California State University Northridge

An L.A. Times article titled “Sierra Club’s top 20 eco-friendly colleges include 3 in California” recently caught my attention. Of course, the first university I thought about was not CSUN but UC Berkley. I think it’s the hippie vibe that they exude up north that made me think of them. Berkley ranked eighth. And in case you’re wondering CSUN did not make the list but this is actually not a bad thing. In fact, there was only one Cal State University that made the list: Chico State. Their overall grade was a “B+”. “Not bad at all,” I thought, considering that the Sierra Club’s third annual Cool Schools List includes some not so desierable grades. At least CSUN didn’t end up with a shameful “F” like Kansas State did. But in all seriousness, CSUN seems to be working on getting its act together. But unfortunately, the CSU budget crisis may be hindering its efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. Sure some of us throw our cans in the recycling bins. But that is not all that is being done at CSUN. More on this on an upcoming post. And if you can wait, check out CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability to see what is being done.