Campus Life - Green Initiatives
The New Balance Student Recreation and Fitness Center is LEED-certified, the standard for green building.
Officially, UMaine’s school colors are two shades of blue, but they could be a million shades of green. The Princeton Review ranks the University of Maine as one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges and universities, and has featured UMaine for the last two years in “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 311 Green Colleges: 2011 Edition.” In addition, UMaine was selected as one of three recipients of the Second Nature Climate Leadership Award in the doctorate degree-granting university category at the annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) Summit. UMaine recently launched the Sustainability Solutions Initiative, a statewide, interdisciplinary effort to help solve Maine’s most pressing economic and environmental problems through research and scholarship. On campus, four buildings are LEED-certified, the national standard for green construction. Students reclaim used bicycles, paint them blue and make them available free of charge for students to ride around campus or in town. Black Bear Dining recently launched a pilot program called Green to Go, which allows students to purchase takeout items in reusable containers. Dining facilities use biodegradable plates, recycled-paper napkins and bioplastic cups. And food scraps are used as compost.
Learn more about sustainability at UMaine.