Blue Ridge Outdoors has selected Warren Wilson as the Southeast's "Greenest College," one of the "Green Globe" awards the magazine handed out in its July issue. According to the magazine, the annual awards "honor the organizations, movements, trends, products, and individuals in the Southeast making a positive impact on the health of the planet and its people."

The magazine writes of the college: "Warren Wilson is more than a liberal arts college, it's a 300-acre working farm and 700-acre forest that operates as a laboratory for sustainable practices. The college uses environmental sustainability to inform every aspect of campus life, from composting the cafeteria scraps to using bio-diesel car fleets. The farm is antibiotic free, nurturing grass-fed pork and beef, and it also boasts an organic garden that supplies the campus cafeteria....

"It's nice to see a school practice what it preaches, but [Warren Wilson's] most earth-friendly program is its education model of hands-on learning, which drives home sustainable ethics through mandatory work, study, and community service."

Warren Wilson College also has recently received the following recognitions:

• National 2006 Campus Sustainability Achievement Award (in the category of four-year institutions with fewer than 1,000 students) from the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

• The 2006 North Carolina Sustainability Award from Sustainable North Carolina, in the Environmental Stewardship category.

• A "Standing Ovation" award from the Western North Carolina Regional Air Quality Agency.

• The Conservation Farm Family of the Year award in the Mountain Region from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

• The distinction of becoming the first college or university in North Carolina to have a Gold Certified Building under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.