June 2015: Contests & Funding

UCSC Residential Housing Survey on Energy: Deadline June 11
PowerSave is supporting the overall campus Climate and Energy Strategy project by collecting data related to energy use in residential housing units. Please take the short 3 minute survey here and be sure to provide your UCSC email address to be entered into a raffle for one $100 and four $50 bookstore gift certificates! The information collected in this survey will be used to help prioritize investment in energy conservation projects and programs. Deadline to participate is July 11th at midnight.

Carbon Fund Crowdfunding: Deadline June 18th
The Carbon Fund is currently featured as one of UCSC’s Crowdfund projects and you can make a donation that will have a tremendous impact on the UCSC campus! Every contribution made will be used to support student projects that reduce our campus’ carbon footprint. Help the Carbon Fund reach their goal of raising $20,000 by donating here.

Sustainability Film & Art Contest: Deadline July 13
Calling all filmmakers and artists! Are you interested in having your short film or artwork displayed at a film festival series this fall? The Sustainability Office invites you to create a sustainability-related short film or poster. The winner(s) of the competition will have their films and posters shown at the Sustainability Film Festival to celebrate the campus’s 50th Anniversary! Learn more here.

Energy Dept. $2.5M for Collegiate Clean Energy Tech: Deadline June 7
The newly announced $2.5 million in funding for the Cleantech University Prize (Cleantech UP) aims to support the commercialization of promising technologies for sectors such as solar and wind that reduce carbon pollution and grow the clean energy economy. The Cleantech UP Collegiate Competitions will provide prizes for eight individual university-focused competitions that will equip students with business skills to move clean energy technologies from the discovery phase to the marketplace.

AASHE Sustainability Awards: Deadline June 11
Applications for the Tenth Annual AASHE Sustainability Awards are now being accepted for outstanding ideas and initiatives that are furthering the higher education sustainability transformation. Award winners will receive one complimentary AASHE 2015 Conference & Expo pass, one invitation to a special reception during the 2015 conference, an opportunity to present submissions at the 2015 conference, and featured in Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Deadline to apply is June 11, 2015.

Tools of Change Landmark Designation: Deadline June 12
Tools of Change is now soliciting nominations for its 2015 Landmark behavior change case studies in two topic areas - (1) home / building energy conservation and (2) sustainable transportation. If you know of anyone working on a particularly effective, innovative or impactful approach for changing energy or transportation behaviors, please consider nominating them - or yourself. All nominations must include measured impact results. The Nominations Form must be submitted by June 12, 2015. Designations will be announced by October 2015, and case study webinars will be presented between February and May 2016.

Biomimicry Global Design Challenge: Deadline August 3
The Biomimicry Institute and the Ray C. Anderson Foundation announced the opening of the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. Students are invited to submit commercially viable, nature-inspired solutions to global food system challenges. All participants get access to the Design Challenge Toolbox and supporting resources, including sessions with mentors and biomimicry professionals. The grand prize, to be awarded in 2016, is $100,000. The deadline for submissions is August 3rd.

May 2015: Contests & Funding

CSC Request for Proposals Deadline May 8
The Campus Sustainability Council (CSC) would like to fund your student organization’s sustainability projects or events in the upcoming year. Proposals adhering to the criteria for student organizations and relevance to the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus are eligible for funding. Here is the Request for Proposal (RFP), which outlines all requirements and mandatory steps to apply for funding from CSC. Please fill out the CSC Proposal Form to RSVP for the mandatory grant trainings.

UCSC Residential Housing Survey on Energy Deadline May 27
PowerSave is supporting the overall campus Climate and Energy Strategy project by collecting data related to energy use in residential housing units. Please take the short 3 minute survey here and be sure to enter your UCSC email address to be entered into a raffle for one $100 and 4 $50 bookstore gift certificates! The information collected in this survey will used to help prioritize investment in energy conservation projects and programs. Deadline to participate in May 27 at midnight.

Sustainability Film & Art Contest Deadline July 13
Calling all filmmakers and artists! Are you interested in having your short film or artwork displayed at a film festival series this fall? The Sustainability Office invites you to create a sustainability-related short film or poster. The winner(s) of the competition will have their films and posters shown at the Sustainability Film Festival to celebrate the campus’s 50th Anniversary! Learn more here.

Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards Deadline May 8
Second Nature invites applications for the 6th Annual Climate Leadership Awards (CLA) which recognizes innovative and advanced leadership in sustainability, climate mitigation, and resilience at signatory campuses of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Committee. Nominations are now being accepted. Nominees will be considered based on their commitment to climate neutrality, sustainability education, and innovative leadership. Applications are due May 8, 2015 For questions please contact gboscio[at]secondnature[dot]org.

Future Organic Farmer Grant Fund Deadline May 15
The Future Organic Farmer Grant Fund vocational and higher education grants are available for students enrolled in educational programs that will benefit their future careers in organic production or in becoming an organic professional. Applications are due by May 15th.

Brower Youth Awards Deadline May 18
The Earth Island Institute established The Brower Youth Award for Environmental Leadership to recognize the outstanding leadership efforts of young people who are working for the protection the planet. If you have created, organized or implemented a project or campaign that applies solutions and approaches to relevant environmental challenges, apply before May 18th. To be eligible to apply, you must be 13 to 22 years old.

Energy Dept. $2.5M for Collegiate Clean Energy Tech: Deadline June 7
The newly announced $2.5 million in funding for the Cleantech University Prize (Cleantech UP) aims to support the commercialization of promising technologies for sectors such as solar and wind that reduce carbon pollution and grow the clean energy economy. The Cleantech UP Collegiate Competitions will provide prizes for eight individual university-focused competitions that will equip students with business skills to move clean energy technologies from the discovery phase to the marketplace.

AASHE Sustainability Awards Deadline June 11
Applications for the Tenth Annual AASHE Sustainability Awards are now being accepted for outstanding ideas and initiatives that are furthering the higher education sustainability transformation. Award winners will receive one complimentary AASHE 2015 Conference & Expo pass, one invitation to a special reception during the 2015 conference, an opportunity to present submissions at the 2015 conference, and featured in Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Deadline to apply is June 11, 2015.

Tools of Change Landmark Designation: Deadline June 12
Tools of Change is now soliciting nominations for its 2015 Landmark behavior change case studies in two topic areas - (1) home / building energy conservation and (2) sustainable transportation. If you know of anyone working on a particularly effective, innovative or impactful approach for changing energy or transportation behaviors, please consider nominating them - or yourself. All nominations must include measured impact results. The Nominations Form must be submitted by June 12, 2015. Designations will be announced by October 2015, and case study webinars will be presented between February and May 2016.

Biomimicry Global Design Challenge: Deadline August 3
The Biomimicry Institute and the Ray C. Anderson Foundation announced the opening of the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. Students are invited to submit commercially viable, nature-inspired solutions to global food system challenges. All participants get access to the Design Challenge Toolbox and supporting resources, including sessions with mentors and biomimicry professionals. The grand prize, to be awarded in 2016, is $100,000. The deadline for submissions is August 3rd.

May 2015 Green Tip: Sustainable Art

Do you have any old glass bottles or bottle caps? Would you rather repurpose products instead of recycling them? You can turn them into beautiful art pieces! Meesh Montgomery and Jacquelyne Vera, students at UCSC, do just that. With Mother's Day coming up, you can show your mom -and Mother Earth- how much you love her by making sustainable and recycled art.

Meesh makes flower vases, watering devices for their plants, and paper flowers. They use glass bottles, paper, and bottle caps that they find in recycling bins or laying around. They have always had a passion for art and when they started school here, they had a new passion: sustainability. So, they combined the two to make sustainable art.

Meesh says their favorite part of recycled art is how good they feel while making it. They say that, first of all, it relieves a lot of their stress. Second, they feel good being sustainable while doing something they love. They would love to delve more into larger sculptures using recycled materials, but they don't have enough space in their dorm room.

Jacquelyne makes jewelry/charms out of polymer clay and different pattern friendship bracelets. She uses any items she comes across as inspiration. She's currently learning how to make koi ponds and flower gardens in Altoid cans, pies in bottle caps, and terrariums in old light bulbs.

Jacquelyne says her favorite part of making things is how fun it is. She enjoys making things while watching random youtube videos and finds it relaxing. She likes seeing her friends' faces when she gives them the items.

Below are some of her amazing and adorable creations:

Innovative Approaches to Sustainability at Other Campuses

Here are a few selections of the innovative approaches to sustainability taking place on other college campuses. Each of these examples was chosen because they represent ideas that UCSC could potentially implement in some form, or in some cases, already has begun to. If you see something here that you want to make a reality at UCSC, contact the Sustainability Office susted@ucsc.edu and we will help you direct your ideas toward fruition! 

UC Irvine student uses art to inspire climate activism
In art student Kathleen Deck's "Conservation Through Creation” art installation, a section of lawn won’t be watered for a month. The idea is to return an artificial environment to its natural state, and start a discussion about how the changing climate can affect water use and the fragile environment that people have created. Deck is one of 37 UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative Fellows. 

University of Illinois announces winners for Green Office Program
The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) announced award winners for its 2014-15 Certified Green Office Program on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Twenty-four participating offices collected hardware for making commitments toward and achieving energy and resource reductions during the school year. Here, at UCSC, we also have a Green Office Certification Program.

50th Anniversary Sustainability Film Festival Contest

Calling all filmmakers and artists! Are you interested in having your short film or artwork displayed at a film festival series this fall? The Sustainability Office invites you to create a sustainability-related short film or poster. The winner(s) of the competition will have their films and posters shown at the Sustainability Film Festival to celebrate the campus’s 50th Anniversary!

If you are interested, listed below are the submission requirements.

Film criteria: 

• The film must be accessible through the web (Vimeo or YouTube, for example)
• The film must incorporate at least one of the following sustainability topics: Environmental awareness, education, and engagement; Sustainable design; Energy and climate; Just & ecologically sustainable food systems; Land, habitat and watershed; Sustainable procurement; Sustainable transportation; Waste reduction; Waste conservation, access and quality; Environmental justice
• The film must be no longer than 10* minutes. 

Note: If you have already created a film that is longer than 10 minutes and would like to submit it, please contact Melissa Ott at mott@ucsc.edu to discuss possible exceptions and/or how you might shorten the film.

Poster criteria: 

• The poster must be at least 8.5 x 11" and no larger than 11 x 17"
• The poster must feature the concept "Water" but may also include other sustainability topics, such as Environmental awareness, education, and engagement; Sustainable design; Energy and climate; Just & ecologically sustainable food systems; Land, habitat and watershed; Sustainable procurement; Sustainable transportation; Waste reduction; Waste conservation, access and quality; Environmental justice

Early Bird deadline: June 1st, 2015
Final deadline: July 13th, 2015

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In celebration of our campus, we want to highlight our achievements and culture we have created toward sustainability these past 50 years.  Art and film are beautiful mediums to showcase UCSC's anniversary through and we want as many students, campus organizations and community members to be involved.  If you are an organization or community member interested in hosting a film, please contact Melissa Ott at mott [at] ucsc [dot] edu.

April 2015: Sustainability profile

Each month, our newsletter features a person or group on campus that is working toward a more sustainable world. This month features Jennifer (Juniper) Harrower.

Education

• Ph.D. Student (2013-Current): UC Santa Cruz, Environmental Studies
• CA Science Teaching Credential (2007): Alliant International University, San Francisco
• Bachelor of Science with honors (2006): UC Berkeley, Plant Biology and Genetics
• Oakland Teaching Fellows Summer Institute (2006)
• CEICA Pre Advanced Intensive Spanish program, Peru (2010)
• Education Abroad (2005): Tropical Biology and Research, Monteverde, Costa Rica

What's your favorite green tip? Zimride through UCSC is an excellent way to link people for commuting and reduce single passenger vehicles on the road!

What does "sustainability" mean to you? For me, sustainability means a daily awareness of how my actions are affecting the world from the local to global scale.

How do you practice sustainability in your daily life? I ride my bicycle whenever possible, live cooperatively with 6 others, use consumer awareness and try to buy things with minimal packaging (bulk) and from good organizations. I try to buy local produce and support local farmers, and raise chickens. At my house we recycle and compost, and have water usage awareness. Additionally, I teach environmental classes, and do environmental outreach with the public in a variety of ways.

How does sustainability relate to your role at UCSC? People need to act sustainably if we want to continue living on this planet. This is why I study human impacts on biodiversity, do research in Joshua Tree National Park, and work with students in ENVS.

Have you had a favorite sustainability moment at UCSC? Working with art students to create environmental awareness was a pretty great one!

Can you tell us about the project you are working on? "Seeking Symbiosis" is a collaborative project between myself and Geoffrey Thomas - a lecturer and post doc in the art department. I teach the students about the impacts of human driven global change on ecosystems and the resulting biodiversity loss. My work focuses on the impacts of climate change on Joshua trees (who are greatly impacted by climate change) and their symbiotic fungi. The students worked with Joshua trees at the UCSC greenhouses to create imagery about Joshua tree loss to engage with the scientific and cultural discourses surrounding climate change and environmentalism.

What has been your favorite part about collaborating with the UCSC Art Department?  Our campus is really separated, and there is little physical crossover between the art and science departments - students rarely spend time in both worlds. I have really enjoyed having art students come over to the ENVS department to work with the Joshua trees and then to see their art hung in our halls. And, I have gotten great feedback from the ENVS department regarding the beautiful art work that students have created. It feels like a true inter-disciplinary project! Considering the impacts humans are having on our planet we need all disciplines engaging with the ideas of what it means to live sustainably and how to manage our natural resources. One of my future projects in collaboration with OpenLab (art/science research studio on campus) is to develop an educational computer app that incorporates findings from my Joshua tree climate change research in a fun game that students can play to engage with these issues. The app will work with real data, so future ecological scenarios predicted from playing this game could potentially be used to inform real world management decisions.

Innovative Approaches to Sustainability at Other Campuses

Here are a few selections of the innovative approaches to sustainability taking place on other college campuses. Each of these examples was chosen because they represent ideas that UCSC could potentially implement in some form, or in some cases, already has begun to. If you see something here that you want to make a reality at UCSC, contact the Sustainability Office susted [at] ucsc [dot] edu and we will help you direct your ideas toward fruition!

U Saskatchewan Student Helps Deal With Costly Research Byproduct 
A Sustainability Living Lab project, a biological engineering student is investigating a system to process manure from the campus' Dairy Research and Teaching Farm into a product that can be kept on campus or one that is cheaper to have discarded. Currently the university spends $65,000 annually for the manure to be hauled away. Here at UCSC, we have many places on campus that serve to create a living laboratory where students can become involved in hands-on work like this.

Colorado Mountain College Holds Art Exhibit
In an effort to raise awareness for sustainability, an inaugural college-wide art exhibit at Colorado Mountain College showcased work that was either created with sustainable materials or with content reflecting the theme of sustainability. How can the UCSC Art and Environmental Studies Departments collaborate on projects like this here?

Southern Oregon U Partners to Reduce Student Mileage
Part of a statewide "Drive Less. Save More." campaign, the university is working with the Oregon Department of Transportation and a district authority to reduce the number of miles driven by university students by providing information to students about the benefits of traveling by foot, bike, skateboard, bus and shared car. The program's goals are to to reduce traffic, increase parking availability on campus, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Wesleyan U Students to Build Living Wall 
The university’s Wild Walls student group recently announced its plans to build a vertical plant wall on campus this semester focusing on redesigning conventional campus landscaping while promoting self-sustaining ecosystems.

Stanford Recycle-Mania Tournament
Students at Stanford University created a parody video of All About the Bass called All About No Waste as part of a nationwide Recycle Mania Tournament. It's catchy and educational about zero waste efforts!

March 2015: Contests & Funding

Contribute your art to Everybody's Ocean: Deadline April 26
Right now, there are 158 pieces of art in the 2nd Floor Solari Gallery. Every piece is about the ocean. They're from all kinds of people around Santa Cruz. And we want more of it. You’re invited to submit work that depicts the ocean or represents whatever it means to you. This exhibition explores our relationship with the sea. There will be a diverse set of work by local artists, regional artists, and you. Email curator[at]santacruzmah[dot]org to have your art in the show. Click here for details about how to submit.

International Film Festival: Deadline May 4
The International Film Festival for Environment, Health and Culture is accepting submissions for films pertaining to environment, health and culture issues. There are five submission categories: international feature film, international short film, documentary feature, documentary short and newcomer. The film festival will be held on May 27.

Call for Applications: Awards in Solar Energy Research: Deadline May 7
The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Postdoctoral Research Awards support EERE's mission in energy efficiency and renewable energy by offering recent Ph.D. recipients the opportunity to conduct applied research at universities. The objective of the awards is to support scientific research in energy efficiency and renewable energy by attracting the best scientists and engineers to pursue breakthrough technologies in a highly prestigious postdoctoral research program. Deadline to apply is May 7.

Biomimicry Global Design Challenge: Deadline August 3
The Biomimicry Institute and the Ray C. Anderson Foundation announced the opening of the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. Students are invited to submit commercially viable, nature-inspired solutions to global food system challenges. All participants get access to the Design Challenge Toolbox and supporting resources, including sessions with mentors and biomimicry professionals. The grand prize, to be awarded in 2016, is $100,000. The deadline for submissions is August 3rd.

Energy Dept $2.5M for Collegiate Clean Energy Tech: Deadline June 7
The newly announced $2.5 million in funding for the Cleantech University Prize (Cleantech UP) aims to support the commercialization of promising technologies for sectors such as solar and wind that reduce carbon pollution and grow the clean energy economy. The Cleantech UP Collegiate Competitions will provide prizes for eight individual university-focused competitions that will equip students with business skills to move clean energy technologies from the discovery phase to the marketplace.

Innovative Approaches to Sustainability at Other Campuses

"Design in Transit": Reimagining VTA and Inspiring Conversations
San Jose State University's Graphic Design students wowed transit professionals at the SubZERO Festival with their reimagined version of VTA's public transit, paratransit and bike share system, which caught the eye of everyone in attendance. The exhibit present five comprehensive brand designs from 17 B.F.A Graphic Design students. From fresh paint jobs to business cards, everything was reimagined. President of the Works/San Jose Board of Directors, Joe Miller asked the students to "rethink public transit in the Silicon Valley, to look at that really broadly, so not necessarily what the current VTA is physically but what all the transit for the area could be." The VTA commends the creativity and hard work of the “Design in Transit” designers: Kendra Biggs, Brandon Boswell, Jordan Brady, Glenn Cardenas, Hoyin Chan, Kayla Clarot, Maya Ealey, Cindy Fu, Stefanie Galvan, Donghoh Han, Jonathan Heath, Michael Mirchandani, Tommy Pham, Rachel Poage, Kelsey Sutherland, Eloisa Tan, and Marya Yama. Congratulations to everyone involved and keep thinking big!

UCSC Alumna Kirsten Williams on re-purposed community art in Detroit

UCSC alumna Kirsten Williams learned to see trash in the street in a whole new way this past fall through an internship with the Heidelberg Project in Detroit, Michigan. Kirsten is a former student employee of the Sustainability Office, and she graduated in 2013 with a degree in Sociology.

Kirsten shared with us how she heard about the Heildelberg Project and how the work she did with the organization relates to sustainability.

She writes, "When I was about six or seven my mother took me to a neighborhood [in Detroit] that was filled with the most outrageously decorated houses. Each house was painted in a bright color and all types of materials were used as adornments. I was fascinated by how something so different existed in a neighborhood that was so plain."

Kirsten later visited Detroit again after graduating from UC Santa Cruz, where her mother passed away only a couple weeks into her visit. She says that after her mother's passing, she was encouraged by her sister to look into the Heidelberg Project, the organization that creates these decorated homes. Kirsten did, and she ended up getting an internship with the organization's Site Development Team. Kirsten writes that the "team works on collecting materials to re-utilize them to create art pieces" and that her job "was to find used, old, and recycled materials that would be used for art installations for various events as well as our site designs."

"Since the city of Detroit is experiencing economic downfall and environmental abuse from neighboring cities such as dumping waste in public parks around the city, my goal was to collect these 'wasted' items and use them to create art pieces that would show the public that city is not infested with trash but beautiful artifacts to be used to create artwork that gets the public questioning the world around us. Why should an old house be destroyed? How can an old tire still have purpose? How can you turn plastic into beauty? The organization seeks not to lengthen the environmental impact but start creating change by reusing what so many leave behind. Sort of like giving purpose back to something everyone thinks is purposeless, including the city of Detroit itself," she describes.

When asked about how her experiences at UCSC have influenced her work, she writes, "UCSC was my enlightenment to the events, happenings, and order of our planet, sustainability being the first! It amazes me how far humankind has disassociated itself from the natural occurrences of this world. Especially when they are so important to our creation but more importantly our livelihood."

Regarding her Sociology degree from UC Santa Cruz, Kirsten writes, "I feel like UCSC is the BEST university to attend for this discipline because it's honestly one of the most forward thinking socially active campuses left in the nation. The major touches on multiple areas of concern and even has several courses dedicated specifically to sustainability and its social impact."

The exposure to environmental issues through Sociology classes helped Kirsten better understand "the seriousness of the issue," and she was able to bring that awareness to her work with the Heidelberg Project.

"My goal is not only to live a life that is more sustainable and environmentally aware of my behavior in a space but to also lead by example and teach others too. I also feel more connected to the planet, like I am taking care of a loved one."

In her work, Kirsten not only was able to care for the planet, but she was also able to "give something back to the community that helped nurture [her] growth."

"The work that the Heidelberg Project does is extremely crucial to the rebirth of the city of Detroit," she says. "I cannot express enough how my city needs love, tender care, and individuals who want to make an effective change. This will all start by focusing on several crucial pillars which will support the city and one being that of sustainable development. It is important to usher in a new generation of people equipped with the knowledge needed to give birth to the city again and in turn lead the world by example. Detroit has done it in the past and I know it will happen again."

Recently Green Certified Payroll Office Writes Song

Congratulations to the Payroll office for their completion of the Green Office Certification Program! They earned a "Sapling" rating for their sustainable practices and created a commitment plan as a guide to help them improve their behavior and become a "Tree."

They also wrote an incredible song about their experiences and overall feelings about sustainability on campus. Check it out!

To the tune of "Yakko's Universe" from The Animaniacs.

Everybody works in a cubie or an office
or a lab on location for what it's worth.
And we all report to a division which is part of a department
that works at a University known as UCSC.

And UCSC is a college full of oceanographers and lit majors
and students silently analyzing data deep in space.
And working at UCSC are the students and employees
striving to insure the living planet is keeping pace.

It's a great big University
and we’ve all heard the call:
Zero Waste by 2020,
“We can do it!” says George Blumenthal.
You might think it won’t mean much
but shut your lights off on the way to lunch.
It's a big University and we’re Green!

Going Green is super easy; it can start with a towel

that you bring from home to dry your cups and hands.

And as you are leaving work, flip off all the lights in sight,

don’t forget about your computers and the monitor screens, too!

Across the entire campus, we’re opening up the blinds

and finding carpool buddies for our daily drives

and there’s a bunch of folks riding bikes up Bay Avenue

in a beautifully Go Green parade!

Take a look around the campus, you will find recycle bins

of blue and green and brown to put your recycling in.

Stop buying bottled water and compost your banana peel!

We can make our goal a little at a time.
‘Cause education starts with action, and we all can do it:

UCSC – full of students, faculty and staff

doing our part to be sure the universe extends to a place that never ends.
Going Green is not a passing trend!

It's a great big University
and we’ve all heard the call:
Zero Waste by 2020,
“We can do it!” says George Blumenthal.
You might think it won’t mean much
but shut your lights off on the way to lunch.
It's a big University and we’re Green!

The Green Office Certification Team has loved working with you Payroll! Thank you for your enthusiasm.

To learn more about the Green Office Certification Team and to have your office green certified next, visit the website.

Earth Day Santa Cruz 2013

Earth Day Santa Cruz 2013 is an exciting community event offering educational information, activities for kids including an arts and crafts tent, live music and a focus on green businesses. Come and enjoy this fun environmental celebration for the whole family!

The City of Santa Cruz, the County of Santa Cruz, Ecology Action, Save Our Shores, the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz, local non-profits, and concerned citizens are working together to make Earth Day 2013 the premier environmental event for the greater Santa Cruz community.

Event Highlights:

• Electric Vehicle Showcase
• Recycled Fashion Show
• Arts and Crafts Booth
• Kid Zone Gymnastics for Kids
• Free Valet Bike Parking Provided by People Power
• Live Music
• Green Vendor and Environmental Information Booths

Live Music:

Coffe Zombie Collective

SambaDa

For more information on this event visit: www.ecocruz.org

December 2012: Classes, Training, & Community

Waste Prevention & Water Blueprint Breakout: January 23

The Student Environmental Center (SEC) is hosting its fourth Blueprint Breakout of the year on January 23rd, from 5:30 to 8:30 PM in the College Eight Red Room. The topics of this breakout will be Waste Prevention and Water. Come contribute your ideas for how to make the UCSC community more sustainable so they can be included in this year's Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus. There will be a free catered dinner provided for all participants. Please contact Katie Lippus with questions.

Sustainability Community Hikes On-Campus - All Are Welcome!

Join fellow UCSC Sustainability Community members for hikes into upper campus, led by Melissa Ott and Brenden Fant, two student sustainability leaders at UCSC. These hikes present opportunities to relax and get to know one another in an informal, inter-organizational setting. The goal is to have fun, build relationships and friendships, and explore our campus's natural reserves in an unstructured way. Skills sharing and participant-led activities during the hike are encouraged! Please email Melissa Ott to join the email list, or join the Facebook group here.

ART 124 Material Metaphors: Creating Meaning in Form (The Earth as Metaphor)

This winter quarter course will explore the roles that metaphor and story-telling play in the process of creating environmental art.  Students will study examples of art works by ecologically engaged artists as well as scientists and activists, informing students' practice around our own the environmentally focused works.  Learn more about the program here.

Environmental Leadership Program Fellowship Application Deadline February 1

The Environmental Leadership Program is accepting applications for its 2013 Fellowship Program. The program brings together environmental and social change leaders from academia, business, government and the non-profit sector. It offers intensive leadership training and regional networking opportunities. The application deadline is February 1, 2013.

Permaculture Design Certificate Course and Leadership Training - February 16-24

Go beyond sustainability towards a truly regenerative culture! The Regenerative Leadership Institute's experiential permaculture design certification course is your path towards a career in regenerative permaculture design and a truly thriving life, deeply rooted in the patterns of nature and a larger vision of regenerative community and regenerative culture. This intensive retreat lasts from February 16-24. Apply on the website today!

Ithaca College Online Sustainability Leadership Certificate

The program offers the chance to credential sustainability work through single seminars or a six-seminar sustainability leadership certificate. All work is completed online. Participants will learn to assess the sustainability of their organization's policies and practices, communicate sustainability initiatives and evaluate best practices. New online seminars begin 11 times each year, and the next session start date is January 24. Upcoming seminars include "Tools and Techniques for Planning and Managing Sustainability Projects" and "A Systems Approach to Sustainability."

Heard about other sustainability related classes, trainings, or community opportunities around Santa Cruz or the campus? Post in the comments!

ART 124 - Material Metaphors: Creating Meaning in Form (The Earth as Metaphor)

"The Hidden Life Within" - Giuseppe Penone

(Photo from My Modern Met)

Winter Quarter

MWF 3:30-6:00PM

Room H101 - Baskin Visual Arts

Instructed by E. Stephens

This course will explore the roles that metaphor and story-telling play in the process of creating environmental art.  Students will study examples of art works by ecologically engaged artists as well as scientists and activists, informing students' practice around their own the environmentally focused works.  

Works can be created collaboratively or they can be produced individually.  The work produced in this course will engage metaphors and/or issues of ecology/environmentalism and/or the Earth in some way.  

The course aims to give students an understanding of the who, what, where, how and why of environmental art.

Visiting artists and presenters will help to lend multiple perspectives to the concept of environmental art:

• Zeph Fish: Member of the Beehive Design Collective Work
• Helen & Newton Harrison: DANM Environmental Artists
• Jeffrey Bury: UCSC Environmental Studies Professor
• Nita Little: Dancer and Scholar
• Duskin Drum: Visual Artist and Activist
• John Zibel: Performance Artist and Actor

Interested in learning more? Email the instructor or check out the enrollment page.  

Beyond the Gallery Environmental Art Project

UCSC Students, Sesnon Gallery partners with City of Santa Cruz for pop-up art projects

University of California Santa Cruz students are breaking out of the traditional “white cube” art gallery and seeking empty storefronts on Pacific Avenue to showcase their work. These students are participants in an experimental two credit studio class, “Beyond the Gallery: Artists as Collaborative Agents for Community Change.” Thanks to a generous grant from the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA), Shelby Graham, curator of the Sesnon Art Gallery at Porter College, has helped over a dozen students learn exhibition techniques while exploring their role as artists and activists. The City of Santa Cruz also contributed funds.

The projects range from a free photo booth at the downtown Farmer’s Market, to bottles filled with symbols of memories of Santa Cruz, to a constructed redwood “forest” outside in the Abbott Square Courtyard. Artwork will be shown at the Museum of Art and History, the Rittenhouse Building windows, and other venues. The public is invited to join the students on Friday June 1, during First Friday Art tour and encounter these exciting, participatory installations.

Empty storefronts and reduced arts funding are common in the current economy. Yet art can help revive communities and urban spaces. Public spaces provide an opportunity for artists to reach audiences who would not visit a traditional gallery, or to build large installations impossible in smaller venues. In the spirit of community change, some of the students have collaborated with environmental studies students or created projects with environmental and social justice messages. For instance, “Nature BeWILDered,” by Sam Moll (the College 8 CUIP intern who helped facilitate UCSC Earth Day 2012) and Gabi Kirk (FoSO Events Coordinator for the Sustainability Office), encourages patrons to blur the lines between civilization and wilderness through a constructed redwood forest and interactive writing pieces, installed at the Museum of Art and History.

Aside from this course, the Sesnon Gallery operates a museum-oriented program for educational purposes. The gallery organizes an annual schedule of exhibitions that represents a broad range of methods, media and cultures, in a local, regional, and national context, with a focus on contemporary practice. The Sesnon Gallery works to integrate a broad range of methods, media, and cultures into the lives of a broader community. The “Beyond the Gallery” students are: Jen Brown, Leia Delabahan, Vivian Fu, Kristen Gautier-Downes, Chelsea Gutierrez, Elizabeth Hibbard, Gabi Kirk, Grace Kistler-Fair, Fred Liang, Miguel Libarnes, Charlotte Marriott, Sam Moll, Zachary Livingston, Dawson Timpany, and Dmitri Zurita. For more information on “Beyond the Gallery”, including a list of installations and venues, please visit their website.

IDEASS Student Perspective: Porter Greenovation Project

By Nisa Taylor, IDEASS Intern

The IDEASS (Impact Designs: Engineering and Sustainability through Student Service) course has given many students, like my IDEASS project partner Sarah and me, the opportunity to pursue hands-on projects that promote sustainability through outreach and green energy retrofits.

Our project, the Porter Greenovation Project, has worked on retrofitting the Porter Study Center to make it more sustainable. We have performed energy efficiency measures and analysis, and we used this information to receive a grant from the Carbon Fund to retrofit the Porter Study Center to increase its efficiency and save money. With the help of the Carbon Fund Grant, we were able to install a new energy efficient lighting system that uses maximizes the use of natural light. It incorporates pull-down blinds, occupancy sensors to sense when people are in the room, and light dimmers.

To demonstrate to students how sustainable the study center can be when we use it with energy in mind, we plan to install lighting system information and waste diversion signage in collaboration with the UCSC's Zero Waste by 2020 campaign. Next year's annual Porter Fall Student Mural will be painted in the Porter Study Center with a sustainability theme to remind students about their healthy study space! Email Nisa if you want to learn more about getting involved with the project!

Please click here to find out more about IDEASS and apply today--the application deadline is June 20.

June 2012: Contests, Funding & Journal Submissions

Sustainability Office Simply Committed Photo Challenge
The Simply Committed Photo Challenge is up and running on our Facebook page! Many of you have already made a pledge on our page to change one habit in your lives to become more sustainable either at Earth Summit or Earth Day. Some examples of pledges that were made by students were to bring reusable bags to the store, buy local, ride a bike and walk more often instead of driving or taking the bus, and to eat more organic food. Those of you that have not already made a pledge--it is not too late! Post your pledge right now! The photo challenge involves taking a funny picture engaging in the sustainable commitment that you made. The more ridiculous and comical the better! The challenge will last till June 8 and the winner will be randomly chosen and announced on June 9! The winner will receive a $30 gift card to the Bay Tree Bookstore. You can post your pictures right onto the UCSC Sustainability Office page, or if you do not use Facebook and want to participate, you can email them to the Sustainability Office! The contest is open to all UCSC students, staff, and faculty. Good luck and have fun!

Gaia Magazine Seeking New Team Members

Gaia Magazine is seeking people interested in layout, writing, editing, and sustainability to join the team for next year (leadership positions available!).  Please contact the Gaia Team, or check out the website for more information--no previous experience required!  Be sure to pick up your copy of the 2012 issue, found in libraries, cafes, housing offices, mailrooms, and other locations on campus.




Stevenson Garden Art Display Seeking Artists
Are you an artist who would like to display your work in a garden? Have friends who might be interested? The Stevenson Garden is now accepting submissions for artwork to display in the garden! Email Elisha Kim with your ideas and if you need supplies!

Fulbright NEXUS Regional Scholar Program - Deadline June 15
The 2012-2013 Fulbright NEXUS Program, a model for scholarly exchange and science informing policy, is currently seeking applications from early or mid-career academics, applied researchers and/or professionals with research experience in the public, nonprofit or private sector in the topics of science, technology and innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable energy. Applicants must be conducting current research relevant to these themes. Projects focusing on climate change adaptation strategies, and/or public policy focused research ventures that examine strategies to cope with climate variability are particularly welcome. The deadline to apply is June 15.

Smart Growth Network Call for Papers: Community Design - Deadline June 30
The higher education community is invited to join the Smart Growth Network's (SGN) first national conversation about how neighborhoods could be planned, designed and developed to meet the needs of current and future generations. In an effort to build a compendium of new and innovative ideas, SGN is seeking short papers that discuss a particular issue that communities will be facing in the next 15 years. Twenty to 40 papers will be selected for publishing in anticipation of the 2013 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference. The published papers will be considered for inclusion in the open and/or closing plenaries of the conference. Papers will be accepted through June 30, 2012.

Accepting Applications: AASHE 2012 Awards Program - Deadline July 2
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.

Call for Papers: Mathematics of Planet Earth Special Issue - Deadline December 20
Submissions are sought for the November 2013 issue of the College Mathematics Journal, which will be devoted to the "Mathematics of Planet Earth." Papers that address the mathematical aspects of climate, meteorology, ecology, epidemiology, resource management and biodiversity are encouraged. Areas of human interaction with the earth are also of interest including economics, finance, politics, communication, sustainable development and disaster management. Classroom capsules and student research projects are welcome. Authors are encouraged to write the editor,  describing their proposed paper first, and submissions will be accepted through December 20, 2012.