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Over the past decade, environmentally minded students have championed an ambitious effort to green UC Berkeley. From aggressive climate action to organic dining options and a zero-waste goal, campus sustainability today has an army of participants and deep institutional support.
Tag: sustainability
Cal Energy Corps interns prep for sustainable future
April 24, 2012:
Some 32 Berkeley undergraduates will spend up to 12 weeks working on sustainability projects in the Bay Area and across nine far-flung countries.
Sustainability Summit marks progress toward ever-greener campus
April 20, 2012:
At the campus’s 9th Sustainability Summit, progress in “greening” the Berkeley campus was everywhere evident — from the sheer number of student projects in the works to the metric tons of greenhouse gases not being emitted thanks to new institution-wide programs.
‘RecycleMania’ a spirited, diverting race to zero waste
March 27, 2012:
Sustainability-minded Berkeley students are wrapping up an intensive two-month recycling and waste-reduction blitz, spurred by the campus’s first-time participation in a coast-to-coast contest, RecycleMania.
New ‘Bright Green News’: Paperless textbooks, cellphone recycling
March 23, 2012:
In the new ‘Bright Green News’ from the Office of Sustainability, read about how Berkeley is working with publishers to save students money on textbooks as well as trees, and how to recycle your phone. (PDF)
WORKbright green: Free sustainability training for staff
February 29, 2012:
Twenty campus staff from across campus recently completed the Office of Sustainability’s first-ever staff sustainability training, WORKbright green. During the free 7.5-hour program, in-house campus experts (staff and students) teach simple ways to reduce the environmental impact of work done on campus.
Trash costs, sustainability pays, says campus recycling ‘King’
February 27, 2012:
The manager of Campus Recycling and Refuse Services, Lin King, is working with campus groups, including Cal Athletics, to meet aggressive UC waste-diversion goals. To reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, he says, is not only the best thing for planet Earth, but good for the bottom line as well.
Huts, artifacts in Jordanian excavation offer new perspectives on life 20,000 years ago
February 21, 2012:
Archaeologists working in eastern Jordan have announced its discovery of 20,000-year-old hut structures, the earliest yet found in that country. Along with materials found in the huts, the find suggests the area was once intensively occupied and offers a new perspective on how humans lived at the time.
A new Lower Sproul, long a dream, is taking shape
January 30, 2012:
The long-desired makeover of Lower Sproul Plaza is finally taking shape, and it’s the students who made it happen. Plans and architects’ renderings show a light-filled area that’s open, inviting and bustling with activity 24/7 — the true and beating heart of student life on campus. Take a look at the new Lower Sproul.
UCTC receives funding for new transportation research
January 19, 2012:
The University of California Transportation Center (UCTC) on the UC Berkeley campus is overseeing a new research consortium of five other UC and four Cal State University campuses that just received a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and a matching amount from California’s Department of Transportation.
Grants for travel-free meetings extended
January 17, 2012:
The campus’s Office of Sustainability is offering a small grant, funded by the Climate Action Fund, to promote the use of videoconferencing and web-based meeting tools as alternatives to in-person meetings that require travel by airplane. The program will run through March 2012 or until funds run out.
New shuttle-bus contract good news for riders, drivers
January 13, 2012:
The campus’s stalled Bear Transit shuttle-bus program is moving again with a new vendor, new buses — and 17 veteran drivers whose jobs have hung in the balance for nearly three years.
Cal Athletics sets goal of zero waste
November 10, 2011:
When a seismically improved Memorial Stadium reopens in September 2012, one of the goals will be to aim for zero waste. Until then, Bear fans at three designated contests in Haas Pavilion will find bins for recycling and composting located throughout the facilities, kicking off an effort by Cal Athletics, Campus Recycling and Refuse Services, and Recology to show that “Blue and Gold Makes Green.”
How to feed a starving world? A new center at Berkeley seeks solutions
November 8, 2011:
How to feed a fast-growing world where 900 million people are undernourished? Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist, sees traditional, sustainable practices as the solution. She and a group of Berkeley colleagues are establishing a new Berkeley Center for Diversified Farming Systems to find ways to scale up agroecological practices around the globe. A special report from the College of Natural Resources.
Green your office: Free ‘WORKbright green’ sustainability training for staff
October 3, 2011:
Interested in implementing green practices in your job and help campus meet its climate and sustainability goals — but not sure how? The campus’s Office of Sustainability is offering a free staff sustainability training on simple, feasible ways to reduce the environmental impact of the work you do. The course will involve three 2.5-hour sessions in November and December; space is limited.
With streamlined regulations, in-law units could boost East Bay affordable housing stock and economy, study finds
September 13, 2011:
In-law units could provide needed affordable housing and boost the economies of five East Bay communities, according to a new UC Berkeley study that recommends adjusting local regulations so that can happen.
Durant Hall restoration earns LEED Silver certification
September 9, 2011:
The renovation of Durant Hall, designed by John Galen Howard and built in 1911, brought a campus gem into the 21st century with accessible elevators and sustainable materials and systems. On Thursday, members of the campus community paused to dedicate a plaque marking its LEED Silver certification.
Campuses target workplace practices to limit waste
August 29, 2011:
UC green-office programs, launched at Berkeley in 2009, are off and running
Have a campus sustainability project that needs extra hands? Apply for a CACS internship award
July 29, 2011:
The Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS) is currently soliciting proposals from campus members with sustainability projects in need of helping hands. Internship awards of up to $1,500, to support a student intern, will be made. Applications are due Aug. 31.
UC Berkeley achieves sustainable seafood certification
June 20, 2011:
Cal Dining’s commitment to seafood sustainability has led to UC Berkeley being named the first public university to achieve certification from the Marine Stewardship Council. The globally-recognized MSC ecolabel will begin appearing this summer on menus and at food stations where MSC-certified seafood is served.
Self-imposed fees support UC campus sustainability efforts
June 6, 2011:
For the price of a coffee drink each term, students at seven University of California campuses are funding programs that reduce waste and save energy and resources.
Bosch grants $10 million for energy research
June 1, 2011:
UC Berkeley will be one of five leading universities to launch Bosch Group’s new $10 million energy initiative, designed to promote research and education in the United States.
Bamboo art piece takes form at Botanical Garden
May 24, 2011:
Using bamboo from the UC Botanical Garden’s Asian and South American collections, students created a structural art piece at the Garden entrance over the weekend. The structure will provide shade at the Garden’s Green Gala on June 18.
United Nations recognizes architecture professor Mary Comerio’s work on environmental emergencies
May 18, 2011:
UC Berkeley architecture professor Mary Comerio has received the Green Star Award from the United Nation’s Environment Programme, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Green Cross International in recognition of her 25 years of work in seismic safety for housing and post-disaster recovery. Most recently, Comerio has been involved in reconstruction efforts following the devastating 2008 earthquake in China and the 2010 quake in Haiti.
Freewheeling pursuit of food justice on spring break
April 27, 2011:
The Food Justice and Sustainability Alternative Breaks program got a major boost this spring break when Chevrolet loaned the student-run class a small fleet of Chevy Cruzes to transport them to family-run farms around the Bay Area. Co-leaders Emily Loh and Danielle Ngo blogged about their experience.
Architect named Fulbright NEXUS scholar for Western Hemisphere research on sustainable, affordable housing
April 25, 2011:
María-Paz Gutierrez, a University of California, Berkeley, assistant professor of architecture, has been named to the 2011-2012 Fulbright Regional Network for Applied Research (NEXUS) Scholar Program as part of a 20-member team working to promote best practices in fighting poverty and inequality in the Western Hemisphere. She will be focusing on building a sustainable, affordable housing prototype for deployment in an emergency, especially flooding.
Campus eco fashion takes off
April 21, 2011:
Sustainable fashions hit the runway at Lower Sproul Green Expo.
Sustainability summit celebrates achievements, sets new water-use target
April 19, 2011: UC Berkeley has set its sights on a new conservation goal: reducing overall use of potable water to 10 percent below 2008 levels by 2020. The target was announced Tuesday by Chancellor Birgeneau at the campus’s 8th Annual Sustainability Summit.
Sustainability Summit brings awards, water talk
April 13, 2011:
UC Berkeley’s eighth annual Sustainability Summit, in Pauley Ballroom on Tuesday, April 19, will showcase a year’s worth of sustainability-related results, acknowledge green achievements by campus members, and feature a talk on “The Business of Water” Peter Gleick.
Green chemistry in the lab and beyond
March 22, 2011:
The Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry hosts its first national conference March 24, where experts from a broad range of disciplines will discuss the center’s unique, multidisciplinary approach to creating more sustainable and safer chemicals.
Travel-free meeting grants now available
March 21, 2011:
The Office of Sustainability is awarding grants of up to $100 to promote travel-free meetings by opting instead for web meetings or video conferences.
