In a Feb 12. entry on the site’s IMPACT blog, the Huffington Post recognized Dickinson College for its achievements in sustainability.

In his article “Size Matters: Finding Sustainable Solutions in Smaller Places,” Rob Lovelace, Senior Fellow at the Trade Union Sustainable Development Unit, commended Dickinson for placing value on sustainability before it was common. The article also recognizes Dickinson’s regard for the future in midst of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Dickinson and other forward thinking colleges and universities around the world are busy educating and inspiring the generation on whose watch the SDGs will either succeed or fail,” Lovelace wrote.

Huffington Post specifically highlights Dickinson’s environment studies program, the Center for Sustainability Education (CSE) and Alliance for Aquatic Resources Monitoring (ALLARM). According to the article, the environmental studies program was created before “sustainable development” was a term.

“The college’s Alliance for Aquatic Resources Monitoring (ALLARM) is a prime example of grassroots action at its best,” Love lace wrote. “ALLARM has trained and supported a state-wide network of volunteer water quality monitors since 1986. It’s also a remarkable story of young people working across generational boundaries and into the hearts of communities to boost local participation in a program that provides early detection of the effects of Marcellus Shale gas extraction in Pennsylvania.”

The Huffington Post article comes at the heels of two previous national-level accolades for Dickinson’s sustainability initiatives, one from the Princeton Review and the other from the Sierra Club. Both institutions included Dickinson in their annual rankings for colleges and universities with the best sustainability initiatives and opportunities for students.

The article suggests the need for “more institutions like Dickinson” to establish sustainability as a “key priority.”

“Learning institutions with strong local ties are trusted as exceptionally well placed leaders to transfer skills, commitment and innovative practices in their communities and through their networks that often extend across the country and around the globe,” the article said. “Dickinson knows this works, which might explain why several years ago the college took up the motto, ‘Think Globally, Act Locally.’”

Students from ALLARM react to the recognition.

“I appreciated the fact that ALLLARM got recognized for it’s impressive work,” said Isabel Harrison ’16. “As a new employee of ALLARM, I’m still impressed by the organization every day. The article only made me even more proud to be a recent addition to the ALLARM family.”