Camper Park Wins Hydration Games

Following 20 days of intense water conservation competition between campus residents, the winner of the Fall 2016 Hydration Games has been announced.  With an incredible water-use reduction of 39 gallons per person, residents of the Camper Park stepped up to claim the Colleges, Housing, & Educational Services Student Sustainability Adviser Hydration Games Trophy.  Second place was a tie between Cowell College and Family Student Housing, each conserving 34 gallons per person.  The Village came in third with 32 gallons per person.

Congratulations to our campus' Student Sustainability Advisers, who coordinated the competition and whose education and outreach efforts continue to inspire water conservation.  And congratulations to all who make an effort to save water.  You are all winners in the Earth's eyes!

UCSC Student Sustainability Advisors with the Hydration Games trophy and CHES - SSA Award Plaque. Photo Credit: UC Santa Cruz SSA.

 See how your residential area scored on the SSA's leaderboard!

Area-------------------Water reduction (gallons) per person
Camper Park---------------------------39
Family Student Housing-------------34
Cowell College-------------------------34
The Village------------------------------32
Redwood Grove------------------------21
Porter College--------------------------20
Merrill College--------------------------17
Graduate Student Housing---------14
Crown College-------------------------10
Stevenson College-------------------- 7
Kresge College-------------------------5
College Nine----------------------------4
College Ten-----------------------------2
Rachel Carson College------------ 0.5
Oakes College------------------------+11

Source: UC Santa Cruz SSA Facebook Page

February 2016: Nicki Doan

What is your title, affiliation, and year?
Hi! My name is Nicki Doan, and I am an SSA, which stands for Student Sustainability Adviser, for the sister colleges of Porter and Kresge. I am a 2nd year Kresge affiliate.

What does “sustainability” mean to you?
When I imagine the term “sustainability,” I think of a ying-yang circle. The concept of ying and yang is that one side balances the other, in a uniformed manner. No side is sharper or more intricate than the other, hence the circular shape and the simplistic color schemes of black and white. I believe that sustainability has the same concept; it’s about taking only what you need, but also knowing that what you take comes with a price, and returning the favor. Like the symbol, sustaining means balancing, and when we take something from the environment, such as trees and paper, we must give it back, just as in recycling.

What made you interested in sustainability?
I think that being sustainable has always been a part of me as I was growing up. For example, my family always rewashed containers to use as portable food holders, and they have always kept gift bags and tissue papers to reuse next Christmas. My religion also plays a big role in my interest in sustainability. I was taught to treat every living thing with compassion, and to always give more than to take. I think these influences are very similar to the practice of sustainability.

Tell us about the Hydration Games, a campuswide competition in the colleges to reduce water.
The Hydration Games was a really fun project to do since I have never done anything campus wide! It also took a lot of time and outreach to make it work, and I think that is where my team and I lacked. The 7 of us were unable to spread awareness about water conservation as well as we had hoped. Other factors that didn’t give us the results that we had wanted could also have been due to the Carbon Neutrality project UC-wide that also sprang up during our Hydration Games.

Any similar events you're looking forward to this year?
Yes! We are promoting Zero Waste this quarter! To do so, we are going to be tabling during college nights and sending emails and a survey that we are working on to get a good idea of how aware our residents are about their waste contribution.

What’s your favorite thing about being an SSA?
My favorite thing about being an SSA is the experience. I have learned so much more about the “real world” than I do in a chemistry and biology class. We have guest speakers who are chemists and biologists working in the fields of sustainability. They express their passion for what they do, and it amazes me every time I listen. I am inspired by what they do and how they do what they do every time. Kinda makes me unsure about my future, but I mean, I do know now that I hope to find a career that I am extremely passionate about like them.

Have you had a favorite sustainability moment at UCSC?
You know, I think UCSC itself is a sustainability moment. Ever since coming here, I have adapted to the lifestyle of this campus, such as recycling pretty much everything, bringing reusable bags to the stores, and bringing my own reusable water bottle. Coming from a place where sustainability is a choice (SoCal) to a place where sustainability is a lifestyle (Santa Cruz), it’s quite amazing!

December 2015 Green Tip: Curtailment At Home and Away

Even as the Cool Campus Challenge draws to a close, it’s important to keep up the good work as the UC system strives towards carbon neutrality. Whether you’re traveling over the break or staying in town, make sure to stick to your pledges and stay sustainable! This December, try out these tips to curtail your energy usage, resource use, and carbon footprint.

Image by John Loo

If you’re leaving town:

• Unplug appliances, including Wi-Fi routers, refrigerators, microwaves, and lamps. Also consider using a power strip to reduce energy drain of many appliances at once.
• Close windows and blinds to insulate your room or house.
• Shut off or lower your thermostat if you have one. A good temperature to have your thermostat at while you’re out of the house is 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Wear your warm clothing inside as well.

No matter where you are:

• Check for leaks in faucets and toilets. If you live on campus and find one before you leave, file a maintenance request.
• Seal air leaks or file a maintenance request to reduce heating needs. Often, drafts under doors can be reduced by laying a rolled up bath towel in front of the door gap.

Also, keep in mind these holiday tips:

Cut down on oils and grease. Fats, oils and grease can pose health hazards if thrown out with the dishwater or if poured down the drain. An excess in the sewer system can even result in sewage overflow leading to harmful effects on aquatic life as well as human well-being. If you do cook with these, make sure to pour the excess into a non-recyclable container, wait for it to solidify, and throw it in the trash rather than down the drain.

Reduce gift waste. Giving gifts? Try to reduce the amount of plastic packaging, or go for gifts that use materials other than plastic. Opt for unpackaged products or those packaged in cardboard and reusable or recyclable packaging. Hope to get gifts? Keep or recycle your wrapping paper and boxes! Both can be reused for future gifting or various craft projects. Check out our previous Green Tips about gift-giving here.

And, as with every vacation, try to carpool or take a bus whenever possible to cut down on carbon emissions. Safe travels to everyone leaving town and a happy vacation to all!

New Wellness Center Rainwater Harvesting

This recently completed project consists of a rainwater catchment system that will serve as the primary water source for toilet use at the UCSC Wellness Center. It is intended to be a small scale pilot project that will give the UCSC community the opportunity to monitor the effectiveness of rainwater harvesting and re-use and provide a working prototype for future rainwater catchment systems. The goal is to learn from this application and be able to apply it to future large-scale systems.

The location was chosen not only for the small-scale applicability but because the site is accessible to most campus users. This project has the potential to provide many educational benefits. Already, UCSC students in the Impact Designs: Engineering & Sustainability through Student Service program, with the help of a local engineering mentor, completed a large portion of the calculations, design, and estimate.

Storm Water Programs Manager Courtney Trask oversaw the project implementation and hopes to increase awareness about water conservation rainwater catchment systems, and sustainability by educating students, faculty, and staff and ultimately reducing municipal water consumption and energy use.

With the use of rainwater harvesting UCSC could reduce the following:

• use of domestic water 
• energy used to treat the water to drinking water standards 
• energy used to pump the water to the treatment plant and then the extra pumping to reach UCSC's elevation 
• chemicals used to treat domestic water

Sustainability Office Hiring for Winter

The Sustainability Office is currently hiring for winter quarter. Please help us spread the word by sharing these images and information via social media channels or email. If you have questions, please contact the staff supervisors listed on the applications, linked below.

Water Positions Available in the Sustainability Office: Deadline December 4
The Water Action and Drought Response (WADR) Team is dedicated to water conservation and aids UCSC in meeting water rationing goals during this time of drought. They work directly with water fixtures to assess and report for changes, and with student and University staff to promote wise water practices and educate about the seriousness of the drought. The WADR Team is looking for two new students to join a four-person team starting winter quarter. The deadline to apply is December 4, and interviews will happen the following week. View the requirements and application on the Employee Request system here (ER 7324).

Seeking Green Office Certification Program Coordinator

The Sustainability Office is looking for an exceptional leader to oversee the Green Office Certification Program. Lead a team of students to work with staff across campus to improve their business practices and to adopt sustainable behaviors. Full job description and application are available on the UCSC Employment Request system here (ER 6682).

Use Your Voice and Drop Your Own Drip!

The Drop Your Own Drip campaign within the Student Environmental Center is conducting a survey about water conservation efforts at UCSC. The campaign aims to use this data to determine possible project ideas for the future.

The input from students will also be shared with the Water Working Group and the Water Task Force. Please take the survey here.

November 2014 Drought Update

During the spring, mandatory water restrictions of 25% were put into place by the City of Santa Cruz to reduce water use during this "exceptional" drought, and UC Santa Cruz has been successful at staying within these reductions since late spring. To achieve this goal, the Water Working Group requested the creation of a student-led team through the Sustainability Office, focused specifically on drought response. Thus, the Drought Response Team was born, comprised of five students: Nataly Dybens, Lindsay Edelman, Marino Hernandez, Elly Martinez, and McCall Williams.

(Source)

This summer, this student team took on the projects of auditing water fixtures, educating the campus through signage, and learning about water in our county. Through their efforts and the water conservation actions of our entire campus community, we have stayed within our water restriction amounts. Congratulations—and keep it up! Throughout the summer and into the fall, the Drought Response Team has inspected 64 buildings’ water fixtures by assessing how much water was being used by sinks, showers, and toilets. Comparing these numbers with expected flow rates, the team members identify inefficient fixtures and have been passing along requests for them to be fixed or upgraded. So far 91 leaks have been repaired, and there are still 40 more buildings to be audited by the team. These simple changes in our infrastructure can save a lot of water.   

In addition to auditing, the team has put up signage in nearly all restrooms on campus with information about how to report leaks, knowing that water conservation is a team effort across campus requiring support from everyone. Perhaps you’ve seen the signs: “Help Out, We’re in a Drought!” The team has also been tabling at events throughout campus to educate our community about water use and sources of water in our county. Most of our water comes from Loch Lomond Reservoir and the San Lorenzo River, which are dependent upon local rain. 

The Drought Response Team has been tabling at events throughout campus to educate, engage, and encourage water conservation.

Despite our achievements in water reductions, the drought continues and some parts of campus are suffering from the limited amounts of water that can be used. For example, East Field wasn’t watered enough early in the summer to keep it alive, and it has had to be re-seeded and left to grow back, affecting sports clubs and teams and others who use the field. The UCSC Farm is also facing challenges in keeping enough of their fields growing to continue all of their important programs and research. Water conservation is still extremely important, and each day we are more and more in need of rain. If you’d like to know more about what the City and community leaders are doing to identify solutions to our water supply, please read this article about the recent water convention and cast your vote! 

These efforts by the Drought Response Team are just some of the many efforts taking place at UCSC to reduce water use, and we will continue to provide updates as the drought continues. It is important to inform your friends, family members, peers, and neighbors about the drought and what we all can do to conserve water. Take this water footprint quiz to learn how you can save more water and encourage others to do the same. If you see a leak or water waste on campus, please report it by filling out a work order online at www.ucscplant.ucsc.edu. If you notice a leak in the residential halls, please report it via a Fixit ticket at fixit.ucsc.edu. 

Questions? Proposed solutions? Concerns? Please contact Elida Erickson at ekericks [at] ucsc [dot] edu.