University of California, Irvine
ER-1: Student Sustainability Educators Program

EARTH Reps is a sustainability leadership program for freshmen living in the dorms. Being an EARTH Rep allows the student to become a liaison between campus sustainability and his or her dorm. This student-led program aims to train emerging young sustainability leaders; expand campus awareness of the framework of sustainability; and build community among students, staff, and faculty. There are two levels of peer-to-peer education in this program. The first involves student sustainability organization leaders and UCI Environment Institute student staff educating EARTH Reps on a different sustainability topic each month. The same leadership also assists EARTH Reps in planning an action project to complete throughout the month. This is where the second level of peer-to-peer education happens. The project the EARTH Reps complete entails taking what they learned and educating their hallmates and classmates. The program is offered to all freshmen with the goal of having one EARTH Rep for each of the 53 residence halls. During the 2012-2013 academic year, 200 freshmen were reached.

The first level of student educators (UCI Environment Institute student staff and student sustainability organization leaders) founded this program. The second level of student educators (EARTH Reps) had to apply and were selected by the UCI Environment Institute student staff.

Most of the first-level student educators have participated in leadership and facilitation training through the UCI Environment Institute. The first-level students don’t provide formal training to the EARTH Reps, but act as advisors and mentors for them.

UCI Environment Institute student staff are paid by the UCI Environment Institute. The UCI Environment Institute also provides staff advising through Abigail Reyes, Sustainability Researcher.

Empowering Sustainability is a fellowship program for an international cohort of emerging sustainability leaders. The fellowship centers around an annual summer conference convened at UCI. The central purpose is to reach out to the next generation of leaders to create a more sustainable 21st Century by facilitating the cross-generational sharing of mutual experiences and promoting intense collaborative networking among the emerging leaders. Through capacity building, project implementation, knowledge sharing and collaborative management, fellows from more than 25 countries (including UC students) are contributing to the Empowering Sustainability vision. They are establishing knowledge-sharing networks within their own countries and across boundaries through the use of social media, peer exchanges and an electronic journal. In addition, the global network that ES facilitates can link Orange County philanthropists and local businesses eager to support local initiatives on the ground. Fellows include an expanding network of activists, academics, and practitioners from Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, England, India, Israel, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, United States, Venezuela, Barbados, Chile, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Myanmar/Burma, Nigeria, and Haiti. From July 23-27, 2012, these fellows and UC students participated in a conference program at UC Irvine. The 2013 program is scheduled for the week of July 22. UC Irvine identified Empowering Sustainability as one of its Innovations in its 2012 "Coolest Schools" submission.

Program organizers reach out internationally and across the campus to individuals engaged in sustainability, seeking nominations and self-nominations. The program is potentially open to all undergraduates and graduate students at UC Irvine. Program organizers choose the participants, based on space available. The program supports 40-50 fellows and another 60 or so observers, depending on the conference setting.

In addition to offering formal seminars on sustainability-focused topics, fellows offer peer-to-peer teaching on approaches to sustainability projects that are ongoing or emerging. These exchanges happen in person during the annual conference and virtually through an online journal.

A professor from the UCI School of Social Ecology convenes Empowering Sustainability in coordination with faculty and staff from the UCI Law Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources. School of Social Ecology staff actively support this event. The program also receives support from a donor who chooses to remain anonymous.