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Last year the Sierra Club began a yearly ranking of the top 10 “greenest” universities and higher education facilities, which it published in Sierra magazine. The 2008 list has just been released, and it’s interesting to see the creative retrofitting, pilot programs, green building or remodeling, innovation, and eco-operational changes that have occurred in only a year or two at these and other educational institutions, many of which house the top business schools in the world.

Just as important has been the staggering amount of money saved and waste eliminated by those that have broadened beyond addressing just climate change or “greening” and instead embraced greater sustainability overall.

I field plenty of “show-me-the-money” questions from association leaders examining their own social responsibility options and opportunities, and I don’t have to look far to provide an onslaught of examples, both inside nonprofits and externally at corporations, state and federal government agencies, and small businesses.

Some of these “cool school” initiatives, for instance, are well known, having gained publicity through continuing coverage of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The document (more commonly known as “the presidents’ pledge”) has been signed by more than 550 campus leaders worldwide, all willing to commit to auditing their schools' greenhouse-gas emissions, creating plans for a carbon-neutral operation, and publicizing their progress. I encourage you to skim this commitment, in part because it is one of the models on which the draft Principles for Associations on Social Responsibility is based. (And, of course, we’d love to hear your comments on this draft.)