University of Georgia
EN-3: Student Life

• American Water Resources Association UGA Student Chapter (AWRA) – UGA student chapter of the American Water Resources Association, a non-profit professional association dedicated to the advancement of men and women in water resources management, research, and education. AWRA’s membership is multidisciplinary; its diversity is its hallmark. It is the professional home of a wide variety of water resources experts including engineers, educators, foresters, biologists, ecologists, geographers, managers, regulators, hydrologists and attorneys. • Bag the Bag – Bag the Bag UGA is a group of concerned individuals advocating for the reduction of plastic waste while promoting sustainable and reusable alternatives. We strive to raise awareness about the ecological and economic dangers of single use plastic bags while promoting the use of reusable bags as a sustainable alternative. We hope to encourage the Athens community to stop the plastic bag habit through education at schools and classes, outreach with local organizations and businesses, and advocacy through county legislation. We look forward to making Athens, and the UGA community therein, a more sustainable place. • Campus Kitchen at UGA – Campus Kitchen at UGA is part of a growing network of universities called The Campus Kitchens Project. Each school affiliated with CKP operates a little differently, but they all have the common goal of reducing food waste in their university and community and combating food-insecurity by addressing its root causes. • Ecology Club & Graduate Student Organization - The Ecology Club connects undergraduate ecology majors to one another and to opportunities in research and service, and is always ready to get its hands dirty with outreach in the local community or with campus sustainability initiatives. Part social (trips, retreats, parties, meetings), part educational (local tours, speakers, research connections), and part activism (environmental advocacy on campus), the club welcomes all students from all majors to make friends, make memories, and make positive change. • Environmental Health Sciences Club - The Environmental Health Science (EHS) Club is designed to foster mutual interest and enthusiasm among students and faculty at the University of Georgia who are interested in Environmental Health Science. We provide an informal forum for networking with environmental professionals through monthly meetings and workshops. • Environmental Law Association - The Environmental Law Association (ELA) is an organization of the University of Georgia School of Law students who seek to further the development and advancement of environmental law through activities designed to increase environmental awareness among members of the community at large and the student bodies of the University of Georgia and the Georgia School of Law. • Georgia Students of Landscape Architecture - The College of Environment and Design is the home of the state student chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Georgia Students of Architecture (GSLA) aspires to bring landscape architecture students from the BLA and MLA programs together for social purposes. • Outdoor Adventure Club - The purpose of this organization is to promote affordable outdoor recreational activities. These activities will comprise of, but are not limited to, camping, hiking, canoeing, rafting, and rock climbing/bouldering. • Real Food UGA - Real Food UGA is focused on promoting awareness and advocacy for real food: food that truly nourishes producers, consumers, communities, and the earth. Food that is produced under fair and humane conditions for farmworkers; food that does what it’s supposed to do–-keep us healthy and well; food that is derived from and strengthens our local economy; food that is grown under responsible agricultural practices, keeping our soil, water, and air clean. However, colleges and universities in the US spend $4 billion every year on dining hall food. Real Food UGA partners with the national nonprofit Real Food Challenge to help achieve the goal of redirecting 20% of that $4 billion towards real food by 2020. We can therefore redirect food dollars towards a more sustainable, cleaner economy based on liberation and justice. • Society of American Foresters / Forestry Club - The Society of American Foresters (SAF) is the national scientific and educational organization representing the forestry profession in the United States. The mission of SAF is to advance the science, education, technology, and practice of forestry; to enhance the competency of its members; and to use the knowledge, skills, and conservation ethic of the profession to ensure the continued health and use of forest ecosystems and the present and future availability of forest resources to benefit society. • Speak Out for Species - S.O.S promotes the protection of all animals. Through education and advocacy, we work to defend animals from cruelty and exploitation, to reduce animal suffering, and to encourage compassion for all living beings. • Student Environmental Planning Association at UGA - The Student Environmental Planning Association (SEPA) at the University of Georgia is a student organization dedicated to advancing awareness and information about environmental stewardship, urban and regional planning, the planning profession, and other related interests. Founded in 2011 by students in the UGA College of Environment and Design (CED)'s newly formed Master of Environmental Planning and Design (MEPD) program, SEPA strives to help its membership gain experience, network, and promote the profession of planning through training opportunities, planning projects, and social events. • Students for Environmental Action – The University of Georgia's Students for Environmental Action (SEA) strive to create a more sustainable campus through pragmatic environmental initiatives. We work to promote recycling, reduce energy consumption, and enhance environmental citizenship on campus. • UGArden Club – The student organization dedicated to the protection, upkeep, and production of the only student-run garden on the University of Georgia campus, which provides a unique outdoor learning environment and offers students the opportunity to engage with the natural world. • USGBC Students at UGA - U.S. Green Building Council Students (USGBC) at UGA seek to provide education and service to the University of Georgia and surrounding Athens community to create an economically feasible, socially just, and environmentally friendly built environment.

UGArden Learning & Demonstration Farm seeks to promote the social, environmental, and nutritional benefits of sustainable gardening through the creation of a student-run community garden. Such a unique outdoor learning experience encourages engagement with the natural world, fosters interdisciplinary pursuits at UGA, and offers a meaningful sense of place to a largely transitory student body. This student organization is dedicated to the management of a 4-acre garden. It began as a simple idea- to provide a place for students to learn to raise food and promote sustainable gardening. With this in mind, a group of dedicated students developed a plan and sought approval for a place to garden. After a year-long process, and a lot of hard work by many students and faculty advisor, David Berle, the garden found a home. The garden is located on South Milledge Avenue, on university land formerly dedicated to sheep and hog farming. The first planting was in May of 2010. Professor Berle has led an enthusiastic group of UGArden members and student volunteers to establish a garden that now includes fruit plantings, bee hives, green walls, medicinal herbs, a high tunnel and a woodland mushroom demonstration area.

The UGArden Produce Stand welcomes the public to come purchase freshly picked produce. Proceeds from produce sales go back into running the garden. In addition to typical plant produce, fresh herbs and mushrooms are produced and sold at select times throughout the year. A large portion of the produce grown at UGArden is distributed to families in need in the community through our partner organization, Campus Kitchen. Some produce is shared through our outreach program Grow it Know it at Clarke Middle School, Hilsman Middle School, Coile Middle School, and Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School. At these four Clarke County middle schools, UGArden produce is used for cooking demonstrations and food sampling in the cafeteria. They also use our produce in the summer Kitchen Corps Program and their weekly pop-up restaurant. UGArden is proud to support four weekly community produce stands at Clarke Middle School, Athens Community Council on Aging, Hilsman Middle School, and Coile Middle School. Produce is offered at a reasonable price for anyone and half off for those eligible for SNAP benefits.

Caerus UGA is a revolving loan fund for low-income entrepreneurs in the Athens area. Students who work with Caerus have the opportunity to work with local entrepreneurs to help guide and advise on their business. The student-run organization is set up so that all profit and income from loans directly goes back in the fund for future projects. "Caerus funds initiatives that bring opportunity to the people that need it. This will generate sustainable, measurable growth for our borrowers and lift their economic potential for the future. In turn, the benefit received from one borrower will ripple through their community."

UGA hosts several major events related to sustainability each year: Green Cup Challenge: The UGA Green Cup Challenge is a competition among the residents of the Hill community to reduce their energy, water, and waste over a one month period. Semester in Review: Creating a Culture of Sustainability at UGA At the end of each semester, Office of Sustainability interns and students from sustainability-focused courses present their efforts to members of the UGA and Athens community. Sustainability Summit: This day-long event combines UGA's Center for Integrative Conservation Research's Sustainability Science Symposium with the Office of Sustainability’s fall Semester in Review. Individual events include: Faculty Workshops, Office of Sustainability’s Semester in Review, Sustainability Science Symposium, Poster Session and Closing Reception Red Clay Conference: The Red Clay Conference is an annual Environmental Law Conference that is entirely student organized by members of the Environmental Law Association at the University of Georgia School of Law. ELA's continuing mission is to advance sound environmental policy, encourage discussion and raise awareness among attorneys and law-makers here in Georgia and throughout the Southeast. The goal of the conference is to increase public awareness of environmental issues of regional, national, and international significance through a series of educational presentations and open forum discussions. Recyclemania: RecycleMania is a friendly competition and bench-marking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. UGA mixes up the theme each year and incorporates internal events and competitions. EcoFocus Film Festival: The mission of EcoFocus is to inform and inspire audiences about environmental issues through film. Our primary activity is the annual film festival, which features engaging and often award-winning films from around the world presented with dynamic speakers, panel discussions and events. Films selected for EcoFocus reveal the planet’s beauty and the environmental challenges facing this and future generations, and highlight inspirational stories about people working to protect the environment and its inhabitants. UGA Earth Week: UGA Earth Week is a week-long celebration of sustainability with multiple events each day focused on various topics or themes from food and waste to transportation and careers in sustainability. Events are designed to engage and inspire action. Recycling Happy Hour: The University of Georgia Office of Sustainability and WUGA radio, along with the Athens-Clarke County Recycling Division, host a Recycling Happy Hour as an annual event on campus. The spring-cleaning event is for students, faculty and staff and the general public to bring hard-to-recycle objects including electronics such as computers, televisions, phones, cords and cables; batteries; fluorescent bulbs; Styrofoam; and used cooking grease. Dawgs Ditch the Dumpster and Donate: Dawgs Ditch the Dumpster and Donate is an initiative co-sponsored by University Housing and the UGA Office of Sustainability. During move-out in early May of each year, students are asked to donate their unwanted items to the local community at a convenient drop site located within each campus residential community.

The Lamar Dodd School of Art and Ideas for Creative Exploration incorporate sustainability+art as a theme throughout the student experience including sustainable art-making processes, sustainability-focused art works, and sustainability-focused cultural events. http://ice.uga.edu/ -------------------- In partnership with the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the Office of Sustainability hires a Sustainability Artist in Residence to create works of art that specifically incorporate principles of sustainability, and who works with the Office to create art education and public art opportunities that promote sustainability + arts to campus and community members. https://sustainability.uga.edu/event/ice-conversation-uga-sustainability-artist-in-residence/ -------------------- UGA's annual Spotlight on the Arts Festival features more than 100 exhibitions and events over 12 days. The festival celebrates all forms of cultural arts at the university, including fine art, music and dance, literature, and film. 2016 in particular brought to the spotlight many sustainability-related and -focused artworks in several mediums. Sustainability in the arts is always celebrated through the festival and will continue to be an important subject of artworks in the festival for years to come. http://arts.uga.edu/ -------------------- UGA will host the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (A2RU) annual conference in 2018 with a focus on sustainability.

UGA Recreational Sports offers many outdoor recreation activities to students, faculty/staff, and members of the Athens community. UGA's climbing wall, challenge course, equiptment rental center, and trips and clinics are available. Activities includes: Backpacking, bouldering, canoeing, caving, cycling, day hiking, fly fishing, flatwater and whitewater paddling, hang gliding, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, paragliding, rafting, rock climbing, sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, ziplining, and more. Unless stated, no prior experience is required and in most cases, all group equipment for that activity is provided as well as transportation by passenger van. An experienced staff of trip leaders provides logistical planning, instruction, leadership and facilitation for a group experience. UGA Outdoor Recreation practices Leave No Trace (LNT) principles, values, and guidelines on trips and clinics. The Outdoor Recreation program refers to the seven core principles of LNT offered by the LNT Center for Outdoor Ethics: (1) plan ahead and prepare, (2) travel and camp on durable surfaces, (3) dispose of waste properly, (4) leave what you find, (5) minimize campfire impacts, (6) respect wildlife, (7) be considerate of other visitors.

Watershed UGA is a two-year campus-wide experiential learning initiative designed to engage all students in all academic disciplines. A large percentage of courses in the UGA First Year Odyssey Program focus on sustainability behavior.

Building 1516 opened in fall of 2010 and is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED Gold-certified residence hall. Building 1516 is a signature space that supports the academics and personal growth of residents, provides a place where programs, classes and events are hosted, and most importantly, provides a home-away-from-home for 555 students. Building 1516 also houses first-year Learning Communities, in which participating students share an intense learning experience that features assignment to rooms within the same vicinity, concurrent registration to academic classes in the field of interest, completion of a service learning project and collaboration with a lead faculty instructor and an upper-class student peer advisor. In the 2017-2018 school year, Building 1516 is home to a Sustainability & Environmental Law learning community, led by environmental law professor and Pre-Law Program Director, Catherine Clutter. This community will seek to answer the question: "Pollution, climate change, consumerism, overpopulation – can our environment sustain our impact, particularly with the proposed rollback of many environmental laws and regulations?” Buildings significantly impact the natural environment and resources. However, with some forethought and planning, these environmental impacts and the associated economic costs can be reduced. Throughout the construction planning process, opportunities for sustainable development, the green design, improved indoor air quality, and water and energy efficiency have been implemented. By adopting green building strategies that save money and minimize impact on the environment, the Department of University Housing demonstrates its desire to be a good steward of the present and a builder for the future. Building 1516 was awarded a LEED - Gold Certification for its green building features. Building 1516 utilizes a single room out of its residence spaces to "model" a sustainable room and what items should and should not be in the room.

The Office of Sustainability hires 20 to 30 paid student interns each semester.