May 2017: Internships, Employment & Volunteering

Internships:

Sustainability Office: Deadlines vary
The Sustainability Office is currently accepting applications for the academic 2017-2018 year. Internship positions focus on various topics related to sustainability such as: education, buildings, energy, food, land and habitat, procurement, transportation, waste reduction, water, and drought information. While interns help promote sustainability campus-wide through various projects, events, outreach, etc., students will gain hands-on experience, develop and improve leadership skills, communication, facilitation, and so much more. For more details around the different internship positions and to learn more about the Sustainability Office, click here.

Provost Sustainability Internship Program: Deadline May 1st (Positions Open Until Filled)

Looking for a year-long, PAID campus internship and want to make a difference on campus? Check out the Provost's Sustainability Internship Program! There are 10 positions open for next year. You will receive 12 units of academic credit and $1,500 scholarship upon completion of the program! OPEN TO ALL MAJORS. To access the application, click here. 

SupplyShift Internship: Operations Team Lead Position: Deadline (see attached link) 

Supplyshift is currently accepting applications for the position of Operations Team Leader. Interns will participate in training and gain literacy in industry wide organizational software platforms (Asana, Jira, Dropbox, Slack), supply chain management and industry specific composition, client management, and internal operational processes. After an intern has received training they will be asked to contribute to internal operational tasks such as document prep, timeline planning, website quality assurance, website development, supplier support, and any other task deems suitable for a SupplyShift intern. To learn more about SupplyShift internship position click here. If interested in applying, email resume to Carl Broderick at cwbroderick@supplyshift.net

Employment:

Solar Design Tool Job
Solar Design Tool is a company with a un-corporate culture that is currently seeking for a team member who will help run a website that helps people design solar PV systems. Ideally, SDT is looking for a graduating senior willing to work in a part-time internship that will acquire a better understanding of the company and is willing to offer a full-time job upon graduation. To learn more please click here.

UC Davis: Academic Coordinator III, ASI Student Farm Director: Deadline 11/14/17
The Student Farm (SF) is a learning community where students from many disciplines work to create, maintain and explore sustainable food systems on a 20+ acre farm. A key component of theAgricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI), the SF has served UC Davis students and faculty and the public with educational, research, and outreach opportunities focused on sustainable agriculture and food systems for 40 years. Click here to learn more about the job description.

Environmental Project Manager: Deadline 5/23/17 @5PM

Alameda County General Services Agency (GSA) provides a host of centralized services including building maintenance, procurement and contract administration, capital project management, real property and portfolio management, sustainability services, energy management, environmental and hazardous materials management, transportation services, and other countywide support services. To learn more about the job description, please click here.

Volunteering:

Take Back the Tap

After six years of working with campus administrators in negotiations, Take Back the Tap has achieved a partial ban on the sale and use of single-use plastic bottled water. Bottled water will now only be sold in the Bay Tree Book Store and Express Store. Volunteers interns are accepted anytime. Volunteer interns will also be considered for hiring for the 2017-2018 Campaign Coordinator position. Please visit TBTT's Facebook page here. To view the full press release on the ban here. 

EARN-A-BIKE Program, April & May, 2017 
Bike Santa Cruz County needs your old bikes for the Spring 2017 Earn-a-Bike programs in Watsonville and Live Oak. The Earn-a-Bike program provides youth with a bicycle, helmet, multi-tool, lights, and the skills they need to safely ride and maintain their bikes. Support our community’s youth by donating your bike! For more information about Bike Santa Cruz County’s Earn-a-Bike programs, click here.

Santa Cruz High School Community Garden Day, April 30, 10AM – 3PM 
Join Global Student Embassy student leaders in the Santa Cruz High Garden on April 30th 10:00-3:00. Access is on Laurel Street. They’ve been working incredibly hand to get their garden in shape and can use your help building their new cob benches. Come learn about cob/sustainable design with a specialist community partner and help plant our spring/summer garden! Contact nick@globalstudentembassy.org for more information.

BIKE TO WORK WEEK, MAY 5 – 12

Ecology Action still needs volunteers! If you’re interested in volunteering for any of our Bike Week events, please let us know. We’re known for the tastiest volunteer opportunities! Email Kira at kticus@ecoact.org to sign up. For schedule of Events go to Bike2Work Santa Cruz

Snap Shot Day Monitoring Event For Water Quality, May 6, 8:30 AM – 1 PM
Join the Coastal Watershed Council on May 6 for the 18th year of Snapshot Day, the the oldest and largest single-day water quality monitoring event in California! Become a citizen scientist, learn about water quality, explore local streams in Santa Cruz County and make a difference in your watershed! Learn more and sign up here.

Job/Internship: SolarDesignTool

What is Solar Design Tool? Why is this a good opportunity?

SolarDesignTool is a web app geared toward helping residential PV system designers
and installers create PV projects with accurate dimensions (integrated with Google’s Satellite database to trace roof faces), basic sales documents, and more advanced permitting & engineering documents.
The market for Solar is growing every year in the US and the world. Our app has the potential to reach millions of designers in the U.S and abroad. We currently have users in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, India, Great Britain, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Morocco and other countries!

Job description:

Ideal candidate criteria: Senior looking for a paid internship and employment opportunity starting ASAP, with increasing responsibility and hours leading into the summer of 2017.

• ●  Able to dedicate a minimum of 4 hours/week until January 2017, after which point we would like you to commit more time, ultimately (by summer 2017) becoming a core team member
  
• ●  Interest in Solar PV, sustainable development, green energy
  
• ●  Good writing and editing skills
  
• ●  Open to criticism
  
• ●  Able to pick up technical knowledge
  
• ●  Comfortable communicating via email, phone (calls via cell and internet connection), and in person
  
• ●  Background in customer service is a plus
  
• ●  Can commit to at least 1 year of employment (includes 2-month
  probationary/introductory period)
  
• ●  A friendly, outgoing attitude and demeanor is a must
  Description of expectations and responsibilities:
  ●  Gaining familiarity with solardesigntool.com web application
  ●  Customer-facing support (interacting with users, communicating the features and limitations of the Tool in a helpful and friendly and patient manner)
  ●  Demoing SolarDesignTool app (reaching out to prospective users, performing live demonstrations of app’s capabilities)

If you’re interested, send a resume my way and we’ll be in contact shortly.
Shawn Kranitz shawn.kranitz@solardesigntool.com 

Vox Limax: UCSC Talks About Home Gardening

April showers bring May flowers as well as July tomatoes, August snap peas, and September potatoes! As the days grow longer and warmer, Santa Cruz's green thumbs dive into black soil to sow sweet and savory summer crops! But others are not getting down-and-dirty with home gardening for a variety of reasons ranging from incompatible living situations, lack of knowledge about gardening, or tight budgets.

So this month we ask:

Why do you or why don’t you have a garden. If you do garden, what do you grow and what inspired you to get started? If you don’t, what factors prevent you from gardening?

"Ever since I was really young my grandparents have really loved gardening. Their entire backyard is full of all different types of plants. They grow apples, they raise succulents. If you walk through their garden, everywhere you go is like a forest because of how much foliage there is. They have bougainvilleas, they have peppers, they have mints and different herbs. It's really neat! They've devoted a lot of time to it!

My entire family also likes planting flowers and things like that, which I think is cool. If I do have my own place one day I think I'll definitely start planting my own stuff. Something I'm really fascinated by is vegetative propagation - being able to eat part of a plant, plant the rest and grow it again. That concept is really neat. 

My family have always been big proponents of having plants in the house, so I think growing a garden will come naturally if I ever have the capacity to make one.  Also, I think sustainability and sustenance are really important in gardening too because being able to grow fresh food is especially important in marginalized communities because they may not have access to fresh foods in general because they're so pricey in stores. So I think gardens (especially community gardens) are a really great way to allow for low-income and marginalized communities to come together and foster a space of sustenance, health, nutrition, and growth." - Katherine (Politics, Legal Studies)

"I don’t have a garden because I live in an apartment on the second floor. I guess we have a balcony [where we could put a garden box] but seeing as we struggle to take care of the house, I don’t think we could keep a garden alive." - Anonymous

"I don't garden because of a lack of space (I live on campus) and a lack of time. I also don't know much about gardening, but I guess that's easily remedied." - Kaio (Computer Science)

"One day, we found one of our snap peas rotting in the bag.  So we thought, 'Let's put it in one of these containers and it will grow!' And so we emptied out our soy sauce bottle and we put some water in there and we put the bean inside and 5 weeks later he's sprouting! His name is Ben. One day I found cilantro next to Ben. My housemate got it at the Earth Day festival. We also have a succulent... I don't know its name." - Sarina (Environmental Studies, Biology)







"I did have a little garden that I sprouted. I was going to transplant them into a larger pot.  Then one morning I was watering them - loving them and taking care of them. They were all in this little carton and they all dropped out of my hands! It was very hard to save them and now they're dead.

But I have a fern and its name is Iz. Iz is doing great." - Alina (Environmental Studies)

May 2017 Sustainability Profile: IDEASS

Name: 

Impact Design Engineering and Sustainability through Student Service (IDEASS)

What current projects are you working on? 
Drought Response Outreach Program for Schools (DROPS) and Bay View Elementary Low Impact Development (LID)

How do you incorporate sustainable practices within your projects?

We incorporate a few different methods of sustainable practices into our project designs, for the current project at Bay View Elementary we are implementing Bioswales, Rain Gardens,  permeable paths and a playground surface, and a Rainwater Harvesting System. Not only will these methods supply sustainably sourced water and help prevent pollutant discharge to our oceans, they will be incorporated in a way that is aesthetically pleasing as well.

How do you collaborate with community organizations in order to reach your goal?
The DROPS grant is a joint collaboration between UCSC, the City of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works, and the City of Santa Cruz School District. There will be both a 5th grade curriculum developed to teach the LID concepts, and a public/outreach portion that will include seminars and a documentary.

How does water conservation support a sustainable community? 
Reducing the demand on potable water supplied by the City of Santa Cruz means less water pumped from the Graham Hill Treatment Plant, which means less energy used for transportation. This will be achieved by installing five separate rainwater storage tanks with a total capacity of 20,000 gallons. Reducing pollutants by filtering through vegetative Bioswales is a great way to enhance the aesthetics of a property while removing harmful pollutants such as hard metals and oil that would otherwise end up at our local beaches.

What are some green tips around sustainable water strategies that you can practice at home?  

• Collect rainwater
• Save shower water as it warms up and use for watering plants, flushing toilets, etc.
• Be aware of water use: short showers, don’t let faucets run, fix leaks
• Learn to read your water meter and calculate your daily/weekly/monthly usage
• Try to keep all the rain falling on your property and keep from running onto the street by catching it (rain barrel), slowing it down and sinking it (bioswales and rain gardens)

Take Back the Tap Announces Partial Ban on Water Bottles

Take Back the Tap is excited to announce that after six years of working with campus administrators in negotiations, they have achieved a partial ban on the sale and use of single-use plastic bottled water. Bottled water will now only be sold in the Bay Tree Book Store and Express Store. In time they hope to negotiate a full ban, and are offering 2-unit internships this quarter, so get on board by emailing chsmille[at]ucsc[dot]edu or mlkeller[at]ucsc[dot]edu, and view the full press release.

3rd Annual Campus Clean Up

Campus Cleanup Day is a large event created by the UCSC Zero Waste Team which has brought in over 300 volunteers who have collected over 540lbs of litter in the previous two years! The purpose of this campus wide cleanup event is to educate students about sustainability, waste, and litter. There will be free food and t-shirts so come early! Feel free to bring friends!

May 2017: Local Hazard Mitigation Public Survey

Attention City Residents! Please take the City of Santa Cruz’s survey to help plan for natural disasters so that we may better avoid their impacts to you and your community. Responses will guide the City in hazard mitigation and climate adaptation planning efforts as we update disaster plans. All responses are anonymous. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LHMP_SURVEY

Atención Ciudadanos! Por favor complete la encuesta de la Ciudad de Santa Cruz para ayudar a planificar desastres naturales para evitar impactos en usted y su comunidad. Las respuestas nos guiarán en nuestros esfuerzos de mitigación de riesgos y adaptación al clima mientras actualizamos nuestros planes de desastre. Todas las respuestas son anónimas. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LHMP_espanol 

May 2017: Zero Waste Green Tip

This year's Earth Summit, hosted by the Student Environmental Center, was an extremely successful Zero Waste event. This is not uncommon as other Earth Summits in the past have been Zero Waste. However, as UCSC begins to work its way towards Zero Waste by 2020, more and more events are joining the movement.

A Zero Waste Event follows sustainable practices with the goal of generating the least amount of trash possible. Event coordinators should take measures to reduce plastics, paper and trash at the event by purchasing compostable rather than recyclable or landfill materials for the event, sending out flyers over email and social media instead of printing, and asking attendees to bring their own reusable bottles and utensils.

During the event, make sure to follow the three steps: Educate, Monitor, Reduce. Trash talkers are highly important components to a Zero Waste Event as they volunteer as monitors and educators to ensure that waste is disposed of properly, reducing the amount of waste that is sent to the landfill.

The Zero Waste Team in the Sustainability Office is happy to help with coordinating your next Zero Waste Event! For more information on Zero Waste events at UCSC, check out the Sustainability Office website section on hosting these events.

May 2017: UCSC Bioneers Conference

The Common Ground Center at Kresge College is very excited to announce the 3rd annual UCSC Bioneers Conference, a social and environmental justice event that prompts cultural change. This year, the 3rd annual UCSC Bioneers Conference will be held on May 27-28 from 10am-5pm at UCSC's Stevenson Event Center, click here to register. Slated to speak so far are: Bill McKibben, Chairman Valentine Lopez, John Foran, Mira Michelle, Tj Demos, Rita Rivera, and Stevenson Garden. More speakers will be announced very soon so keep your eyes peeled! Bioneer attendees can expect two days of stimulating and thought-provoking talks, workshops, artistic performances, local artists, dancing, and delicious food.

This nationwide movement is a powerful knowledge hub for advocating the important topics of today's time, such as: Eco-nomics; Ecological Design; Ecological Literacy; Ecological Medicine; Every Women’s Leadership; Indigenous Knowledge; Justice: Racial, LGBT, Human Rights, Equity, and Rights of Nature; Media; Nature, Culture, Spirit; Resilient Communities; Restorative Food Systems; Restoring the Bio-Sphere; Youth Leadership, and more!

The UCSC Bioneers Conference is a zero-waste event aiming to significantly reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill. We ask that attendees bring their own tupperware and utensils if they plan on eating at the conference. This event is free and open to any and all who wish to come. For disability-related accommodations or any questions, please email commonground@ucsc.edu.

Click here to register now!

May 2017: Classes, Trainings, Community

ESLP Speaker Series: Monday nights 7-10pm @ Kresge Town Hall

Education for a Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) holds a weekly lecture series every spring quarter. Each Monday night at the Kresge Town Hall, ESLP invites knowledgeable and interesting experts to speak on topics such as sustainable living, food systems, energy, and social justice. Find out more on their website. The series is open to the public, so you are welcome to join them! For accommodations contact 831-459-1714.

Community Meetings on Mondays at 12 pm throughout Spring Quarter

Hosted by the Common Ground Center, these community meetings are a student run space for ideas, food, and discussion. These meetings happen on the 1st and 3rd Monday's from April 10th through June 5th at 12 pm at the Kresge Seminar Room 159. For more information and accommodations, please email the Common Ground Center.

Permaculture and Agroecology Films and Speakers on Tuesday Nights at the UCSC Village

Join the Program in Community and Agroecology (PICA) on Tuesday nights from April 11th to June 6th in A3 classroom at the UCSC Village. Check the graphic below for themes, times and speakers. For more information, check out PICA's Facebook page.

The Human Race - Santa Cruz on May 13th

The Human Race is an opportunity for Santa Cruz County nonprofits, individuals and groups to fundraise for local programs. The Human Race has been helping nonprofits fundraise together for over 35 years. The 5 mile fun run and walk goes from 2300 Delaware Ave to Lighthouse Park and back. Event day includes complimentary breakfast and lunch, music, entertainment and prizes. They are looking for donations and volunteers. The event is on May 13th and there are two volunteer shifts, 8:30-10:30am or 10am-12pm. Find out more on their website.

Sustainability, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Workshop - June 28-30

Registration is now open for this three-day workshop, happening June 28-30 at University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment, is for faculty, administrators and staff of all disciplines, as well as community organizers and city officials and planners, who wish to interconnect and integrate sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion into their campus, curriculum and departments. The format will include opportunities for participants to bring forward topics from their own experiences to inform the discussion and gain insight from the perspectives of the presenters as well as fellow participants. Register online by June 2.

Sustainability Across the Curriculum Online Workshop - May 22 to June 25 OR June 26 to July 30

This online event is designed for higher education instructors wishing to infuse issues of sustainability (ecological stability, social equity, and economic vitality) into their curriculum regardless of the discipline. Sustainability issues across all disciplines and the intent of this course is to identify those areas of intersection. Effective assessment of critical thinking skills, collaboration, creativity, and the ability to analyze, discuss and create solutions to real-world sustainability problems will be explored. Three graduate credits are available through Aurora University. Students must have earned a bachelor's degree in order to receive graduate credits. Sign up online now!

May 2017: Contests and Funding

Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition: Deadline July 31st
The Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition is a global program intended to support the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Young people from around the world are invited to submit innovative ideas and projects that contribute to one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Check out this link if you'd like to apply! Deadline to apply is July 31.

Spring 2017 Sustainability Project Grants: Deadline April 12th
The Campus Sustainability Council (CSC) at UC Santa Cruz is soliciting proposals for Spring 2017 sustainable project grants. Through Ballot Measure 14 passed in 2006, the CSC receives $6 per undergraduate student per quarter to allocate to organizations for projects addressing themes outlined in the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus. Check out this link if you would like to apply.

Special Promotion for UCSC Students, Staff and Faculty interested in Purchasing or Leasing an Electric Vehicle
Interested in purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle? Nissan and Ford have special promotions available to all UCSC students, staff and faculty through the end of June. In addition, the Monterey Bay Air Resources District (MBARD) and PG&E have special rebates you may be eligible for to further reduce your lease or purchase costs. Please go to the TAPS website for more information.

Email Survey to win Potential $50 Gift Card 
Please watch your emails for a link to complete the annual UCSC Transportation
Survey during the first week of May. Survey information is used to plan for a
more efficient circulation system on campus and to better understand our
commuting population’s patterns and needs. All participants are eligible to win one
of five $50 gift cards to the Bay Tree Bookstore.

Benjamin Von Wong Event: 4/19: FREE dinner and #MermaidsHatePlastic speaker!

The UC Santa Cruz Sustainability Office is excited to share with you that we're bringing world-recognized photographer Benjamin Von Wong to campus next Wednesday, April 19th in conjunction with Earth Week.  

Von Wong is a photographer, creative director, social influencer and conservationist. As the creator of the viral #MermaidsHatePlastic campaign, he uses artistic innovation to bring attention and action to the real-world problem of oceanic plastic pollution. Von Wong's hyper-realistic style captures viewers in a fusion of special effects and innovative concepts. His work has been featured in Gizmodo, Today, ABC, and The Huffington Post. He is currently focused on conservation-related projects. 

​

Von Wong's talk, Storytelling 2.0, will be hosted at the Oakes Learning Center next Wednesday evening (4/19) from 7-8pm.  This event is free and open to the public. RSVP through the Facebook event page: tinyurl.com/vonwong.

For current UC Santa Cruz students, the talk is immediately preceded by an Arts & Action Banquet at the Rachel Carson/Oakes Dining Hall from 5-7pm, which will include a FREE Earth Week-inspired meal featuring local, sustainable, and organic foods. Students with meal plans will swipe in as usual; students with no meal plans need only to show their student ID to attend. Trivia, DIY activities, an Earth Week pledge, and prizes will also be featured!

We hope to see you and your fellow sustainabilibuddies next Wednesday evening for the Banquet and Von Wong's talk!

Carbon Fund Celebrates 16 New Projects

The UCSC Carbon Fund, which consists of undergraduate and graduate student fees, strives to build a sustainable future by working to mitigate climate change by funding projects that directly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, conduct relevant research, or carry out education and behavioral change programs at UCSC or in the Santa Cruz community. The Committee is made up of  8 students, staff, and faculty representatives from sustainable organizations around campus. Currently there are about 30 projects being funded through the Carbon Fund, and this year they allocated about $130,000 to 16 new projects. Read about the recently funded projects on the Carbon Fund website.

 

One of the funded projects this year will enable the new Colleges 9&10 Garden to purchase and plant some fruit trees!