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Sustainability

Office of Administration
Mrak 436 University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616

(530) 752-2599

Human Powered Utility Vehicle Pilot Program

Award

$2145 (Spring 2008)

Participants

• Michael Griffith, staff
• Jason Moore, graduate student
• Sal Genito, staff
• Cliff Contreras, staff
• Robert Summersett, staff

The Project

A human powered utility vehicle will be purchased for use by a groundskeeper in the Buildings and Grounds Department. The vehicle will be a used on a daily basis instead of the gas powered utility vehicles that are currently in use. The human powered vehicles produce no air or noise pollution, are significanlty cheaper, will improve the health of the user, and are much safer. The high visibility of the vehicle will help promote the use of alternative, sustainable transportation options for the campus.

UC Davis Campus Computing Energy Solutions

Award

$1220 (Spring 2008)

Participants

• Tracy Hsieh, undergraduate student
• Siva Gangadhar Gunda, graduate student
• Tai Stillwater, graduate student
• Dana Rowan, graduate student

The Project

In response to the critical need for resource sustainability, electricity conservation, and the university's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this team will work in collaboration with Facilities Management, campus IT services, and faculty and staff members to measure, strategize, and implement methods for reducing energy consumption by campus computers and peripherals. Solutions to this pressing problem may be as simple as encouraging the campus community to adjust inefficient settings, or incentivizing energy efficient purchasing. We will focus our efforts on four complementary strategies: raising awareness in the campus community about computing-related energy waste; teaching IT professionals and others in the campus community to use power meters in order to foster a culture of continual improvement in efficiency, and distributing meters for common use by the community; developing "Best Practice" guidelines for energy settings and use at campus computer centers and labs; working with Facilities management and IT professionals to develop an efficient computing purchasing program to overcome current institutional barriers. We believe that through this process, we can achieve a substantial reduction in campus computer energy consumption and make an important step towards sustainability on campus.

UC Davis Landscape Comparison And Assessment -- Genome West And The Math Sciences Garden Walk

Award

$2000 (Spring 2008)

Participants

• Christina DeMartini Reyes, staff
• Eric Shelton, undergraduate student

The Project

The UC Davis Landscape Comparison and Assessment project is a comparative evaluation of two discrete campus landscapes of similar size and age, but with different design goals and characteristics: the landscape on the west side of the Genome and Biomedical Sciences (primarily lawn and typical foundation plantings) and the landscape between Math Sciences and Academic Surge (primarily composed of drought tolerant perennials). The objectives of the assessment include: measuring the total inputs required to maintain each landscape; measuring the ouputs each landscape type yields; determining whether those inputs/outputs have changed over time as each landscape has aged; determining life-cycle costs of materials used to install each landscape; documenting current conditions and real project costs to install each landscape; and comparing the data gathered to form a well-documented conclusion regarding the suitability of each landscape type for the UC Davis campus.

Each of the two landscapes being evaluated are components of a very large insitutional landscape with unique opportunities and constraints that have to be considered when determining the suitability. This assessment will provide the data from which to evaluate and determine the suitability of two different landscape types for this unique campus, guide future campus landscape design decisions and help to define what sustainability is on this campus.

UC Davis Garden At The Robert Mondavi Institute Educational Signage

Award

$2000 (Spring 2008)

Participants

• Nicole Sturzenberger, staff
• Sal Genito, staff
• Dan Flynn, staff
• Katie Stapko, staff
• Katie Hetrick, staff

The Project

The UC Davis Garden at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science will be a high-profile campus feature that will promote sustainable gardening practices and “good food and good health” through outreach to volunteers, the community, farmers, schools, and visitors. The project ties together the ecological, social, human, and economic aspects of sustainability. We are seeking a grant to provide permanent signs throughout the garden to inform visitors about seasonality, native plants, and nutrition. The garden will have a postive impact on the campus and surrounding community by promoting campus sustainability principles and strategies with informative signs that will teach how agriculture can be pursued sustainably, as well as the connection between food, health, and the environment. It will also have major implications beyond campus due to the children’s programming and the project’s appeal to campus visitors. This project will bring together a unique array of collaborators from the university, non-profit organizations and K-12 education. The garden has high potential for traffic due to its close proximity to the freeway. The project seeks a 1:2 match from the Campus Sustainability Grant, which would have long-term benefits and would quickly produce results with the garden’s October 9, 2008 debut.

Davis Bike Church Physical Space Renovation

Award

$2000 (Spring 2008)

Participants

• Jason Moore, graduate student
• Sarah McCullough, graduate student
• Matthew Seitzler, graduate student
• Ty Nowotny, graduate student
• Christopher Congleton, graduate student

The Project

The Davis Bike Church, located in the Sustainable Research Area, is in the process of a major renovation of our physical space. This renovation consists of weatherproofing our structures, making improvements to the natural landscape and constructing a decorative bicycle fence to define the space. This is all part of the initiative we are calling "The Great Pedal Forward" in which we bring the Bike Church to a new level of organization and functionality with the final goal of serving many more community members.

Sustaining Pollinators: Demonstration Habitat Planting at the UC Davis Arboretum

Award

$1000 (Spring 2008)

Participants

• Kim Chacon, undergraduate student
• Anita Francesca Claverie, undergraduate student

The Project

We propose to create a demonstration planting at the UC Davis Arboretum that exhibits sustainable gardening practices, including the use of plants that support native pollinators, to help the campus community and other Arboretum visitors learn about the importance of creating habitat for pollinators and other beneficial wildlife in campus and home landscapes. The demonstration planting will feature Arboretum All-Star plants and other plants adapted to Central Valley conditions with known wildlife value. The planting will demonstrate sustainable gardening practices such as efficient irrigation and mulching. Arboretum student employees and interns will collaborate with professional staff to design the planting, prepare the soil, install the irrigation, plant pollinator-supporting shrubs and perennials, and create an accompanying educational sign. The demonstration planting will be located at the new Arboretum teaching nursery and will be unveiled at the Arboretum Plant Faire on October 4, 2008. The Arboretum and its partners, the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH) and UCCE Master Gardeners, will be able to use the demonstration planting to share information about pollinator-supporting plants and sustainable gardening practices with a broad regional audience. Student researchers will track pollinator activity. Support from the Campus Sustainabilty Program will be acknowledged on the educational sign.

PES Salad Bowl Garden (round 2)

Award

$2560 (Spring 2008)

Participants

• Margaret Lloyd, graduate student
• Erica Smith, graduate student
• Michael Wolff, graduate student
• Molly McClary, undergraduate student
• Jacob McNeil, undergraduate student
• Brooks Landers
• Margaret Worthington, graduate student
• Maria Pas Santibanez, graduate student
• Jo Heraty, graduate student

The Project

Currently, a group of graduate and undergradute students, faculty and staff run a 600 square foot, intensively planted organic salad bowl garden at the entrance to the Plant and Envrionmental Sciences Building on campus. This spring we grew over 15 different crops and hosted weekly salad bowl lunches at which we set up a wash station, salad spinner, salad dressing, salt and pepper, and have volunteers showing people how to harvest their salad sustainably. In order to reach the point where we had salad bowl lunches, we conducted a survey of the building to determine their food preferences, double dug the beds, took soil tests of the plots, developed and received feedback on our designs from several professionals on campus, transplanted the garden and maintained it.

Our objectives include:

• Introducing more food raising on campus, and in high, human-traffic areas
• Increasing the local aesthetic while generating edibles
• Producing fresh, organic food for lunch
• Exposing methods of food raising appropriate for urban and ‘human’ landscapes

Increasing Engagement in the Campus Food System

Award

$2800 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Alida Cantor, graduate student
• Danielle Lee, undergraduate student
• Sean Smukler, graduate student
• Tianna Dupont, graduate student
• Rory O'Dwyer, staff

The Project

Students for Sustainable Agriculture strengthens connections, raises consciousness and engages the campus about the socially just, environmentally sound, and economically feasible food and agricultural systems on the campus and inspire policy and practical changes. This grant will support a handful of new projects to increase students' and administrators' understanding of sustainability in the food system.

• A Campus Food Guide will help students, staff and faculty find sustainably produced food on campus and in the City of Davis, share current events in the campus food system and raise awareness of opportunities off-campus. It will include news articles, recipes, literary pieces, directory of farmers and a directory and map of local producers. It will also list internship and volunteer opportunities, and courses that address different components of the food system.
• Two posters, visually portraying the connection between CoHo, Student Farm and Project Compost, will be produced and put on display in the CoffeeHouse and Student Farm.
• An exhibit of student art inspired by food and agriculture will be launched on the quad as part of Local Food Week in Fall 2008 and will visually illustrate the link between farm and fork using photography, silk screening, drawing, painting, and installations. Student-artists will be invited to participate in showing and contributing their work and some pieces of artwork will go on to be displayed on the walls at the Coffee House.

Pathways to Sustainable Living Practices at the On-Campus Tri-Co-Operatives

Award

$2000 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Derek Downey, undergraduate student
• Pathways Committee of the Tri-Co-ops

The Project

The on-campus Tri-Co-operatives (Agrarian Effort, Pierce and Davis Student Co-op) residents are not only dedicated to practicing sustainable living in their daily lives, but they strive to educate other Davis community members on how to incorporate sustainable living practices in their daily lives. The Pathways Committee of the Tri-Co-Operatives has planned to increase the effectiveness of the co-op's educational messages by designing signs, maps and displays for the high traffic areas in and around the co-ops. The new signs will inform people of the community's existence, its sustainable living practices, and how to find the different areas of interest in and around the co-op gardens (for example, the solar panels, the beehives, the chicken coop, etc.). At those areas of interest will be more detailed educational signage to explain the benefits (both to the environment and to the community) of these programs and how people can go about implementing them in their own lives. Garden signage will also encourage people to tour the gardens, to talk with the community members and to discover what this community has to offer.

Construction and Maintenance of a Urine Diversion Composting Toilet

Award

$1400 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Bill Fleenor, faculty
• Erica Mckenzie, graduate student
• Temitope Ogunyoku, graduate student
• Aaron Heinrich, graduate student

The Project

The project involves the design and construction of a urine-diversion composting toilet that will meet the needs of the Experimental College Community Garden. Toilets in the United States are primarily centralized, water-based systems requiring large amounts of water and expensive infrastructure which discharges treated effluent back into future drinking water sources. A urine-diversion composting toilet is a decentralized sanitation system that separates urine from the feces - the urine and feces are collected and stored in separate receptacles. Both the urine and feces are valuable resources as fertilizers and soil amendments when simply and inexpensively composted. The urine-diversion composting process closes the nutrient cycle (garden to table and back again), saves vast amounts of water and is much less expensive. The project will coordinate with the Experimental College Community Garden manager and UC Davis’ Environmental Health and Safety in order to create the facility along with an operation and maintenance plan to insure that the system is properly maintained and serviced throughout its life. A hand washing station will be incorporated into the design in order to promote proper hygiene.

The PES Salad Bowl Garden: Aesthetic and Sustainable Food Raising on Campus

Award

$1800 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Margaret Lloyd, graduate student
• Brooks Landers, undergraduate student
• Megan Kyles, graduate student
• Sosha Capps, graduate student
• Keith Aulick , graduate student

The Project

Essential to a healthy future will be the availability of fresh food and food security. There has been an on-going migration of people to urban and suburban areas, as well as a decreased number of farmers. In addition, population growth and land scarcity are growing hand in hand. In light of these trends, it is becoming increasingly desirable to bring fresh food closer to people and to generate an interest and excitement towards food growing. Our campus at UC Davis is an ideal learning and demonstration center for innovative ideas addressing modern life and our collective future. In response to the sustainability challenge, this project will further test the impact and acceptance of edible landscapes around campus buildings. A “salad bowl” garden will be planted in the traditional French potager aesthetic and using the sustainable growing techniques of Biointensive. Potager vegetable gardening was considered an art form used to ornament Chateaus that also produced large amounts of food in small spaces. Landscaping services has already begun introducing edible landscaping as seen outside of the Plant and Environmental Science (PES) building, thus this project would supplement the edible landscaping and offer another demonstration, but also include special tests to discern the interest and increase the role of PES faculty, staff and students in the edible landscaping.

Buildings and Grounds and Design 199 Waste Reduction Campaign

Award

$2385 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Katie Hetrick, Sal Genito, Lin King, Kathryn Stapko, Hok-Yin Lee; staff
• Anne Savageau, faculty
• Leslie Mathews, Hatim Dossaji, Ryan Chu, Kenneth Fung, Lauren Yee, Tim Yu, Krystle Cho, Vi C (Alan) Kha; undergraduate students

The Project

The goal of the Buildings and Grounds and Design 199 Waste Reduction Campaign is to increase building waste stream diversion from 28% to 41% by November 1, 2008. The Waste Reduction Campaign proposes that design students create posters and other recycling-related signage for the following areas: Unitrans buses, campus classrooms with poor waste diversion, and Geidt Hall and Vet Med 3A which are both certified "green" buildings. In addition to this students will design and create educational materials for the R4 Recycling Program. Using proven communication methods, the Design 199 students will tailor their designs to the specific demographics of each location; a firm understanding of what appeals to the target audience (the majority of which are students) will have the best chance of capturing attention, which will change current behavior and result in improved recycling rates.

Solar Electrification of the UC Davis Community Bike Cooperative, The Bike Church

Award

$3800 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Matthew Seitzler, graduate student
• Bryan Jenkins, faculty
• Eric Van Gelder, staff
• Chris Congleton, graduate student
• Tai Stillwater, graduate student

The Project

The applicants are proposing to install a solar power system at the Campus Area for Sustainable Research, where it will provide electric power for the UC Davis Community Bike Cooperative, the Bike Church. The solar electric system, will supply renewably generated electrical power for lighting, an air compressor, and other electrical loads, improving the functionality of the Bike Church facility. The sustainable electrification of the Bike Church will aid in promoting a volunteer operated, community building institution and assist in the proliferation of bicycling as sustainable transportation on campus. Patrons of the Bike Church, which includes students, staff and Davis residents, will be exposed to this innovative energy system as a functioning part of their community, promoting awareness of sustainable energy solutions. Once installed, this system will also be used as a demonstration and research site for a renewable energy course to be taught by Professor Bryan Jenkins through the Biological and Agricultural Engineering department, and others as needed. Typically, a system of this size would cost close to ten thousand dollars in equipment alone. However, the majority of the materials cost for this project has already been donated by the department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering through Professor Bryan Jenkins in the form of 750 watts of photovoltaic panels.

UC Davis Tri-Co-Operative Community Gardens Greenhouse

Award

$1450 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Keren Ram , graduate student
• Agrarian Effort Co-op

The Project

The on-campus Tri-Co-Operative community has been a leader in campus sustainability for 35 years, allowing students to learn direct ways to engage with their landbase and reduce their ecological footprint, including gardening, beekeeping, earthen building, and other projects. The garden is a central focus to the community and is also used as an educational tool for campus members who are not living in our community. People can walk through and participate in our gardens and learn more about where their food comes from, as well as build friendships and a network of people interested in ways to reduce their global impact. The Agrarian Effort Co-op has been awarded funding for a new greenhouse in order to promote a learning experience, provide for sustainable planning efforts on the campus, help the students grow more food crops in the winter and keep their educational impact going strong all year round.

Arboretum All-Stars: Sustainable Horticulture Publication for the UC Davis Arboretum

Award

$2340 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Betsy Faber, graduate student
• Holly Crosson, staff
• Ellen Zagory, staff

The Project

This expanded publication for the UC Davis Arboretum will teach the campus community and Arboretum visitors about sustainable gardening in the Central Valley. The publication will be distributed as a downloadable resource on the Arboretum Web site, at major outreach events and plant sales, and be available in the Arboretum at the demonstration gardens. It is part of a multi-faceted sustainable horticulture education and outreach program and will be tailored to visitor interests and knowledge level. The publication will feature photographs and descriptions of the 100 Arboretum All-Star plants, expert horticulture staff’s top recommended plants for the Central Valley, their use in various garden settings, and easy ways to apply Valley-Wise horticultural practices such as composting, mulching and drip irrigation in home gardens.

Sustainable Transportation Film Festival

Award

$500 (Fall 2007)

Participants

• Bradford Leaser, staff, undergraduate student
• Christopher Congleton, graduate student

The Project

In order to foster greater discussion of sustainability and alternative transportation amongst the campus community, especially the undergraduate population, UC Davis Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) is planning to host an Alternative Transportation and Sustainability Film Festival. The festival would showcase films created by campus affiliates and provide the opportunity for campus affiliates to highlight the successes and failures of the campus’s ongoing sustainability efforts. Undergraduate students compose the largest segment of the university population and the second largest group of single occupancy vehicle commuters to campus and yet are minimally involved in the discussions of alternative transportation and sustainability. A film festival would promote greater dialogue between diverse members of the campus community to foster a sustainable transportation infrastructure on campus that addresses the needs of everyone. This grant will go to partially sponsor the film festival, pending financial support from other sources.

Interpretive Graphics System to Promote Sustainability Concepts

Award

$1970 (May 2007)

Participants

• Tim McNeil, faculty, Design Program
• John Fulton, staff
• Alan Wells and Mei Chen, undergraduate students

The Project

These funds will be used to design and implement an interpretive graphics system (signage, print and web based) that provides information about how the UC Davis Design Museum is addressing energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and the use of sustainable and green materials. The system, once prototyped, has the potential to roll out campuswide in other applicable buildings and sites.

Efficiency of Food Consumption at the UC Davis Dining Commons

Award

$1800 (May 2007)

Participants

• Josh Rapport, graduate student
• Ruihong Zhang and Zhongli Pan, faculty

The Project

The UC Davis dining commons collects pre and post-consumer food waste for diversion from landfills. Combined with data on the number of meals consumed and total amount of food purchased, this study will attempt to quantify the efficiency of food services in relation to the student health and food waste generation. The chemical composition of the incoming and outgoing food streams will be characterized so that the amounts and types of food consumed and wasted can be analyzed. This has implications for human nutrition as well as waste management strategy. Recommendations for reducing waste and improving the overall sustainability of food consumption on campus will be made based on the data collected.

Pedal Powered Charging Table

Award

$900 (May 2007)

Participants

• Jason Moore and Tai Stillwater, graduate students
• Matt McCorkle, Arlen Abraham and Josh Gould, undergraduate students

The Project

During Spring of 2007 an Action Research Team designed and constructed a pedal-powered electricity generating station built into an attractive table that can be used for a dining or study. The table’s design incorporates educational information on energy production and consumption. This project will introduce alternative pedal-powered machines to the campus, educate students on sustainable design and demonstrate possible ways to convert human energy to productive use.

See the results here.

Project Compost – Worm Composting Project
Diverting post-consumer organic matter from the campus landfill using worms in custom-made continuous-flow vermicomposting bin

Award

$2000 (January 2007)

Participants

• Derek Downey, undergraduate student,
  Unit Director – Project Compost
• Volunteers for Project Compost

The Project

This grant supportted a pilot project in which custom-made worm bins were constructed in order to compost post-consumer materials from campus dining commons.

Sustainable Gardening Signs for the UC Davis Arboretum

Award

$4000 (January 2007 )

Participants

• Melissa Jo Borel, graduate student
• Carmia Feldman and Betsy Faber, Arboretum staff

The Project

The UC Davis Arboretum hosts over 250,000 visitors annually. Multiple informal education tools such as docent tours, self-guided tours and interpretive signs are employed within the garden to communicate messages to these visitors. Unpublished qualitative research conducted on the interpretive signs in the T. Eliot Weir Redwood Grove shows that on a weekend, the majority of non-recreating Arboretum visitors stop to read the signs.

The four interpretive signs developed with the support of the Campus Sustainability grant will serve to spread information and knowledge concerning ‘Valley-Wise’ gardening practices. Visitors will experience these signs and leave the Arboretum with a practical understanding of how to implement garden practices that will reduce the number of inputs (time, water, pesticides) necessary in their home garden.

Support for Sustainability Education in the Design Department

Award

$580 (Fall 2006)

Participants

• Project lead: Ann Savageau, faculty, design program
• Students enrolled in Design 127, spring 2007

The Project

• Recycling Posters: Students created posters promoting recycling in four buildings identified as having the largest waste stream on campus: Briggs, Tupper, Sproul, and Research Park; and images for a cloth shopping bag that will be distributed by R4. The posters were printed in 24”x36” format by Streamline Graphics, using environmentally-friendly paper and ink. Lin King of R4 and Katie Hetrick of Facilities collaborated on the development and distribution of the posters.
• Cradle to Cradle Design Projects: Students created products for the office or home using post-consumer waste. Students came up with ingenious solutions, including a shopping cart converted into a chair and a side table constructed out of cardboard.
• Research: Students worked in teams to research products and materials that pose environmental problems, and to identify sustainable alternatives including textiles such as bamboo, soy, hemp and organic cotton.
• Cradle to Cradle Exhibition: The Memorial Union was the site for a 2-day design exhibition featuring student projects and alternative design products. Students created an exhibition poster and handouts on sustainable design for a the show.

Developing a Funding Strategy for the Student Resource Center – Goal: LEED Platinum

Award

$295 (May 2006)

Participants

• Michelle van Tijen, undergraduate student
• Additional members of a student Action Research Team(through the Education for Sustainable Living Program)

The Project

Funds used to purchase a private consultant’s funding toolkit