Sierra Magazine Announces 2019 Ranking of America’s “Cool Schools”

OAKLAND, CA – Today, Sierra, the national magazine of the Sierra Club, released its thirteenth annual “Cool Schools” ranking of North America’s greenest colleges and universities. This year, Sierra received submissions from a record 282 schools across the United States and Canada.

Each of the schools ranked in the top 20 have displayed a deep and thorough commitment to protecting the environment, addressing climate change, and encouraging environmental responsibility through their curriculum and on-campus operations. Using a customized scoring system, Sierra’s researchers ranked colleges and universities based on academic criteria like environmentally-focused curriculum, student engagement with environmental activism, operations such as renewable energy generation and waste management, and schools’ planning and administrative standards. 

This year, a Canadian institution topped the list as the “coolest”--demonstrating that the climate movement is alive and well globally. American East Coast colleges scaled the list in a big way with half of the Top 20 slots this year. Huge schools like Arizona State, three University of California campuses, and Colorado State showcased how big institutions are moving quickly with major climate efforts. 

“We’re inspired by the creative and innovative ways colleges and universities across North America are working to tackle the climate crisis and move toward a sustainable future,” said Jason Mark, Sierra magazine’s editor in chief. “Each year, our rankings have shown increased commitments to clean energy, more creativity on waste reduction, and involvement from a greater geographic range of schools. Even when government leaders fail to step up, students, faculty, and administrators are taking action.”

Sierra’s Top 20 schools of 2019 are:

1. Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops, British Columbia)

2. University of California, Irvine (Irvine, California) 

3. State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, New York)

4. University of New Hampshire (Durham, New Hampshire)

5. University of Connecticut (Mansfield, Connecticut) 

6. University of California, Merced (San Joaquin Valley, California) 

7. Colby College (Waterville, Maine) 

8. Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vermont) 

9. Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado)

10. Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) 

11. Sterling College (Craftsbury Common, Vermont) 

12. Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) 

13. Seattle University (Seattle, Washington)

14. Chatham University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 

15. College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, Maine)

16. University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, California)

17. University of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta)

18. Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, California)

19. University of Dayton (Dayton, Ohio)

20. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois) 

"Young people and students are driving the exact type of innovation and leadership we need to tackle the climate crisis. This year, they stepped up to fight climate change and demand action in a way we’ve never seen before. From the United States to Canada, impassioned students are pushing their high schools and colleges to divest from our fossil fuel past, and invest in the clean energy future we need,” said Karissa Gerhke, National Director of the Sierra Student Coalition. “The Sierra Student Coalition will continue supporting these leaders and their schools.”

The full ranking of 282 colleges and universities, including each school’s completed questionnaire, is online at sc.org/coolschools.