UConn dropped from first to ninth in the Sierra Club’s ranking of the 173 greenest colleges in country.
Every year, the Sierra Club ranks colleges on how environmentally friendly they are in items like their curriculum, use of energy and food, academic research, and transit and waste programs, based on surveys the college voluntarily fill out. UConn ranked No. 1 in 2013 and came in at No. 9 this year.
The Sierra Club did not disclose why UConn fell in the rankings but praised the school’s Environmental Literacy Workgroup that develops new classes as well as its water conservation initiative, car-sharing programs, and serving of local food.
Other Connecticut schools in the rankings include Yale University at 38, Wesleyan University at 99, Connecticut College at 142, Southern Connecticut State University at 152, and Central Connecticut State University at 161.
The No. 1 greenest college in the country was the University of California at Irvine.
