History of SGB
SGB was formed in February 2005 by two graduate students who wanted to be more actively involved in the environmental issues on campus, and saw a need for a general graduate student sustainability group. They quickly recruited several other graduate students who felt the same way and SGB was born.
Since its formation SGB has formed many important ties with other campus groups, and key adminisrative staff. Out of these efforts we have already begun to see changes. See our 'success page' to get an idea of some accomplisments.
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About Us
Students for a Greener Berkeley is a graduate student group focused on improving environmental policies and practices on campus. Our aim is to reduce UC Berkeley's environmental footprint, be it energy use, paper consumption, water usage, waste etc., ultimately putting UC Berkeley where it should be - a showcase for sustainability.
We also collaborate with other green groups on campus,and welcome partnership from other organizations. Though we are mostly graduate students, we also welcome membership from undergraduates, staff, and community members as well.
Mission Statement
The overall goal of Students for a Greener Berkeley is to promote and implement environmental practices and policies that will increase sustainability in all aspects of campus operations. In order to achieve this goal we are working with campus administration, staff, and faculty, in addition to graduate and undergraduate students.
But ...
Isn't UC Berkeley green already? The campus is making great strides towards sustainability, and there are many opportunities still to pursue. Much of this activity is fairly recent -- not until a few years ago were there many campus groups dedicated to environmental issues and only in 2003 did an official administrative committee form to advise our upper administration on sustainable practices (CACS). Berkeley is getting greener, and there's plenty more to do!
Recently we found out that nearly half of the waste we send out to landfill is paper. Not only this, but purchasing of recycled content paper is extremely low (we were last of all UC campuses by a mile - see our purchasing project). We want to change a lot of things on campus, and paper is our first goal.
Currently we have funding from the Graduate Assembly to change the way paper is used, disposed of,and purchased on campus. Read more to find out what we're doing.
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But Why Bother?
Why should I be concerned about the 'Greeness' of the planet, let alone Berkeley?
We only have one place to live, and there is only so much this earth has to offer. Everyday you take energy from the planet and use resources. Do you give back more than you take? Certainly not. So what happens when you put 6 billion people on this planet and everyone extracts more 'goodness' from the earth than they put back? It's very simple math; the goodness of the earth will decline, and along with it so will our quality of life. Did you know that America constitutes 5% of the world's population, but consumes more than half of the world's resources? Once you start looking around here, even the excessiveness is excessive.
So can you do anything about this? Yes. There are many ways you can reduce your impact on the planet. Pay attention to all the resources you use in a single day - not just what you throw out, but what you use. This includes things from the packaging of your cereal box, to the plastic fork you ate lunch with, to the acres of farmland and feed it took to make your dinner. Once you identify the magnitude of your impact, it's time to modify your habits to minimize your overall impact on this planet.
One of the best ways to reduce your impact is to reduce your demand for all products, especially ones that have a high impact on our planet's resources. This can mean anything from reusing paper, to supporting raditional farming methods, to bringing your own tupperware to the restaurant for leftovers, to bringing your own bags to the grocery store.
If everyone minimizes their demand for resources in this world, we have a chance of regaining equilibrium and maintaining a healthy balance. It's easy to make a difference, so get started!
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Anything GOOD on this web site?
On this web site (especially our Pledge page), we post tips for individuals to make our environment more sustainable. We also describe a few projects we are currently pursuing for making our campus GREENER. If you would like to take part, or have an idea but don't know how to start, feel free to contact any one of us.
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