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Small Colleges, Big Earth

Eco League Approach to International Learning

Students don’t have to choose between the close community and personal attention of a small college and the opportunities for international learning and travel that are part of the advantages of a big university. Attending an Eco League college means access to more than 30 different international programs. This issue of Green Times shows how The Eco League consortium not only takes students around the world, but also gives them a way to learn about making it a better place.

Sinking Roots and Growing Wings through an Eco League Exchange

Students at any Eco League college can participate in semester exchange programs at any of the others. That means that they feel rooted in one close-knit community—with access to the facilities, professors and special places linked to their home college—and can also thoroughly explore the places and people at four other colleges and participate in international programs from each of the colleges. Students have the opportunity to study in a variety of environments, from some of the world's biggest cities to remote shorelines and trails. Beyond the pure excitement of traveling, these opportunities foster a global outlook by bringing students face-to-face with issues, cultures and challenges on an international scale.

Learning How to Help Build Sustainable Communities around the World

Exploring culture and ecology in Nepal, Costa Rica, Mexico, Alaska and Maine; developing community-based conservation strategies in Ecuador, Namibia, Kenya and Vermont; helping school children in Malawi and Arizona; understanding the intersection of agriculture, geology and history in the Italian Alps, Newfoundland, Labrador and the Ojibwa Nation in Wisconsin; and studying ecology in the Bahamas, the Galapagos and the Sonoran desert—these are some of the travel and study experiences to expect with The Eco League. And they can all be launched from the support of a home college where the professors know your name, your food comes from the ground nearby, and you won’t get lost in the library.

Students can travel from ...

... Alaska Pacific University to study:

• Tropical ecology in the Bahamas, Hawaii and the Galapagos Islands
• Cultural psychology in Malawi, Africa
• History, literature and culture in Greece, Brazil and Argentina
• Humanism, literature and the Renaissance in Italy

• Full-term cultural immersion in the Yucatan, Mexico
• Advanced research in Guatemala
• Tropical marine ecology and literature in St. Thomas and Tobago
• Natural history and cultural studies in Labrador, Newfoundland and Quebec

... Green Mountain College to study:

• Language immersion in France or Argentina
• Culture and history during a semester immersion in Korea
• Culture and agriculture in Italy
• Ecology, culture and sustainability issues in Brazil, New Zealand and Belize

... Northland College to study:

• Ecological living and learning in Iceland
• Sustainability in Nicaragua and Costa Rica
• Ecology, archaeology and agricultural history in Ecuador
• Wildlife conservation and cultural immersion and research in Namibia

• Marine conservation, natural history and cultural studies at the Prescott College Kino Bay Center in Mexico
• History, politics and conservation in Maasailand, Kenya
• Ecology and culture in Costa Rica and Nepal
• Culture and environmental education in Norway

Who We Are

The Eco League is the only college consortium in the United States dedicated to sustainability education and the active pursuit of environmental learning within a liberal arts framework. Learn more about our member colleges:

• Alaska Pacific University
• College of the Atlantic
• Green Mountain College
• Northland College
• Prescott College

Eco League in the News

Eco League Schools Among “Coolest” on Sierra Club List
Three of the five Eco League colleges made Sierra magazine’s elite top 10 of the coolest schools. The Sierra Club sent out 11-page questionnaires to 900 colleges and universities across the United States, asking them to detail their sustainability efforts. The surveys were ranked in a rigorous process that measured commitment to sustainability in categories that included energy supply, efficiency, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, financial investments, and a catchall section titled other initiatives.

Green Mountain College , at the very top of the list, opened a $5.8 million combined heat and power (CHP) biomass plant on Earth Day, 2010. In his remarks to about 300 students, faculty, staff, and community members, president Paul Fonteyn declared that by next year Green Mountain would become the first college in the country to reach carbon neutrality after reducing carbon emissions by more than 50%. Throughout the core curricula and across disciplines, Green Mountain students may choose from a number of courses focused on or directly related to developing an understanding of sustainability. Twenty-six Green Mountain faculty are engaged in direct research to improve society's understanding of sustainability.

True to their environmental missions, other top-ranking Eco League colleges stood out with innovative sustainability projects. College of the Atlantic’s new residence complex was built with the latest green design features, including a foot of insulation, a super-efficient wood pellet boiler, in-floor radiant heat, and composting toilets. Sierra also commends the College of Atlantic’s sustainable-business curriculum and an affiliated "venture incubator" to encourage eco-entrepreneurs.

Northland College ’s campus sustainability initiatives include Dexter Library. Formerly an inefficient, power-hungry building, the library was renovated in 2008 and is now a sleek example of what you can build with a little environmental awareness. The library is primarily heated by 30 geothermal wells extending 230 feet into the earth, producing plenty of heat and no carbon dioxide. Northland is a national leader in the opportunities it provides students to take an active role in changing the way the campus does business. The students with work study positions in campus sustainability (22 people, totaling more than 3% of all students at Northland) graduate with skills that position them for careers in the growing field of sustainability.

Get more details about:

• The Sierra Cool Schools list and ranking system
• Green Mountain College’s biomass facility
  
• The College of the Atlantic’s Kathryn W. Davis Residence Village
• Northland College’s campus sustainability initiatives