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The Top 20 Coolest Schools of 2018
It's that time of year again to assess colleges' performance in everything from what they teach and how they obtain their electricity to their sources of cafeteria food and how they manage their water. Nearly 270 institutions of higher learning across the U.S. and Canada completed Sierra magazine's exhaustive questionnaire, on the basis of which we've identified the Top 20 Coolest Schools in North America and detailed how they're mastering the art and science of campus sustainability.
Check out Sierra magazine's Top 20 Coolest Schools rankings list for 2018.
Photo courtesy of Green Mountain College
California Goes Big on Clean Energy
Imagine what it would be like if we had a government that took climate change seriously. Californians don't need to imagine it anymore. On September 10, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law legislation that commits the Golden State to achieving 100 percent clean energy by 2045, becoming only the second state (after Hawai'i) to set a 100 percent clean energy goal. "It's impossible to overstate how significant a milestone it is," writes Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune, "for a state as large and influential as California to commit to 100 percent clean energy."
Read Brune's analysis of why California's action is so transformative—and what needs to happen next.
Take Heed, Take Heed of the Western Wind
Tens of thousands marched in San Francisco last Saturday ahead of the Global Action Summit convening there later this week. Protesters called on leaders at all levels of government to take swift and meaningful action to combat climate change. The march was just one of hundreds of Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice protests held around the globe last weekend. Led by indigenous activists, the San Francisco march is estimated to be the largest climate protest ever held on the West Coast.
Sierra magazine editor-in-chief Jason Mark was there.
Photo by Austin Price
Risking the Pokey to Stop a Pipeline
Native and non-native leaders just risked arrest to urge Minnesota's governor, Mark Dayton, to stop the destructive Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.
Join with them and tell Governor Dayton to do everything in his power to Stop Line 3.
Invasion of the Pathogens
According to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, insect- and other vector–borne-disease cases in the U.S. have nearly tripled in the past dozen years, including bites from mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas.
Why are vector-borne diseases on the rise?
Photo courtesy of James Gathany
 Slow-Rolling Therapy Leonie Sherman set off "to rehab a torn hamstring and a broken heart" by bicycling 380 miles from the northwesternmost corner of Oregon to her home in Northern California. "Each day amounted to a physical and emotional roller coaster that was mine to ride alone," she says. "The route dips and climbs over headlands and capes, along bays and sloughs ... and my emotions followed suit." Read about Sherman's healing quest. Photo courtesy of Leonie Sherman
9 New Children's Books About Climate Change
"These days, kids of all ages hear about climate change just about everywhere they turn," observes author, journalist, and mother Lela Nargi. "But understanding the underlying science-let alone the many-tentacled effects of climate change on oceans, animals, once-temperate lands, and the air we breathe—is complicated." Nargi recommends nine new books that give children the facts—sometimes straight up, sometimes couched within stories—to help them learn about the rapidly warming, melting, flooding, parching world that their generation will be tasked with protecting.
Check out the list.
Getting Over Harvey
Sierra Club Gulf Coast organizer Bryan Parras worked with the Houston Organizing Movement for Equity coalition and the School for Public Affairs at Texas Southern University to host a forum for Houston residents to share how Hurricane Harvey continues to affect their lives a year after it struck. "I'm not asking for charity," says one Houstonite who was denied FEMA aid. "I'm just asking for what I feel is owed me."
Read more, and watch video testimonials of Space City residents who are still struggling to recover from Harvey.
Demand for Goats Is Growing Like Weeds
Across California and the West, goats are being dispatched to overgrown patches of land to chomp down on vegetation and help create firebreaks to prevent fires from jumping from wildlands to homes and businesses.
Meet the ravenous ruminants on the front lines of fire prevention.
Photo courtesy of Jodi Helmer
Explore, Enjoy, and Protect Your Backyard
September 15 marks the 2nd Annual Backyard Day, a day dedicated to protecting the outdoor spaces you hold most dear. Whether in your literal or metaphorical backyard, join the Team Sierra Virtual 5K/10K to enjoy and explore—and to raise essential funds for the Sierra Club to protect those very spaces. The best part of a virtual race is that you can choose your location and mode of participation—hike a 5K on your local trails, kayak a 10K at your favorite river, or run a few miles through your downtown—your backyard is up to you.
Register today.
 A Woman and Her Dog on the Lost Coast Sierra magazine's adventure and lifestyle editor Katie O'Reilly recently took a backpacking trip with her three-year-old pitbull-vizsla mix Maeve along California's fabled Lost Coast. As the two started up the black sand beach that fringes the greatest sea-to-summit scarp in the Lower 48, "Maeve was smiling and heeling, looking peppy and purposeful in her pack—not to mention adorable," O'Reilly says. "Dogs, I told myself, were meant for backpacking." But hiking with a canine companion has its ups and downs. Photo courtesy of Katie and Mick O'Reilly
Sponsored Content: Be Changed and Change the World
The Bioneers Conference gives visionary social and scientific innovators a platform for sharing solutions to the world's biggest environmental and social challenges. On October 19-21, we'll welcome author Michael Pollan, #BlackLivesMatter cofounder Patrisse Cullors, Greenpeace USA executive director Annie Leonard, and other incredible changemakers to the Marin Center in San Rafael, California.
Join us, be changed, and change the world.
The Land I Trust
The Sierra Club's new audio storytelling and podcast series, The Land I Trust, has a fresh season about the real consequences of fossil fuels and climate change in the American West. Listen to firsthand stories about getting out of coal mining after four generations to work in clean energy; Indigenous communities moving beyond coal; and interfaith communities uniting around solar power.
Download episodes at sc.org/stories or wherever you get your podcasts.
September Astronomical Highlights
A full harvest moon leads the way to galaxies and asterisms (star clusters that are smaller than a constellation). A comet streaks across the heavens, visible with a backyard telescope. Four planets are arrayed across the sky from west to east; look toward one of them and you're looking into the heart of the Milky Way.
Find out where and when to observe these and other celestial sightings.
Think Twice Before Touching That Roundup
In concluding the world's first-ever court case against Monsanto Company over claims that its Roundup herbicide causes cancer, attorney Brent Wisner asked jurors to deliver a message so powerful that Monsanto couldn't ignore it.
Read Sierra magazine's report on one man's fight to bring Monsanto to justice.
Photo by Josh Edelson/Pool Photo via AP
The Climate-Wrecking Industry—and How to Beat It
The veil of invulnerability that the climate wreckers have hidden behind for decades is starting to tear. But will the new corporate-accountability efforts be enough? Who are the "Worst of the Worst" in the
climate-wrecking industry?
Find out the best ways to bring climate wreckers to account.
Illustration by Curt Melo
Be a Champion for the Environment—Donate Today: Your contribution directly supports our conservation efforts and will be applied where most urgently needed. Donate today and get your choice of Sierra Club Binoculars, Favorite Fleece Blanket, or Exploration Day Pack as your free gift! |
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