EcoDorm

Thoreau saideducation often made straight-cut ditches out of twisting small streams.But notat the EcoDorm,which houses 36 undergraduates and is the spiritual heart of

Warren Willege,aliberal arts school of fewer than 1,000 students in Swannanoa,N.C.

In recentyears,colleges like Warren Wilson took a leading role in the sustainabilitymovement, which seeks to develop a durable human relationship with the

environment.Morethan 600 UScolleges and universities have signed up for a pledge to become carbonneutral.Ninety dorms are now LEED certified,the most widely

accepted nationalstandard for green design.The EcoDorm is one of only two student residencesthat have LEED's highest rating.

Two Warren Wilsonstudents first proposed the dorm a decade ago.Undergraduates on the planningcommittee initially suggested that it be built with corncobs or straw. The

design,by Asheville一based Samsel Architects, requiredcompromises一as well as a number of creativesolutions.The wood used for building the walls was harvested from

campus trees thatwere suffering from a certain disease.The kitchen cabinets were made fromrecycled fence posts.Rainwater is collected into a disused railway tanker carand

pumped back into thehouse to clean the low-flow toilets.Two toilets,which convert decaying organicmatter to fertilizer,are also available on the second floor; students shovel

（铲）in woodchips after they use them. The EcoDorm consumes nearly two-thirds lesselectricity than would a conventional building of the same size.

Margo Flood,theexecutive director of Warren Wilson's Environmental Leadership Center,says those whoapply to live there"see an integration between their actions and their

values".Theypledge not to use hair dryers.Their music does not have its sound made louderelectronically. The residents plant and harvest scores of fruits and vegetablesin

their garden.

The EcoDorm'sresidents speak of the comfort of finding a home where their values are shared."I didn't have to worry about paper towels being wasted or feeling badabout

drying my clothesout-side,"Jeremy Lekich,a senior who oversees the dorm'sgarden,says."Basically,it has made my life easier."EcoDorms'residents are in common in the aspect of________.

A.the buildingmaterials of the dorm

B.to develop durabledorms for undergraduates

C.to boostharmonious human-environment relationship

D.their ways offulfilling their dreams

E.their values onthe environment