California State University, Channel Islands
EN-3: Student Life

The Green Generation Club is a sanctioned student club at CSU Channel Islands. Dedicated to raising environmental awareness on campus and throughout the community, the Green Generation Club works to establish CI as a positive environmental example through the promotion of education and awareness, while at the same time advocating for sustainable development and initiating campus environmental programs.


The Surfrider Foundation Club, Santa Rosa Island Student Committee, CI Bee Club, and Audubon Club are all additional clubs committed to raising awareness and educating the campus about environmental issues. These clubs provide various opportunities for student engagement centered around environmental awareness and sustainability, both on campus and in the community. Collectively, these clubs have played a significant role in advocating for positive changes on campus.

There is a small garden on campus that is managed by students with the guidance of a faculty mentor. The garden is used to help students explore local and global issues pertaining to sustainable agriculture. Students examine theoretical and practical aspects of food production from ecological, as well as social and economic perspectives. They gain experience with topics such as soil fertility, crop selection, irrigation, pest management and sustainable food delivery systems. The garden also teaches students sustainable practices in a garden setting and in local agricultural systems. Additionally, experiences in the garden provide opportunities to discuss the challenges of food production in hotter and drier conditions stemming from climate change. Produce harvested from the garden is donated to the campus food pantry and made available for students in need.

In Spring 2022, the Santa Rosa Islands Research Station held a Speaker Series focused on sustainability. The event covered topics related to the establishment of the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden, Recovery of the California Condor and Conservation Science, Biosecurity for the Channel Islands and environmentally-aligned internship programs. The speaker series was free to attend and made accessible to the public. Recordings of these sessions can be located on the Santa Rosa Island Research Station Channel Islands YouTube page. The speaker series aimed to highlight the importance of conservation, current environmental conditions, environmental recovery, and environmental degradation prevention efforts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkCZaAPlKjs&list=PLxcA5kIe4PMYaw2wlfqTxqczMxkX9OGWB&index=1

https://www.csuci.edu/srirs/images/spring22speakerseries.pdf

CSUCI hosted the Cesar Chavez Day of Service in March 2022. The event, in collaboration with Food-Forward a local non-profit, aimed at bringing awareness to the fight against food waste and food insecurity topics. The event further discussed local and national food security topics and how personal work translates into impacts upon the local community and environment.

https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/cesar-chavez-day-of-service-2022.htm

In November 2021, CSUCI's Mission Based Centers presented the Our Stories Matter Discussion Series. The program, titled "Responding to the Climate Crisis: Ecocultural Identities and the Value of Nature on a Disrupted Planet", was free and made virtually accessible to the public. The discussion series aimed to address how climate-induced events related to shifts in understanding regarding humans' ecocultural role. The series aimed to educate the campus and community about the suggested ways humans could play a role in saving our planet.

https://www.csuci.edu/cis/events/osm-climate-crisis-11-04-21.pdf

In October 2021, the "#La Lucha Sique: Stories of Resistance and Resilience" were virtually held and open to the campus community to attend. The presentation explored community-rooted activism and environmental justice in Honduras and Ventura County, California.

https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/laluchesigue-2021.htm

In April 2021, the Earth Day 2021: Taking Action for People and the Planet panel was virtually hosted at CSUCI. The panel was a solution-orientated event that featured speakers covering topics revolving around advancing Sustainability through University Policy & Student Government, advocating for Sustainability at State and local levels, Intersectional Environmentalism and Climate Movements.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/csu-earth-day-2021-taking-action-for-people-the-planet-tickets-148264965503?utm_source=eventbrite&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=post_publish&utm_content=shortLinkNewEmail

In March 2021, CSUCI’s Climate Action Forum: How Can You Influence Our Future?, the first of its kind, was held to gain insight on the campus communities' thoughts regarding the development of CI’s Climate Action Plan. The event provided background information about CI’s climate action history, the planning process, and opportunities for involvement. The forum aimed to involve campus community members in imagining a sustainable, resilient, and regenerative future for CSU Channel Islands.

https://www.csuci.edu/sustainability/climateforumflyerweb.jpg

During the Fall of 2020, CSU Channel Islands held their sustainability month. Events such as Sustainability in the LiveLounge: Sustainability During COVID were held, a Clean Air Day: Clean Air Tips Workshop, and the virtual “Climate Justice = Social Justice: Conversations Exploring the Intersections of People, Planet, and Power” forum. These events, aimed at offering insight upon a sustainable, resilient, and regenerative future for CSUCI, were free to attend and virtually accessible to the public.

https://www.csuci.edu/sustainability/sustainabilitymonth2020.png

https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/documents/climate-justice-social-justice.pdf

In October 2021, the Broome Library held a Native American History Month Lecture. The event focused on the need behind revitalizing Indigenous languages, as 2022-23 has been declared the Decade of Indigenous Languages. In response to the crisis of language endangerment, it might not seem obvious to throw poetry at the problem. Yet creative writing and other expressive arts (including music, visual arts, performance, and digital arts) are essential tools for creating and sustaining life-centered relationships with language, which is critical to revitalization. In this talk, Beth Piatote, Ph.D., a Nez Perce writer and Associate Professor of Comparative Literature & Native American Studies at UC Berkeley, shared poems from the English-Niimiipuutimt (Nez Perce) collection of poems aimed at revitalization and showing how books of poems can create readers and speakers by showcasing how the language thinks and moves.

https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/book-of-poems-2021.htm

In Spring 2022, the campus community was invited to attend "Live from the Field: Conservation Through Art & science". The event was an opportunity for an informal chat with researchers and artists contributing to the field of Conservation Biology in California, Florida, and Massachusetts. Attendees had the ability to learn who the artists are, how they got interested in their fields, and the questions and goals they address. The event covered aspects of conservation and marine debris related forms of art.

https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/live-fromthe-field-sp2022.htm

In September 2022, CSUCI hosted a Marine Debris Art Show, presenting art created by students, employees, and community members from marine debris collected on Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands. The event highlighted one of the most widespread pollution problems facing the world's ocean and waterways.
https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/2022-marine-debris-art.htm

The Outdoor Adventure (OA) program provides students with experiences that promote personal growth, experiential learning, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship. OA at CI offers the following programs that follow the Leave No Trace Principles: local daily hikes, overnight camping, and sunset kayaking to the Channel Islands Harbor; sport fishing; sailing; and various hiking excursions in Malibu, Ojai, Santa Cruz Island, the Matilija Creek, and Santa Rosa.

During the 2020-2021 academic year, the book selected for CSUCI's book in common (known as the Campus Reading Celebration) was “Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism,” by Safiya Umoja Noble, Ph.D. In this book, Dr. Noble explains how a combination of private interests in promoting certain sites, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of internet search engines, leads to a biased set of search algorithms that discriminate against people of color — specifically women of color, and promote white privilege.

For the 2021-2022 academic year, the university's book in common was "A Dream Called Home: A Memoir" by Reyna Grande. In this book, Grande shares her experience as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for her family one fearless word at a time.

CI's sustainability office routinely offers bookmarks and digital screens that highlight easy "sustainable swaps" for everyday items, such as reusable bottles, zero waste hygiene products, and reusable food containers.

In fall 2020, the sustainability office and Basic Needs program partnered to offer student free reusable menstrual products. As part of this campaign, students learned about the benefits of using reusable menstrual products and received information about how to reduce waste associated with their menstrual cycle.

Each fall, the sustainability office shares the Clean Air Day pledge, featuring dozens of practical tips for students to implement to live more sustainably. Each spring, the sustainability office hosts the Earth Month EcoChallenge, another program that provides a diverse array of practical ways for students to integrate sustainability into their lives. In spring 2022, we also hosted an Earth Week Bingo activity, featuring sustainable living tips.

In February 2022, the sustainability office hosted a trash talk workshop to teach students and employees about how to properly sort waste at the point of disposal as well as how to reduce waste.

CSUCI offers Sustainability Student Assistant positions within Facilities Services. These student employees work directly with the Sustainability and Energy Director to integrate and advance sustainability throughout campus operations.

Green Generation Club: https://csuci.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/green-generation-club

CI Bee Club: https://csuci.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/beeclub

CI Audubon Club: https://csuci.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/channel-island-audubon

Santa Rosa Island Research Station: https://www.csuci.edu/srirs/
https://csuci.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/santa-rosa-island-student-committee