Green College Spotlight: University of California at Santa Cruz

by Stephanie Rogers · View Comments

The University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) has a long history of environmental and conservation programs, so it’s no surprise that they’ve upped their game when it comes to sustainability on campus. The university, well known for its stunning acres of forests and fields overlooking the Monterey Bay, has also received many accolades for their Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems.

UCSC has joined the ranks of dozens of green colleges around the country in creating a Sustainability Office and hiring a Sustainability Coordinator to oversee all of their efforts to establish UCSC as a forward-thinking, eco-minded institution. Since then, UCSC has worked to integrate sustainability into the core responsibilities of faculty, staff and students, initiating many programs and outreach strategies.

The University of California at Santa Cruz has had great success integrating green buildings into the local ecosystem, working hard to limit adverse environmental effects as much as possible. They’ve always taken stewardship of the campus very seriously, and have now committed to meeting LEED standards for future projects.

With a large, spread-out campus that occupies over 2,000 acres of grasslands, oak woodlands and redwood forests, you might think that eco-friendly transportation would be difficult to integrate. But at UCSC carpooling, buses and bicycles abound, and all campus transit and fleet diesel vehicles run on B-20, a diesel fuel that is at least 20% biodiesel.

UCSC is a leader in sustainable agricultural research and training in the Farm-to-College movement, and it shows in their campus food service programs. UCSC Dining Services purchases lots of local, certified organic food and has been offering a wide range of vegetarian and vegan options since the early 1970s. The University Center’s restaurant offers environmentally friendly and healthy options like fair trade coffee, organic produce, antibiotic-free and hormone-free meats and seafood that meets the criteria of Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch.

Singing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment back in March of 2007 solidifed UCSC’s carbon neutrality goals. The university hopes to return to 2000’s carbon levels by 2014, 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

UCSC is also getting serious about recycling, waste reduction, water conservation and protecting the diverse ecology of the Santa Cruz area. They’ve managed to do so much over just a few years, we can’t wait to see what they accomplish next. Great job, University of California at Santa Cruz!

Link [UCSC Sustainability]

Tagged as: College Activism, EarthFirstU, Sustainable Colleges

Nikki

I'm also a student at UCSC. The way I see things, although taking down 25 acres of redwoods is a loss, we have a lot to gain from it. Student housing is at an unprecedentedly overcrowded level. We need more room to grow. There will still be plenty of redwoods on campus. Many of the colleges work them into the plans.

Maybe I would be more supportive of the environmentalists if they didn't sit in trees all day flinging their crap at people. I mean, come on, people, there are more effective ways to deal with the situation. And the student and community support that you speak about isn't as significant as you make it out to be. Most people just want to see the university thrive. Expansion is inevitable. However, expanding responsibly is a concern to be taken into consideration.

DL Berger

As a UC Santa Cruz student, I think that it is unfair, regardless of your opinions on the LRDP, to discount all the work that UCSC has done to make the campus more sustainable. Green buildings and incorporating biodiesel are just a few of the things UCSC continues to advance in pursuit of sustainability.

Last summer, the campus replaced 1,100 light fixtures with energy-saving bulbs in student housing, saving 90,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Furthermore, projects concerning energy efficiency have lowered campus C02 emissions by roughly 1,600 metric tons since 2004, by cutting yearly electricity consumption by 2.8 million kilowatt hours. That is the same as the emissions of 293 passenger vehicles, or of 160 single-family homes.

All the coffee in the dining halls is free trade, and every meal offers organic and vegetarian/vegan options (which I appreciate, as a vegan who has found it difficult to find that kind of consideration elsewhere). By eliminating trays, the dining services saves 30% food waste and over 300,000 gallons of water per year. In fact, UCSC has the greenest campus cafaterias according to Plenty Magazine (http://www.plentymag.com/features/2008/09/green...).

The campus continues to make sustainability-related resources available, recently releasing a 2008 Sustainability Update, and a Water Efficiency Survey, which can be seen on the campus's website, http://sustainability.ucsc.edu/

me

I'm surprised that you didn't see fit to mention in your article the plans the university has for the future- the so-called Long Range Development Plan that calls for logging and developing much of that forest it's so well know for, in the process endangering the delicate ecosystem of caves and redwoods surrounding the currently developed areas. You also left out the continuing construction of further teacher housing on endanger red-legged frog habitat (or should I say former habitat?). Most significantly, perhaps, you left out the continued student and community movement against the further expansion and continued environmental destruction of UCSC, including several groups with tactics ranging from lawsuits to direct action, the most noticeable being a year-long (so far) tree-sit.
You say in your introductory paragraph that you're dedicated to cutting through the greenwash, but I fail to see how you could have researched the actual claims of the university in any depth without missing these points.
And yeah, as an activist in love with the forests and meadows of my home (the Santa Cruz Mountains), I'm disappointed both in your assessment of the university and your ridiculous use of the earthfirst name. If you really think their tactics are useless, then choose a name that better reflects your susceptibility to corporate brainwashing.