Sustainability Initiative:
This Time, It's Personal

A recent trip to Alaska reminded me, once again, of the precious gift of nature. We spent five days in and around Anchorage in August and took a “flightseeing” trip over an active (very low activity for sure) volcano and a day cruise observing schools of Orca whales. We went sea kayaking off of the fishing town of Homer and observed a caving glacier up close and personal. Sadly, Alaska’s splendor is being diminished by effects of climate change that even a tourist like me can detect. Experts say that over 85 percent of the glaciers in Alaska are now receding. Having traveled to Alaska with my Dad just a few years ago, I saw a dramatic difference in the size of these glaciers today.

Alaska may be far from California, but the results of choices we have made here (and many other places, of course) are becoming apparent in the wildernesses of the north. It might sound trite, but I still find myself asking what will be left to see in Alaska if we don’t work harder on sustainability at home?

In our own backyard, it’s up to us to make choices that meet our needs without compromising the needs and opportunities of future generations. As a campus community, we must continually recommit ourselves to our mission of sustainability.

As a campus citizen and as vice chancellor for administration, I support the UC system-wide sustainability initiative. I am proud of the lead role that our area of the university has in delivering on this initiative.

• Our Purchasing & Business Contracts unit, part of Accounting and Financial Services, is the campus lead for Strategic Sourcing, a system-wide program that is leveraging our buying power to increase the recycled content of our paper, drastically cut the energy use of our appliances, influence our suppliers to reduce packaging and more.
  
  
• Fleet Services is directly involved in managing the acquisition of more low-emission vehicles.
  
  
• Repro Graphics is a supplier of printers that scan and email, saving paper, improving efficiency and cutting costs.
  
  
• Campus Events and Visitor Services now offers zero-waste events.
  
  
• Architecture & Engineering and Facilities Operations and Maintenance continue as the standard-bearers for green building and energy-wise utilities, and as they become fully aligned with the Office of Resource Management and Planning, their power fully integrated sustainability strategies into the fabric of our operations should increase exponentially.

Large-scale systems solutions are key to having a sustainable campus. But the vision needs to be realized at the grassroots level, too. On the sustainability page of our site you’ll find the “Cliff Notes” version of the sustainability policy along with some concrete ideas for ways to keep the grassroots sustainability initiative going. We encourage conversations among all employees about how to live and work within sustainability guidelines.