STUDENTS FOR A GREENER BERKELEY
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Projects 1. Student Fee Referendum for Sustainability 2. Greening (Your) Campus Building 3. Campus Waste Audit 4. Recycled Paper Purchasing Campaign 5. Library Project 6. OSC Bins |
1. STUDENT FEE REFERENDUM FOR SUSTAINABILITY SGB is spearheading an exciting initiative to pass a $5/semester student fee for sustainability in the spring 2007 ASUC elections, similar to fees passed recently at UCSB, UC Santa Cruz, and other universities. The fee would fund projects designed to improve Cal's environmental sustainability, focusing on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and resource conservation. We are currently in the initial planning stages of this initiative -- putting together the referendum language, strategizing on how best to campaign, getting a website together and creating informational material -- and are looking for people to get involved, in small and large roles. If you would like to get involved, email beccaj@berkeley.edu.
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2. GREENING YOUR CAMPUS BUILDING (see our "HOW TO" Page) The goal of the "Green Your Building" project is to get individuals to identify simple changes that can be done in their campus facility to make it a greener environment, and then implement those changes! After all, simply by walking around the hallway, most of us could identify some simple changes that could make quite a difference. Some ideas include: (1) creating a building recycling web site, (see The Hearst Mining Building Recycling Webpage ) (2) performing a building waste audit, (3) implementing instituting internal bottle/can recycling, (4) creating a building dish station, and (5) many more. This semester, we have three goals that we're looking for some volunteers to help out with: (1) extending the "Green Your Building" project to as many campus facilities as possible, (2) the completion of an energy audit (started last semester) of one of our campus buildings, and (3) as always, new suggestions on how to further green your buildings. 3. CAMPUS WASTE AUDIT Have you ever taken a look in the trash cans on campus and cringed at how many newspapers and bottles and cans you saw? And why this phenomenon? ...too few recycling bins, apathy, poor-labeling? Our goal with this project is two-fold: to call the problem to people's attention, and to collect data in order to identify the main causes and recommend solutions. Think performance-art meets data collection and analysis! So, whether you see yourself running around campus and picking through trash on one Friday in October or inputing numbers and crunching data, we need your help! *Planning and Logistics* -Decided to do the sort on a Friday at the end of October - no firm date yet. -For this sort, we're going to limit ourselves to garbage bins (attached and detached from recycling bins) and quantify the amount of recyclables in them in comparison to the amount of trash. -Each bin will be sorted individually and there will be data sheets to fill out. -The recyclables will be collectively displayed on Sproul. Ideally we'll go through the bins mid-morning and have the pile in place for the lunch crowd on Sproul. Contact Ashley if you're
interested in helping out: amurray@ce.berkeley.edu.
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4. RECYCLED PAPER PURCHASING CAMPAIGN The goal of this project is to dramatically increase the amount of recycled content (RC) paper purchased on campus. The last time data was collected (2002-03), only 9% of paper purchased at UCB contained recycled content (see report), which was the worst among all of the UC schools! We are in the process of surveying individual departments as well as suppliers to gather data on what is currently being purchased, in order to make a convincing argument to campus administrators for why more emphasis should be placed on RC paper. We are also working with the purchasing department to renegotiate prices for RC paper with the campus uppliers. As a pilot project, we will be working to get the entire College of Engineering purchasing RC paper. There are many ways you can get involved with this project, from small one-time commitments to helping plan our strategy. Some specific tasks are: - surveying a department about their purchasing behavior (15-20 minutes) - convincing your own department or research group to purchase RC paper (we have a factsheet with compelling arguments for making the switch) - joining in our meeting with officials from the campus purchasing department or the College of Engineering For more information or to get involved, email beccaj@berkeley.edu. Back to top 5. LIBRARY PROJECT The library system goes through roughly 1 million pages of paper every seven months. Currently, the Library does not buy recycled content paper (RC paper), nor are the copiers or printers set to have double sided printing a default. The goal of this project is to convince the Library to change from buying virgin to at least 30% RC for all its copiers and printers, as well as to switch (or at least make easily available for) copiers and printers to have default double sided printing. How can you help?? 1. Internet research on existing research reports or publications on whether or not double-sided printing causes more maintenance problems or not. 2. Contact various major copier/printer vendors (Xerox, Canon, Lainer) to get their official stance on using RC paper in machines, and on double sided printing. 3. Get quotes from departments on campus that use RC paper or doublesided printing regularly who can comment on any related maintenance issues. 4. Look in this for other large volume paper users on campus (computing facilities, EECS labs) 6. Letter writing/communication with Library officials. If you want to help out with this project, please contact Gabe at gharley@lbl.gov. Back to top
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Meeting Schedule: Fall 06 Meetings: Sept 13 (kickoff meeting), Oct 4, Oct 25, Nov 15, at 6:30pm. *Check News Update on the home page for location changes Executive Comittee Meetings: Sept 27, Oct 18, Nov 8, Nov 29, at 6:30pm. *Check News Update on the home page for location and changes T SHIRTS ARE HERE! Please support the greening of UC Berkeley!
The T's are American Apparel's Sustainable
Edition, soft, unbleached organic cotton, and printed with non-toxic
water based ink. No
Sweatshops. (S, M, L, XL) $12.
The new sustainability site for campus: Sustainability The Liason Group for Green Stuff on Campus: Berkeley Eco Want free stuff (or have something to give away?): Re-Use Group at Cal The State of California's sustainability website, which contains among many useful subjects the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Best Practice Manual. Brad's Presentation: How to Save the World (send him feedback) See all the trash generated in ONE DAY from only half of Hearst Mining Building here: Hearst Waste Audit The Hearst Mining Building Recycling Webpage  Photo Courtesy of Judith Foster |
