Seeing as I leave tomorrow to go back to school forever and ever and ever, I figure it’s appropriate that I post to tell you that, at least in Southern California, colleges are shifting more emphasis towards environmental education.

The Los Angeles Daily News reports that green studies rank among the fastest growing degree programs, stating that,

Cal State Northridge plans to open a Sustainability Institute; UCLA is hiring a sustainability czar; and USC recently introduced a new graduate program in energy, technology and society.

Students are flocking not only to green studies, but also trying to incorporate green issues into other fields. Business management classes, for example, have students redesigning household products in an environmentally sustainable way.

The excitement surrounding green studies, the article states, doesn’t just begin when students step onto a college campus.   These days, many students include environmentalism as a criterion for choosing a school.

A Princeton Review survey during the last school year found that 63 percent of college applicants said a school’s level of commitment to the environment would help them decide where to apply for college.

As these students become real-world people, we’ll see what effect all this environmental education has. Until then, you can takepart and read the College Sustainability Report Card, which ranks colleges based on how green they are.