{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/environmentalorgs","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"slug":"environmentalorgs","excerpt":"Environmental organizations at UCLA are working toward a greener future at every level, whether it be statewide, in Los Angeles County or within the university.","headline":"Sustainability: One step at a time","author":"Shannon Park","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/environmentalorgs/environactivismmainpain-c7badf4dd7b2277966213597b520d80e.jpeg","covercred":"Catherine Xie","coveralt":"Illustration of hands holding a plant that is growing","articleType":"article","updated":null,"content":[{"type":"text","value":"Adrianna Schwaiger and her family had to evacuate from their home when the Tenaja Fire struck Murrieta, California, in September 2019. Schwaiger’s home did not burn down, but the fire burned almost 2,000 acres near her hometown, including large parts of the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve."},{"type":"text","value":"Two years have passed, and the reserve is still recovering."},{"type":"text","value":"“That's heartbreaking because that's where I grew up,” said Schwaiger, a third-year environmental science student."},{"type":"text","value":"In the aftermath of the devastating fire, she has been volunteering at the nearby reserve, helping to restore it to its former glory."},{"type":"text","value":"But Schwaiger’s environmental advocacy stretches far beyond the local reserve. Her personal experience with the wildfire largely motivated her to join the California Public Interest Research Group in fall 2020, she said. She now works as the coordinator for external and internal coalitions at the UCLA chapter of CALPIRG."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of Schwaiger.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/environmentalorgs/environorgscalpirgpain-76dda1e883d85649935dc88cd6365b5c.jpeg\",\"credit\":\"Photo courtesy of Adrianna Schwaiger, Illustration by Catherine Xie\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"The UCLA community is home to numerous organizations focused on environmental justice and sustainability. Some approach environmental issues through educating others, while others are publishing research or gathering grassroots support. Many of these organizations operate at the state, county or university level."},{"type":"text","value":"CALPIRG is a nonprofit organization consisting of nine chapters from different universities in California that tackle sustainability issues at the state level. With over 40 years of history, CALPIRG can claim numerous environmental achievements, such as helping to ban single-use plastic bags in over 100 cities in California."},{"type":"text","value":"CALPIRG’s advocacy also made a significant contribution to the passage of Senate Bill 100, which committed California to generate 100% of its energy from renewable and zero-carbon sources by 2045, Schwaiger said. All University of California chapters of CALPIRG worked together to build widespread support for the 100% Clean Energy campaign, for which Schwaiger is an intern."},{"type":"text","value":"To win support for the 100% Clean Energy campaign, CALPIRG’s website said the organization made educational presentations to around 30,000 people and gathered signatures from approximately 20,000 people and 100 faculty members."},{"type":"text","value":"CALPIRG also met with California officials and university administrators and lobbied UC student governments to pass resolutions to promote the campaign, Schwaiger said."},{"type":"text","value":"But as climate change progressively worsens, CALPIRG worries that the original goals of the 100% Clean Energy campaign might not be enough. Now, the organization aims to convince Gov. Gavin Newsom to accelerate California’s transition to 100% clean energy from 2045 to 2030, Schwaiger said."},{"type":"text","value":"To achieve their goals, CALPIRG doesn’t work alone. Schwaiger’s work as a coalition coordinator involves outreach and collaboration with other UCLA organizations that share CALPIRG’s goals, she said. She has been coordinating with various environmental organizations on campus, including undergraduate student groups such as Bruins Opposing Speciesism, graduate student groups such Environmental Law Society and student council representative Elijah Wade, she said."},{"type":"text","value":"In winter 2020, Schwaiger participated in her first CALPIRG Lobby Day, where she met with 70 legislators on Zoom. For each meeting, CALPIRG board members prepared an agenda, Schwaiger said, complete with an environmental-oriented request for the government officials."},{"type":"text","value":"Crafting an agenda requires the presenters to describe their individual experiences with their chosen issue and why they care about it, she explained."},{"type":"text","value":"“Good storytelling is really a fundamental skill in activism,” Schwaiger said, describing how her experience with the Tenaja Fire in her hometown has become a key part of her own story."},{"type":"text","value":"Through CALPIRG, Schwaiger said, she has been able to meet many people who also care deeply about the Earth and protecting it – often motivated by their own personal experiences with the environment."},{"type":"text","value":"“The people in CALPIRG – everyone's so passionate about the world, and you just get to work (with) people on issues you care about,” Schwaiger said."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"Good storytelling is really a fundamental skill in activism.”\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"CALPIRG is far from the only organization at UCLA where students and faculty express their devotion to sustainability. Cassie Rauser, the executive director of UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, has been channeling her passion for the environment into advocacy at the county level."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of Rauser.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/environmentalorgs/environorgsslagcpain-7412354f30d5a3c14c7fa4b3b7537c8f.jpeg\",\"credit\":\"Photo courtesy of Jazmin Barajas, Illustration by Catherine Xie\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"SLAGC is a university-run initiative that aims to make Los Angeles the most sustainable megacity in the world by 2050. SLAGC brings together different departments across the university to research sustainability issues, particularly renewable energy, local water management, and ecosystem health."},{"type":"text","value":"As the executive director of SLAGC, Rauser is in charge of creating detailed plans for achieving the organization’s sustainability goals. She also oversees SLAGC’s staff, ranging from research and proposal development professionals to government relations liaisons."},{"type":"text","value":"In 2018, SLAGC began working in partnership with the LA County Chief Sustainability Office to develop the first official sustainability plan for LA County. In collaboration with engineering firm Buro Happold, local environmental justice organization Liberty Hill Foundation and the county office, SLAGC completed the plan, called OurCounty, in August 2019. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the plan shortly thereafter. It was one of her proudest moments at SLAGC, Rauser said."},{"type":"text","value":"The plan aims to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 through methods such as improving public transportation, eliminating fossil fuels and more, according to LA County. Under the sustainability plan, the county would source 80 percent of its water locally by 2045 through strategies like purifying stormwater. As of 2019, only 40% of LA County’s water, and 10% of LA city’s water, was locally sourced."},{"type":"text","value":"Additionally, the plan proposes to make nature and wildlife more accessible by investing in parks, beaches and public lands and to protect the over 4,000 species in LA County."},{"type":"text","value":"SLAGC has also released topic-specific sustainability report cards to assess the county’s progress in areas like water, energy and air quality since 2017. The organization expects to release a report card on LA County’s ecosystem health soon, Rauser said. SLAGC uses these report cards to give the county strategies on hitting its sustainability goals, Rauser added."},{"type":"text","value":"In a 2019 report on LA County’s water, SLAGC provided various recommendations after giving the county scores that lie mostly in the D to B+ range. SLAGC graded the score based on water quality, water treatment, infrastructure, supply and consumption, according to SLAGC’s report. SLAGC’s recommendations included developing a water recycling system and creating systems that purify stormwater."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"I feel so fortunate every single day that I don't feel like I'm going to work, and that I do a job that I think really makes a difference.”\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Rauser has been an environmentalist for 28 years. Now, she feels grateful to be able to connect her organizing skills, scientific expertise and community engagement experiences in her work as the executive director of SLAGC, she said."},{"type":"text","value":"“I feel so fortunate every single day that I don't feel like I'm going to work, and that I do a job that I think really makes a difference,” Rauser said."},{"type":"text","value":"Striving to make a difference at the university level, Sustainability Action Research is a two-quarter research program offered by the UCLA Institute of the Environment & Sustainability that is designed and led by students. SAR currently comprises 42 students, three program directors, and eight campus stakeholders who mentor the students, according to Jamie Wittner, SAR’s Communications Director and a fourth-year communication student."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of Wittner.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/environmentalorgs/environorgsarpain-e56281c7653c5361fbc90e8d0ded523e.jpeg\",\"credit\":\"Photo courtesy of Jamie Wittner, Illustration by Catherine Xie\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"The students in the SAR program are divided into seven teams that each work on a different research project focused on sustainability at UCLA, Wittner explained. Ongoing projects include assessing the feasibility of plastic alternatives in university dining facilities, raising awareness of environmental implications in the athletics department, and establishing plans to reduce the use of styrofoam in laboratories. Towards the end of the spring quarter, each team presents its final report to all SAR students and stakeholders and produces press releases about their findings."},{"type":"text","value":"During the program, individual teams are paired with a stakeholder who provides students with real-world insight related to their proposed projects and helps implement the students’ ideas on campus. For instance, the team researching plastic alternatives for UCLA dining is paired with Erin Fabris, the sustainability manager for housing and hospitality on The Hill, and the team researching sustainability in athletics is paired with Kayla Shirey, the assistant athletic director."},{"type":"text","value":"Wittner believes SAR is one of the most productive student-led organizations on campus."},{"type":"text","value":"“If we can implement an idea or a method or anything here, it matters. And people might implement it somewhere else, and so it's really meaningful that there's such an opportunity to make a change,” Wittner said."},{"type":"text","value":"There has already been discussion that some parts of the report produced by the Green Games team, the group working to make UCLA athletics more sustainable, may possibly be implicated in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, she added. SAR has also been collaborating with consulting firms hired by UCLA to improve the sustainability of campus gardens."},{"type":"text","value":"Aside from working on their projects, all 42 students gather once a week for lectures led by the student directors and guest speakers."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"If we can implement an idea or a method or anything here, it matters. And people might implement it somewhere else, and so it’s really meaningful that there’s such an opportunity to make a change.”\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Wittner said she and the other directors are especially proud of the high participation rates in their weekly classes and the passion students show for improving sustainability at UCLA, despite the fact that COVID-19 has prevented them from being on campus."},{"type":"text","value":"Whether it be CALPIRG working with the state, SLAGC with the county or SAR with the university, environmental organizations have not let the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting remote work atmosphere put their plans on pause."},{"type":"text","value":"“I think that shows an awareness of the longevity of the issue and of how important incremental changes and being a part of it is, even if we're not going to see something right away,” Wittner said."}]}},"pageContext":{"term":"summer21","slug":"environmentalorgs"}},"staticQueryHashes":[]}