Group lends research proposals

The California Student Sustainability Coalition held its first
presentation of the Action Research Team’s environmental
proposals Wednesday evening, offering a program filled with
environmentally conscious suggestions for the UCLA campus, research
findings for the statewide coalition and complimentary mugs of hot
tea for all attendees.

Four groups of students presented comprehensive research
information gathered throughout spring quarter concerning
campuswide waste management, transportation, responsible purchasing
and solar theory and application.

Student presenters from the research team said the proposals
were the culmination of an effort to promote, as well as implement,
a more ecologically sound life on campus.

Crystal Durham, a fifth-year political theory and environmental
studies student, director of the sustainability coalition at UCLA
and the coordinator of Wednesday night’s program said the
goal of the coalition is to give students more information on how
to improve the quality of life on campus.

“Adherence to the environment is fundamental. Using
resources so that it does not debilitate the environment and
monitor our waste production” is key, Durham said.

The projects were part of the Education for Sustainable Living
Program, a two-unit environmentally driven course available at
other University of California campuses, including UC Davis and UC
Berkeley, and offered at UCLA for the first time this quarter. It
was spearheaded by UCLA student Michael Cox, who said he wanted to
offer a sustainability course that would feature speakers from the
environmentally conscious community.

The weekly course featured a series of lecturers and
participants had the option of completing the research projects for
additional units.

Dorothy Le, a third-year biological chemistry student and next
year’s cochair of the sustainability coalition said that she,
Durham and another student on the board chose the research topics
beforehand and offered them to any students enrolled in the lecture
series, as well as reaching out to other students in life science
courses.

Tova Lelah, the assistant director of campus and environmental
planning at UCLA and cochair of the Chancellor’s Advisory
Committee for Sustainability, voiced her support of the
presentations and student efforts with the coalition.

“This is the combination of students, faculty and staff
who all have a stake in sustainability,” she said. Lelah also
said that better knowledge and information are primary goals of Web
sites and added curricula.

Le said her greatest hope for the future of the sustainability
coalition is more visibility.

“We hope for more integration in the campus community with
a more institutionalized method, a how-to to environmental
awareness,” Le said.

Among other things proposed were more incentives for students,
faculty and staff in using environmentally conscious
transportation, more recycling bins, organic food options on
campus, more effective waste disposal and greater use of solar
energy. Le went on to say that anyone can enroll in the class,
participate in the research and contribute to the student and
administrative collaboration in improving environmental awareness
on campus.

“We’re an ever-evolving club; we appreciate all
input. It is a really exciting time, and there is always room for
improvement,” Le said.