Past Campaigns, Initiatives and Projects

The Green Building Campaign

The Green Building Campaign worked towards transforming the campus' environment through sustainable building designs and projects. The campaign aimed to increase student voice to protect and conserve our campus' landscape as well as to create awareness about new development projects in UCSC.

Final Project:

The students of the Green Building Campaign designed and constructed a greenhouse near the College 8 Garden. This project encompassed several innovative and sustainable systems including; controlled environment agriculture via hydroponics and aquaculture, rainwater harvesting for irrigation and possibly hydro-power generation, photo voltaic cells to power various pumps and electrical monitoring equipment designed with best practices in mind. This project was constructed almost completely from open loop recycled materials. It is designed for abundant food production using efficient growing methods. The goal was to show a dramatic reduction in water usage and maximization of organic crop yield, powered by renewable solar and hydro energy. This project also created a learning space for future generations to research innovative food production systems, and resource optimization.

Students for Organic Solutions (SOS)

Students for Organic Solutions (SOS) was a group of students committed to raising awareness on the impacts of our current food system, as well as increasing participation in sustainable food practices. They worked to bring about environmental change through on-campus food systems. Whether it was working with the college gardens, collaborating with various sustainability groups, or educating other students on the impacts of their food choices, SOS made a difference on campus. 

Final Goals:

  • Making healthy food more accessible to students by raising awareness of affordable/free food on and off campus.

  • A mindfulness towards food waste

  • Increasing the amount of composting done on campus

The Transportation Campaign

The Transportation Campaign was dedicated to increasing awareness of alternative-to-car transportation (bikes, walking, bus, train) and challenging the current transportation system that relies so heavily on vehicle use. 

As alternative transportation-minded students who biked wherever possible, sometimes bused it back, and walked in between, the transportation campaign members lived by example, showing the simplicity and relative ease of using alternative transportation to support ourselves--to get to class, to work, do groceries, etc. They were also highly concerned students trying to take a more proactive approach addressing automobile use on campus, actively working on solutions for a more livable and pedestrian centered campus environment. 

Rock the Bike Generator is a project which aims to supply people-power to public functions through portable bike generators. These generators are powered solely by the energy of the person riding them and can be hooked up to sound systems, blenders, lightshows and other electronic devices. Please email seclead-group@ucsc.edu to request to have the bike at your next event!

Bike Library is a lending program designed to increase bicycle ridership, safety, and awareness on the UC Santa Cruz campus and among students in the Santa Cruz community.  We are a bike share program created, designed, and directed by students. Our mission is to make bikes accessible to students, faculty, and staff of UCSC to promote transportation sustainability and self-sufficiency. We believe that financial limitations should not be a barrier and provide our services free of charge.

refuse, re-use, recycle!

  • Refuse conspicuous consumption and the urge to always purchase new goods. There is almost always an alternative to buying a new product from a manufacturer or retailer.

  • Re-use your things until they are beyond use. When you are done using your stuff, give it to someone else who can use it or donate it. If all else fails…

  • Take the little bit of extra time to recycle your things properly. If you are not sure how to recycle, reach out to university or municipal resources. There are many outlets for information on how to properly dispose of anything from packaging materials to batteries and everything in between. 

Waste Prevention Campaign

The Waste Prevention Campaign sought to help everyone understand their relationship with their waste. It has been made so easy to toss anything and everything into waste receptacles that now our trash bins are treated like black holes. In order to help others understand that landfills are a finite space, they educated the student body on where their waste goes and how to properly divert waste from the landfill. 

Slugware: Provided a set of reusable bamboo tableware for the Student Environmental Center as well as the Education for Sustainable Living Program. This set of bamboo table ware diverts a significant amount of one-time use plates/knives/forks/spoons/cups/bowls at the events both these organizations often hold and adds a holistic, sustainable vibe to any dining function. The recently implemented Bambooware provides an innovative and sustainable aspect to the future of Slugware at UC Santa Cruz.

Previous projects:

  • Working with CRE at Redwood Grove apartments to spread Graduate Student housing compost system to the 118 Redwood Grove Apartments

  • A hard copy document with guidelines on how to hold a Zero Waste Event

Our campaign has worked with Dining Services to perform dining hall waste audits. This is where we collect the food thrown away throughout a 1 hour period, while outreaching and educating students on Food Waste. During the audit, we display a "waste buffet" of full plates of food that was thrown away during that 1 hour collection period in order to educate students on the waste stream they all participate in.  Our campaign can coordinate your involvement in these efforts as well.

In the past waste audits, we have found that for a 2-hour lunch period in college 9/10 and Crown/Merrill Dining Halls, 60-100 pounds of food waste is tossed! Although we do have a compost system set up, if we weren’t wasting roughly 10% of our food to begin with, we wouldn’t have the need to truck compost off our campus by the ton everyday (and using diesel.) 
Dining services is always looking for volunteers to work 2 hour shifts in scraping plates and tabling with the results of the weigh in various dining halls throughout the year. 

Supporting the UC green new deal (GND) coalition and recentering the student experience at the heart of the UCSC long range development plan (LRDP)

Goal: Support the UC-wide GND policy framework while advancing UCSC-specific sustainability and climate goals with increased student involvement in their implementation at UCSC.

Challenge the new UCSC LRDP’s focus on needless expansion and lack of student support infrastructure. Voice concerns over a complete lack of student engagement and voices in the LRDP’s development process. Educate the UCSC student body about the impacts of the proposed LRDP, and pose solutions that serve student interests and recenter the student experience as the sole driver for any campus development plans.

Plastic Bag Ban

The city bans them, so why does UCSC still have them? What about UCSC's goal to be "Waste Free by 2020"? We are working with the Student Union Association and Campus Administrators to get reduced waste by getting rid of the plastic bags from the Bay Tree Book Store. Let's help the campus reach their goal and work towards being plastic bag free!

Recycling Education

Will UCSC be able to reach their goal of being zero waste by 2020? Even though the city of Santa Cruz is not taking in any of UCSC’s mixed recycling, SEC is helping increase recycling awareness in Santa Cruz by doing a recycling game which is similar to basketball. This will be available during our tabling events and will give students a fun educational time.

Mission Bell TAKE DOWN

Mission Bell Resolution The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band

To assist the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band in their efforts to draft a Resolution asking the university to remove the Mission Bell located by the Hahn's Student Services building, the SEC acted as a catalyst to share the resolution with students, organizations, and university faculty and staff. With the support of students, professors, provosts, and the like, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band has successfully received affirmation from the university and a promise to remove the bell in the Fall of 2018. 

BASIC NEEDS CARE PACKAGES

Sparked by a need to better serve the students of UCSC's needs, the SEC gathered basic supplies such as soap, Emergen-C, feminine products and sustaininbg snacks such as dinners like lentils, ramen, and mac and cheese, granola bars, juice, etc. Right before finals week and after carefully packaging and wrapping these meals and basic needs, the SEC delivered packages all around campus to various resource centers. All packages had been taken within several days! Based on this success, the SEC hopes to continue this project and to dedicate a portion of funds each quarter to directly serve students needs in this way.