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

The Econauts are currently 10 students who work on sustainability projects for UC San Diego 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 UC San Diego’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 and Hospitality funds the Sustainability budget, of which the Econauts are a part.

The Sustainability Ambassadors Program is a registered campus student organization sponsored by the UC San Diego Sustainability Office. Based on the Carbon Neutrality Initiative, this program aims to educate and engage UC San Diego students through peer education and programming to raise awareness and incorporate culture, art, politics and social justice into all disciplines within sustainability education. Volunteer ambassadors will work under the direction of the Carbon Neutrality Initiative Student Engagement Fellow and the Sustainability Office. Ambassadors will be trained to educate other students on sustainability issues through workshops, projects and social media engagement activities at the Sustainability Resource Center. Each Sustainability Ambassador will focus on one subject area to inform and engage the student population. Six ambassador positions are available: Climate Change Food Systems Public/Environmental Health Waste/Recycling Renewable Energy/Green Technology Facilities Management Benefits of being a Sustainability Ambassador include: Enhanced communication, decision-making and leadership skills Improved presentation, teaching and facilitation skills Gaining extensive knowledge of an interdisciplinary model of sustainability education Gaining valuable experience for future employment and academic endeavors Being part of a skilled, fun, diverse team of students committed to educating their peers about sustainability Interacting directly with staff and/or faculty Positions available: All 12 positions currently filled Location: Sustainability Resource Center. Duration: Three academic quarters (Fall 2016, Winter and Spring 2017) Hours: 5-6 hours per week Duties include Attend weekly team meetings with the Carbon Neutrality Initiative Fellow. Attend two training sessions a week from Week 2 through Week 9. Conduct specific research project on campus and/or help manage the Discovering Sustainability Award Program that will recognize student participation in sustainability related workshops and events. Assist as needed with implementing sustainability related events (Earth Month, Triton Day, Founder’s Day, events with student organizations, departments, Staff Association, etc.). Conduct weekly sustainability workshops in the Sustainability Resource Center. Create projects related to the ambassador's discipline. Coordinate do-it-yourself projects that help to reduce consumerism in our daily lives. Create an interactive video to promote sustainability the ambassador's discipline. Greet Sustainability Resource Center visitors. Act as a liaison with campus committees and stakeholders. Perform administrative tasks, answer telephone and maintain common areas. Qualifications Experience with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) Proven ability to independently manage projects Experience with recruiting, training and coordinating volunteers Demonstrated understanding of sustainability concepts Strong written, oral and interpersonal communication skills Ability to work collaboratively as a team player Committed to UC San Diego values of community, diversity and sustainability

Student apply online at sustain.ucsd.edu and are interviewed by the Sustainability Program Coordinator at the Sustainability Resource Center.

Ambassadors attend two training sessions a week from Week 2 through Week 9 during Fall Quarter. They learn from on-campus staff and faculty about all aspects of sustainability, including how sustainable is included in campus operations, from carbon neutrality to zero waste to sustainable food.

Student Sustainable Ambassadors are supported by funding from the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative and the UCSD Sustainability office.

UC San Diego AQUAholics are the people who consume water on campus. UC San Diego’s AQUAholics Anonymous is collaborative of students, staff, and faculty focused on encouraging behavior changes to prevent water waste (combatting 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. 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.

Any student on campus who consumes water and has an interest in influencing a culture of water conservation can become a member of AQUAholics Anonymous, as either a volunteer or an intern.

Incumbent interns and volunteers provide training to new interns and volunteers every quarter. The training and program are overseen by staff in the Environmental Health & Safety and Facilities Management Departments.

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)

Inter-Sustainability Council: http://iscucsd.wixsite.com/main ISC welcomes all of the environmental student organizations on campus who encompass the same goal: sustainability. The goal of ISC is to bring together all of the sustainability organizations in order to foster an environment of growth and productivity on our campus. In order to create change and see our students, faculty and staff progress, we must work collectively to represent the ideologies that we all hold in mind: preservation of the earth through educational means. In our effort to promote this ideology, ISC will be hosting several events this year, such as our annual Green Talks (a TED-style talk focused on sustainability), as well as a RecycleMania Fair and a Sustainability Job Fair. Engineers for a Sustainable World: https://eswtritons.wordpress.com 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. Grow at UCSD: http://sustain.ucsd.edu/involve/gardens.html#Village-Edible-Garden-(VEG) Grow at UCSD brings together all the students involved in UC San Diego's several campus gardens and one San Diego community garden. The organization promotes education and the growth of sustainable food and local produce.

EcoNauts contact: Colin Moynihan AQUAholics contacts: Kimberly O'Connell and Amanda Loeper http://hdh.ucsd.edu/sustainability/econauts.asp http://sustain.ucsd.edu/involve/student-opportunities.html#Sustainability-Ambassadors http://aquaholics.ucsd.edu/