Project Clearinghouse

Humanities Green Team Internship

Sustainability Problem and Proposed Solution: 

The Humanities Green Team acts as a liaison with the Office of Sustainability and the Humanities Division to implement green practices to improve overall environmental performance, reduce waste, and build a community of sustainability. The Green Team is working to promote sustainability through numerous green projects such as monthly Green Walks and quarterly newsletters. One of our goals was to work with the Green Office Certification program to have all departments Green Office Certified.gdfgg

Jump to: Contact | Project Description | Funding Sources | Metrics for Success | Results
Project Categories: 
Buildings & Facilities
Land, Habitat, Watershed
Awareness, Education & Engagement
Waste & Recycling
Water
Project Status: 
Completed
Campus Organization: 
Campus Dining
Provost's Sustainability Internship Program
Sustainability Office
Affiliated Department, Unit or College: 
Humanities Division
Project Location: 
On campus


Humanities Green Team


Stakeholder Contacts: 
Contact NameEmail AddressDepartment
Samantha Cano
scano2@ucsc.edu
Provost Sustainability Internship
Evin Guy
ecguy@ucsc.edu
Humanities Division
Anthony Grant
tegrant@ucsc.edu
Humanities Division
Funding Sources: 
Sustainability Office

Project Description: 

The Humanities Green Team has worked to incorporate sustainability in the everyday lives of those affiliated with the Humanities Division. Specifically, the team has promoted green tips in quarterly newsletters along with other suggestions on how to be more sustainable both in the office and at home. The Green Team provided support to those in the division who wished to reduce waste but were unsure of how to do so.

This year, the Humanities Division was the first academic division to have all of its departments Green Office Certified. This required all department offices to establish compost, recycle and landfill bins in order to help sort and dispose of waste properly. Many offices also implemented the use of green power strips which greatly reduced the amount of unused electricity. Getting all 11 offices certified required the support and participation of all departments in the division. This accomplishment is important because it establishes the Humanities Division as a pioneer in sustainability.

In order to keep Humanities students, faculty and staff involved in Green Team accomplishments and updates, we created quarterly newsletters. These newsletters contained a "Spotlight" section that highlighted the achievements of Humanities associates and the division as a whole. The newsletters also promoted our upcoming events, and contained tips on small ways to reduce waste.

One of the projects implemented this year was the monthly Green Walks. These Green Walks to different locations on campus helped to engage faculty and staff in order to help teach others about the goals of the Humanities Green Team. These Green Walks took place at the Thimann Greenhouses, the Alan Chadwick Garden, and other locations around campus.

Additionally, we worked to improve our outreach by creating green events like our annual Earth Day event in which those involved with the division learned more about the UCSC Zero Waste by 2020 initiative. At this event, we invited professors Daniel Guevara and Claudio Campagna to deliver their talk "Language of Conservation" to start conversations about what conservation truly means. about how they can be a part of the Humanities Green Team.

Metrics for Success: 

11 offices be Green Office Certified
50-60 people attend annual Earth Day Event
2 guest speakers at Earth Day (Dan Guevara and Claudio Campagna)
10-20 people attend Green Walks #2 and #3
10 company/food sponsors
60 people view newsletter
20 people view HGT Webpage
Complete and update HGT webpage

Next Steps: 
In the future, we hope to collaborate with other academic divisions to help promote sustainability throughout UCSC. Additionally, we wish to improve the Humanities Green Team webpage by consistently updating the page to make it relevant to the projects we will continue to work on. We will continue to merge the Humanities Green Team with the Healthy Humanities groups in order to improve attendance at events.
Result Categories: 
Behavior Change
Education/Outreach
Results: 

One of the greatest accomplishments of the Humanities Green Team has been getting all 11 department offices Green Office Certified. Though we projected 50-60 people attending our annual Earth Day event, we had approximately 45 people in attendance. We did, however, have two great guest speakers present at our events who provided very useful information to our guests. In addition, we had about five company/food sponsors for our Earth Day event. We had around five people on average attend our Green Walks which was an accomplishment due to the fact that the Green Walks were completely new this year. Our newsletters were viewed by about 30 people which was half of what we were expecting but was a surprise considering that the newsletters were just implemented this year also. The webpage is currently under construction so we do not expect to meet this metric.

Resources
AttachmentSize
PDF icon SamanthaCanoPSIFinalPaper.pdf1.51 MB
Related Websites: 
PSI PechaKucha Presentation