Some UCLA students would like the school to become more green
than blue and gold.
Members of the UCLA Environmental Coalition are seeking to
educate members of the campus about environmental sustainability
through a lecture series that occurs every Wednesday evening in the
Student Activities Center.
“The sustainable lecture series focuses on highlighting
innovative ideas and new concepts in greening the campus,”
said Shannon Clements, director of the Environmental Coalition and
a master’s student in urban planning.
The series brings a variety of professionals and experts to the
campus and is a part of a broader movement gaining momentum in the
University of California system.
Though primarily aimed at graduate students, the series brings
together a variety of students who, in the words of second-year
nursing student Alma Tomizh, are there simply because “they
need to be informed.”
On Feb. 23, the series featured Matt St. Clair, sustainability
specialist for the UC Office of the President. He began working for
UCOP last year in an effort to adopt sustainability standards,
including the Green Building Clean Energy Policy issued in June
2004 by the UC Board of Regents. Spurred on by the construction of
UC Merced, the university’s newest campus, the policy has
instituted systemwide environment-friendly building codes.
Campuses must adopt numerical standards in all new construction
projects. Many campuses have also adopted a rating system from
Leadership and Energy in Environmental Design. LEED, a program
through the U.S. Green Building Council, rates environmental
performance.
St. Clair said the movement for environmental sustainability is
now turning its focus on transportation. This involves adopting
policies to encourage public transportation and on-campus housing
to adopt environment-friendly policies.
“Getting consensus around sustainable transportation is
difficult. There is a lot of reluctance to tackle this
problem,” St. Clair said.
Resistance comes because of the high costs from building new
housing and the difficulties of differentiating housing prices
between new and old dorms, he added.
Recent student fee increases have created political pressure for
administrators to avoid the costs associated with sustainability,
St. Clair said, adding that the real battle comes in convincing
administrators that sustainability is more than a fad.
“Funding is the key way of doing it,” he said.