Brooklyn College Again Named a “Green College” by The Princeton Review

Brooklyn College has once again been included as one of the nation’s top environmentally friendly colleges, according to The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2023 Edition.   

The Princeton Review selected 455 colleges based on its 2021-22 surveys from students and administrators at 713 institutions concerning their college’s dedication to being sustainably eco-friendly. The company’s editors reviewed more than 25 survey data points to select the top schools. 

Through its faculty, Brooklyn College is a leader in sustainability related research and education. The Center for the Study of Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Urban Ecology and Environment Program, and the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay are just some of the different research initiatives on campus. The college offers a comprehensive interdisciplinary undergraduate program in urban sustainability, offering three major concentrations in environmental science, economics, and sociology for students to choose from.

The Campus Sustainability Council is raising awareness in its commitment to reduce the college’s carbon footprint through campus-based education, research, community-based collaboration, services, and operations. It works with the college’s Office of Facilities, Planning and Operations and Sustainable CUNY to develop an energy master plan and implement efficiency projects, including LED lighting retrofits and steam trap replacements. The council has also participated in identifying and pursuing green infrastructure opportunities to help manage stormwater, increase biodiversity, and reduce energy costs from cooling, including pollinator plant beds and a community garden near the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts, which is also a LEED certified building. 

The college and the Campus Sustainability Council also engages the student body in sustainability planning, implementation, policy, and initiatives, through undergraduate student government, student-led clubs and organizations, and campus events. Students are primary partners in the campus-wide initiative to eliminate and reduce the use of single-use plastics throughout Brooklyn College, in an effort to address the negative impact of plastic pollution on our environment. 

The Princeton Review gave each college a “green rating” score on a scale of 60 to 99 based on the school’s overall environmental awareness. The universities that earned a score of 80 or higher were picked from the Guide to Green Colleges. Out of the 455 colleges, 421 are in the United States, 26 in Canada, two are in Taiwan, and one each from Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Ireland, Mexico, and Morocco. Additionally, 31 out of the 455 colleges earned a green rating score of 99. The schools are listed alphabetically in the guide and are not ranked overall from 1 to 455. 

The guide ranks colleges based on their commitment to sustainability and determines if the students have a healthy and viable campus quality of life and how environmental policies are being utilized. It also shows how well a campus is preparing students for jobs in the evolving green economy of the 21st century as well as for citizenship in a society that is focused on addressing environmental concerns and opportunities. More information on the methodology can be found here.