Tidal Wave of Green Activities Comes to Campus During Earth Week
Ioana Patringenaru | April 28, 2008
Alonso Noble (right) helps students and staff members find recyclables during Earth's Week trash sort event.
“Is this recyclable?” staff member Alonso Noble asked, lifting a Styrofoam cup out of a pile of trash. A group of about a dozen students and employees hesitated, considering. Finally, Noble told them the answer: “No.”
A few minutes later, he held up a plastic water bottle. “Is this recyclable?” he asked again. “Yes,” came back the resounding answer. “Getting better,” said Noble, assistant superintendent in UC San Diego’s facilities management department.
He and a crew of about a dozen students and staff members were taking part Tuesday in a trash-sorting event, which has become one of the hallmarks of the campus’ annual Earth Week celebrations. The trash sort was designed to highlight the importance of recycling and the theme of this year’s Earth Week celebrations: “Choose to Change.” Other green events included a sustainability awards ceremony, a talk by Matthew St. Clair, the sustainability manager at the UC Office of the President, presentations by top campus administrators, a clean car show, an eco job fair and a film festival.
“Sustainability is going to be an increasingly important part of our life,” Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said Tuesday during the sustainability awards ceremony. “UC San Diego is a living laboratory, in which climate solutions can play out.”
Chancellor Marye Anne Fox (right) shakes hands with International House Director Christi Gilhoi, who was recognized during the Earth Week Sustainability Awards.
Some of the solutions were highlighted during the ceremony held at Eucalyptus Point. For example, the Green Campus program, manned by student interns, was recognized for helping offices and department assess and cut back on their energy needs. Researcher Jan Kleissl helped develop a state-of-the-art micro-weather station network that will help the university use ocean breezes to cool buildings, identify the sunniest rooftops to expand its solar power system, use water more efficiently in irrigation and in other ways. International House Director Christi Gilhoi received an award for, among other things, allowing all members of the UCSD community to pick up organic produce from a local farm at the International House.
Sorting refuse
Kristin Blackler, a staff member for UCSD's Environment and Sustainability Initiative, gives an interview on camera.
Recycling is another sustainable solution that the campus has been promoting actively. By June, half of the waste produced at UCSD will not end up in a landfill but will be recycled or reused, Vice Chancellor Gary Matthews said. The goal is to divert 75 percent of the campus’ waste by 2012, he added. Tuesday, Noble, the facilities management assistant superintendent, and a posse of helpers, showed the way. They dove into about 1,000 pounds of waste from Housing and Dining Services facilities spread out on a tarp at the Price Center.
“It’s like a treasure hunt out here,” Kristin Blackler, a staff member in the campus’ Environment and Sustainability Initiative said jokingly.
“I found a burger,” a student exclaimed. “Jackpot!” another one said gleefully.
In all, about one-third of the trash sorted Tuesday turned out to be recyclable. “We’re doing okay but it’s not enough,” Noble said. “We could do a lot more.” That was before he plunged in the pile of recyclables he had helped salvage. “This is my treasure,” he cried out.
Noble and his crew found plenty of plastic water bottles and aluminum cans. They also found a large quantity of disposable plates from cafeterias. Blackler pointed out that students could easily use real plates that Housing and Dining staff would pick up from their dorm. “Your meal on fine China instead of plastic: What an experience that would be,” she said.
Choosing to change
Four graduate students pose for a group picture during an organic luncheon organized by Muir College to recognize members of the UCSD community who have made significant contributions to environmental sustainability on campus.
Choosing to Change
Need a few tips to make your life greener? We’ve got them:
— Bring your own cup or mug at the campus’ dining facilities. It’s good for the environment and it’s good for your wallet, because you will receive a discount.
— Keep your tires properly inflated for better gas mileage.
Click here for more tips.
Students play a key part in the fight for sustainability, said St. Clair, the sustainability manager at the UC Office of the President, during a talk at the Price Center Ballroom Thursday.
“I think students have a vital role in being our conscience and making the impossible possible,” he said.
St. Clair knows what he is talking about. As a graduate student at UC Berkeley, he campaigned for a UC-wide green building and clean energy policy. The UC Board of Regents passed the policy in summer 2003. Almost immediately, UC’s purchases of renewable energy increased from zero to 15 percent of the system’s needs. That figure now stands at 18 percent, St. Clair said. The policy also helped the UC system receive more than $20 million in grants and rebates, he added. UC was ranked as the fourth greenest university in the nation by the Sierra Club last year.
St. Clair gave other examples of students making a difference in the UC system right now. At UC Santa Barbara, students campaigned for a fee referendum to fund green projects on campus. Students passed the initiative, allowing the campus to raise $165,000 the first year after the vote. Berkeley soon followed suit, raising $170,000, St. Clair said. “This is all from a group of students who had a good idea,” he pointed out.
Other Earth Week events
Students plant trees as part of Earth Week activites.
(Photo / Sam Oludunfe)
In addition to student initiatives, other Earth Week events also highlighted faculty’s, staff members’ and university-wide achievements. They included a Green Car show that took place Tuesday. In all, 28 vehicles were on display on Library Walk. Jim Ruby, the campus’ fleet services manager, organized the show, which featured several of UCSD’s environmentally-friendly fleet vehicles. Another highlight of the show was a Mercedes-Benz converted to run on used cooking oil designed by UCSD mechanic Allen Rutherford.
Other vehicles included an electric race car, an electric "mega truck” and a highly compacted smart car nicknamed “Gidget.” San Diego Gas & Electric also showcased a plug-in Toyota Prius that can get up to 70 miles per gallon.
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