THE BLUEPRINT FOR
A SUSTAINABLE
CAMPUS
5TH ANNUAL CAMPUS EARTH SUMMIT
MARCH 10, 2006
UCSC STUDENT ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER
College 8 Student Commons, Room 210
831-459-7169
enviroslug@ucsc.edu
www.ucscsec.org
Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………..……………………2
Working Group
Summaries……………………………………………………………….…………..4
Waste Prevention ……………………………………………..……………………6
Transportation – Moving People and Things…………………………………..8
Food Systems …………………….………….…………………………………….10
Long Range Campus Planning…..……….………………………….………….13
Green
Purchasing…………………………………………………….……………………16
Green Building and Renewable Energy……………….……………………….19
Environmental Injustice and Social Inequality ……………………………….23
Appendices………………………………………………………………….Attached
Introduction
On March 10,2006 over 200 people gathered for the 5th annual UC Santa Cruz Campus Earth Summit. Hosted by the Student Environmental Center, this
annual event brings together campus and community members to further campus sustainability efforts. At the summit participants convened seven Working Groups to envision sustainability projects and actions for the upcoming year. The ideas generated were compiled into this document, The Blueprint for
a Sustainable Campus. The Summit is designed to produce this Blueprint, inspire the groups to continue working together, and to further their goals
throughout the year.
Highlights of the 2006 Summit included opening comments by Chancellor
Denice Denton, as well as the launch of UC Santa Cruz‘s first Campus
Sustainability Assessment. As a zero waste event, the Earth Summit featured a local, organic lunch, recycling and composting efforts, and literature printed on recycled paper.
On the following pages you will first find a brief summary of each topic group‘s
goals followed by the detailed ideas generated by each group.
Working Group Summaries
Waste Prevention
This group focused on campus waste prevention and recycling efforts, electronic waste at UCSC, and composting programs on campus. The action ideas generated by this group included: 1) Launching an education and outreach effort to raise student awareness and stimulate student involvement in compost and waste prevention efforts, 2) Forming a committee to help connect and coordinate waste prevention initiatives across campus (including a subcommittee on electronic waste prevention), 3) Collaborating with UC faculty and administrators to integrate waste prevention into curriculum and campus operations (e.g. UCSC dining halls). The group did not schedule a future meeting, but created an email group to communicate and network.
Transportation – Moving People and Things
The transportation system on campus has received a lot of attention for a long time. The Metro provides frequent bus service off campus and students account for 20% of its ridership. The diesel shuttle busses now run on B20 biodiesel. A pilot biodiesel plant is operating on campus with used cooking oil from the kitchens. The bicycle plan is expanding with e-bikes parking for free (pending). A car share program has been proposed and should get started this year. A transportation and greenhouse gas policy has been brought before the Regents for their consideration. More education and funding were proposed as next steps.
Food Systems
This group focused on student education and outreach efforts, as well as the continuation and expansion of policy changes in the UCSC campus food system. The action ideas generated by this group included: 1) Creating an annual publication (Campus Food Guide) to detail opportunities for students to get involved in UCSC‘s food system, 2) Connecting students and student groups with the UCSC Farm and Garden, and with community groups, and 3) Working to include organic dairy, grain, and meat in the Sustainable Purchasing Guidelines currently used for purchasing produce. This ongoing group continues to meet on a quarterly basis, with subgroups (Education/Outreach and Policy/Guidelines meeting throughout the quarter).
Long Range Campus Planning
This topic generated a lot of interest with the revised LRDP being finalized. Much discussion centered around how the community could add 6,000 students and supporting faculty/staff. The importance of green building strategies was emphasized along with preservation of open space. Renewable energy was highlighted as well as stormwater issues. Ongoing meetings were suggested and coordination with CLUE agreed upon. Next meeting will be April 4.
Green Purchasing
This group was meeting for the second time and produced many ideas including working with OP and other campuses to define the ‗greeness‘ of products, educating the students and staff to increase awareness of recyled products that are available, identifying green products that are available with CRUZBUY and adding a ‗dashboard‘ on CRUZBUY to highlight green products and report on each department‘s percentage rdof participation. 3 party certification programs should be researched and adopted to create a UCSC list of favorable items. E-waste has now become mandatory so the campus needs to set up a program to recycle items.
Green Building and Renewable Energy
This was the largest group of the Summit with many staff members attending. Much time was spent explaining what had been done to date including the Regents passing of the Green Building and Renewable Energy Policy. The campus has already done a lot to be in compliance but funding for full compliance is a problem. Retro-commissioning of existing buildings should be done as well as more awareness campaigns among the students and staff. The students have passed a fee to purchase green energy tags for the whole campus. Photovoltaics are being pursued through systemwide funding. Other ideas included reaching out to primary schools, cooperating with the City on green standards and billing the individual apartments for their use.
Environmental Injustice and Social Inequality
This session was focused on improving the awareness and cooperation Of the faculty, students and administration towards social justice and minority representation. They identified where weaknesses occur and listed many steps that can be taken to improve diversity. Areas of focus were on the administration and the ESLP/ART programs. External issues were also discussed.
WASTE PREVENTION
Co-Facilitators:
Aspen Kvicala Naturechick29@yahoo.com
Caitlin Donnelan jyoti624@hotmail.com
Participants:
Name Email Affiliation
Christine Moran cmoran@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us City of Santa Cruz
Mary Lieth mLieth@ucsc.edu ESLP
Dave Wade dmwade@ucsc.edu UCSC
Silas Snyder Silass@ucsc.edu Housing facilities
Leah Seagraves leahsierra@homtail.com UCSC
Mary Mayeda mmayeda@berkeley.edu ESLP
Ally Muma amuma@ucsc.edu UCSC
Ryan Power rpower@ucsc.edu PICA
Zoe Carlson zoecarlson@scumb.edu CSUMB AS
Kendall Webster tygrrlily@aol.com the planet
Tiffany Klitske tiffanyklitzke@hotmail.com
Laura Jackson Ljackson@ucsc.edu UCSC
Sarah Black sblack@ucsc.edu SEC (WP)
Allison Marrama amarrama@comcast.net UCSC
Ryan Carle rcarle@ucsc.edu
Corey Chan cechan@ucsc.edu
Ian Maclaird pleasewriteian@hotmail.com SEC
Stephanie Schaffer mystic_being@sbcglobal.net SEC
Where are we now?
； Chris Moran: City of Santa Cruz has vermin composting promotion—discounted compost
bins for Santa Cruz residents. Call 420-LESS for information.
； SC county pilot in-vessel system at Buena vista landfill)
； Current Dining Services event, ―Bistro By the Bay‖ is a sustainability dinner that includes
zero waste and local/organic food. Perhaps more events like this.
； Kendall (participant) completing E-waste senior exit project with Silicon Valley Toxic
Coalition.
； Bill SB20 - all institutions cannot throw away, ewaste; it gets processed or recycled
in other countries or in prisons - it is now illegal to throw away e-waste
； Long marine lab - teaching kids about ocean waste + keeping marine areas
cleaner/healthier
； PICA (Program in Community and Agroecology) fundraising for $3000 to expand
composting system at PICA, including outreach + paid internship position to manage this
； Need to find outlet for surplus compost ---> landscaping?
； Have some successful case studies (e.g. approx. $10,000 saved at Dartmouth b/c of
composting)
； College 8 Waste Reduction program (student led program to reduce waste and compost
through dorms and apartments)
； Pulping machine at College 8 Dining Hall successfully reducing food waste
； No staff or money to coordinate battery recycling, despite law not allowing batteries to be
thrown away.
Action Ideas:
； Student surveys on waste
； Education of students - where power comes from, where waste goes
； East side location of campus for composting?
； Identify key players for steering committee and subcommittees
； Beach clean-up
； Integrate education/experience on waste prevention in freshperson orientation programs
and in curriculum
； Work with Dining Services (already working on greening the food in the dining halls,
include waste prevention)
； OUTREACH - volunteers, more events! (trash art fashion show! mascot, public displays
in quad, trash art contest, worm benches, trash audit, trash dunking, offer bins, garage
sales)
； Alternative to punitive measures for students who are written-up the dorms (punishment
eased if they volunteer with waste prevention of some kind)
； RESEARCH for a draft proposal to DHs to invest in some kind of composting
system/write grant
； Build network of campus gardens
； Required community service for students
； More dorm/apartment composting
； Strengthen contacts with other schools/communities/programs (more networking! ； Form an e-waste subcommittee
； Work with Joe‘s and other on-campus restaurants
； Craft coalition/center for creative reuse :)/ student thrift store
； Garbage stations - centralized locations with diff bins for: compost, reusables/repairables,
paper, glass, cans/scrap metal
；
Next Meeting/Next Steps:
； Form a yahoo group (done!)
； No next meeting scheduled at this time
Transportation- Moving people and things
Stakeholders
Students, faculty, staff, TAPS, Crown Student Services, UCSC Biofuels CO-OP, Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, bicyclists, PPC, bus drivers, community members, Food Systems delivery, transit riders, low income.
Where Are We Now?
Much has been done with regards to MANY specific programs, i.e.…
； biofuels production facilities
； why students aren‘t walking
； carshare
； educate
； post more signs, etc, etc
UCSC students are 20% of county-wide Metro riders.
Biofuels Coop working on pilot study: Small scale biodiesel processor to power farm equipment and beyond (loop busses, etc.). TAPS shuttles carry 10-12K people/day, they use biodiesel formulation B20.
ESLP action research team to build processor. Need a location! Working on logistics
Env. Studies class 158: Campus dining hall used cooking oil- How much are we purchasing? Where does it go?
TAPS burns 60K gallons of diesel/year. The biodiesel comes from Richmond. Pacific
Biodiesel? Biodiesel approx. $1/gal. more than regular.
Bicycle plan is under development: This would include bike storage and parking, showering services for cyclists and ebike users but not gas-powered cycles, ‗EGO‘
electric scooter would be able to park on campus w/o a parking permit (A draft plan is available on TAPS website, but is still waiting formal approval)
Car pooling education. The average rider per vehicle is increasing, what can we do to encourage this to continue?
Car-share program (car ownership/rental program): This proposal is a co-op like system where you reserve a car online, user‘s pay hourly fee (projected cost- $7.50-8 per hour
or about $60/day) or pre-pay. Drivers currently need to be 21 or over, eventually the age will drop to 18 and over. Cars may be hybrid gas/electric. Program costs approx. $70-75K/year. Funding from student groups? (Ask Teresa Buika at TAPS . . sounds like it will happen by the end of the quarter for 18+ . . CSC pitched in $15,000 for pilot program)
Minimize impact, every square foot costs! Work toward a pedestrian-core campus, no ‗kiss-and-runs‘
； Move UC: Statewide sustainability policy worked to get passed
； Transportation and greenhouse gas emissions recently brought to table ； UCOP- if requirements come into effect, money will be an issue. One natural gas
bus- $350K! Need money! Increasing requirements for the fleet vehicles. ； UC campus system, with huge purchasing power can demand more efficient and
environmentally friendly vehicles.
Action Steps
； Add incentives to make sustainable transportation more desirable ； Biodiesel production facilities at central campus and base of campus need to
happen!
； Create more effective use of waste oils from dining halls and cafes ； Discourage cars on campus
； Education and outreach: what other options are available aside from parking
permits? (in car parking meters are coming . . a new way to pay and influence
demand)
； Maybe a regular bulletin/news letter, reach out to others- CRE‘s
； Implement carshare
； Late night escort services for students, safety around McHenry ； More funding from State and/or UCOP needed
； More direct shuttle routes with fewer stops. Currently it is more convenient to
use busses
； Need more east side transit service.
； Need walking maps at bus stops, they could include walking times. ； Ride-bike to work/school day, more promotion, better safety and security for
bikers
； Work with our Chancellor
What’s Next?
； Develop an event
； Newsletter, possibly
； Possible internships through TAPS
； More transportation group meetings would be helpful
； Need to make ‗spirit‘ of the Earth Summit last throughout the year
； UC/CSU Sustainability Conference June 25-27
； Student Union Assembly (SUA) - meeting 6-8pm; conference room D; Baytree
Bookstore
； ESLP…build on ideas to make things more public
； Need more education and student involvement of transportation issues ； TAPS website includes minutes from past meetings
； Did you know? Monthly bulletin would be helpful. Make it a consistent color
scheme so easily identifiable.
； Ties to other sustainability committees on campus
； Bike lane improvements on Bay and High Streets, more bicycle security on
campus, i.e. lockers?
Food Systems Working Group
Facilitator: Timothy Galarneau, Email: solseeker3@aol.com
Participants/Stakeholders: Ali, Lyle, Marley, Nancy, Tim, Chloe, Terrence
Welch, Jim Leap, Ben, Nick, Skip, Sara, Hilary, Julie
Food Systems Working Group includes representatives from:
； The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) ； Community Agroecology Network (CAN) ； Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) ； Students for Organic Solutions (SOS) ； Program in Community & Agroecology (PICA) ； Campus Purchasing ； Education For Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) ； UCSC Campus Dining Services
； Friends of the UCSC Farm and Garden ； Faculty Members
； Monterey Bay Organic Farming Consortium (MBOFC) ； Graduate and undergraduate students at UCSC
Where we are now
*For a more comprehensive history of the Food System‘s Working Group‘s origins, accomplishments, and programs, please see the Appendix at the close of this document
； Today, all five UCSC dining halls and the University Center‘s Terra Fresca
restaurant serve certified organic produce every day of the week. ； Growers from the seven local farms that make up the Monterey Bay Organic
Farmers Consortium (MBOFC)—including the campus‘s farm—pool their
produce through the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) in
Salinas to sell to UCSC Dining Services.
； Each year the Food Systems Working Group reviews the goals and guidelines
for the campus food system in collaboration with Dining Services, making
necessary adjustments based on student demand and local supply capacity. ； The goals for 2006/07, which included increasing the value of ―sustainable‖
produce purchased by Dining Services from 5% to 10% of the total value of
produce purchased, have already been exceeded, with the total now 15%. The
goal for 2007/08 is to increase the value of produce purchased by another 5%,
from 15% to 20% of the total.
； This year‘s goals also include soliciting an organic dairy vendor and contracting
for a minimum of 5% of the value of all dairy purchased by Dining Services from
this vendor. Next year the FSWG would like to see Dining Services initiate a
process to contract with a vendor(s) to provide other sustainable animal products
(in addition to dairy) to UCSC dining halls.
； Organic, Fair Trade Coffee is now served in all UCSC dining halls, through a
partnership with the Community Agroecology Network.