Giving Opportunities: Earth Week 2023

Support Student-led Innovation for Safer Materials and Chemicals

By Center for Green Chemistry

Thanks to a generous gift from an individual donor, all gifts to the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry will be matched 100% during this fundraising drive!

Thanks to a generous gift from an individual donor, all gifts to the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry will be matched 100% during this fundraising drive! Center for Green Chemistry Thanks to a generous gift from an individual donor, all gifts to the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry will be matched 100% during this fundraising drive! Thank you for helping us make the most of this unique fundraising opportunity! For the last 13 years, the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry has led a series of interdisciplinary, project-based programs, including; courses, fellowships, symposiums and an internship program, all with the goal of developing safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals used in products and processes. Our flagship program, the Greener Solutions graduate course, brings together students in chemistry, environmental health, and engineering to understand each other’s disciplines, and to work with an external partner to identify and develop safer materials for safer products. Through this course, these interdisciplinary teams of UC Berkeley students have successfully identified safer alternatives to preservatives in personal care products, PFAS-free durable water-repellant coatings for outerwear, replacements for formaldehyde in clothing manufacturing and compostable adhesives for product labels (PLU stickers) in the grocery store. In addition to undertaking a bio-inspired design process to identify safer alternatives based on naturally occurring chemical processes, the students assess the potential health and environmental hazards associated with each of their proposed alternatives relative to hazards of the current chemistries. We also partner with community groups that advocate for populations that are disproportionately affected by the challenge chemical, including Black Women for Wellness and Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, to ensure that the students have a full understanding of the current and historic impact of chemical hazard exposure in daily life. Upon completing our courses, students can continue to work on the challenge of innovating safer materials by participating in our Greener Partnerships internship program. Examples of student internship projects include working with the USTMA to identify alternatives to toxic 6PPD in tires, partnering with Bay Area startup Sway to test moisture barrier and stretch strength properties of seaweed-based plastics, and working with the International Association for Firefighters to identify and advocate for safer materials in firefighter turnout. The Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry programs have brought about product reformulations, new products, scientific publications and, most importantly, a new generation of chemists and engineers who are trained in a systems approach to design: one that more fully considers the health, community and environmental implications of chemical and material choices.

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Berkeley Student Farms

By Berkeley Student Farms

Help us with movement building, liberatory imagination, and the equitable distribution of food, land, and knowledge through collective action and resistance.

Help us with movement building, liberatory imagination, and the equitable distribution of food, land, and knowledge through collective action and resistance. Berkeley Student Farms The Berkeley Student Farms coalition is a student-led organization that prioritizes movement building, liberatory imagination, and the equitable distribution of food, land, and knowledge through collective action and resistance. The coalition utilizes ecological land stewardship to create a network of sites dedicated to anti-oppression and student basic needs, ultimately producing thriving safe spaces for experiential education and food sovereignty in the Bay Area. First and foremost, BSF recognizes that the land we steward as the occupied ancestral land of the Chochenyo speaking Muwekma and Lisjan Ohlone People. We strive to honor their struggle for sovereignty that continues today by supporting Ohlone and indigenous-led food sovereignty initiatives such as Cafe Ohlone, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, the Indigenous and Native Coalition, and more. Our first goal is to enact and uplift existing food sovereignty initiatives. As a student collective, we recognize the multi-generational decolonial efforts and mutual aid networks developed by BIPOC communities long before the existence of Berkeley Student Farms. For our community, part of what it means to strive for food justice is to be educated about the histories of oppression and colonization that have necessitated food justice and agricultural practices that are not only more ecologically sustainable, but intentionally designed to resist oppressive economic hierarchies and feed communities that are systematically excluded from the dominant food systems of industrial agriculture. Your donation would help keep our facilities thrive and be a place where all are welcome to learn and participate! Our second goal, land decolonization and empowerment of BIPOC leadership, is how BSF actualizes our commitment to supporting existing food sovereignty initiatives. Four out of our eight gardens and farms are dedicated to underrepresented BIPOC student communities. The work of decolonizing our land, our food, and our community is an ongoing and continuous effort. In partnership with BlPOC farmers and land stewards, we provide workshops centered around the liberation and decolonization of farming practices. We organize our own educational opportunities to better actualize anti-oppression initiatives into our work as land stewards such as our Agroecology in Action! DeCal and our upcoming summer fellowship. BSF also works on the land in collaboration with other student groups like the Native American Student Development and students at the Black Resource Center with the Fannie Lou Hamer Farm. Including more people in this work is critical: your contributions can help more people get involved with our farms. Our third community goal is to offer intercultural and place-based learning opportunities. UC Berkeley does not currently use a hands-on, experiential, land-based pedagogy; BSF responds by learning from one another and the land. Our agroecology DeCal includes weekly workshops in various farming spaces, and we’ve offered workshops on healing herbs, seed saving, and other accessible and critical activities. Both our farming practices and the food we grow reflects the cultural diversity of our community, as BSF is one of the only sites on campus where students can have directaccess to a spectrum of agricultural and food traditions. These experiences are greatly impacted by your generosity, providing us with the resources to connect our communities back to their food! Finally, our fourth goal is to build solidarity and community partnerships. For BSF, our values of food sovereignty and justice means creating radical accessibility to food, land, and experiential learning. We recognize that this vision is always in the process of becoming. In this way, our efforts are only as effective as the relationships that we can foster with other campus student organizations and campus administrative, financial, and academic departments. To increase the distribution of food, we also work in partnership with the UC Berkeley Basic Needs Center and Food Pantry, the Gill Tract Farm Coalition, and other local grassroots organizations. Twice a week, our food is taken to the BNC which receives over 1700 unique visitors. This partnership shows the way in which BSF has integrated itself within other university food justice initiatives; we as students are committed to feeding the entire school community especially students who are economically and housing insecure as well as the underpaid workers that make the existence of our educational institution possible. You can find the rest of our partnerships such as The Gill Tract Farm Coalition and the Berkeley Food Institute on our website. Your gifts are essential in making sure we can continue to produce food that supports our communities! Overall, BSF believes that land stewardship is a powerful therapeutic and healing practice. Tending seeds, soil, and plants are somatic practices that reconnect the body to food, culture, and more-than-human life. Your donations will help BSF continue to reach our goals and support our community! Donate to Berkeley Student Farms and help fund garden operations within UC Berkeley’s largest student-run farming coalition dedicated to food justice and land sovereignty! In order to meet the needs of our growing coalition, we need support to provide each of our gardens and farms with the resources that they need so that BSF can continue to provide free and nutritious food, wellness programming, and educational workshops to the student body and Berkeley community. These resources include: Repairing greenhouses, shade structures, and storage sheds Student stipends Tools such as clippers, gloves, etc. Seeds and soil Compost materials (thermometer, shredder) Irrigation systems Workshop guest speakers and materials Signage around the gardens and more! As a totally student-led organization (established Summer 2020), BSF already supports almost 300 volunteers in 8 different garden spaces. Your donation will put tools in the hands of student farmers and seeds into the ground, helping BSF strengthen its coalition across UC Berkeley’s campus and the East Bay. Join the farming revolution! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Contact Us with any questions comments or concerns at claire-h23@berkeley.edu or follow us on Instagram and Facebook @berkeleystudentfarms

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Support Students with Big Ideas for Tackling Climate Change

By Big Ideas

Help support student projects that will be tackling climate change in California!

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ECOLOG: Documenting the history of ecological design

By CED Archives

Help us preserve and make accessible the knowledge and lessons embedded in historical records by making a gift today!

Help us preserve and make accessible the knowledge and lessons embedded in historical records by making a gift today! CED Archives PRESERVE HISTORY FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE The College of Environmental Design has long been a center of innovation in ecological design, but this history is not so well known. Fortunately, the Environmental Design Archives (EDA) has acquired the archival collections of several key figures in sustainable design. Intro to Environmental Design students interacting with EDA collections Help us preserve the knowledge and lessons embedded in these historical records. Your gift will support the momentum around sustainability at the CED and preserve this important work for future generations. SUPPORT STUDENT ENGAGEMENT Our aim is to engage students with these collections through instruction, employment, and outreach. Many of the students who end up working at the EDA were first introduced to our collections through a class visit or class assignment. They tell us they come away with a deeper connection to design history and a better understanding of how complex issues play out over time. Your donation will directly support student employees at the EDA. Help ensure that students continue this deep engagement with EDA collections. WHAT DO STUDENTS DO AT THE ARCHIVES? Student employees are critical in the physical stabilization of original drawings, photographs, and other materials for survival into the far future. They also help us create "finding aids" for these collections, making them discoverable by web browsers and available as historical touch points amid the growing challenges of climate change and environmental injustice. A gift $200 funds a student employee working with EDA collections for one week A gift of $3400 will fund a student for an entire semester! A gift of $6800 will fund a student for an entire academic year! MORE ABOUT THE COLLECTIONS The Hester McNally Collection contains records reflecting the work of Randy Hester and Marcia McNally and their firm, Community Development by Design, founded in 1985. The firm is distinguished for applying ecological thinking to community problems resulting in innovations in city design, regional land use, and natural resource management. Both Hester and McNally taught for 30 years at the College of Environmental Design. Student work in their Environmental Planning Studio integrated with Hester and McNally's advocacy efforts to protect local ecologies along the southwest coast of Taiwan, including the habitat for the endangered Black-faced Spoonbill, one of the rarest birds in the world. The Sim Van der Ryn Collection contains records reflecting Van der Ryn’s long career as an architect and educator integrating ecological principles into the built environment. His design work has been closely tied to issues of sustainability – whether through material choice, consideration of environmental factors, or performance concerns. In the 1960s, Van der Ryn was involved in numerous radical programs and projects associated the College of Environmental Design, including the creation of People’s Park. As California State Architect in the 1970s, he designed and built the State’s first energy efficient and climate-responsive building. Student project in Sim Van der Ryn's "Outlaw Builder Studio," 1971 Van der Ryn taught for 35 years at the College of Environmental Design. Students in Van der Ryn’s “Outlaw Builder Studio” worked together at a rural site to design and build their own shelters and community buildings. Help us preserve and share this knowledge for future generations by making a donation to the Environmental Design Archives today!

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SERC 10 Year Anniversary

By SERC

SERC is home to an incredibly talented and passionate team of students seeking out meaningful engagement within the environmental sphere.

SERC is home to an incredibly talented and passionate team of students seeking out meaningful engagement within the environmental sphere. SERC Celebrating 10 Years of environmental education, activism, and community! And, eagerly anticipating all that is soon to be offered through SERC's continued growth! A decade ago, a group of UC Berkeley transfer students organized themselves into a group in order to establish a space they thought would help achieve their goal of an environmentally just world.10 years later, the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) now employs 5 full-time staff who oversee upwards of 60 students who all have their own individual goals that can broadly be defined as either programming, research, or both. Of these 60 students, about 30 are part-time student staff who are paid by SERC. This money allows our student staff, and full-time staff, to carry out the phenomenal work displayed below, which makes SERC SERC! Supporting SERC Staff + Interns: With over 25 student staff, SERC is home to an incredibly talented and passionate team of students seeking out meaningful engagement within the environmental sphere. Allison Allison is a senior at UC Berkeley who is majoring in Society and Environment and minoring in City Planning, while also working on a UC system-wide pesticide oversight committee. She is our amazing Events Associate and oversees and facilitates large-scale events, such as our earth week in the spring and climate justice week in the fall! Jade Jade is a junior at UC Berkeley and is majoring in Environmental Science with a minor in African American Studies and an incredibly talented competitive swimmer. She is SERCs inaugural Outdoor Education Associate and has carried out amazing programs, such as hosting kayaking excursions and leading exciting group hikes and swim lessons Kat Kat is a sophomore at UC Berkeley majoring in Data Science with a minor in Geospatial Information Science and Technology and a former star of one of SERC's incredible membership teams. She is our Green Team Associate and is striving to establish a single-use Jakobplastic elimination policy and other essential campus-wide green policies. Jakob is a senior at UC Berkeley double majoring in Political Science and Society and Environment and a fantastic book club leader. He is our Community Engagement Associate and has done an outstanding job at coalescing the efforts of the eco-community on campus, while simultaneously organizing countless events for them. VarshaVarsha is a senior at UC Berkeley and is double majoring in Data Science and Society and Environment and is an endless source of knowledge for anyone on campus seeking ways to get involved with any aspect of campus. She is our Community Resilience Associate and is tirelessly working to set up needed infrastructure to support underrepresented students within the environmental field at large. Conferences SERC COP27 Delegation SERC understands the value of communal sharing and learning. Hence, we provide opportunities for students to be able to hear from an array of people and learn from them via supporting the attendance at a conference, or hosting one ourselves! This past fall season SERC was able to send 10 students, from an application pool of over 400 talented students, to go Sharm El-Sheikh for the Conference of Parties (COP) 27. COP is the United Nations-organized international climate change conference that lays out the policy and COP27 Delegation Panel finances that will lead international efforts to combat and mitigate climate change. This space allowed for our delegation of students to be able to hear from an array of world leaders across various sectors, as well as accomplished scientists and dedicated grassroots organizers pushing for progress. This group was also given opportunities to have their own voices heard in their conversations with others and at the panel they led while at COP 27. Events There is not enough time to begin to describe the number of events and their impact on the surrounding community that SERC events have had over the last 10 years. From educating middle school students to leading student-backed rallies SERC has been doing it all. Our organization has served as a beacon of programming for the community here at UC Berkeley and the scale of impact and size of our goals have only continued to grow. Some examples of the amazing event planning that has taken place this year are SERCs: Climate Justice Week: Held annually during the fall semester, this is a week-long showcase of events rooted in the philosophy and application of climate justice principles. This year these events involved discussion and education on greenwashing, and what is going on in the local Bay Area environment via a documentary screening. However, events also include setting up art showcases as well as seed-planting groups to showcase the different forms of justice and resilience that can be seen in art or in the act of growing. Allison and Jacob from Earth Week 2022 Earth Week: Earth Week is very similar in structure to climate justice week in that it is a week of events that seek to engage the community with different aspects of environmentalism. This also serves as a series of events that SERC helps to create space for and host in the spring semester. Last year's events included vermicomposting workshops, an Indigenous-led panel on environmentalism, and an art build for a subsequent rally. Book Club: SERC has brought back its book club and has found it to be very inspiring for members to envision a better future and methods for reaching that future. Our book club meets about once a month and provides all the materials needed to engage in a dialogue about the book. Many amazing books have been read, including Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez and The Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler. Environmental Justice Applied: One of SERC's most well-known events is our various environmental justice training, recently known as Environmental Justice Applied. Environmental Justice Applied is a series of training over the school year that are led and created by SERC staff that apply the theoretical teachings within environmental justice to real-world issues and seek to provide information and, if applicable, possible pathways to conceiving solutions for these issues. Past topics have covered e-waste, food justice, and fast fashion. Nature Education & Wellness Together (NEWT) The NEWT program will provide education, resources, and experiences for students to access nature in ways that are wellness-oriented, culturally relevant, and financially accessible. Traditional environmentalism in the US is rooted in white supremacy, colonization, classism, and patriarchy, which has prevented many communities from being able to fully benefit from time in nature. Thus, in addition to resources and free local nature events, NEWT will have intentional programming focused on experiences for groups less likely to access nature for mental health, including queer and trans students, students of color, low-income students, and students with disabilities. This is a brand new program that SERC has only launched this year and we are excited for its growth development to come! Scholarships SERC provides direct monetary aid to students when possible. However, two scholarships are made available yearly for UC Berkeley students. The two scholarships are known as our "Sister Scholarships" and consist of the SERC Environmentalists of Color Scholarship and the memorial Brian Gialketsis SERQueer Scholarship. The former is rooted in supporting BIPOC environmentalists on campus and their work. The latter is rooted in supporting queer and trans student environmentalists. The name SERQueer comes from the group that Brian and other SERC alumni created in 2018, a group they described as “a community space for queer students working on environmental sustainability & justice”. Professional Development SERC cultivates professional development for all members of the campus community and not just our student staff. SERC sets up fireside chats and panels with experts from all facets of environmentalism, be it lawyers, environmental engineers, community organizers and leaders, and so many others. Thus, allowing students to have exposure to various options for post-graduate work and ways to explore their interests in professional settings. SERC also restarted our mentorship program this year which connects students seeking advice and guidance in the environmental industry with alumni or older students with the experience to pass on to them. Space SERC itself also serves as a dedicated space for students. By having a physical location on campus, SERC is able to function as a place for students to come and gather and begin to organize. Additionally, SERC can serve as a place for the community to come and host events that are aligned with SERCs own values and goals. Community Engagement Most importantly though, and what is really at the center of everything SERC attempts to do, is to engage the community. SERC itself was made to be a community, a community of Food distribution at a community park individuals who wanted to create a place to help improve the world. A way in which SERC actively engages with the community is through SERCQueer, which provides a place for queer students interested in environmental justice to meet, and a time to come together in the community. Another example is in the programming we do to support budding environmentalist leaders with growth and development, while also providing them a space to get to know one another and cultivate relationships that span different sectors of environmentalism. Another way in which SERC engages the campus community is in its association and work with over 40 different campus clubs in achieving their own goals and facilitating them working together to achieve these goals. All of this and so much more is why you should donate to SERC today! Again, SERC is largely student-led and takes an incredible amount of time and dedication from them, and our full-time staff, to carry out and plan such a large degree of programming. With our ever-growing team of students, having added 3 positions this year alone, and an increasing scale and frequency of events SERC now more than ever needs financial support to continue carrying out these vital functions. Hence, why we are asking you all to come and help support SERC carry out its role on campus as the place for all things environmentalism. With your donation, you support the continuance, and growth, of all of the above programs and so much more than what could fit onto this page. This work can not be done without paying our staff and providing materials to carry out all of our events, and with another 10 years of growth in sight now is the perfect time to invest in SERC and help support a greener and more equitable future for society!

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The Climate, Hope & Science Podcast

By Greater Good Science Center

How can we stay hopeful, faced with climate change? Our new podcast series reveals what science tells us about crisis, hope, happiness, and action.

How can we stay hopeful, faced with climate change? Our new podcast series reveals what science tells us about crisis, hope, happiness, and action. Greater Good Science Center Ice caps are melting, forests are burning, and people are suffering. How could we possibly feel hopeful? In a new podcast series by The Science of Happiness, we'll find the links between crisis, hope, happiness, and action. We'll explore the intersection of environmental well-being and our own well-being, where taking care of ourselves and the planet are one and the same. Because feeling hopeful about our future is not only possible, it’s essential. Our guests will address questions like: What does it take to be aware of what’s really happening, without falling into despair? How do we find hope? Do small, individual actions really matter? What happens to our minds and hearts when we connect with nature, and how can that actually protect the climate? The first episode of Climate, Hope & Science will launch on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22, with four additional episodes airing through May 18. We hope to continue featuring more Climate, Hope & Science topics in future episodes, and we need your support to help generate interest and fund this important conversation going forward! Please donate today, and you'll be recognized in the Climate, Hope & Science show notes ($150), or with a personal shout-out in a podcast episode! ($500) Donors of $1,000 or more will receive a 15-minute 1:1 Zoom with podcast host Dacher Keltner, for a private climate Q&A and guided meditation! Do you know others who might be interested in Climate, Hope & Science? Sign up as an ambassador below, and it'll be easy to share our Earth Day launch with your friends. Thank you for helping us be more hopeful and effective in the face of climate change! Climate, Hope & Science: The Science of Hope in the Age of Climate Despair A series by The Science of Happiness, produced by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and PRX Host: Dacher Keltner is the host of The Science of Happiness podcast, the founding director of The Greater Good Science Center, and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. The GGSC publishes our latest articles in our e-newsletter: sign up here!

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Giving Opportunities: Earth Week 2023

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