Northland College

Northland College
  • Academics
  • Campus Life
  • Admissions
  • Athletics
  • Sustainability
Search
  • Directory
  • Campus Map
  • Calendar
  • Alumni
  • Giving
  • News
More...
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate
    • Faculty
    • Resources
    • Opportunities
      • Internships
      • Undergraduate Research
      • Study Abroad
      • Off-campus Learning
      • Student Jobs Board
    • Graduate Success
    • Course Catalog
    • Transcript Request
    • Commencement
  • Campus Life
    • Dining
    • Housing
    • Outdoor Orientation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
      • Indigenous Cultures Center
        • Native Student Offerings
        • Powwow & Awareness
        • Community Outreach
        • Native American Museum
    • Get Involved
    • Bicycles & Gear Rental
    • Fitness Center
    • Services
      • Counseling Services
      • Accommodations
      • Health Services
      • Safety & Security
  • Admissions
    • Visit Campus
    • Tuition
    • Financial Aid
      • Scholarships
      • Grants
      • Loans
      • FAFSA
      • Veterans
    • Enroll
    • Counselor Visits
  • Athletics
    • Athletic Website
    • Varsity Club Membership
    • Annual Golf Classic
    • Athletic Camps & Leagues
      • Basketball Camps & Leagues
      • Soccer Camp
    • Men’s Hockey Family Weekend
  • Sustainability
    • Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation
      • Our Work
      • Student Research Opportunities
      • Lab Services
      • Burke Center in the News
      • World Water Day
      • Water Summit
    • Center For Rural Communities
      • Opinion Polls
      • Quality of Life
      • Local Food Systems
      • Great Lakes Islands Alliance
        • Islands Indicators Project
      • Human-Environment Connection
      • Publications
      • Student Opportunities
    • Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute
      • LoonWatch
        • About Loons
        • Protect Loons
        • Get Involved
        • Loon Appreciation Week Poster
      • Timber Wolf Alliance
        • Wolf Awareness Week Poster
        • Learn About Wolves
        • Wolf Status Reports
        • Vision for Wolves
        • Midwest Wolf Stewards Conference
      • Environmental Stewardship
        • Adult Programs
        • High School Programs
        • School Group Programs
      • SONWA Book Awards
        • Children’s & Young Adult Literature Conference
      • Sigurd Olson Legacy
    • Hulings Rice Food Center
      • Compost Center
      • Larson Food Lab
      • Campus Gardens
      • Student Opportunities
    • Forest Lodge Educational Campus
      • Rental Information
  • Alumni
    • Fall Festival
    • Keep in Touch
    • Alumni Association
    • Transcript Request
  • Giving
    • Planned Giving
    • Your Gifts at Work
    • Meet our Team
  • About Northland
    • Inauguration of President Suomi
    • Advocacy & Public Discourse
    • Consumer Information
Previous
Next
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Full-Spectrum Sustainability

Because We Only Have One Planet.

At Northland we live our sustainability mission every day. We consider how our actions will advance sustainability in all of its forms: health, community, culture, environment, energy,  and economy. It’s from a full-spectrum point of view that we seek to understand, develop, and respond to our institutional goals. Going green is a part of everything you’ll do at Northland, from how you live, to what you learn, and ways you contribute.

Campus Leadership

Students at Northland are very involved in campus sustainability. The student Environmental Council serves as a catalyst for change by developing and overseeing on-campus sustainability initiatives. They are sustainability advocates at the local, national, and global level. The Northland College eco-reps also plan on-campus sustainability events that encourage positivity, community, and individual sustainability actions.

We have a student director of sustainability who organizes the Environmental Council, runs the REFund grant program, and is a member of the Northland College Student Association. Additionally, we have a a joint faculty, student, and staff Sustainability Work Group charged with collaboratively advancing Northland’s sustainability commitments.

Eco-Living at Northland

Campus Composting

Student volunteers first launched the campus composting program in 1993. And still today, our compost program is lead entirely by work-study students who manage every aspect, including daily food scrap collection, monitoring the biological process, and final distribution. Our finished compost is used in campus gardens. This initiative has kept hundreds of thousands of pounds of food waste out of the landfill. Learn more.

River Road Farm

Campus Gardens

Students manage multiple garden spaces on campus: an agro-ecological permaculture garden behind the McLean Environmental Living and Learning Center; a community garden with plots available to rent to students, faculty and staff; and a new edible perennial garden at Memorial Hall. The gardens provide fresh produce to our cafeteria, food that is sold to the campus community, and is also used out on the trails during Northland’s outdoor orientation trips each August.

Local Foods

Currently nearly twenty farms and businesses within one hundred miles of campus supply the cafeteria with vegetables, fruits, herbs, jams, cider, pork, beef, Lake Superior fish, flour, cheese, eggs, fermented vegetables, bread, granola, honey, maple syrup, ice cream, and coffee. Over forty-percent of or food budget is spent on local foods. Learn more.

CSE Greenhouse

Students conduct research, propagate rare plans, and start seedlings for campus gardens in the science building’s greenhouse.

ReUse Room

The ReUse Room, located in the basement of the Townhouses, is a thrift shop staffed by students and volunteers. Donations from students, staff, and faculty include used clothes, CDs, books, and household items. All items are free. Learn more. You can also join the Northland College Reuse network on Facebook.

Students working on handcycle

Sunshine Bike ShopPE

Since the mid-1990’s, Northland’s Sunshine Community Bike Shoppe has served as a hub for bike enthusiasts. The shoppe has tools, parts, and plenty of advice to offer to anyone who wants to repair their bike or build a bike from scratch. If you are interested in learning the ABC’s of bike repair, you are welcome and encouraged to volunteer alongside our work-study students who manage the shoppe. Learn more.

The McLean Environmental Living and Learning Community (MELLC)

Clean Energy

The McLean Environmental Living and Learning Center, which opened in 1998, is a unique residential space and was an early model for green design. Three photovoltaic solar arrays provide efficient active solar energy collection. A 120-foot 11 kilowatt wind turbine is located at the southeast corner of the building. Fourteen solar panels placed on the roof of the south wing preheat hot water for residential use. Learn more.

Dexter library

Dexter Library

Northland’s Dexter library was renovated in 2008 and was one of the first LEED Gold certified buildings in Wisconsin. To receive a Gold level certification, the project had to control not just what was built, but what was thrown away. 75% of the construction and demolition waste was diverted from landfills. These materials were either recycled or reused, reducing the burden on landfills and the demand for virgin resources. Learn more.

Sustainability at Work

AASHE Stars

Northland College has earned a STARS Gold rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education.

Northland College ranked as one of the top-10 undergraduate institutions in the world for overall sustainability, rating second in the academic category, focused on curriculum and research.

“Northland approaches sustainability in all of its forms — health, community, culture, environment, energy, and economy — and integrates it into the academic curriculum and the research done by our students and faculty,” said Scott Grinnell, director of sustainability initiatives. “This assessment validates our intentional work to bring full-spectrum sustainability into the center of all we do as a college. Read more.

Green Buildings

McLean Environmental Living and Learning Center
The McLean Environmental Living and Learning Center, which opened in 1998, serves as a unique residential space for students and was an early model for green design. Students were active participants in the building’s design process and helped to select environmentally-friendly materials like recycled carpet, furniture made from recycled milk jugs and recycled steel, bio-composite material for counter-tops, windows with low-emissivity coated glass, and natural-based linoleum floors to employ the best use of resources.

Sustainability Features:

  • Three photovoltaic solar arrays provide efficient active solar energy collection
  • Motion-sensor lighting and high-efficiency light fixtures, motors, and appliances cut down on electricity use
  • Two waterless composting toilets and low-flow water saving fixtures throughout the building help to conserve water
  • 120-foot 11 kilowatt wind turbine located at the southeast corner of the building
  • Fourteen solar panels placed on the roof of the south wing preheat hot water for residential use
  • Increased insulation of walls, ceilings, and windows along with heat recovery of exhaust air, high efficiency boilers for space and water heating

Dexter Library (LEED Gold)
Northland’s Dexter library was renovated in 2008 and was one of the first LEED Gold certified buildings in Wisconsin. To receive a Gold level certification, the project had to control not just what was built, but what was thrown away. 75% of the construction and demolition waste was diverted from landfills. These materials were either recycled or reused, reducing the burden on landfills and the demand for virgin resources.

Sustainability Features:

  • Recycled content carpet
  • 50% of new wood-based products and materials are FSC-certified
  • 30% of the furniture and furnishings were reused and/or refurbished
  • 20% of building materials manufactured within 500 miles
  • 14kW photovoltaic solar array on the roof
  • Geothermal heating and cooling
  • Energy efficient lighting with occupancy sensors
  • Increased roof insulation
  • Low-flow plumbing fixtures
  • Extensive use of materials low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs)


Straw Bale Building (home of the Sunshine Community Bike Shoppe)
In the winter of 1998 a straw bale design workshop was conducted on campus. Then, during May term 1999, several students built the structure to model a building constructed entirely of locally produced materials (wood, straw, and earthen plaster). This building is now the home of the Sunshine Community Bike Shoppe. Straw bales provide great insulation, the ceiling is insulated with cellulose from recycled newspapers, and south facing windows capture passive solar heating.

REFund Grant Program

NCSA hires a sustainability grant manager to manage REFund, formerly called the Renewable Energy Fund, a student-administered grant program that funds projects designed to enhance sustainability and increase energy efficiency on the Northland College campus.

REFund projects are evaluated on the following criteria from the program goals and effects, based on how the project is able to:

  1. Enhance one or more spheres of sustainability;
  2. Address one or more of the College’s mission elements: liberal arts studies, the environment, enabling others, addressing challenges of the future;
  3. Contribute to energy education, reduction, renewability, and efficiency;
  4. Involve students;
  5. Create a continued and broad impact on campus.

President's Climate Commitment

In 2007, Northland became a member of the leadership circle of signatories of the American Colleges and Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). As part of its commitment under the ACUPCC, Northland College has committed to pursue carbon neutrality by 2030. This will involve identifying aggressive opportunities for energy efficiency improvements in all campus buildings, exploring opportunities for purchasing and producing large amounts of renewable energy, and investigating technologies that will allow us to dramatically reduce or even eliminate our dependency on fossil fuels to heat and cool the campus.

A History of Leadership

2018

Earned a STARS Gold rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

2017

Completed the Hulings Rice Food Center, housing the region’s largest food processing facility and composting equipment.

Signed on to “We Are Still In” after the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and Northland College signed a historic property lease Monday allowing Northland College to operate and maintain Forest Lodge in Cable, Wisconsin.

2016

Infrastructure for a new edible perennial garden is constructed at Memorial Hall.

2015

The Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota, awarded a $10 million endowment to support freshwater research at Northland and at a former home of the Burke family, Forest Lodge in Cable, Wisconsin.

Northland officially launches the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation later this year focusing on scientific research, communication, and thought leadership on water issues in the Great Lakes region and beyond.

A comprehensive Energy Study for Climate Action plan is completed. The study assesses technical, economic, and environmental costs and benefits of the options available for reducing campus CO2 emissions from our current level of about 3,500 metric tons of CO2e/year to net zero.

Northland establishes the Center for Rural Communities applying research based solutions to social and economic challenges, partners with community members to build on local knowledge, and promotes the long-term health and vitality of rural communities in the north woods region.

2014

Grant funding is received from the Margaret A Cargill Foundation for a three-year sustainability initiative that focuses on three critical and interconnected sustainability challenges facing our community today:

  • a centralized food supply that requires extensive use of fossil fuels to maintain and transport;
  • over-use of carbon-based fuel sources for energy and transportation;
  • and habitual consumer behaviors that perpetuate over dependency on fossil fuels and waste of natural resources.
2013

Northland approves a new Strategic Plan in which we commit to:

  • Creating distinctive and transformational educational experiences for our students, preparing them for service, leadership roles, global citizenship, and fulfilling lives and careers.
  • Being a healthy, thriving organization built on a sound financial base.
  • Providing leadership and scholarship that address regional and global challenges.
  • Cultivating collaborations that support the resiliency of our communities, preserve our natural resources, and strengthen our region’s intellectual, cultural and economic assets.
  • Modeling sustainable practices that recognize and respect ecological systems and societal needs.
  • Upholding the principles of trust, respect, and accountability in the creation of an innovative, nurturing, and just campus community.
2012

Residence hall renovations feature recycled content flooring, low-VOC paints, and re-upholstered and sustainably-sourced furniture.

An enhanced local food purchasing initiative is launched in partnership with the Chequamegon Food Coop, UW Extension, and a number of local farmers.

Composting moves to a new, much larger building constructed of locally-sourced timbers clad in energy efficient structural insulated panels.

The Sunshine Community Bike Shoppe moves to its new location in the Straw Bale Demonstration Energy Lab.

Northland’s ReUse Room moves into a new and much larger space in the basement of the Townhouses.

2011

The College hires its first regional sustainability coordinator.

Northland joins the Billion Dollar Green Challenge and establishes a $200,000 revolving loan fund for energy efficiency projects.

Initiated “Keep Northland Beautiful” week of celebration and events.

2010

Northland’s greens growing project starts selling to the cafeteria.

Planning begins for a new compost facility.

2009

After a successful fall 2008 pilot project, trays are no longer offered in the cafeteria, saving water and energy while reducing food waste.

Northland students expand the community garden to include individual summer plots for those who want to grow food, but don’t have a space of their own.

The Arbor Day Foundation honors Northland College as a Tree Campus USA college for its dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship. The College is the first college or university in Wisconsin to earn Tree Campus USA status.

Northland College Student Association created a new student position of sustainability director.

Students enrolled in Sustainable Living: Photovoltaics, helped install thirty-eight solar panels on the roof Dexter Library.

Students voted to double their contribution to the Renewable Energy Fund.

2008

The campus store, managed by Chartwells, stopped using plastic bags and began offering reusable cloth bags.

Students in a May term course installed a solar panel array at the President’s house. Students participating earned certification in solar panel installation. Dexter Library, renovated in the summer of 2008, is Northland’s first LEED certified building, featuring Northland’s second geothermal system.

Northland wins two national sustainability awards: a Campus Sustainability Leadership Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and a Sustainability Innovator Award from the National Endowments Institute.

After positive response from students using the free B.A.R.T. passes, the free service was expanded to include faculty and staff.

2007

Northland became a member of the leadership circle of signatories of the American Colleges and Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment.

The solar hot water system is completed on McMillan hall, partially heating the water with the sun and thereby reducing the use of non-renewable energy.

Students open the Reuse Center, a space to give and receive free clothes, books, and other items instead of throwing them away and buying new.

The Northland College Student Association formed a contract with Bay Area Rural Transit (B.A.R.T.) to provide free transportation to students wishing to travel around the bay area without a car.

2006

Northland officially adopted the Natural Step Framework as its definition of sustainability.

2005

In the College’s Strategic Plan, Northland’s President Karen Halbersleben reaffirmed the institution’s vision to be the nation’s leading environmental liberal arts college: “Northland College aims, by academic excellence and sustainable practice, to lead the way to a world where human and other biological communities can thrive together indefinitely.”

2004

Northland College received the Award for Excellence in Environmental Resources and Stewardship from the American Bar Association.

2003

The EcoLeague was founded, allowing students of Northland and five other green colleges around the country opportunities to pursue environmental study at any and all league campuses.

2001

The Craig A. Ponzio Campus Center was constructed, featuring a geothermal cooling system.

2000

Northland adopted a green building policy for all new construction or major renovations, and in 2007, with the signing of the ACUPCC, the college committed to a standard of LEED Silver on all new construction and substantial renovation.

The Northland College Student Association began including a Renewable Energy Fee for students. The funds raised have been used for many projects, including a Prius hybrid vehicle for the admissions department and a solar water heater on McMillan Hall.

1999

Northland College redesigned the environmental studies majors to reflect the changes in the environmental careers market and the environmental movement.

Students finished major construction on the Straw Bale Lab, a demonstration off-grid building powered by a small wind turbine and photovoltaic array, and heated through passive solar design and in-floor heat from hot water solar panels.

1998

The McLean Environmental Living and Learning Center, which served as a model in developing the national LEED green building standards, began housing over a hundred students a year. The building features advanced sustainable design principles such as furniture and carpet made with recycled content, lighting occupancy sensors, two composting toilets, low-flow water fixtures, three photovoltaic arrays, a wind turbine, and much more.

1997

Northland College Student Association, the faculty, the administration, and the board of trustees signed a self-designed Sustainability Charter and the college president, Robert Parsonage, signed the Talloires Declaration.

1995

Students began the Sunshine Community Bike Program, which provides free bikes to anyone who needs to borrow one. The bike shoppe also repairs bikes, and students can build their own bike in exchange for service hours.

The cafeteria has offered vegan and vegetarian entrees at all meals since 1995, and now features 100 percent sustainably harvested seafood, cage-free shell eggs, no trans-fat frying oils, and Fair Trade coffee.

1994

Mino Aki, a student-run garden, was created on campus, fertilized by compost from the cafeteria. The garden continues to grow food for the community. After a group of students studied the feasibility, Northland’s cafeteria began offering local vegetables.

1993

The College and SOEI received the national award for environmental achievement from Renew America.

1992

The College became US secretariat for the Lake Superior Binational Forum to promote citizen involvement in a program to virtually eliminate the discharge of nine critical pollutants into Lake Superior.

1991

Campus and the Biosphere conference hosted at Northland to discuss ecological impact of college campuses.

1989

Northland College Environmental Council was formed of staff, students, and faculty to determine environmental projects and policies for the College.

1984

Northland created its peace studies program as a problem-based but forward thinking outgrowth of the environmental studies program.

1981

Construction began on a new building for the SOEI, which features passive solar design principles, and also began a community education program on energy conservation.

1975

The Environmental Studies Committee designed the first iteration of the outdoor education program with five distinct majors.

1974

Northland began a systematic upgrade of all windows and boilers in every building on campus.

1972

The College enrolled its first class of environmental studies students and founded the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute (SOEI) and its advisory board and designated its charter for environmental outreach.

1971

Northland hosted its first Environmental Conference. Guest speakers were Senator Gaylord Nelson and renowned outdoors writer and conservationist Sigurd Olson. Regional problem-solving workshops on local impacts on the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore were also held.

1970

The Northland College Board of Trustees initiated the development of the College’s environmental studies program.

1892

Since its founding in 1892, Northland College has been both a leader and a pioneer, bringing higher education to the north woods and making a bold decision to be a different kind of college by focusing our mission and liberal arts curriculum around issues of the environment and society.

Related Stories

  • Plastic bottles with quote by Northland College Professor Nick Robertson

    Nick Robertson Thinks We Need to Rethink Plastic

    Nick Robertson, associate professor of chemistry, received $364,361 from the National Science Foundation…

    Nick Robertson Thinks We Need to Rethink Plastic
  • aerial view of trees

    Sit Simply, Get a New Perspective

    Evan Coulson, Bro professor of sustainable regional development, tells a story worth…

    Sit Simply, Get a New Perspective
  • Northland College alum Jenn Wood

    Wood Crusades for Climate Policy

    As an environmental and social justice solutions strategist in Vermont, Jenn Wood…

    Wood Crusades for Climate Policy
  • Northland College student installing hoop house

    Food Is Everything

    Danny Simpson ’18 worked on his aunt’s organic farm for six years…

    Food Is Everything
  • Northland College alum Audra (Jung) Willing installing solar panels on top of a roof.

    Climbing roofs? No problem.

    After college, Audra (Jung) Willing ‘ 05 moved to Seattle to work…

    Climbing roofs? No problem.
  • Northland College students and alum prepare rain garden

    Rain Gardens Provide Stormwater Storage

    This past summer Nile Merton ’15 returned to campus to finish a…

    Rain Gardens Provide Stormwater Storage
  • Northland College alum Abe Lloyd harvesting wild rice

    Wild Foods

    Abe Lloyd’s ’02 interest in wild foods dates back to childhood campouts…

    Wild Foods
  • solar garden

    CRC Helps City Plan for Renewable Future

     A report released this week reveals the City of Ashland will need…

    CRC Helps City Plan for Renewable Future
  • Visit
  • Info
  • Apply
  • Enroll
  • Sustainability
    • Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation
      • Our Work
      • Student Research Opportunities
      • Lab Services
      • Burke Center in the News
      • World Water Day
      • Water Summit
    • Center For Rural Communities
      • Opinion Polls
      • Quality of Life
      • Local Food Systems
      • Great Lakes Islands Alliance
        • Islands Indicators Project
      • Human-Environment Connection
      • Publications
      • Student Opportunities
    • Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute
      • LoonWatch
        • About Loons
        • Protect Loons
        • Get Involved
        • Loon Appreciation Week Poster
      • Timber Wolf Alliance
        • Wolf Awareness Week Poster
        • Learn About Wolves
        • Wolf Status Reports
        • Vision for Wolves
        • Midwest Wolf Stewards Conference
      • Environmental Stewardship
        • Adult Programs
        • High School Programs
        • School Group Programs
      • SONWA Book Awards
        • Children’s & Young Adult Literature Conference
      • Sigurd Olson Legacy
    • Hulings Rice Food Center
      • Compost Center
      • Larson Food Lab
      • Campus Gardens
      • Student Opportunities
    • Forest Lodge Educational Campus
      • Rental Information

Get Involved

February 19
Sustain Yourself
7:00 pm–8:00 pm
February 21
Xcel Energy Bayfront Power Plant Tour
1:00 pm–2:30 pm
February 28
Eco-Trivia Night
8:00 pm–9:30 pm
April 4
Honors Day Poster Session
12:30 pm–2:30 pm

See all events...

Northland divested from fossil fuels infographic

EcoLeague Member Badge

STARS Award badge

2018 Princeton Review Green College Badge

1411 Ellis Avenue
Ashland, WI 54806
(715) 682-1699 | Map
  • About Northland
  • Consumer Information
  • Privacy Policy
  • Take a Class
  • Employment
  • Campus Store

my.northland.edu

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Fenenga Fuel

Copyright © 2019 Northland College. All rights reserved.

https://www.northland.edu/sustainability

Our website uses cookies for necessary functions and to enhance your browsing experience. Learn more in our Privacy Policy.

Accept & Continue