The Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Waste Reduction & Recycling program is teaming up with Bargain Barn to provide a unique week-long opportunity, starting March 12! Dispose of campus office supply items for free, and help UC Davis during RecycleMania.

RecycleMania is an annual, national competition among college and university campuses to reduce waste going to landfills.

Office supplies such as working adding machines, staplers, stacking trays and folders can be dropped off at the Bargain Barn.

WHEN: March 12-16, 3:00-4:00 PM daily

WHERE: Bargain Barn, on LaRue Rd (between Garrod Dr and Putah Creek Lodge Dr)

Contact Bargain Barn at (530) 752-2145 with any questions about which office supply items you can recycle.

Today’s blog post comes from guest writer James Boushka, Marketing Director for UC Davis Dining Services:

Under the Go Green Grants program, UC Davis affiliated students, staff, faculty, and departments are eligible to apply for funding to research, develop, design, and implement solutions to campus sustainability challenges.

UC Davis Dining Services is offering a total of $3,000 to fund innovative projects fostering a more sustainable campus. The second funding cycle calls for applications to be submitted by April 25, 2012.

The Go Green Grant Fund is generated by sales from the voluntary meal plan program, known as Join the Club. Join the Club meal plans offer non-residents with a selection of block meals for use in any of the dining commons.

“This is the first year we [Dining Services] are providing a means for the campus community to implement a sustainably-themed project that educates or works towards fostering a more sustainable campus,” said Brenan Connolly, General Manager of Resident Dining. During the first funding cycle in fall 2011, the Go Green Grant Fund provided funds to Aggie ReStore, Wild Campus, Environmental and Sustainable Living Program, and the Salad Bowl.

“UC Davis Dining Services recognizes the value in student engagement and education related to environmental and food sustainability through projects and student-organized activities,” states James Boushka, Marketing Director for Dining Services. The Go Green competition is open to all undergraduate students, graduate students, professional students, faculty, and staff at UC Davis in all departments and disciplines.

Campus community members should check out the Go Green Grant Fund request for applications and grant guidelines at http://dining.ucdavis.edu/sus-green.html. The applications are due April 25th, 2012.

All questions can be directed to the Go Green Grant Fund Office at dininggogreen@ucdavis.edu.

Call for Proposals
California Higher Education Sustainability Conference
Hosted by UC Davis
June 18th-22nd, 2012
Submissions Due: January 20th, 2012
http://cahigheredusustainability.org/program/callforproposals/

The California Higher Education Sustainability Conference (CHESC) highlights cutting-edge case studies as well as research, curriculum development, and community partnerships. This unique event is jointly organized by independent/private colleges, California Community Colleges, California State Universities, and the University of California creating the opportunity for dialogue across institutions.

The CHESC seeks speakers who have crossed silos within their institutions to create sustainable change, infuse concepts of sustainability into curriculum, and/or to pursue research questions related to sustainability (especially where the research has or could be applied to campus sustainability). We are especially excited about proposals where a connection has been made across academic and operational departments. In the words of Fritjof Capra:

“The more we study the major problems of our time, the more we come to realize that they cannot be viewed in isolation. They are systemic problems, which means that they are interconnected and interdependent.”

Campus staff, faculty, students, and administrators are encouraged to submit proposals on case studies, pilot programs, and replicable best practices. We are equally interested in projects where a key lesson was learned and projects that were successful in the traditional sense.

This year potential speakers will be asked to submit proposals that highlight or create a link between at least two of our core topic areas (click the titles below for more information on each):

a. Climate Action Planning
b. Curriculum
c. Energy
d. Food Systems
e. Green Building
f. Healthcare
g. Institutionalizing Sustainability
h. Local (Regional Case Studies)
i. Procurement and Business Services
j. Research
l. Social Equity
m. Student Affairs and Auxiliaries
n. Transportation
o. Waste Reduction and Recycling
p. Water and Landscape

During this call for proposals process, we will also be accepting proposals for:

Poster Show
Throughout the conference, we will highlight posters that describe research, creative activities, and best practices related to sustainability. This is an opportunity for students, faculty, campus staff, and administrators to present and communicate their work from the past academic year to a diverse audience.

Student Convergence
The convergence is a post-conference, half-day workshop on Thursday, June 21st, 2012. It will highlight new student campaigns, upcoming projects, and skill sharing workshops. Students will also have a chance to network with other student leaders from California Community Colleges, California State University, University of California, and Private campuses throughout the state collectively as well as with students from their own systems. The convergence is free, and students can attend it without attending the main conference.

For more information, please visit our Call for Proposals website.

Please share this announcement with your colleagues and contact Katie Maynard, Event Manager, if you have any questions: 805-448-5111; kmaynard@geog.ucsb.edu.

Guest poster Michelle Borba, Bargain Barn Coordinator, writes below about the October 19 free e-waste disposal event:

You’ve been waiting patiently, controlling the anticipation…but it’s finally back by popular demand..(insert drum roll here)… it’s the free e-waste disposal event for UC Davis departments! All those desktop electronic items you’ve been gleaning out of pine trees and abandoned storage units can now be out of your life for good.

When: Wednesday October 19 from 12:00-4:00 PM. No early birds please!
Where: Please note that the location has changed to Hopkins Services Complex, 615 Hopkins Rd (across from the University airport)
Items accepted: University-owned, non-functioning desktop (or smaller) electronic items

NOT ACCEPTED: Items with UCD property stickers, items requiring decommissioning (containing oil or refrigerant), toners and household batteries will not be accepted. 

We look forward to seeing you there! Please contact the Bargain Barn with any questions at 752-2145.

Guest blogger Manny Rin, a 4th year student majoring in environmental policy and planning, writes below about the Energy Service Corps:

This year CALPIRG, the Public Interest Research Group here on campus, is once again running Energy Service Corps!

About Energy Service Corps

Energy Service Corps, a joint project of the California Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and AmeriCorps, works with local communities to save energy, save the environment and save money.

Energy Service Corps educates and serves local communities by educating kids and college students about the benefits of energy efficiency; surveying energy use in apartments and homes and recommending ways to cut down energy bills and save the environment; and organizing big community service projects to put these savings into action – sealing cracks in windows and doors, swapping out old lightbulbs for CFLs and other upgrades in homes, shelters and community buildings.

Our Accomplishments Last Year

• Educated 5,300 schoolchildren K-12 and college students about energy efficiency through fun and interactive lessons
• Completed 1,758 assessments where we pointed out major energy wasters and provided recommendations to homeowners and tenants
• Organized 50 volunteers to participate in an Alternative Energy Spring Break where students traveled to 5 cities across the state to upgrade community buildings and conduct energy assessments for local residents

This year in the city of Davis, UC Davis Energy Service Corps aims to do 400 home energy assessments, weatherize 40 homes, and educate 3,000 students.

Getting Involved with our Campaign

Are you a student?
There are several ways to get involved from becoming an intern where you can earn course credit or transcript notation for your work or volunteering for events and tables. AmeriCorps positions are available right now for those who are interested for those working on this campaign!

Are you a professor of faculty member?
We invite you to come participate in our events, trainings, and weatherization projects! You can also help by sponsoring some of our students for their internships. Energy Service Corps will hold several events and trainings throughout the quarter and would love the expert opinions and advice of UC Davis professors and faculty.

Are you a community member?
Sign up for a free energy assessment of your home! Energy Service Corps can do a basic assessment of your home and connect you with the correct local and state programs that can help you begin saving energy and money on your utility bills.

No matter who you are, if you are interested in getting involved, please come to an info session held Monday-Friday, 11:00 AM, 2:00 PM, or 5:00 PM in Memorial Union Room 356 (3rd floor). The info sessions will run through October 10th.

Contact us at ucdenergyservicecorps@gmail.com, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to hear the latest!

Guest contributor, UC Davis student Lucian Novosel, a first-year undeclared major, writes here about Project Green Challenge, a green lifestyle initiative aimed at students that starts Saturday, October 1:

This October, Teens Turning Green is energizing high school and college students across the country to participate in Project Green Challenge (PGC), a 30-day green lifestyle initiative. The Challenge will raise awareness about conscious living, informed consumption and the collective impact of each of our actions.

Students will be given 30 simple challenges to experience just how fun, accessible, and effective the transition to green can be!  Throughout October a daily green challenge will be outlined at the Project Green Challenge website and in an email delivered to each participant who has signed up. Each challenge will be supported with resources, tips, facts and a green glossary.

Over the course of the 30-day Challenge, participants will share their responses to challenge tasks on the website utilizing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Each challenge focuses on a specific topic in the green movement (alternative transportation, sustainable food, fashion, fair-trade). It is put to the contestants to respond to what the challenge is asking through their submissions. Participants will have the chance to receive incredible prizes from our partners every single day of the Challenge. All you have to do is sign up and complete the daily challenges. The more you do, the deeper into green you go, the higher your level of engagement and innovation, the better your chances are to be a winner!  Each topic is aimed at building a powerful, diverse and far reaching movement that inspires youth to transition from conventional to conscious living and take small steps that will help sustain a healthy and just world. As a culmination to the Challenge, ten finalists will be selected to participate in Green University – a 2-day eco-summit in San Francisco this December. Although only high school and college students are eligible for prizes, the Challenge is open to anyone who wants to make a positive change or just learn a little bit more about greening their life.

Find out more or sign up to participate in Project Green Challenge. UC Davis will be starting a meet-up for students who are interested in participating. Furthermore, if you want to spread the word to a larger community or get in contact with the UC Davis representative, please contact me,  Lucian Novosel, at lucian.novo@gmail.com.

The campus sustainability map has debuted! The interactive map can be used to find places or things on campus that express or demonstrate ways that UC Davis and the campus community are taking action towards creating a more sustainable future.

Users can start with the map introduction and points page and explore by clicking whole categories of points open (such as green buildings or recycling), or start with the sustainability map and by clicking the ”Sustainability Information” link for each point, jump to the map introduction and points page for more information.

The map is not exhaustive and is a living document. The mapmakers hope that members of campus will suggest points and additional information through either emailing sustainability@ucdavis.edu, or submitting comments on this blog post about the map.

The sustainability map project has been in the making for a while and has included students from an Education for Sustainable Living Program Action Research Team led by the campus sustainability planner, Camille Kirk, who initially conceived of the project after being involved with making a green map. Campus mapmaker and GIS specialist, Chris DiDio, has been a key partner in making this map, which is a companion map to the campus map.

DiDio has searched for other campus “green” and sustainability maps and has not found another online map as extensive as the UC Davis sustainability map, saying: “I believe this is a unique map at this time for its depth and breadth.”

Future goals for the sustainability map include using the map as a springboard for creating tours, adding downloadable maps, and adding more points and more information about campus infrastructure and sustainability.

The campus sustainability map was launched Tuesday, May 31 at the annual California Student Sustainability Coalition Sustainability Summit.

In November 2010, the Governors’ Global Climate Summit 3 was held at UC Davis. The campus is a powerhouse in climate change research, and the summit was a fantastic opportunity to share that depth of knowledge with a global audience. The big question, though, was how to translate that wide spectrum of scientific research into readily absorbed information by an audience with disparate backgrounds.

Sharon Ruth, director of communications and marketing for the John Muir Institute of the Environment, and Laurie Lewis, design manager for campus publications, spearheaded a project to translate some of the extensive body of UC Davis climate change research into posters with a reader-friendly format and layman’s language. They created a “call for posters” and had strong response from UC Davis researchers. The researchers worked with Ruth, Lewis and members of Lewis’ design team to create their posters.

The posters were a big hit, according to Ruth. “People appreciate that the information is both easy to understand and straight from the researchers’ mouths, so to speak,” Ruth said. “The posters give you, at a glance, a very good look at UC Davis research designed to help solve problems created by global climate change.”

After an extensive process to publish them in PDF and document them on a web page, the UC Davis Climate Summit research posters are now available online. We encourage everyone to visit the posters page and explore the depth and variety of research presented. Let us know what you think, and tell us the most interesting or surprising thing you learned from these posters.

Thanks to Sharon Ruth, Laurie Lewis, Brenda Dawson, Russ Thebaud, Diane Nelson and Dave Jones for their contributions to the poster project and this blog post.

Repro Graphics is an important partner in helping UC Davis reach its sustainability goals for waste reduction and smart purchasing, in part by providing independently certified eco-friendly paper and printing choices at competitive prices for customers. For that certification, Repro Graphics goes through an outside audit process by the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, two independent organizations dedicated to promoting responsible forest management and fiber production. The following news story, courtesy of Dave Jones, editor of Dateline, tells more about Repro’s third annual recertification:

Repro Graphics has been recertified as a provider of paper originating in forests that are managed in accordance with the policies of the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

The campus printer purchased nearly 134,000 pounds of such paper from May 2010 through April 2011, said Brian Wadell, director.

The independent, not-for-profit Forest Stewardship Council and the independent, nonprofit Sustainable Forestry Initiative evaluate forest management companies to ensure that they are running their businesses in an agriculturally sustainable way, limiting carbon dioxide emissions, and respecting the rights of employees and indigenous people, among other criteria.

The certification process also extends to printers — such as Repro Graphics — to ensure that when a customer asks for paper from a certified forest, that the printer is giving them the real thing.

More information is available from Repro Graphics, (530) 752-COPY (2679) or reprographics@ucdavis.edu.

Congratulations, Repro Graphics!

Editor’s note: UC Davis is in the final stretch of Recyclemania and we need your help! Student Michelle Tuyen, Waste Reduction and Recycling’s Education and Promotion Coordinator and a fourth-year Sociology/Communications double major, writes below on how to take action these last few days of competition:

RecycleMania, a nationwide recycling competition that UC Davis has been participating in, is coming to an end this Saturday, April 2. This competition also promotes UC Davis’ zero waste goal by 2020, meaning we will avoid sending trash to the landfill and instead buy smart, recycle and reuse.

Waste Reduction and Recycling is urging all students, staff, and faculty of UC Davis to give that final push in the competition. We are currently competing in several categories. During the week of Mar. 13-19, we were ranked 44 out of 363 for the Gorilla Prize, while for Grand Champion, we were ranked 263 out of 288. I have faith that my fellow Aggies can do much better than that.

Here are some simple ways you can help UC Davis strive in the RecycleMania competition while saving the environment:

1.) Recycle: There are bins for paper, cans and bottles, and compost all over campus. Before tossing the item into trash, take a moment to consider if it can be recycled, then put it in the appropriate bin instead.

2.) Reduce trash output by reusing: Have you ever thought about how much trash one person can produce in a day? Unfortunately, most of it could’ve been recycled instead. But what’s even better is if we can reuse items over and over so they wouldn’t need to be thrown out. A simple solution we can implement in our everyday lifestyle is replacing those daily coffee cups with a reusable mug. Here’s a quick tip: Use your reusable mug on campus; if you are spotted by a Waste Reduction and Recycling staff member, you will receive a coupon for a free coffee or soda refill at 5 different locations on campus, including the Coffee House and the Silo Union.

3.) Spread the word: Being consciously aware of the environment is an excellent first step, but it takes everyone’s effort to make a change. Take the time to educate yourself, and then pass on the information to someone else.

Remember the last day of the competition is Apr. 2, so there is still time to make a difference in our rankings!  Go Aggies!