The first-ever Earth Day was held across the United States on April 22, 1970.聽 It motivated student organizers to push for institutional environmentalism at CU Boulder, and later that year the Eco-Center was born.聽 Fifty years later, CU鈥檚 environmental center continues to lead the way in sustainability across campuses worldwide.聽 Here鈥檚 ten major milestones in CU鈥檚 green history.
- First university to create a student-led Environmental Center聽 (1970)
- Created the first-ever campuswide recycling program (1976)
- Provide聽comprehensive bus聽passes for all students, the first of their kind (1991)
- Began purchasing renewable energy credits (2000)
- Installed the campus' first solar panels on the UMC (2004)
- Created the Sustainable CU Grant (2005)
- Became the first university to pledge carbon neutrality (2007)
- Created the Zero-Waste Stadium program at Folsom, another first for NCAA D1 schools (2008)
- Joined as a founding member of the University Climate Change Coalition (2018)
- Unsurprisingly was the first university to sign the) UN's Sports for Climate Change Action Framework (2019)聽聽