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

The Econauts are currently 10 students who work on sustainability projects for UCSD Housing, Dining and Hospitality (HDH). The Econauts have multiple functions. They provide resources to student leaders and help develop sustainable events, information, and projects. Examples of the resources they provide include: tabling at events, teaching in ways that are fun and informative forming competitions between residents, guiding tours of sustainable features on campus, funding for sustainable events, funding for student projects that make HDH more sustainable (this has included water capturing programs, hydration stations for clean cold tap water refills, and student gardens) and creating newsletters, videos and pre-made presentations for events and bulletin boards. The Econauts also work on making HDH more sustainable, for example Econauts provide training for staff (for example dining, custodial, and resident advisors) , certify HDH’s locations as Green Businesses, run waste management programs, analyze and suggest more sustainable options for current HDH practices/products and help facilitate student communication with HDH.

Students who wish to become Econauts can apply via UCSD’s Port Triton Service that allows campus jobs to be posted, along with the submission of a resume and cover letter is a series of questions. These resumes and questions are screened by the HDH Sustainability Manager and then passed to the current Econaut team. The Econaut team and the Manager then hold panel interviews that consist of 2-3 Econauts and the Manager. The future Econauts are chosen after all the interviews by the current Econauts and the Manager.

The Econauts are hired at the end of the school year and are asked to start a week or so before school starts so that they can have a full week of training. This week of training includes basic team building between the students, tours of the HDH facilities and sustainable features, tours of the landfill, the materials recovery facility and the Greenery (compost facility), introduction to the sustainability resources previous Econauts have created, introduction to the outreach tools (YouTube, Facebook, newsletter, Resident Advisor email list), introduction to the current and past projects of the Econauts, introduction to the calendar of events, and practice with tabling and presenting sustainability in HDH. After this week the Econauts begin learning, by doing; Econauts who have worked previously pair with new Econauts to start working on projects, attending events and training resident advisors.

The Econauts are part of the HDH Sustainability department which means that it has full staff backing throughout all of the HDH facilities, including Dining, Custodial, Housing, Property, Operations and Planning and Catering. HDH has a staff of approximately 500 that can help with interdepartmental projects. Housing, Dining & Hospitality funds the Sustainability budget, of which the Econauts are a part.

UC San Diego’s Power Save Green Campus works to integrate sustainability into course curricula, build general campus awareness about environmental issues and implement projects targeting energy use, student involvement and operational changes. Power Save Green Campus interns also promote facility energy efficiency, green building practices and water conservation on campus and in the community by increasing awareness about energy and other sustainability related issues. Power Save Green Campus interns must apply and interview.

Power Save Green Campus interns must apply and interview with representatives from the Alliance to Save Energy as well as the Building Commissioning and Sustainability team at UC San Diego.

Power Save Green Campus interns receive formal training in performing energy audits and other energy related topics twice per year during semi-annual Power Save Green Campus statewide meetings. Also, LEED-accredited professionals train Power Save Green Campus interns. A lead intern holds weekly meetings to help coordinate campus projects and assessments.

The Power Save Green Campus program is funded, supported, and supervised by the Alliance to Save Energy and UC Auxiliary and Plant Services.

UC San Diego’s AQUAholics Anonymous is collaborative of students, staff, and faculty focused on encouraging behavior changes to prevent water waste (combating water “addiction”). AQUAholics Anonymous is a resource for networking and collaboration between different areas of campus already working on water conservation / management. AQUAholics primary goal is to develop outreach materials with a unified theme that people will remember and is easily recognized by the campus community so it can be used by any group or department that is working on water conservation. A 12-Step Recovery Program has been developed to encourage behavior changes that will conserve water. UC San Diego AQUAholics are the people who consume water on campus.

UC San Diego AQUAholics are the people who consume water on campus. Anyone who uses water can become an AQUAholic by recognizing the importance of water conservation.

In response to California’s water crisis and UCSD’s high water use, students, staff, and faculty formed the collaborative “AQUAholics” and developed a 12-Step Recovery Program to reduce UC San Diego’s dependency on water and to create resources for water conservation education and outreach. Members are encouraged to brainstorm and collaborate on creative messages that encourage behavior changes to conserve water. Posters with these creative messages are distributed at outreach events on campus throughout the year.

Department champions and Student groups are encouraged to attend AQUAholics Anonymous meetings and use AQUAholics as a resource for water conservation. (Facilities Management, Housing, Dining and Hospitality, Environment, Health and Safety, The Student Sustainability Collective, The Sustainability Resource Center, The Social and Environmental Sustainability Committee, The Sustainability Solutions Institute, AQUAholics Student Intern, Sports Facilities, University Center, Academics, Medical Centers)

As concerns about global warming continue to rise, we all must consider what we as individuals can do to help. ESW at UCSD strongly believes that raising awareness is the most effective way to develop a society of environmentally-conscious thinkers. Since November 2011, ESW UC San Diego ran its 1st annual POP! (Preserve our Planet) Campaign, focused on raising awareness about ways each individual can help reduce the effects of global warming. ESW’s ultimate goal is to inspire today’s youth to become more environmentally-conscious, in hopes for a greener tomorrow. ESW-UC San Diego is an engineering project based organization that gives students a chance to get their hands dirty. Their mission statement is to bring communities together to develop, implement, and share technologies worldwide, so, along with their engineering projects they throw events for the community. One example of a project is their mobile solar charging unit, known as the Solar Slider. This Slider is a twelve foot solar panel array that can be towed to campus events to provide power for electronics off the grid. An example of a community event is their Student Sustainability Outreach Day which brought 160 high school students to UC San Diego to learn about sustainability. Our year-long commitment of activities include: Hydration Fountain Competition Building Hydration Drinking Fountain Designs San Diego Youth Sustainability Day at UC San Diego 2012 National Conference The three-day conference will be filled with professional workshops, networking opportunities, leader summit, keynote speakers and much more. Gaia Music Festival In contemporary terms Gaia is used to describe how all the organisms on earth are closely integrated to form one system. In honor of this idea there was a festival held to raise awareness of sustainability through one amazing evening of art and music. Preserve Our Planet (POP) As concerns about global warming continue to rise, we all must consider what we as individuals can do to help. ESW at UCSD strongly believes that raising awareness is the most effective way to develop a society of environmentally-conscious thinkers. Since November 2011, ESW has been running its 1st annual POP! (Preserve our Planet) Campaign, focused on raising awareness about ways each individual can help reduce the effects of global warming. Our ultimate goal is to inspire today’s youth to become more environmentally-conscious, in hopes for a greener tomorrow. Our year-long commitment of activities is described below: Hydration Fountain Competition: Partially sponsored by the San Diego Water District Participants between the ages of 10-18 are encouraged to design the decorations on UCSD’s new hydration fountains incorporating messages to remind fountain users about conserving the earth's resources, especially focusing on conserving water and recycling. Hydration Stations installations are implemented by UCSD students, including ESW members and other students - bringing different communities together! Building Hydration Drinking Fountain Designs Sponsored by UC San Diego’s Student Sustainability Collective The top winners of the Hydration Station Competition have their designs implemented by ESW members on fountains dispersed throughout the UC San Diego campus. Student Sustainability Outreach Day at UC San Diego Held on April 13th,2012 in collaboration with the group Multicultural Coexistence. Scheduled activities, appropriately catered to the two different age groups, inspire and demonstrate how to implement “green” practices in our everyday lives. Scavenger hunt activities included a mixture of hands-on projects and workshops focusing on environmental and social sustainability. These include gardening at the Neighborhood Community Garden, a tasting of sustainable foods with PEACE, and workshops with the Cross Cultural Center. We also provide a short workshop with the participants on how to apply for college with SPACES. The outreach day finishes up with a panel of activists from UCSD campus who share their experiences with sustainability and answer any questions from the participants after a full day of learning what sustainability really means.

ESW-UC San Diego has a strong network of student leaders. Leaders are selected by election by the members of ESW-UC San Diego. There are 6 Cabinet Members who deal with administration and a Board of Project Directors (varies by number of projects currently running). Project Leaders are selected by the directors via interviews.

Cabinet Members and Board Members are required to attend an 8 hour leadership retreat in Spring Quarter that teaches them about the organization and how it functions as well as providing team bonding activities. Project Leaders are given a similar orientation in Winter Quarter.

ESW-UC San Diego has two UC San Diego professors for advisors. Jan Kleissl is our Science Advisor who provides guidance to the Engineering rojects. Del Foit is our Professional Advisor who helps with networking and the growth of the organization. In addition, The Jacobs School of Engineering Alumni Association organizes mentorships for Engineering Projects in order to promote networking opportunities and advice for students. ESW-UC San Diego gets financial support from The Green Initiative Fund, Associative Students, and from the Jacobs School of Engineering Dean’s Office. The TGIF and AS have provided money in the tens of thousands of dollars, while the Dean’s office has given ESW $2500.