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2011 Sustainability

December 13, 2011
Environmental Studies faculty stands up for experiential education
Faculty in UCSC's Environmental Studies program have teamed up to launch a fundraiser to protect the future of its experiential education courses.
November 28, 2011
Writing instructor's essay included in natural history anthology
An essay by Sarah Juniper Rabkin, a lecturer and researcher in the UC Santa Cruz Environmental Studies Department is included in "The Way of Natural History" (Trinity University Press, 2011), an anthology in which more than 20 writers argue that attention to nature is a key pathway to nurturing our humanity.
November 23, 2011
UCSC gets top spot in nationwide "vegan schools" contest
UC Santa Cruz has come in first place in a heated, five-week contest to determine the "#1 vegan friendly college in the nation."
November 10, 2011
UCSC makes final round of the "Nation's Most Vegan-Friendly Colleges" contest
UCSC is facing off against the University of Florida in a social-network-based contest that will determine the “#1 vegan friendly college in the nation.”
November 07, 2011
UCSC wins $2.6 million grant for organic farming research
UC Santa Cruz will continue and expand its leading role in sustainable agriculture research with a $2.6 million federal grant to strengthen collaboration with Central Coast farmers to promote organic production in the region.
October 07, 2011
Community water projects in rural Kenya help raise family income
Rural family incomes tend to rise when Kenyan women don't have to spend several hours a day lugging water to their villages, UC Santa Cruz sociology professor Ben Crow writes in a new paper in the journal World Development.
October 06, 2011
UCSC steps up 'zero waste' projects
UCSC staff and students started off the school year by recycling a whopping 38,840 pounds of cardboard within the first two weeks of the fall quarter. The campus aims for zero waste by 2020.
September 29, 2011
Health Center project honored by Business Journal
UC Santa Cruz received a top prize at the Silcon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's annual Structures Awards ceremony, held last week at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. The campus finished first in the category of "Green Project — Public" for its sustainable design and construction efforts on the Cowell Student Health Center project.
September 19, 2011
UC Santa Cruz Welcome Week draws spirited crowd of students, families
Caravans of SUVs and station wagons brought eager student and their families, while teams of volunteers welcomed the throng.
August 17, 2011
UC Santa Cruz makes top 10 list of "greenest" schools in Sierra magazine
Once again, UC Santa Cruz has broken into a top-10 list of green-minded colleges and universities in Sierra magazine's "Cool Schools" issue.
August 12, 2011
UC Santa Cruz honored for 'green' lighting retrofit at Science & Engineering Library
The UC Santa Cruz campus has just earned yet another “green” building award for sustainable practices. The latest honor, the Best Practice Lighting Award, recognizes the extraordinary amount of electricity the university will save each year because of its recent retrofit of the Science & Engineering Library.
July 27, 2011
New organic gardening course offered at UCSC Farm and Garden
A new, comprehensive organic gardening course is being offered at UC Santa Cruz this summer, starting September 7 and running for nine weeks on Saturdays and Wednesday evenings.
July 26, 2011
Renewable energy workshop brings together industry, government, and academia
A workshop on renewable energy features panel discussions and presentations from leading research projects.
July 22, 2011
UCSC moves forward with ecological horticulture apprenticeship program
The pioneering Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture program at the UC Santa Cruz Farm and Garden will continue to offer hands-on training in small-scale organic agriculture despite a significant loss of state and federal funding to the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS).
July 19, 2011
Tim Galarneau receives 2011 UC Sustainability Champion Award
Tim Galarneau – described in a 2009 Mother Jones magazine profile as “the Alice Waters of a burgeoning movement of campus foodies”, is getting systemwide recognition.
July 18, 2011
UCSC delegation brings green tips to Taiwan
A green delegation, including two UCSC undergraduates and UCSC sustainability director Aurora Winslade, traveled 6,449 miles to Taiwan, where they led a two-day workshop on June 29 and 30 for the Taiwan Green University Program
June 22, 2011
Tracking of top marine predators reveals Pacific Ocean hot spots
Two big regions of the North Pacific Ocean are magnets for marine life according to results from the Tagging of Pacific Predators project.
June 13, 2011
EPA administrator speaks of commitment to environmental justice
In her College 10 commencement address June 12, Lisa P. Jackson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, spoke of her commitment to environmental justice and lauded College 10's focus on social justice.
June 10, 2011
UCSC aims for zero waste in student move-out
UCSC, for the past few years, has been holding “Zero-Waste Move Out” events across the campus, making it much easier for students to deposit household goods, electronics, toiletries, canned food and other materials in collection bins. It's all part of UCSC's efforts to make the campus zero waste in 2020.
June 02, 2011
Redwood conservation and rock and roll: Conferences keep campus busy in summer
Summer is conference season at UCSC where thousands of newcomers will cross scenic bridges, explore the woods, and take classes. UCSC expects 70 residential conference groups, and 10,000 visitors, from June 19 to August 27.
May 31, 2011
A successful Dispo Day on campus
Held on Earth Day, nearly 25 large bins were distributed across the campus to over 15 units. The total shred amount for Dispo Day came to 1,150 pounds.
May 25, 2011
Solar-powered scoreboard coming to Lower East Field
Wells Fargo Bank is paying for the first permanent outdoor playing field scoreboard in campus history. The $15,000 scoreboard will be solar-powered and a much better fit for the 300 spectators that come to the men’s and women’s intercollegiate soccer matches.
May 19, 2011
UC Santa Cruz students reap the benefits of Measure 43
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the passage of Measure 43, the student-funded Sustainable Food, Health, and Wellness Initiative at UC Santa Cruz that has treated thousands of students to a broad menu of ways to learn about food, including workshops, campus conferences, events, and classes.
May 17, 2011
Student-run Carbon Fund boosts green projects on and off campus
The Carbon Fund Committee has selected nine green-minded projects for funding, ranging from a "green Wharf" project to a regional water use reduction campaign.
May 12, 2011
Two-wheel commuters take to the road on Bike to Work Day
Participants in Thursday's Bike To Work celebration ranged from teenagers to AARP members. They took part in an annual event that promotes healthy living, diminishes stress, and cuts down on auto emissions.
April 30, 2011
Keeping score: solar-powered "green" scoreboard is the first of its kind in campus history
Wells Fargo Bank is donating the first permanent outer playing field scoreboard in the campus’s history. The scoreboard will be solar-powered.
April 26, 2011
Princeton Review honors UCSC's history of sustainability
The Princeton Review has given the campus a prominent, detailed and highly complimentary entry in a brand-new guidebook that profiles eco-friendly North American colleges and universities.
April 25, 2011
Campus Earth Summit keeps sustainable conversations going
The all-student organized Earth Summit on April 22, now in its 10th year, brought together students, faculty, staff, and community members to share ideas and strategize on how to transform UCSC into a sustainable campus.
April 14, 2011
Beyond Earth Day: UC Santa Cruz students launch Earth Week 2011
Earth Week is one of the most far-ranging and ambitious student-run sustainability events in UCSC history, with a Campus Earth Summit, lagoon clean-up, climbing wall and much more.
April 11, 2011
Center for Sustainable Energy and Power Systems wins Business Journal award
A 2011 Energy Award for Best Conservation Leader recognizes Baskin School of Engineering's efforts to address energy sustainability through research and teaching.
March 31, 2011
Spring Plant Sale on April 16 marks California Native Plant Week
The UCSC Arboretum will hold its annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April 16.
March 16, 2011
Tsunami puts boating program on hiatus: community reaches out to help
Last week's tsunami wrecked nine boats belonging to the UCSC Boating Program, putting a damper on a 40-year-old Santa Cruz tradition.
February 16, 2011
Student-run Carbon Fund fights waste and encourages green practices
It’s one thing to grouse about food waste, water consumption and inefficient energy use on campus. It’s another thing to reach into your own pocket, raise a pool of money and help UC Santa Cruz solve the problem. An enterprising group of UCSC students is doing just that with the newly instituted Carbon Fund, founded last spring to diminish the campus’s carbon footprint.
February 14, 2011
A spirit of generosity: UCSC community breaks record for food bank giving
UC Santa Cruz’s socially conscious Slugs collected a whopping 50,541 pounds of food this year for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County holiday food drive -- a 53 percent increase over last year’s 33,000 pounds.
January 27, 2011
Arboretum propagates cuttings from the last wild S.F. manzanita
Arboretum staff propagated cuttings from the last known San Francisco manzanita in the wild.
January 27, 2011
UCSC wins prestigious "gold" recognition for green building
UC Santa Cruz is getting high honors for “going green.” The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the campus its first “Gold” sustainability and innovation prize in recognition of the newly retrofitted and expanded Cowell Student Health Center.
January 04, 2011
Fulbright Scholar Program funds prof's environmental work in Chile
Environmental toxicologist Russell Flegal is busy with teaching and research projects during a six-month visit to Chile as a Fulbright Scholar.