May 2012: Contests & Funding

CSC Grants: Deadline May 11th
The Campus Sustainability Council is now accepting grant proposals for 2012-2013 sustainability projects. If you work within on of the student organization on campus and want to implement your own project relating to the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus, this is the place to get funding! Make sure to attend one of the required trainings, dates provided on the website, and to turn in your application by May 11th! For more information please email CSC.

Call for Submissions: Student Sustainability Film Festival
The Media Institute for Social Change invites submissions for its third annual Student Sustainability Film Festival. Students can submit short films about what their campus or community is doing to make it more sustainable for a chance to receive cash prizes and be shown at various campus and conference screenings. Entries are due by May 17, 2012. For more information please visit the website.

Call for Entries: Green Living Project Student Film Competition - Deadline May 25
Green Living Project invites submissions for its Student Film Project. The competition encourages students to submit films of five minutes or less that share a unique, creative and compelling story about a local or global sustainability-related project. Sample sustainability topics include wildlife conservation, sustainable food, resource conservation, community development, renewable energy, sustainability-related education and sustainable travel and tourism. The submission deadline is May 25, 2012. Winners will be screened at Green Living Project's Washington D.C. Film Premiere in June. For more information please visit the website!

Drop Your Own Drip
Drop Your Own Drip is a campus campaign working to create educational monthly water-use statements for on-campus apartment residents that encourage conservation. Water conservation is further incentivized for residents through a campus-wide water-use reduction competition and challenge for each resident to use no more than the target-level of daily water-use of 60 gallons per person. The competition will reward the college residents from one of the ten main apartment complexes on campus who successfully reduce water-use per capita the most between the months of February to April 2012. Water statements were successfully sent out for February and March, and the final weeks of the conservation competition are upon us! The final round of statements will be sent out May 14-18 and that's when we will know the winner! If you live in the on-campus apartments, do your part and reduce your water consumption at home! With any questions, please email Drop Your Own Drip . GET A GRIP & DROP YOUR OWN DRIP!

Accepting Applications: AASHE 2012 Awards Program
AASHE invites applications for its 2012 sustainability awards. AASHE will present four Campus Sustainability Case Study Awards, one Student Sustainability Leadership Award, two Student Research on Campus Sustainability Awards and one Faculty Leadership Award. All winners will be announced at the AASHE 2012 conference and will be featured in Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Applications will be accepted through July 2. Please visit the website for more information.

Carbon Fund's Winter Projects

Do you have a creative greenhouse gas reduction idea? Let the Carbon Fund help it grow! The Carbon fund will be accepting applications next year, but now is the time to prepare your project idea. This past winter quarter the UCSC Carbon Fund granted over $26,000 to three staff and student run greenhouse gas reduction projects, including the installation of solar tubes at Natural Bridges Green School, a lighting retrofit at Watsonville High School (WHS), and a “greenovation” of the study lounge at Porter College. For a complete list of projects and information on how to get involved, visit the website or email the Carbon Fund.

Food Justice Communities on the Move Video Challenge

San Jose State University has been working on a food justice campaign in east San Jose, which encourages families teaching their children how to eat, increases access to CalFresh SNAP benefits, and teaches families how to use these benefits at farmers' markets, emphasizes eating culturally relevant and familiar foods in healthy ways. They have partnered with local farms like Veggielution, Second Harvest Food Bank, various faith and cultural groups, and more. They have leaders from the university, but and from the local community who reach out to their peers on these issues. If their video wins, the group gets $1000 and two representatives get to go to the White House. This is part of First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign against childhood obesity. These are our neighbors both geographically and allies in food justice. You can vote daily with Facebook. Voting closes on May 11. Vote now!