The Seventh Annual Campus Earth Summit January 31 featured speakers, exhibits, workshops, organic food, and a few hecklers. Several hundred students, staff, and faculty participated.
Chancellor George Blumenthal announced during his address that Lisa Sloan, dean of graduate education and an expert on climate change, and Daniel Press, chair of the Environmental Studies Department, will co-chair his new Chancellor's Advisory Council on Climate Change.
Blumenthal said the still-forming council would begin with three demonstration projects that respond to policy goals of the UC system, the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, and the local Climate Compact he signed in September with Santa Cruz city and county leaders.
Blumenthal made his comments after being heckled briefly by a handful of people upon his introduction. Student Affairs officials identified them as being supporters of people trespassing in trees above a Science Hill parking lot. Blumenthal said he is committed as chancellor to sustainability on campus, calling it "vital for the long-term future of the campus and the long-term future of the planet." He outlined more than a dozen actions already taken.
In an experiment last week, UCSC Dining Services tried "tray-less Tuesday" at Porter Dining Hall, an effort to reduce food waste and energy use. Compared with a two-hour waste audit a year ago, the experiment found that when trays were taken away, scraps declined from an average of 3.2 ounces per person to 2.3 ounces, a 28 percent reduction, said Candy Berlin, program coordinator for Dining Services.
"The potential for reduction is huge," she said, explaining that Dining Services serves 8,500 meals a day on campus. Not only does going tray-less save food, but soap and water use, and the energy needed to heat it for cleaning, are reduced, she said.
Colleges around the country are moving to tray-less food service for the same reasons. This month the University of Connecticut is trying a three-week experiment.
"Food trays lead to increased food waste," Berlin said. Porter College is unique in that student practice is to eat directly off the trays, eschewing plates, Berlin said. "We kind of messed with their culture," she said, but noted few complaints. Dining Services moved to smaller trays this year at the Crown/Merrill dining hall.
During his keynote address, Santa Cruz County Treasurer Fred Keeley called for personal and governmental action on sustainability. "We know what the solutions are," he said. "The question is whether there is the political will and the economic will" to do something. "It is a moral issue to fix the problem so you can hand this planet to the next generation better than you found it."
Other speakers included Matt St. Clair, sustainability manager for the UC Office of the President; Ben Allen, student regent; Aurora Winslade, UCSC sustainability manager; and Daniel Press.
