Climate & Sustainability
Celebrating Earth Day and our campus sustainability efforts
Our campus is making remarkable progress on our sustainability and resilience goals, which is worth highlighting as we celebrate Earth Day, which holds special meaning at UC Santa Cruz.
We are making remarkable progress on our campus sustainability and resilience efforts, and I’m proud to share our accomplishments as we approach Earth Day 2025. This annual celebration on April 22 was established more than a half-century ago to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It holds special meaning at UC Santa Cruz, as Rachel Carson College is named in honor of the scientist and author who helped to launch the environmental movement.
Sustainability is a foundational value of our campus — a research focus, a tenet in our operational practices, a pillar in our strategic plan, and an element of every campus capital project. Our students have been strong partners in our efforts to advance sustainability, and our Sustainability Office helps to keep us at the forefront of climate-action and sustainability trends.
Sustainability is a foundational value of our campus — a research focus, a tenet in our operational practices, a pillar in our strategic plan, and an element of every campus capital project.
Chancellor Cynthia LaRive
Our recent accomplishments in this area are vast. Climate Change, Sustainability and Resilience is one of the five pillars in Leading the Change, the campuswide strategic plan we completed in 2022. A plan goal is to decarbonize UC Santa Cruz to create an equitable, accessible, and fossil-free future. We have made good progress on this goal by, among other things, constructing our largest all-electric academic and residence hall as part of our Kresge College renewal. Additional advances include the launch of a major project to reduce the use of natural gas in our central heating and hot-water system and a switch to electric rather than gas-powered equipment by our grounds crews. We have also rolled out the university’s first bike-sharing program (with nearly 300,000 bike share trips taken last year!) as well as a student and employee eBike incentive program. Finally, we have completed design work for multiple campus microgrids, which are self-sufficient energy systems that serve a discrete geographic footprint.
Our Energy Management department is continuing to focus on water efficiency. A student intern, using data from new water meters that provide real-time flow data, has spent the past academic year identifying and helping to resolve system leaks that were wasting more than 100 gallons per day. (Special shoutout to intern Anaché Varteressian!) We are in the process of installing 88 more of these upgraded meters!
Using the strategic plan as a guidepost, I am also pleased to share that the campus recently launched the new Joint Academic Senate/Administration Standing Committee on Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resilience to advance teaching, research, and operational goals. The campus also updated its Sustainability & Climate Action Plan in 2023. The plan focuses on building communities of care and promoting environmental justice in the face of climate change, decarbonization, stewarding the water and land, and advancing a circular economy.
Additional accomplishments include:
- UC Santa Cruz has been named a Designated Agricultural Experiment Station, underscoring more than a half century of pioneering work in organic farming. Our campus and UC Merced are the first UC campuses to receive this designation in 50 years.
- UC Santa Cruz is one of nearly 30 institutions of higher education around the nation to have adopted the Okanagan Charter, also known as Health Promoting Universities.
- The California Department of Pesticide Regulation awarded our Grounds Department with its 2025 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Achievement Award.
- TAPS had a great year, installing four solar EV charging stations with eight ports while continuing to grow its Slug Bike Life education program, adding student outreach staff.
I am grateful to the many students, faculty and staff who help make our many sustainability successes day in and day out.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Larive
Chancellor, UC Santa Cruz
Events/Ways to get involved
Environmental events are being organized across campus by the Sustainability Office, Rachel Carson College, and more!
Pitch In All Santa Cruz County Clean Up Day
What: Help us keep our campus and county beautiful! Come volunteer to pick up litter across the county and campus. Visit the Pitch In Santa Cruz website to find a location by you.
When: 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 10, 2025
Location: UCSC clean-up will be at the Porter Squiggle sculpture by the Porter bus stop.
Organized by: Pitch In Santa Cruz and the Sustainability Office
Earth Summit
What: A fun afternoon to promote sustainability on campus! Stop by for fun booths, food, entertainment, and a surprise keynote speaker! Please RSVP with this link!
When: Noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 3, 2025
Location: Oakes Lower Lawn
Organized by: Enviroslug
We are Land & Water Defender: Mini Film Festival & Workshop
What: The Mini Film Festival & Workshop is a multi-day event interlacing film, research, story, and hope. It aims to bridge film directors and producers, Native and Black leaders, scholar-activists within academia, students, and civic society from across the Americas.
When: This began earlier this month. It continues the next two Saturdays, April 19 and 26.
Location: Theater C Communications Building, 620 Baskin Circle
Organized by: American Indian Resource Center, Center for Reimagining Leadership, Film and Digital Media Department, Institute for Social Transformation, Latin American and Latino Studies, Rachel Carson College, Sustainability Office
Inaugural Baskin Engineering Climate Week
What: Featuring talks, games, pedagogical resources, organizational tabling, and a faculty social. Free and open to the public. Visit the Climate Week webpage for details on individual events.
When: April 21-25
Where: Multiple locations
Organized by: Baskin Engineering