Humboldt State University’s sustainability efforts got a nod from the Princeton Review’s list of nearly 400 “environmentally responsible” American colleges.

The school passed a list of the publication’s criteria with flying colors, stationing a sustainability committee, offering a range of degrees involving the environment and having a plan for tracking and dealing with its emission of greenhouse gases.

“Our office is championing sustainable methods of transportation,” said Katie Koscielak, an analyst in the university’s sustainability department. “We’re trying to engage people in walking, biking and using the bus. And that goes not only for students but also faculty and staff.”

Kolscielak works with HSU students on the ground, including a group, Green Campus, that has consulted with faculty and staff on energy use around campus.

It comes at a time when the environment is hitting something of a breaking point in the eyes of scientific consensus. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, released last week, indicates significant damage has already been done to the environment, though there’s still time to mitigate the negative consequences.

To students, the problems are never too large to approach, Kolscielak said, mentioning other staff who help students take on the “overwhelmed” feelings associated with a major global phenomenon.

“We are going from bad to worse,” she said, regarding the environment. “But that’s igniting a greater inspiration to get involved.” She’s been impressed, she said, by how students are willing to give up their free time to take part in spreading awareness about sustainability, with no incentive for course credit.

One way of circumventing the notion that the world is too big is to treat advocating on campus as a “microcosm” of lobbying at the city, state and federal levels, she added. Students frequently go out and find qualitative data on, for instance, other students’ dining habits. They take that data back to the campus powers-that-be, hoping to influence some better decision-making.

HSU has banned plastic water bottles, a rare feat even among California campuses. And where campus policies don’t do the trick, the school has measures lined up to educate its students on the environment’s importance.

“Seventy-two percent of our academic departments offer courses related to sustainability,” she said. That includes not just the range of environment-related majors and minors offered, but extends to departments like Native American studies, she said.

The students, for their part, are hard at work.

“It’s been interesting to watch them deploy certain engagement campaigns and flex based on results,” Kolscielak said. “That’s a big driving force for participation.”