Colleges often host classes on environmental studies.Today, the students learn inside and outside the classroom. College campuses are becoming green classrooms themselves.

The College of the Atlantic, located in Bar Harbor, Maine, is one of the first colleges to go green. Although home to only a few hundred students who all study human ecology, it is devoted to living the goal of taking care of the environment.

They went carbon neutral in 2007.The green attitude does not end there. All the food eaten at the college is grown locally and organically.

Warren Wilson College, located in Swannanoa, North Carolina is green all the way through. Lumber and food harvested locally from the college's own land is organically grown and managed with sustainability in mind.The chainsaws use soy oil instead of petroleum.

With solar powered lights, solar charged carts, hybrid cars and biodiesel run vehicles, this college practices what it teaches. The students have a freecycle store to keep usable items out of landfills.

Evergreen State College, located in Olympia, Washington has a 1,000-acre campus that includes 800 acres of sustainable forest, woods and saltwater beach.The grounds are xeriscaped, that is, plants, shrubs and trees are native to the area.

The campus hosts a 13-acre farm with a compost facility. The Seminar II building is Gold LEED certified. The college purchases 100 percent clean energy, and uses electric vehicles.

Oberlin College, located in Oberlin, Ohio, is one of the greenest in the United States.The students created a computer program to monitor water and energy use in campus and dormitories, resulting in substantial savings.

They boast the largest solar array in the state, as well as the impressive Lewis Center for Environmental Studies.The building is geothermally heated, using only 20 percent as much energy as other buildings its size. It boasts a green roof, recycled materials, high performance insulation and daylighting.

The campus has a «living machine,» a waste management system utilizing bacteria and plants to clean gray water from the campus.

Berea College, gratis located in Berea, Kentucky, is the home an Ecovillage.The Ecovillage, a five-acre residential complex hosts rainwater collection, a living machine wastewater treatment plant, greenhouses, solar energy, energy saving appliances.

The students participate daily in sustained and green practices, such as using clotheslines, gardening, recycling, and serving on the Ecovillage board.

The University of California has ten campuses throughout the state, and every campus is dedicated to green practices.Their impressive goals include increasing the use of zero and low emission vehicles, generating 10 megawatts of renewable energy and becoming zero waste and carbon neutral.

For the best green education, choose a college that puts their mission statements and ideals into practice.