About the author, Miriam Weinstein

Welcome to Making A Difference.

In the early 90's, as a mother of four, I began the the college search journey with my children. As a person deeply committed to the environment, to living sustainably and with integrity, and with strong interests in social responsibility, my search took on a different flavor than most. I wanted more than a "business as usual" education for my children, I wanted one that would encourage them to be engaged citizens, with the knowledge and tools to make a difference. I wanted green colleges. No one I knew was aware of any such colleges. No college counselors discussed them. No college guides wrote about them. So I developed my own extensive criteria - much of it extracted from my experience at the small college with a big vision I had just attended and then started searching diligently. This was no easy feat before the days of the world wide web!

At the same time, I was myself seeking deeply meaningful work which could make a profound difference for a healthy future of my children, as well as all life on earth. A years meditation fruited one morning upon awakening - I could publish a college guide focused on environmental - now called "green" colleges. This would enable a ripple effect, as committed young people graduated and went out into the world to make a difference. The entire book coalesced that morning within one hour. I felt this would be my service to the world, and over the next years, all the doors quickly opened for me to do this work. I might add, at the time, I was a very low income single mother, with no computer and no knowlege of how to use one. Nor had I a background in publishing, education, marketing or research. I was armed solely with a vision and dedication. Yet, the colleges I approached responded enthusiastically, and Making A Difference College Guide began to take form. In fact, the first edition was published an amazing nine months after I first conceived of it.

That said, I quickly discovered that a guide to green colleges at that time, would have merely been a pamphlet - there were so few of them! I expanded my idea to include "making a difference" colleges - those with unique concerns for social responsibility, colleges with a strong emphasis upon peace and social justice. I learned about the new "service learning" movement, and discovered "work colleges" and religious/spiritual colleges with strong social concerns. I investigated "pedagogy" - the art and science of teaching - seeking institutions offering holistic and interdisciplinary learning. I studied individual curriculums and extra-curricular aspects, study abroad programs, looked for vegetarian friendly colleges (a rarity back then), organic gardens (another rarity) and (rarest of all) green buildings. I learned about the ins and outs of financial aid, as well as factors that could help a student attend their college of choice. In short, I became a self-taught expert on green and socially responsible colleges.

Over the years I found remarkable colleges, and I'm pleased to share them with you. Over 16 years, I published ten editions of Making A Difference College Guide. I also researched and published three highly regarded editions of the Making A Difference Scholarship Guide. Now that the notion of a green college has finally reached the mainstream, and as major college guides and magazines are now featuring "green collegees" - my work as a publisher is done. I will note, however, I find most of their research and their concept of "green" education to be fairly shallow. There is a significant difference in a college that has just recently jumped on board and calls itself green because it has green administrative practices and a green dorm -- and a college with longstanding - and even historic - concerns for the environment, peace and social justice. Now I plan to segue all my years of learning into "making a difference" college counseling.

What exactly what comprises a green education? According to other quides, a college can be a top green one when 47% of it's graduates go into investment banking. Not in Making A Difference! My criteria - which are flexible - focus first on the college ethos and mission, majors, teaching style, holistic emphasis, careers of graduates, opportunities for service learning, an ethic of service, environmental concerns being front and center. Yes, investments count, recycling counts, transportation policies counts, but hopefully you are going to college for an education and to change the world, not for the college's green administrative policies. I think it is critical to walk the talk, but the primary and most essential components are the education, and that's what I evaluate first. My work speaks to the student who wants to spend their life making a difference, whether locally or internationally, working with children or working with wildlife, working in business for themselves, or in helping corporations become sustainable and attend to the "triple bottom line" of "people, planet, profit.'

I grew up in a unique time and place - an entire community of folks who wanted to make a more just world - and that has impacted my whole life. I've been active in social and environmental causes since age 13, beginning with the civil rights movement, and later, the anti-nuclear movement. I dropped out of college in the 60's and went "back to the land", raised a large family plus various animals, explored eastern and earth-based spirituality, and became an early advocate of green building. I returned to college mid-life and graduated from New College of California (now defunct), which served as the inspiration for Making A Difference Colleges.

My eldest son graduated from a college I learned about while researching the guide (Warren Wilson College), and my youngest daughter also attended that college before graduating from New College. I might add, at the time, Warren Wilson was a small, little known, mostly local college. No college guide mentioned it. It now has a strong national reputation and a growing student body.

I am now embarking on my next phase of service as a green college counselor. In accordance with my set of ethics, I won't charge $125 an hour, or force you into a long series of meetings so as to personally enrich myself at your expense. ! I am happy to meet with you anywhere via SKYPE. Working together, we will do a meaningful and efficient search, taking into consideration the family finances, as well as your visions of a good life and a meaningful education. I look forward to working with you and your family. For more information, click here.

Thank you for visiting this site. It tells me you are among those committed to making a better world, and a member of the real world wide web! I am deeply grateful to you. You are the genuine hope of the future, and you are desperately needed. At the same time, please, enjoy life - dance, walk in nature, travel, garden, grow spiritually.