicry.