September 14th, 2009

By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

The University of California at San Diego is not new to the green movement. Each year they find more ways to become more eco-friendly. They give all incoming freshmen water bottles that can be filled at free filtered “hydration stations” around campus. Reusable recycling bags are provided to those in campus housing.  University restaurants and markets use fair trade and locally grown organic foods, as well as cage-free eggs. They’ve also eliminated take-away plastics and polystyrene.

But perhaps UCSD’s most unique green plan is their development of the “EcoNauts” program. When school starts this month, the EcoNauts, a corps of environmental student educators, will fly into action.

These seven students have been hired to help their peers and the residential staff learn more about sustainable practices, and ultimately, help UC San Diego lower its carbon footprint. Three EcoNauts will also blog about their sustainability experiences throughout the year.

“EcoNauts will work with Residential Life staff on eco-programming and with college residents on eco-issues,” said Krista Mays, HDH Sustainability Manager at UC San Diego.

EcoNauts will work with student groups on campus wide events involving:

• Recycling
• Composting
• Water Conservation
• Energy Conservation
• Green Building
• Social Sustainability

“This is the first year that we’ve had EcoNauts working for the HDH Sustainability division and I’m very excited to have a student perspective and ideas of how to effectively reach other students. I think that the EcoNaut students bring a wide range of experience and great ideas to the HDH family and I’m so excited to have them working for me,” Mays said.

Said EcoNaut Jessica Balmanas: “I look forward to waking students up at UCSD to the understanding that we do not inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

“It is our human duty to live in a responsible and sustainable way and as an Eco-Naut, it is my duty to implement these ‘greener’ practices at UCSD. It is so exciting to inspire students in the realization that they can make an individual difference by living their life sustainably and advocating care for the planet.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media