Simply Committed Photo Challenge: Deadline June 8

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 until 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!

Here are some examples of photos submitted already:

"I pledge to be more 'weary' of what I eat, considering environmental impact and virtual water of the food...no matter how GREEN the food is. Virtual Water, also called hidden water, is the water that goes into production of a product, such as the water for the plants necessary for production. For more info check out here. Also, seeking more local food decreases the transportation needed for the food, thus decreasing the energy footprint of the food product!" -- Abbas, Green Campus Team Manager

"I pledge to spend more time outdoors in the glorious sunshine to remind myself of what it is I'm working to preserve and protect!" -- Melissa, Internship Coordinator Assistant in the Sustainability Office

What are you waiting for? Choose a pledge, take a photo, and post it. Simply Commit to sustainability and you could win!

Fight Climate Change with a Thought

Article by Tan Ha, Climate Action CUIP

I struggle with the idea of greenhouse gas emissions. It is not like I do not understand how much damage it causes to the environment. As the UCSC Sustainability Office’s Climate Action Intern, I can tell you about state-wide reduction goals and exactly how many metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) emissions our campus needs to reduce. However, what does it really mean when I tell you that we are trying to reduce 27,000 MTCO2e by year 2020?

I reflect on this as I calculate emission factors for the next Climate Action Plan. I realize that fighting against the trends of global warming will take more than measuring GHG inventories or drafting plans for administers and planners alike. But official planning documents do not inspire the larger demographic such as students and community members to live a carbon neutral lifestyle.

Even with prior knowledge of the lofty goal of reducing 27,000 MTCO2e, I need to remind myself that it is equivalent to stopping 3 million gallons of gasoline from burning annually after 2020. I imagine the scorching gasoline near where I live. I smell the viscous fumes robbing the fresh air released from the vibrant Santa Cruz trees. Then I remember that I am privileged to not see this in front of me. I recognize that this “fire” caused by the UCSC community is unbounded and threatens the global environment. However, developing countries are in the heat of the fire. They are at greater risk as they have fewer resources to protect themselves from these increased “natural disasters.” Every person, institution, region, nation, and global entity is a stakeholder of the problems and solutions associated with climate change. I want to take this opportunity not to ramble about how bad it is but invite my readers to look into this problem as an opportunity. It is our chance as young, curious individuals to ask how my lifestyle can affect the world. I like to entertain the idea that although the problem may be beyond one person’s work, it should be within the means of our collective effort. So let us take baby steps in our life. Before we know it, we may easily put out a fire of 3 million gallons of gasoline. It is our ambition, concerns, and belief systems that drive us to consciously shape the world so that future generations can know how passionately we fought for life on earth. What does it mean to turn off the lights, ride your bike, or shop locally? I don’t fully understand but I challenge you to find this answer with me.

Image courtesy of  scotthaefner.com

Early Educational Services: Teaching Eco-Responsibility to the Next Generation

Article by Grace Sorenson, Campus Sustainability Intern

From 11-month-old infants to pre-teens, the children in the Early Educational Services program at UC Santa Cruz are instilled with environmentally-conscious behaviors from day one.

“We are caretakers, but we are also preparing them to be responsible adults, and that includes behaviors such as recycling and composting,” says Sohyla Fathi, Director of Early Educational Services.

All food served at EES is prepared on campus. The menu is minimally processed and simple, and is organic or from the garden when possible. The kids eat together with their instructors, and green dishes for compost are located at each table. Reusable silverware and dishes are used at every meal. Each placemat at the tables is a laminated graphic delineating the basic food groups—grains, vegetables, fruits, protein, and dairy.

In the classroom where the youngest bracket of children are cared for, boys and girls between 11 months and 2 years old sit around a table with an instructor joyfully eating fruits and vegetables and cheese. A dish for compostable food scraps is on each table, and though they’re a bit too young to separate dairy products and vegetable matter, it seems that it’s never too early to start modeling the composting process. An instructor enthusiastically shows me a nearby poster with photographs of their regular field trip to the adjacent College Eight garden, where they empty their buckets into the garden’s compost.

In the sprawling outdoor play area there is a garden, and a nearby workstation with dwarf-sized gardening tools and a long line of miniature watering cans. There are tomato plants, parsley, cilantro, peas, basil, oregano, and mint. Sohlya explains that the kids plant the garden together and are each designated a specific plant that becomes their responsibility to care for and water. “That one’s mine!” a small blonde girl yells proudly, pointing emphatically at an oregano plant. When certain herbs or vegetables are used for a meal, the children harvest what is needed and bring it to the cook.

Clearly labeled, multi-lingual recycling stations are stationed in each classroom. Skylights illuminate most of the rooms with natural light, and containers and toys are made of wood and other natural materials instead of plastic. The lush forest surrounding the entire facility seems to serve as daily reminder to the kids of what the “environment” is and why it’s worth preserving. The values and habits imprinted upon us when we are young often last our entire lives, and it is an environment like this that will help foster a more responsible, ecologically-aware generation of young adults.

June 2012 Sustainability Profile: Stevenson RA Class & Sustainability in the Dorms

Article by Melissa Ott

If you ever lived in a college dorm, was sustainability a topic your residential advisor often brought up? Most likely not, unless you lived in a sustainability themed house or had a particularly environmentally minded RA. Fortunately, this is changing here at UCSC, and has been in the process of changing for some time. Already, there are signs in most dorm bathrooms reminding residents to turn off the sink when brushing their teeth or to take shorter showers. Stickers are great, but what about the conversations that need to go along with them? RAs present the ideal candidate for starting those conversations in the dorm communities to create lasting change in students' consciousness and behavior regarding sustainable issues.

We spoke with Stevenson RA Sarah Cohen earlier this quarter about the RA class that she’s teaching with two other RAs; one of the topics of the course is sustainability, and we were interested in learning more about the role sustainability is playing in RA training and dorm life. All students who will be RAs in Stevenson College next year are in this class, which discusses other topics such as health and wellness, diversity and social justice, leadership, and which works to create a bond among this team of leaders in the Stevenson community.

Sustainability is part of the curriculum for the course for a couple of reasons. One of the Stevenson dorm buildings, Casa Segunda (discussed in May’s profile, as well), is a sustainability themed dorm, so it makes sense to discuss what sustainability means among those who will be living in this house and interacting with those living in this house. The House 2 lounge is filled with magazines and other resources related to living a more sustainable lifestyle, and the RAs in this house this year are active members of Path to a Greener Stevenson (PTAGS), an environmental group that meets in this house’s lounge on Thursdays from 8-9 PM. While students with a particular inclination toward sustainability can choose to live in this house, it’s important that students in all of the dorms be exposed to the issues, practices, and reasons surrounding sustainability. Not to mention it is great to have these conversations going on in classes in which leaders are learning how to lead by example and talk with residents about important life topics.

“Students form habits early in college,” Cohen remarked. She said that it’s important to talk about sustainable habits with the RAs who will be there with incoming freshman at the beginning of their college career and who can help influence good decision-making. A student’s first year can be defining in what kinds of habits follow them throughout their lives. For many, it’s the first time they’re independent from their families and making decisions without their parents checking on them.

If you haven't seen The Story of Stuff, take 20 minutes and watch it right now (or at least send yourself a reminder to watch it after work or class). This short film was the homework assignment due the day that the RA class talked about sustainable topics. It’s a “a 20-minute animation” that focuses on “the consumerist society" and “the way we make, use and throw away Stuff” (1). Cohen said the discussion went well that day in class when these issues were brought up and that it was exciting to talk about these issues with RAs who will be able to continue these conversations with their residents next year. During the class, they spent some time "thinking about where all of the stuff in a freshman dorm would come from and how to help students think about those things during move in and move out," she described.

These conversations generated tangible ways for RAs to encourage sustainable behavior in their houses next year. Some examples were reminding residents to turn off lights, creating a box in the lounge to hold old fliers to be used as scratch paper, and posting reminders in the bathrooms about reducing water use.

The class also did an activity during which students became more aware of their own environmental impact and resource use in their everyday routines. "You wake up and use your alarm, which uses electricity," Cohen gave as an example. "You take a shower, which uses water and energy to warm the water... In the dining hall, where does that food come from? Your daily routine impacts the world around you."


What are some ways that students in the dorms can be more conscious of their impact and take steps to reduce it? Post your ideas in the comments!

Sarah Cohen previously worked with the Sustainability Office’s Green Office Certification program, and she is currently working on The Sustainability Awareness Promotional Video about campus sustainability to share with incoming freshman and the UCSC campus. She is a third year studying Global Information and Social Enterprise Studies (GISES), an Intensive BA Degree in Sociology.

--

Bibliography
1. The Story of Stuff website.

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.

Surf’s Up for UCSC’s Used Styrofoam

Student Perspective Piece
Written by Elo Lin, Zero Waste Team Member

There are many nightmarish materials out there for the conscientious recycler, but Expanded Poly Styerene (EPS), also known as the number 6 plastic, might own a top spot. It’s also known as Styrofoam, and this ubiquitous material has the unique chemistry property of being a great insulation product. But because Styrofoam releases toxins when it breaks down, it doesn’t biodegrade, and it’s difficult to recycle, it is always best to avoid usage whenever possible. Unfortunately, because of its unique insulation property, Styrofoam coolers are an essential product for laboratories, like the ones on our campus, because the material keeps their specimens and reagents at a constant cool temperature.

Reaching our campus’ goal of Zero Waste by 2020 requires that we nurture the second R of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle mantra by reusing products whenever possible. So how does that fit into the necessary styrofoam issue? Students from the Zero Waste team, along with Environmental Health & Safety, found that Sigma Aldrich and New England Biolabs have take-back programs for their styrofoam, meaning that we can send back the Styrofoam coolers after use and they will be repackaged and re-used. But what about all the other hundreds of Styrofoam packaging used on our campus that cannot be sent back to their original vendor?

The answer to this issue warrants a hearty and sustainable “Surf’s up!” Currently, UCSC is working with Sustainable Surf, a non-profit NGO that is helping the surf industry and the surfing community move toward sustainability. UCSC was able to get in contact with a new program within Sustainable Surf called  Waste to Waves, which collects used and unwanted Styrofoam, compacts it, and then ships it to be recycled by a surfboard blank partner facility, Marko Foam.

 A few successful collection days have taken place this year, but at the present time, Sustainable Surf is working through some permitting issues with the City of Santa Cruz to be able to use a central location in Santa Cruz to collect and compact a much greater volume of collected EPS foam from the wider Santa Cruz area. We will keep our newsletter and blog posted with details about the next collection day. Despite this temporary roadblock to converting our used styrofoam to surfboards, the program and this collaboration is a fantastic and fun adventure into news ways of solving issues of waste and sustainability. Hang Loose, Banana Slugs!