Congratulations to our 2008 Chill Out winners and all Chill Out entrants!

Grand Prize: Butte College
Oroville, CA
Butte College, a two-year community college, is on the track to be carbon neutral by 2015 and is employing energy efficiency measures in all campus facilities. The College boasts a broad array of comprehensive global warming pollution reduction initiatives, including a Sustainability Studies certificate program and degree program that will be in place by the fall of 2008. The College also runs the largest community college transportation system in California, recycles more than 75 percent of its operations waste stream, and has a solar panel that accounts for 28% of the campus electricity use.

Energy Efficiency - University of Missouri
Columbia, MO
The University of Missouri won the award for its intelligent and creative energy plan. The University of Missouri has achieved zero global warming pollution emissions growth while also expanding the University. Since the inception of its energy conservation program in 1990, total campus energy use has been reduced by 19 percent while campus space has grown by nearly 60 percent.

Transportation - University of Montana, Missoula
Missoula, MT
The University's transit system is run by the student body. Since its inception, the student-run organization has reduced its global warming pollution emissions. The Associated Students of the University of Montana's Office of Transportation (ASUMOT) conducts various initiatives such as transit passes, bike co-ops, biodiesel projects, and more. In 2006-2007, the program reduced carbon emissions by roughly 170 tons.

Habitat Restoration, Waste Reduction, Educational Awareness and More - Cascadia Community College and University of Washington, Bothell
Bothell, WA
The College and the University are co-located on a single campus in Washington created to increase higher education access on the eastside of Seattle. The campus contains an expansive stretch of restored urban wetlands and incorporates an array of sustainable initiatives including an extensive compost project, uses goats to control invasive weeds, retrofitted toilets to save 40,000 gallons of water in 8 months and will be building a Wetlands Interpretive Center in the fall.

Innovative and Experimental Solutions - Berkshire School
Sheffield, MA
Berkshire School has implemented a global warming pollution emissions trading system between dorms to both help reduce global warming pollution and educate the student body. This innovative and exciting approach provides students with economic incentives for achieving reductions in pollution. The program will also reduce the School's electricity use by more than 32,000 kilowatts during the 2007-2008 academic year.

YouTube Video Winners:

Berea College - Berea, KY
Berea College created a video entitled "Doing the Green Thing." The video includes footage of Berea College's 8,400 acre, sustainably managed forest that offsets the College's carbon emissions. The video also showcases an educational farm that demonstrates sustainable farming techniques and provides local food. Watch "Doing the Green Thing."

Daemen College - Amherst, NY
Daemen College created a video entitled "The Little College that Could." The video showcases a new green building with a geothermal system, an eco-trail that provides natural habitat for students to study and wildlife to enjoy, energy audits performed by the student body, and a large recycling initiative on campus. Watch "The Little College that Could."

Runners Up:

University of Oregon - Eugene, OR
A cornerstone of climate change at the University of Oregon, is the Campus Recycling Program. The Program maintains a 48% waste diversion while continuing to implement opportunities for waste reduction in reducing individual and university impact with a new compostables collection starting Spring 2008. Educational campaigns are on-going and include: "Think before you drink, go refillable" and "Don't kill Polar Bears Recycle!" With a waste recovery of ~20,000 tons and ~1-2% waste reduction annually from 1992-2006, 19,888 MTCE (greenhouse gasses) have been reduced, equivalent to keeping over 14,000 cars off the road for one year and saved over $2.6 MILLION through waste diversion, reduction and reuse. At the University of Oregon, "Recycling IS Higher Education".

Massachusetts College of Art - Jamaica Plain, MA
The architecture department received a $10,000 pilot grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs to design and build a garden on that roof. Our goals were to mediate temperatures against the extreme levels of heat and cold. We also wanted to use local native plants modeled off of a Sand Plain Community, instead of the traditional Mountain Sedums. Another major goal for the garden was storm water mitigation. The Sustainable Design class is running again and enrollment has doubled with students cross-registered from surrounding colleges. It has also inspired other creative ways of educating students and the public such as the "Blue Line Project," where the entire campus would be surrounded in a blue line showing the level of water if global warming continues. The State has also reissued another installment of the grant for $15,000 dollars for expanding the garden, wind power, and testing equipment.

University of California Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz, CA
Students, staff, faculty, and administration at UC Santa Cruz are working collaboratively to lower the campus' carbon footprint and promote sustainable lifestyles. Our campus purchases 100% renewable energy thanks to a student fee passed in 2006. The energy produced with UCSC's purchase of renewable energy is enough to spare our atmosphere 30,000 tons of CO2 per year. The students of the Alliance to Save Energy's Green Campus Program saved university over $30,000 in utility costs in their first year of work through lighting, running an Energy Conservation Competition between four residential colleges, and retrofitting dining hall equipment with more efficient alternatives with the result of saving 272,180 pounds of CO2..

College of Menominee Nation - Keshena, WI
In February 2007, CMN President Verna Fowler signed on as a Leadership Circle member to the American College and University President Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). CMN has committed to focusing on institutionalizing sustainability into the education of students, requiring students to take the Introduction to Sustainable Development course. This past summer the college hosted its 2nd conference on "Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development." CMN's 2 year goal is collaborate with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, located at Iowa State University in developing a set of campus sustainability indicators that will be transferable and appropriate for all 36 tribal colleges across the country.

Warren Wilson College - Asheville, NC
WWC's mission states a commitment to environmental responsibility. The College puts this commitment into action to facilitate a comprehensive campus climate protection plan. WWC conducts an annual GGE Inventory since 2003 and maintains a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Task Force to set target goals for emissions reductions. Since 2004, WWC's building square footage has increased by 4.5% and enrollment by 5.1% while energy usage has decreased by 5.4%. WWC's total CO2 emissions (92% of total GGE) for 2005/06 were 5,225.2 metric tons, which represents a roughly 282.2 metric tons CO2 reduction, or a 6.4% total GGE reduction. WWC saved an estimated $21,356 in energy costs in 2005/06 alone, even as energy costs, square footage and enrollment increased. WWC's climate protection plan is wide-reaching, involving all 1,100 campus stakeholders in processes that imbue global warming awareness into personal and institutional actions.