To butcher a phrase: If lesser institutions borrow but great institutions steal, may we encourage institutions around Lewiston-Auburn to pilfer liberally from the “green” model that is Bates College.

The hallowed arbiter of all things academically excellent, the Princeton Review, has deemed Bates one of the “greenest” colleges in America, right up there with such bastions as Yale, Harvard and College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, whose environmental credentials rival those of Al Gore and Greenpeace.

Six public and four private universities earned the review’s highest marks, in this first year of the “green” rankings. The new benchmark recognizes the influence environmental consciousness has on students in selecting a college.

Bates President Elaine Tuttle Hansen appreciated the designation, but also issued an understated response. She cautioned institutions, if serious about achieving green, from celebrating mere milestones that need constant reviewing, debating, refining, updating and funding.

In short, Hansen says staying green is harder than it looks. More important than LEED-certified buildings or composting dining hall produce, for example, is an organizational commitment to sustaining practices and policies for, well, sustainability. This strikes an important point.

Much of “green” lifestyle nowadays capitalizes on society’s growing, fashionable concern about the environment. This creates plenty of opportunities to relieve consciences, but not necessarily save the planet.

Bates is a model of environmental commitment, which – not the accolade – is the laudable achievement. The headlong rush toward environmental and energy efficiency, in response to spiraling energy prices, makes the college’s practices something to emulate.

Potential imitators are sprinkled around Lewiston-Auburn. The city of Lewiston, for example, is seeking a professional “energy czar” to guide its efficiency efforts, while a city committee on green issues fills its roster and ramps its efforts. St. Mary’s hospital is doing similar work. So is the city of Auburn.

A community group, populated with students, professors, activists and shoe-shop owners, is pushing an energy inventory of the Twin Cities, starting with municipal governments. First findings should be available later this summer.

Every large energy user is trying to become more efficient, more environmentally friendly, more “green.” Bates has been ahead of this curve. Its decade-long experience in developing its green credentials is valuable, and members of the college communities volunteer their time on local environmental efforts, like those in Lewiston, to share it.

The college has always been a local asset, for myriad reasons.

Being a “green” leader in the community, and a model for others, is simply one more.