California Polytechnic State University
EN-3: Student Life

Eco Reps x Sustainability Roundtables is a group of students committed to creating a culture of environmental stewardship on campus at Cal Poly. Managed by the Green Campus Team within Facilities, Eco-Reps exemplify the "learn by doing" motto and play a direct role in Cal Poly's advancement to a fully sustainable future. Becoming an Eco-Rep will equip you with knowledge and skills to tackle environmental issues through tangible action and outreach.

Our club meetings are a great space to meet other green-minded people while furthering your foundational knowledge of sustainability! We often hear from guest speakers, prepare for upcoming events we are collaborating on, and learn from each other through group discussions! The meeting time changes every quarter, so follow us on Instagram @calpolyecoreps to stay up to date. Or, join our Slack to be informed about events that we are participating in outside of our general meetings!

https://afd.calpoly.edu/sustainability/student/eco-reps

Organic Farm- A 9 acre production unit in the Horticulture and Crop Science Department that is certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) with the primary mission of providing undergraduate students a place to experience hands-on learning in organic and sustainable farming and gardening practices. The farms vegetable production includes dozens of varieties of produce that are marketed in several local direct sales events like farmer’s markets, a campus farm market and to local vendors and restaurants; produce not sold is donated to the campus Food Pantry. The organic farm also serves as a classroom and laboratory to other Cal Poly courses and research programs. Faculty, staff and students jointly manage and steward the farm. The organic farm is supported by the Horticulture and Crop Science Department, the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, and also by grants and private donations. https://aeps.calpoly.edu/organic-farm/cal-poly-organic-farm

Food Pantry garden- The 1,200-square-foot Food Pantry Garden, sponsored by Cal Poly’s Campus Health & Wellbeing Department along with the Honors Program and Facilities’ Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability Department is open for any student, staff or faculty member interested in a garden space. The garden will provide the campus community a space to grow vegetables while also allowing the gardeners to donate freshly picked produce to the Cal Poly Food Pantry, supporting food-insecure students.
https://calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2019/may/campus_garden

Real Food Collaborative CSA- Since the fall of 2016, a dedicated group of Cal Poly students - The Real Food Collaborative - has been gathering local and sustainable produce for students and community members and selling quarterly vegetable box subscriptions.
https://realfoodcollaborative.com/

Poly Canyon Ventures is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded and managed by Cal Poly students. PCV provides high-impact Cal Poly student-led startups with funding, consulting, and other resources to help them grow and thrive. PCV is accelerating cleantech innovation and entrepreneurship at Cal Poly through the Climate Changer's Fund.
https://polycanyonventures.org/

Hosted by Cal Poly’s Energy, Utilities and Sustainability Department, Earth Week is an annual series of events to allow participants to network with sustainability professionals, try new foods and learn the best ways to protect the planet.

https://forms.microsoft.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=2wING578lUSVNx03nMoq56oCc9HxOZBEk5e6MmQcCgFUMDYzUjQ1VU1MSk82TE43TFUyM1lONk5BRS4u

Nearly 3,000 attendees participated in more than 30 workshops and talks across campus on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2023 for the “Inclusion Starts with Me” Teach In. Teach In sessions informed and inspired students from all majors to think about diversity and inclusivity and act in their work fields and social environments.
The fourth annual Teach In covered a wide range of topics — from environmentalism and health, to inclusive design and race relations, to prison reform and feminist media. One session offered was the "Art and Design Activist Artmaking Workshop" where participants can experience screen printing, stencils, button making, and other forms of activist art!

https://cla.calpoly.edu/teach-in

Poly Escapes offers about twenty low-cost trips per quarter with no experience necessary. Trips vary from one-day local journeys to full weekend excursions. Leave No Trace knowledge is a mandated part of Poly Escapes Trip Leader Training. The program implements the LNT principles on over sixty trips of fourteen students annually, including several volunteer based back country environmental maintenance trips.

https://www.asi.calpoly.edu/experience/poly-escapes/poly-escapes-trips/

The goal of the Green Room Certification is threefold: to serve as a mechanism to continue increasing sustainability awareness, to bring together already sustainable minded students, and to bring in as many non-green students as possible into the community. The lifestyle choices of on campus residents impact their peers, campus, as well as the greater San Luis Obispo community and the Green Room certification aims to teach campus residents tips and tricks to live more sustainable while they live on campus. The program tracks individual residents consumption behaviors through a voluntary scorecard and provides them ratings based on how sustainable they live.

https://afd.calpoly.edu/sustainability/student/eco-reps-greenroom

The Cal Poly Green Campus program, originally established in 2007, was funded by Investor Owned Utilities and administered by the Alliance to Save Energy. Upon termination of utility funding in 2015, Cal Poly took the program in-house. The Green Campus team now works from a student led model with oversight from the Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability department in Facilities. With these resources, Green Campus students are better able to focus on the 2023 CSU Sustainability Policy goals related to energy, water, and Zero Waste, and support of student clubs. Every year the team six positions are open for renewal and offer opportunity to students from all five colleges to apply for a sustainability focused position on campus.
https://afd.calpoly.edu/sustainability/student