The environment remains a newsmaker from here to Beijing.

Demand for the Toyota Prius is up. China is trying to reduce its air pollution (for next month's Olympics, at least).

And in Salem, to coordinate campus efforts to protect the environment, Roanoke College has formed a Green Advisory Committee.

On its list of duties? To be a clearinghouse for ecology issues and to advise President Michael Maxey and his Cabinet.

Green initiatives have happened independently so far, making them harder to track, explained Teresa Gereaux, a college spokeswoman and committee member.

For one, she said she learned that the housekeeping staff uses green cleaning supplies. Elsewhere, the bookstore has arranged to distribute canvas bags to students this fall. And the sociology building, Trout Hall, has started its own recycling program -- an effort the committee hopes will translate to other academic buildings.

To provide a full picture of the school's work, the 20 or so GAC members are a cross section of the college, including faculty and students, a project manager and the housekeeping supervisor.

"The thought is definitely: We work together, we can accomplish more," Gereaux said.

First on the agenda is to write up a list of the school's ongoing projects. The committee will also consider the recycling program and discuss LEED certification -- a rating system that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design -- for some building projects.

These are not just the concerns of the ivory tower, but issues that have crept toward the mainstream, added Daniel Sarabia, an assistant sociology professor who helped bring recycling to Trout Hall.

"At one point in time, these issues stood at the periphery of society" -- for the hippie and commune dweller, he said. Now, they draw broad support.

Roanoke College joins other local liberal arts schools in setting up a council to steer environmental and sustainability issues (though no group functions by the same name).

Hollins University, in Roanoke County, established its own Environmental Advisory Board to advise the president in March 2006.

Past projects include: a statewide "e-waste" recycling program for old electronics; the establishment of the county's first recycling site; and an annual recycling bin design contest called "Battle of the Bins."

And to help oversee the green scene, Washington and Lee University in Lexington will convene a Sustainability Advisory Committee for the coming school year, said Valerie Cushman, executive assistant to the president.

The new committee, which replaces W&L's first environmental group, formed in 1996, aims to fill a similar role to Roanoke College's committee: coordination and collaboration.

Compost piles and biodiesel can both be found at the college, said Chris Wise, environmental management coordinator.

And W&L students are responsive to calls to save energy, Wise said.

"They're not necessarily die-hard greenies," he said. But recycling and basic energy-saving measures?

"They're willing to do that."