Kudos to the South's 'Cool Schools'!

Sierra magazine recently looked at the nation's colleges and universities and picked 10 schools that are leading the way in promoting environmental responsibility. Of those 10, three are in the South: Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C., where a sustainably managed farm, garden and forest provide food and lumber for the campus; Durham, N.C.'s Duke University, which offers ambitious green building, recycling and sustainable energy programs; and Berea College in Berea, Ky., where there's a passive-solar housing complex for students and campus-raised produce and meat in the dining halls. The other schools that made the final cut are Oberlin College, Harvard University, the University of California system, Middlebury College, Penn State (my alma mater -- I'm so proud!), Tufts University and Carnegie Mellon. Congratulations to all of them, and to students everywhere who are working to build a more environmentally sustainable future.