UW-River Falls makes Sierra Club’s List of Cool Schools

August 29, 2018 – The Sierra Club recently released the 2018 ranking of Cool Schools and campus sustainability efforts land the University of Wisconsin-River Falls on the list.

The Cool Schools ranking can serve as a guide for prospective students, current students, administrators, and alumni to compare colleges’ commitments to environmentalism. It also serves to spur healthy competition among schools, raise environmental standards on campus, and publicly reward the institutions that work hard to protect the planet.

“Making this list is a culmination of multiple efforts by our faculty, staff, students, and community,” said UW-River Falls Sustainability and Custodial Supervisor Mark Klapatch. “We take great pride in furthering our sustainability efforts and this ranking highlights our areas of success. This ranking also provides us direction for how we can work to become a more sustainable campus and community.”

This recognition follows additional sustainability accolades earlier this year when UW-River Falls received a Gold Rating on the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) report facilitated by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). It was the first time UW-River Falls received a Gold Rating.

The Sierra Club’s List of Cool Schools is open to all four-year, degree-granting undergraduate colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Once schools submitted their data, researchers scored each response and ranked each of the participating institutions.

The Cool Schools ranking evaluates 62 different aspects of sustainability. The scoring system reflects the broader priorities of the Sierra Club with a significant percentage of points being awarded in the areas of campus energy use, transportation, and fossil fuel divestment because the Sierra Club believes that progress in these sectors is essential for addressing the climate crisis.

For more information about the Cool Schools list, visit https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/cool-schools-2018/cool-schools-2018-full-ranking.

For more information on sustainability practices at UW-River Falls, email mark.klapatch@uwrf.edu