“He asked me what I was doing,” Carney recalls. “And I said I was just getting rid of trash.”

 

His cousin looked at him and said, “The world is messed up enough. Why contribute to it?”

From that point on, Carney decided to be a better steward of his natural surroundings. Today, he presides over the student senate at Harper College (Illinois), is part of a student/faculty green committee, and is active with the college’s environmental club. Most recently he worked with fellow students to devise an environmental awareness campaign and celebrated the signing of a presidential commitment to environmentalism on campus.

 

He’s not alone: Community colleges across the country have reported waves of student environmentalists committed to “greening” their campuses through student-faculty partnerships, environmental clubs, honor-society projects, and other means. From trash dumps and recycling sorting to educational campaigns born from the construction of greener academic buildings, college faculty say more students are arriving on campus in search of environmental activism and expecting to find it.

 

Students aren’t the only ones. Faculty and staff members, too, are working to improve campus sustainability. The movement bridges generations and shows no signs of letting up. College faculty members say they’re delighted to see such dedication to their campuses and surrounding communities and foresee even more growth in the future.

 

Administrators on the Red Mountain Campus at Mesa Community College (MCC) in Arizona show their commitment to large environmental projects each fall. That’s when 24 hours’ worth of collected garbage is ceremoniously dumped in the center of campus to be sorted and counted by students and community volunteers.

 

“Phi Theta Kappa is involved with that,” says Duane Oakes, MCC’s faculty director of service learning. “We have archaeology classes come out, history classes—tons of classes come out and help. We dump all the garbage and then sort it and count it and see if we’re becoming better about recycling.”

 

Web sites that focus on promoting sustainability, climate change, and educating and preparing a green workforce.

Last year, 482 garbage bags were dumped during the event. Students learned that fewer than 75 bags were really garbage. The remainder was either recyclable material, which was sent for processing, or food—200 pounds of it—which was collected and fed to chickens.

 

Environmental clubs are among the most popular extracurricular offerings on campuses today, according to administrators. Many students are willing to take on ambitious projects, even if their stay at the college is temporary.

 

Kelly Cartwright, a biology professor at the College of Lake County outside Chicago, says the college’s environmental club has been active since it was founded nearly five years ago. Even students who aren’t routinely active in the club have expressed interest in learning about the college’s commitment to greener living.

 

“Students are interested in what the school is doing,” she says. “They want to know if we have efficient energy, for example. We have a very active environmental action committee, and students want information about what they’re doing. In general, students are more aware than they were in the past, especially about global climate change and recycling.”

 

Sustainability is also evolving into a potential career option for many students, says Cartwright, and finding a school that’s committed to environmental causes can be an important part of the college selection process.

 

Stakeholders of all types are showing a more acute interest in how nicely colleges play with Mother Nature.

 

“Students, taxpayers, and our local and state government all seem very concerned,” says Bob Marietta, facility renovations, sustainability, and safety manager at Howard Community College in Maryland. “They expect us to be responsible stewards of the resources we have here. And we try and follow that.”