High temperatures can create serious health risks for people, especially if they are engaged in physical activities—even routine walking or gardening outside. A person’s age and health status, such as the presence of lung, heart, or kidney disease, and their hydration status, can influence our natural body-cooling processes.
As Earth Month comes to a close, UC Davis Health reflects on a year marked by progress in environmental sustainability. Through innovations in energy, waste reduction, transportation, purchasing, water reduction, design and construction and clinical care, the health system has demonstrated a strong, ongoing commitment to advancing both human and planetary health—one impactful step at a time.
Here is a look at how UC Davis Health is building a more sustainable and resilient future for our campus and community, starting with national and global firsts.
The second UC Davis Health Sustainability Summit, held on February 12, 2025, explored strategies to reduce the organization’s environmental impact and highlighted recent successes across the health system.
With nearly 100 participants in attendance, speakers from the departments of emergency medicine, radiology, campus planning and grounds, and the Clinical Practice Council brought a holistic view of reducing waste, lowering water and energy use, and improving resilience to climate hazards.
Nikunj is a final year Masters student in the Energy Graduate Group at UC Davis. He holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on industrial decarbonization and eliminating the use of fossil fuels. He is also a Bonnie Reiss Climate Action Fellow for Decarbonization, helping UC Davis Sustainability in developing and improving their Scope 3 Emission calculation methods.
In Fall 2024, the “Sustainable Aggies” First Year Aggie Connection, or FYAC, conducted a mini-waste audit of the Segundo residence halls at UC Davis. The results were eye-opening: of the 22.1 pounds of waste audited, less than 25% was actually landfill-destined. Instead, 44% of the waste consisted of recyclable materials, and 32% was compostable.
The University of California, Davis, is the “greenest” campus in the United States for the ninth year in a row, according to the 2024 UI GreenMetric World University Rankings.
Beginning in September 2024, the UC Davis campus community will see a significant shift in the packaging of beverages sold in retail locations as well as vending machines across campus. Approximately 80% of PepsiCo beverages will be packaged in aluminum, glass, recyclable cartons, or other non-plastic containers.
Nearly a decade ago, campus leaders at UC Davis decided to invest in a small team of employees to reduce energy by optimizing building controls and systems. The concept was that UC Davis could fund such a team, if it could curb high utility bills — essentially having the team pay for itself with energy savings.
Eric O’Brien’s new position as director of Sustainability at UC Davis is just the latest chapter in his lifelong story of commitment to sustainability.
by Scout Mata and Katie Hetrick, FOA Communications
Tucked away on the west side of campus, UC Davis’ READ facility receives 20 tons of food waste per day from customers including local grocery stores and our own campus dining commons. With the improvements a recent $4.77M CalRecycle grant provides, the READ facility becomes an important part of UC Davis’ strategy to eliminate the use of fossil fuels from its operations and fight climate change.
