 |
|
February 2, 2007 Vol. 77,
no. 4S
 |
| GREEN
CAUSE: In 20022003, UC Berkeley placed last among
UC campuses in its use of recycled content paper. Students
for a Greener Berkeley won commitments from campus officials
to buy more recycled paper. Last year, the Chancellor’s Advisory
Committee on Sustainability awarded the group its Sustainability
Student Group Award (above).
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SGB
|
Making it easy to be green
Engineers start environmental group to achieve sustainability on campus
“Think Global, Act Local” got very local
a couple years ago when MSE Ph.D. students Gabe Harley and Becca Jones
noticed the trash cans around their work areas in Hearst Memorial Mining
Building. The cans were full of dumped paper, copious amounts of to-go
cups and plastic. Of all places, they thought, UC Berkeley should know
better. “Reduce, reuse, recycle” had long ago entered the
national lexicon.
But, being scientists, they didn’t jump to conclusions. They
collected data. One day they and other students grabbed all the trash
cans in Hearst, dumped them onto a tarp outside and sorted the contents.
Their hypothesis held up: Hearst needed a green scene. Today, it has
one. The MSE department buys recycled content paper, and there are
recycling bins in areas where none existed before. There are special
bins for printed paper that can be used again on the other side. There
is a dishwashing station with dishware.
“We don’t have to give up our quality of life or deprive
ourselves to be environmental,” says Harley. “It just takes
a little education and effort,” adds Jones.
In February 2005, the two formed Students for a Greener Berkeley (SGB),
a coalition of mostly graduate students advocating sustainable practices
on campus. In a university as huge and decentralized as Berkeley, that’s
a challenge. SGB members tracked down purchasing agents and urged them
to buy recycled paper instead of virgin reams. They placed 100 “One
Side Clean” bins to reuse paper. They created a “Pledge
Green” website with suggestions for sustainable practices, such
as carrying a mug or Nalgene water bottle to use instead of disposable
cups, bringing your own bags grocery shopping and putting recyclables
in the recycling bin, not the trash can. They lobbied campus leaders
to implement sustainable practices and elicited a commitment to hire
a permanent staffer dedicated to campus sustainability.
For Harley and Jones, this kind of work is a natural extension of their
own lives. Harley, who grew up hiking and backpacking in Ontario, Canada,
researches new materials for fuel cells. Jones, whose environmentalist
spirit was formed at age seven by stories of rainforest destruction,
researches new materials for high-efficiency solar cells. Both say
SGB is a nice balance to their careers, where research proceeds slowly
and results can be intangible.
One of SGB’s goals this semester is to create a permanent fund
for campus sustainability projects. “There’s a lot of interest
in change but a real lack of funding,” explains Jones. So SGB
formed a coalition of students who are writing a referendum called
The Green Initiative Fund (www.votetgif.com),
which asks for a $5-per-semester student fee increase to promote renewable
energy, energy efficiency
and resource conversation on campus. It will go before student voters
this spring. SGB says it plans to use word of mouth and electronic
means to campaign rather than print and distribute fliers.
“Five dollars. That equals the cost of one burrito each semester,” says
Harley. “Is it worth a burrito to you?”
To learn more, go
to http://sgb.berkeley.edu.
|
|
