Restoration and Farm Volunteering
BSSC participates in restoration events around the UCSB community throughout the year. Our restoration events are generally made possible by the UCSB Coastal Fund. Previous projects have worked with the Audubon Society at the Coal Oil Point Reserve and around the UCSB Lagoon with the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER). We have also done restoration events at the Piedras Blancas Light Station, which is generally only accessible to the public through special tours. Starting in the spring of 2014, we volunteered at Fairview Gardens, helping to pull weeds in the pollinator garden and asparagus field, and in exchange picked organic lettuce and tomatoes for our quarterly barbecue. |
Sustainability Initiatives
In addition to our own efforts at Bren Hall with students, faculty, and staff, BSSC often collaborates with other organizations on campus to make the general UCSB community more sustainable. Our most recent accomplishment was to obtain a TGIF grant (The Green Initiative Fund) to install a final round of hand dryers that will result in zero paper towel usage in any Bren restrooms. Additionally, BSSC joined forces with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and CalPIRG to do extensive campaigning for the first ever statewide ban on single use plastic bags (Prop 67) which passed in Fall 2016! Shown here is Mayor Schneider of Santa Barbara making the pledge to protect our marine environments and coastlines from plastic bags.
Bren Community Bike Program
BSSC is happy to announce that the Bren School is now offering Bren graduate students, faculty and staff access to 8 community bikes. Our hope is to promote active transportation options to help offset the need for greenhouse gas intensive transportation on and near campus! Once students, faculty, and/or staff sign a release waiver, the BSSC will email combination codes and a link to a use survey. Three bikes are available for overnight usage (maximum 3 overnights/week) and the rest can be reserved hourly on a day-to-day basis (maximum 6 hours/day). Please note, these bikes are not intended to replace daily commutes to campus as they are here to supplement for small trips or outings. For any questions or to request a waiver please contact the BSSC at [email protected]
Community Engagement
We host Bren-wide functions to facilitate interaction between students, staff, faculty, and alumni while providing opportunities for students to network in a sustainable setting. A recent quarterly barbecue, at the end of spring quarter 2016, was entirely vegetarian. We were able to show students and staff that you can have a delicious meat-free barbecue.