| Campus Community to Usher in Earth Week with Whirlwind of Green Activities
Pat Jacoby | April 9, 2007
There will be a lot of listening to Mother Earth
next week as the campus community shows during an
action-packed Earth Week that it is easy being green.
The weeklong celebration, which was planned by UCSD
students and staff, begins April 16 and includes some
30 events, ranging from a clean car show and a video
competition to nightly organic dinners and celebrity
author book signings.
|
| Earth Week, April 16-20, 2007 |
|
Also taking place are exhibits of UCSD environmental
research, an Eco Job Fair, a garbage sort and tours
of the campus cogeneration plant, one of the largest
and most efficient university-owned cogeneration plants
in the state, which supplies more than 90% of the
campuses’ electricity.
Chancellor Marye Anne Fox will kick off the week at noon, April 16 in the UCSD Price Center, with a sustainability awards ceremony honoring the campuses’ sustainability leaders. Recycled glass trophies will be presented to the award winners in categories such as: undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, faculty, alumni, teams and leadership in sustainability champion.
“As stewards of our campus community, we are
compelled to address environmental challenges and
implement innovative sustainable solutions. The 41,000
of us who populate the campus daily can create the
synergy for future innovation—both on and off
campus—through our personal commitment to sustainability,”commented
Chancellor Fox on UCSD’s Earth Week activities.
Also on April 16, Nigella Hillgarth, executive director of Birch Aquarium at UCSD’s Scripp’s Institution of Oceanography, will present Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” slideshow at 4:30 p.m in the Price Center. The slide show and the documentary film that it is based on refer to the seminal research of UCSD founder and Scripps scientist Roger Revelle and his colleague Charles David Keeling, who were the first to precisely measure the increase in CO2 from human industrial activity.
Students will compete for cash prizes for the best sustainability research project. Exhibits will range from evaluating plant-based composite materials for compostable plates and cups to improving our understanding of the global nitrogen. In addition to the exhibits, on April 19, UCSD students will present a proposal for a 100% biodiesel “Greenline” bus pilot program on campus.
 |
| Sara Wigal, an intern
with Housing and Dining Services, shows
fellow intern Emily Morrill examine a tye-dyed
T-shirt created at a workshop during last
year's Earth Day celebrations on the Sun
God Lawn. |
|
“We’re using the video competition and
the research exhibit to showcase the very wide range
of research that students are conducting, and how
diverse and interdisciplinary sustainability research
at UCSD is, among students as well as faculty,”
said Lisa Shaffer, executive director of UCSD’s
Environment & Sustainability Initiative. The initiative
was established in 2005 to harness and direct sustainability
research and other academic activities to develop
solutions to local, regional and global environmental
problems via industry and governmental partnerships.
A first-time Eco Job Fair will be held April 17 from
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Career Services Center.
“The purpose of the Eco Job Fair is to bring
together socially and environmentally conscious businesses
and organizations with exceptional UCSD students who
want to apply their skills and enthusiasm in the sustainability
arena,”noted Jenny Kressel, employer events
specialist. “Participating employers will recruit
students for positions across a wide variety of fields,
including technology, renewable energy, consulting,
communications, life sciences, nonprofits and government.”
“Beyond Fire: Responding to Climate Change,”a
presentation by George Tynan, professor of Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering, also is scheduled
on April 17 and will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. in the
Price Center. Tynan is the current chair of UCSD’s
campuswide Advisory Committee on Sustainability.
A free electronic-device recycling program for faculty, staff and students will be held April 18 from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Parking Lot 411 on Myers Drive. Employees can drop off their old computers, monitors, laptops and other electronic devices, said Valerie Fanning, Environmental Health and Services, and then E-World Recyclers of Vista will separate and recycle the items.
Along that same line, a “garbage sort”using
trash from the previous day’s work at the Price
Center will be held from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m., April
18 in the Price Center plaza. Participants will lay
down tarps into which recyclables and non-recyclables
will be sorted, said Krista Francis, sustainability
coordinator for UCSD’s Auxiliary & Plant
Services.
|
| Chancellor Marye Anne
Fox spoke to a group of students, faculty
and staff during the kick-off of last year's
Earth Day celebrations. |
|
Also on April 18, Green Campus Walks will be held at both 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. from the Price Center Plaza to illustrate UCSD’s commitment to sustainability through its green buildings, reclaimed water, rooftop gardens, energy conservation and other methods.
Original video projects of 10 minutes or less produced
by UCSD students that demonstrate imagination and
raise awareness of environmental and sustainability
issues will be screened during a public “Vidfest”to
be held at
2 p.m. April 18 in Fung Auditorium in the Powell-Focht
Bioengineering Hall, co-sponsored by a community group,
Heal Our Mother Earth (HOME) International. First,
second and third place winners selected by a panel
will receive scholarship awards ranging from $1,500
to $500. Following the screening, student participants
in both the Vidfest and the research competition will
be recognized at an awards reception beginning at
4:30 p.m., presided over by UCSD Vice Chancellor for
Research Arthur Ellis.
A number of local bands will play during a “Good Soda Fresh Air Tour” scheduled in the Price Center Plaza at noon April 19. The tour markets a new sugar-free, nutritious soda. Also on April 19, authors Francis Moore Lappe, author of the iconic “Diet for a Small Planet” and UCSD alumnus and science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson will lead book discussions in the UCSD Bookstore at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. respectively.
A cleanup at Tourmaline Beach is slated at 10 a.m. April 20, followed by a 1 p.m. tour of special facilities at the Scripps’ pier.
Organic dinners are scheduled each night of the week at different campus eating establishments.
|
