Happy Earth Day!

I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying Earth Week at The CollegeBound Network. We’ve been hearing from our friends all across the higher education universe about the great things colleges and universities are doing to preserve Mother Nature.

While it’s not necessary to break the bank when it comes to initiating greener living on campus—after all, recycling paper and plastic is a cheap and easy way to begin—a growing number of colleges and universities are setting aside a good chunk of their budget for eco-friendly initiatives, which include constructing LEED-certified buildings and dorms.

What’s LEED, you ask? It stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a designation that means the building in question meets the strict green standards as set by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)—the same organization that recently teamed up with The Princeton Review to produce the Green College Guide.

Check out these dorms that LEED, um, lead the way in greener living:

The Eco House at Westminster College in Fulton, MO is not just a place to live, but to learn. It houses three to five students who are chosen to live there for a year based on their personal commitment to the environment. For one of the two semesters, each student must complete an internship that requires them to maintain the house and design an environmentally focused program that can be employed by the campus.

At Meredith College in Raleigh, NC, The Oaks, a suite-style residence hall, opened in time for Fall 2009. It was the first new dorm to be built on campus since the 1970s, but boy, did they catch up quickly with the times. The building, which features four-bedroom and two-bedroom suite layouts, earned LEED Silver certification. It’s pretty cool to know that a building with such traditional architecture on the outside could have such a great environmentally friendly space on the inside.

Emerson College’s Piano Row Residence Hall and Campus Center, is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise bustling city. There’s a lot going on in this building that’s located on the corner of the Boston Common, but it’s all environmentally friendly; in fact, the “Living Green” learning community calls Piano Row home. Also at home in Piano Row are the men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams, who play in the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym located on one of the floors of this LEED-certified structure.

At Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, six out of 10 freshmen dorms are LEED-certified. An ongoing project at Vandy involves building brand new buildings that are LEED-certified, as well as embarking on renovations of older buildings to make them greener. Vanderbilt was one of 10 schools recognized by U.S. News & World Report for having green dorms, which is sure to attract future environmentally minded students.

If the school you are attending in the fall doesn’t have any LEED dorms to choose from, don’t fret: you can still make your own dorm eco-friendly. Check out these three green ideas courtesy of Planet Green:

1. Use a BPA-free water bottle to stay hydrated.
2. Plug all dorm appliances and electronics into power strips.
3. Opt for fragrant plants rather than air fresheners that plug in.

How are you celebrating Earth Day today and (hopefully) every day? Leave a comment below.

–Barbara Bellesi