Oklahoma Schools Ranked Poorly by Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is out with its annual list of colleges doing their part in encouragement of sustainability and renewable energy and sorry to say, schools in Oklahoma didn’t fare well.

Of 239 schools that submitted information about their “green higher-ed” efforts, Oklahoma State University was ranked 162nd. The University of Oklahoma didn’t make the list.

Of other Big 12 and area universities, the University of Texas, known for being progressive and home “Weird Austin”, was ranked 222nd. Texas Tech was 215th while Baylor ranked 210th. Iowa State came in 114th. The University of Colorado had a ranking of 81st. The University of Arkansas was 75th and Colorado State University was ranked 11th nationally.

In announcing the rankings the Sierra Club explained, “When we launched our campus sustainability rankings in 2006, we covered just 10 schools. This year, a record 239 eligible colleges submitted information on their environmental practices in food and transportation systems, water and waste management, purchasing procedures, academics, investments, and more.”

The ranking is based on a university’s investments, food, innovation, planning, purchasing, transport and water.