Size of the school. Check. Majors provided. Check. Location. Check. Sustainability. Check?

This year’s high school seniors are more interested in green universities than ever before, so recruiters at the University of Arizona created the Sustainability Walking Tour of the campus.

According to the Princeton Review 2009 "College Hopes and Worries Survey," 68 percent of high school students surveyed said information about colleges' commitments to the environment would impact their decision to attend the school. This is four percent higher than the previous year.

The University of Arizona Sustainability Walking Tour is a self-guided tour around campus to the most sustainable places, including the thermal ice storage plant, the UA Visitor Center and the Laboratory for Tree-Ring Research.

“The tour consists of 11 different sites on campus,” said Glenn Schrader, head of chemical and environmental engineering and chairman of the Campus Sustainability Committee. “We wanted to highlight projects that address sustainability using the university campus as a laboratory for sustainable practices.”
The tour was created by the campus sustainability committee and will be adding new buildings each year to the list.

Perhaps next on the list will be the buildings that will be equipped with solar panels in May.

According to Leonard Byrd from APS Energy Services, the UA will begin solar installation on 3,200 photovoltaic panels on campus rooftops. The panels will be on buildings at the pools at the Student Recreation Center and Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, on McClelland Hall, McClelland Park and the Second Street parking garage. The panels will produce 500 kilowatts of solar energy.

Paul Allvin, associate vice president for communications, came up with the idea for the tour as a way to show off the campus.

He noticed that charity walks and other tours did not go around the best parts of campus and was determined to make a tour that did.

“We have a beautiful campus, and what better way to enjoy it than to take a healthy walk,” he said.

Schrader said he hopes the walk will help increase public awareness of the UA’s commitment to sustainable projects.

“We like to practice what we instruct,” Schrader said.

The tour was unveiled during the UA Earth Day celebration April 22.

Though the tour focuses on the sustainability practices of the UA, compared to colleges across the U.S., the campus ranks low in sustainability.

In green ratings done by the Princeton Review, the UA ranked one of the lowest of over 500 colleges in sustainability.

The ratings used three criteria to rank schools: quality of life for students, how much the school prepares students for a greening economy and what sort of policies the university has regarding the environment.

The schools can rank on a scale from 60 to 99. The University of Arizona had a rating of 60.

The Green Rating Honor Roll: 11 Colleges That Received the Highest Green Rating Arizona State University Bates College Binghamton University College of the Atlantic Emory University Georgia Institute of Technology Harvard College University of New Hampshire University of Oregon University of Washington Yale University Source: The Princeton Review

Alan Sacks, a political science senior, said the UA is far from sustainable.

“Not having a rec(reation) center expansion would be more environmentally friendly,” Sacks said.

“No amount of solar panels, or whatever, will make up for the fact that it is an unnecessary building.”

“We are in the middle of the desert with lots of trees, grass and flowers,” he said. “And the UA replants flowers for family weekend, re-sods the grass every year and washes the street and sidewalk with water every night,” Sacks said. “That is not green.”

Paul Allvin and Leslie Ash, sustainability director for the Associated Students of the University Arizona, disagree.

“The UA is doing a great job, but there is always room for improvement,” Ash said.

“We are low in hype but high in substance,” Allvin said. He said the UA uses 5 to 10 percent solar energy, uses reclaimed water to water plants, and uses biodiesel electric vehicles.

“The U of A was practicing sustainability before it was cool,” he said.


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