April 2014: Classes, Training, & Community

World Cafe: Changing UCSC's Water Inputs & Outputs
Concerned about water consumption? Interested in collective action? Take Back the Tap invites you to a World Cafe conversation about the next steps in changing UCSC's water inputs and outputs. Please join us Monday, April 7th from 5-7 PM in the Kresge Seminar Room. Pu-erh tea and meaningful discussion will be provided!

Practicing Agroecology and Social Awareness - 2 unit internship
Wouldn't you love to spend this spring quarter outside of the classroom? CAN is hosting a 2-unit internship again through the Environmental Studies Department called Cultivating a Daily Revolution. The internship is for up to 10 students and includes a weekly interactive lecture series and service learning project. Participants will have the opportunity to network with various community partners, meet new people, share weekly meals, and experience hands on projects in agroecology, indigenous knowledge, community activism, and sustainable living. To sign-up send an email to focan [at] canunite [dot] org and visit the ENVS Internship Website to find out more information about how to get credit. Deadline to sign up for Spring Quarter is April 16th.  Or if you cannot commit, anyone is welcome to attend the class.

April 2014 Sustainability Profile: Financial Affairs Green Team

Each month, our newsletter features a person or group on campus that is working toward a more sustainable world. This month features the Financial Affairs Green Team, who hosted "A Year in Waste" this past year in order to encourage use of sustainable practices in their office.

We asked the Financial Affairs Green Team about the Year in Waste and their strategies for spearheading sustainable practices in departments.

Financial Affairs is deeply entrenched in sustainability and hosting a year in waste. Tell us a little about what the "Year In Waste" is and how financial affairs has worked to green their business practices:

In response to the Chancellor’s Sustainability Challenge and to support the university’s goal to be zero waste by the year 2020, the Financial Affairs Green Team kicked off this effort by presenting "A Year in Waste". The Green Team hosted a fall "Year in Waste" event as a creative and fun way to build awareness of waste generated by Financial Affairs activities and to encourage more sustainable and ecologically-friendly practices. This event included a humorous skit by the Financial Affairs Actors Pool, a raffle of donated "green items", food, a debut of the Dimeo Lane Video - sharing what was learned from visiting the Dimeo Lane Landfill about trash management and sustainability, and an inspirational talk and call to action by Director of Sustainability, Lacey Raak.

Financial Affairs was also a collaborator on a four week pilot waste stream project including Waste and Recycling, Grounds Services, Custodial, and 2300 Delaware Facilities Managements. During this pilot, a baseline measurement of waste was collected and will be used to compare against future waste measurements. Through education, conservation and increased composting, our goal this year is to divert at least 10% of our waste from going to the Dimeo Lane Landfill. With the help of a carbon fund grant, a second worm bin has been installed and is in use.

Another event featured as part of our "Year in Waste" was a Bring your Hand Towel to Work Week. Eighty-two percent of Financial Affairs employees pledged to stop using paper towels for at least a week. In addition, employees took the Chancellor’s Challenge with a prize given to units with the highest participation levels. This was a wonderful opportunity to educate and engage people in discussions about campus sustainability and living a greener lifestyle - encouraging us all to be mindful of the amount of waste we generate. To that end, educational events related to a waste reduction theme have been scheduled for the year: Worm Composting with David Shaw, Preparing Green Lunches by Culinary Educator Talya Lutzker, and an E-waste Recycling Presentation by Hannah Hodgson.

All eight units of financial affairs have undergone green office certification.

There are so many other departments and units on campus-- what is one strategy that you would suggest to those that are interested in spearheading sustainability efforts and greening their business practices?
Critical to the success of the Financial Affairs Green Team has been the level of commitment, engagement and support for sustainability from Financial Affairs Management and The Chancellor. The creation of a Mission Statement helped to clarify our focus and work more effectively towards reaching our goals. The "Green Team" used project plans to share goals and objectives with actionable steps for management approval prior to execution.

The creation of a clear vision and mission along with a commitment to educate others is a great starting place for any department interested in enacting change and greening their practices. Clear communication is key – providing all participants with opportunities for discussion, education and engagement. It is important to have "stakeholders" rather than passive observers to truly effect change.

$2 million Donation to UCSC Natural History Fieldwork

Many a times one can forget the beauty of simply walking outside your doorstep and instantly being immersed by lush green forest and mesmerizing wildlife. Kenneth S. Norris worked hard to ensure that we never forget this. Professor Norris founded the Natural History Field Quarter in 1973. The Field Quarter gives students a more hands on experience with the rich environment we are surrounded by.

A $2-million gift from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation will carry on the legacy of the late Kenneth S. Norris and continue to support The University of California, Santa Cruz as a leader in the field of Natural History. The gift provides funding for two endowments. The first endowment will staff the UC Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Collections, which is to be renamed the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History and the second will support the Natural History Field Quarter which Professor Norris originally founded over 40 years ago. The gift will also provide competitive grants for accomplished undergraduates in the field. 

For more information, check out this article!

Brain, Mind, Consciousness, and Sustainability

By Eli Willis

Every year, all the sustainability organizations on campus gather at the inter-org retreat to connect the work we are all doing and plant seeds for future collaboration. This year, I attended inter-org for the first time, with a group that stood out as a little different from the rest. The Brain Mind & Consciousness Society doesn’t seem to fit quite into the category of sustainability org, and yet sustainability is an integral theme in everything we do.

BMC Representatives at Inter-Org

The Brain, Mind & Consciousness Society (BMC) is an interdisciplinary student organization committed to the exploration of human cognition, behavior & experience and their applications toward a just and sustainable future. We hold weekly events involving student presentations and discussions, sponsor a student-directed seminar, and host an annual conference.

Students involved in BMC come from a diverse range of academic background but share common interests. Because we are not compartmentalized as a sustainability organization, students of all majors learn about and get involved with sustainability.

This quarter, I co-facilitated the BMC student directed seminar with Tanner Person and Kelly Detro. As the course covered a broad range of topics from neuroscience, psychology, and technology, the themes of sustainability and our relationship with nature kept coming up. We considered the tension between technology and nature, the effects of disconnection from nature on our culture and mental health, and how domination of nature is connected to other forms of oppression. Though most students were not ecology or environmental studies majors, everyone had something to say about the way we treat the Earth and how we can transform our society for real sustainability.

Sustainability has also been the key theme for our conferences. Last year, for the first BMC conference, the theme was “Achieving Human Sustainability,” which entailed not only environmental consciousness, but workshops and speakers on community resilience, human health, study of happiness, and science of mind. This year’s conference, entitled GRoW: Global Roots of Wellness, asks the question “how does our personal health relate to that of our community and society as a whole?” We hope to investigate how other living systems thrive in order to improve on our own, drawing on our ability to learn from nature to create sustainable living systems.

The thread running through all our studies of brain, mind, and consciousness is that everything is included in nature. Seeing ourselves as part of nature is imperative to remaking our society to live harmoniously with natural systems. Ultimately, BMC’s work is about seeing the interconnections between all things: between all different fields of study, between the body and mind, and between ourselves, nature, and the world we want to live in.

UCSC Green Labs' Collaboration with the Kimberly-Clark Nitrile Glove Recycling Program (“RightCycle”)

In the Fall 2013 Waste Assessment of Laboratories, it was found that nitrile gloves make up a majority of laboratory waste destined for the landfill. To divert such a large waste stream, UCSC Green Labs has collaborated with the Kimberly-Clark Nitrile Glove Recycling Program (“RightCycle”) to promote laboratory sustainability and expand a national effort that has so far diverted 70,000 pounds of waste from landfills.

Kimberly-Clark’s RightCycle is the first large-scale effort for previously hard-to-recycle and commonly used items like laboratory nitrile gloves. The way the program works is that gloves previously thrown in the trash can now be placed in RightCycle collection bins, full bins are then shipped and processed at a recycling partner, and the resulting materials can be integrated into new eco-friendly products like park benches or Frisbees.

UCSC Green Labs officially began its Kimberly-Clark Nitrile Glove Recycling Program in late February. Collection bins are now located across eight laboratory facilities both on and off campus. Green Labs hopes laboratories will participate in recycling their current stock of Kimberly-Clark Nitrile gloves or begin purchasing the more sustainable Kimberly-Clark Nitrile brand as the program continues. Laboratories can be an important part in reaching our Zero Waste by 2020 goal.

If you would like to learn more about the UCSC RightCycle Program, visit our website.

Student Sustainability Advisors Hiring for 2014-15

Do you plan to live in University housing next year and want to become a leader in your community? Apply to become a Student Sustainability Adviser (SSA) by March 21 (applications accepted until position filled). The SSA’s primary role is to raise awareness and offer educational opportunities within their communities about the many ways campus residents can positively affect and contribute to UCSC’s sustainability goals. The position requires 15 hours per week and receives a quarterly stipend of $1,500. You will be required to move in early for training and assist with move out waste diversion at the end of Finals in June. Apply on the Employee Request system with the position # 7056.

New Zipcars on campus

The campus Zipcar fleet is expanding to ten vehicles, and now includes two cars located in the Crown/Merrill Apartments parking lot nearest the Fire House (Lot 154). UCSC Zipcar members are also eligible to use Zipcars located in the City of Santa Cruz and at these other campus locations:

• Colleges 9 and 10 (two cars)
• Upper College 8 (two cars)
• Heller/McLaughlin intersection (two cars)
• OPERS (two cars)

UCSC students, staff, and faculty interested in becoming members can take advantage of Zipcar's latest promotion: join Zipcar at www.zipcar.com/ucsc for only $25, and receive a $45 driving credit when you enter the promo code B2S2013.

For more information contact Teresa Buika at tabuika [at] ucsc [dot] edu at Transportation and Parking Services (831/502-7941).

Teresa Buika, Senior Transportation Planner, and Larry Pageler, Director of TAPS, with one of the campus's Zipcars. (Photo source)