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Thursday, November 20, 2014

December 2014: Classes, Training, and Community

Student Sustainability Advisors
Need another way to stay up to date with sustainability related information, news and events? The Student Sustainability Advisors are a resource to residential life staff in the colleges, as well as students, staff, and faculty who wish to learn more about sustainability at UCSC. They just got a new Facebook page--give the page a like to further connect with the sustainability community.

Join PICA for the last garden workday of fall quarter! On Saturday, December 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., meet in the A-quad of the Village for a free garden grown lunch before Winter Break begins.


The UCSC Holiday Food Drive Team is dedicated to making a difference in our community by helping to provide healthy meals to our neighbors in need. In the holiday spirit of giving, the Second Harvest Food Drive has already begun to collect donations on campus. Every dollar donated provides four meals, and donations can be made here. Students can also donate meals or Flexi dollars at every Dining Hall. Every meal that is donated gives nine meals to people in our community. Canned food donations can also be made at Safeway on Mission Street and other areas around town. Please consider donating to those who would otherwise not have a meal this holiday season.
Part of conservation is planting! In the past 50 years, the Arboretum has grown from a small field of Eucalyptus trees to 143 acres featuring plants from the World's Mediterranean climates and a large and growing collection of California Natives. These gardens support researchers from all over the world. Take a tour and come explore the world, learn about the collection and be inspired about the natural world! These gardens and plant material have supported research on native bees, swallows, genetic lineage of flowering plants, and helped conserve native succulents through-out California where they were once lost. For more information, visit the website.


Winter Quarter: Collaborative Learning for Sustainable Communities & Reclaiming the Commons
The second quarter in the Collaborative Learning course series focuses on intergenerational learning in service of building thriving, just, and sustainable communities locally and globally. The class will discuss Sustainable Communities, Ecovillages and Reclaiming the Commons through guest lectures, intergenerational dialogue, and engagement with long-term projects. Enrollment is now open! To learn more, please contact instructor Christine King at chlking [at] ucsc [dot] edu.


Winter Quarter: Transformative Action
Do you want to learn more about yourself and how you can engage -- in a positive way -- with the world around you? Are you looking for a different type of experiential course? Transformative Action focuses on key skills for effective transformation agents including: creativity and innovation; transformative communication; servant leadership; optimism and resilience, risk taking, initiative; luck; failure; and relationship building. Students create their own portfolio and commit to weekly civic engagement projects. Enrollment is now open!

The 16th Annual Agroecology Shortcourse will explore the roots of agroecology as a global movement as well as a science and a practice from July 12-25, 2015. Santa Cruz offers the ideal context to examine historical and current issues of social and environmental equity and sustainability that agroecology movements confront all over the world. The course aims to introduce agroecology and strategically connect the diverse and powerful agroecology experiences and movements active worldwide and create a collective overarching view of the current global situation. The course will end with a vision of how to better facilitate cross-fertilization across agroecology movements and overcome obstacles to convergence. For more information, contact can.shortcourse [at] gmail [dot] com or visit the website.



Free Phenology Workshop - Nature's Calendar: December 13
Juliet Oshiro, UC Santa Cruz Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolution, is hosting workshops designed to introduce participants to the science of phenology--the study of seasonal cycles of plants and animals--and how it's used to track the effects of climate change on diverse landscapes. If you want to help researchers gather data on climate change, come to this workshop and learn how to observe/collect data on native plants through the seasons for a national database that is used by researchers to study climate change. This is important research as it will teach us how plants behavior are impacted by climate change and will help inform future land management practices. For more information about phenology, visit the Arboretum website. This workshop will take place December 13 at 2 p.m. in Horticulture II. Event details here.

"Cultivating a Daily Revolution" Winter Course
Friends of Community Agroecology Network's "Cultivating a Daily Revolution" is a discussion-based class with internship opportunities, hands-on activities, and guest speakers. Winter quarter speakers include Andrew Szazs for "Grassroot Organizing" and Jeff Bury "Research in Indigenous Communities." The course is recommended for anyone interested in furthering their understanding of sustainable food systems and social movements. For more information, contact FoCAN [at] ucsc [dot] edu or visit the website.


22 units and 3 organizations aren't enough for you? Consider taking FREE classes on Climate Change and Sustainable Development online. Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), is a free online education platform created to advance the field of sustainable development in all regions of the world. Questions? Email edu [at] unsdsn [dot] org or visit their website.

International University & College Campus Sustainability Listserv
Inspired by the Making Universities Sustainable Conference in Copenhagen 2014, this list is for the international university community to discuss sustainability issues and solutions. The aim is to provide a global network for sharing best practices in the field of sustainability and its application to university operations.

Maui Wowi: Food Systems, Agriculture, and Outdoor Adventure Spring Break Trip
Though this is fall quarter, registration is open (and will fill) for the annual experiential learning and food system engagement spring break trip. Join the Food Systems Working Group & Rec Department on Maui to explore traditional food and farming sites, explore different aspects of culture, and adventure into bamboo forests, ranch lands, and marine sanctuaries to explore the ecological aspects of the island. This trip will also include a 2 unit Environmental Studies internship in winter quarter to prepare the group for different concepts and frameworks of food system engagement they will explore in March. Sign up on the OPERS Recreation website this quarter to reserve your spot!

A new program launching in fall 2015 will immerse students from across the UC system in the outdoor classrooms of the UC Natural Reserve System. The NRS Field Quarter Program will give students opportunities to closely observe California habitats, practice hands-on field research, and gain a deeper understanding of the natural world. California Ecology and Conservation will be the only course students enroll in for the term, and it yields a full complement of quarter units. As they visit up to six of the 39 reserves in the NRS, students will master standard field techniques and get to know a broad range of California habitats, climate regimes, and species. The deadline is February 2, 2015 and instruction begins in the Fall. Visit the website for more information.


PICA Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
PICA will be hosting a fruit tree pruning workshop with Orin Martin of the Alan Chadwick Garden sometime soon. The date hasn't been set yet, but if you're interested in learning more, please email PICA Outreach Coordinator Kelsey Jones at kemjones [at] ucsc [dot] edu for more information.

This gathering will invite student government and organization leadership, staff program coordinators and directors, faculty and administrators as well as community food agency leadership to UC Santa Barbara to strengthen partnerships and share best practices to inform action steps toward fostering access, equity, and justice for all. The three day summit will include workshops, speakers, and activities of all levels for individuals to engage with critical issues while building skills and relationships to implement change on college campuses and in the surrounding communities. For more information about the Summit, visit cafoodsummit.as.ucsb.edu or contact Crystal Owings at cowings [at[ ucsc [dot] edu.

The Program in Community and Agroecology welcomes all UCSC students, staff and faculty to their Saturday Garden Workdays. You can learn how to grow your own food and enjoy fun and a fabulous garden fresh lunch. In the winter, the workdays will be Saturdays January 17, 24 and 31 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet in the A-quad of the Village. Come learn how to garden and share in a communal garden grown lunch!

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