- Author: Holly Mayton
Greetings from the UC-wide Global Food Initiative (GFI) and Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI) student fellows! Welcome to our blog, where we hope to share the amazing work of GFI and CNI fellows, past and present, undergraduate and graduate, and SoCal to NorCal.
But first, here's a little history:
Launched in 2013 by UC President Janet Napolitano, the Carbon Neutrality Initiative commits the University system to emitting net zero greenhouse gases from its buildings and vehicle fleet by 2025, something no other major university system has done. The Initiative has fostered the creation of the Global Climate Leadership Council and innovative sustainability projects on every campus, with much of the action and momentum beginning at the student level.
The following year, Napolitano launched a sister program, the Global Food Initiative. GFI is motivated by addressing one of the critical issues of our time: how to sustainably and nutritiously feed a growing population. In addition to the stellar global food security research happening across all 10 UC campuses, GFI also looks inward to address basic needs insecurity amongst UC students. You can check out all of the GFI multicampus working groups here!
Wherever you are in the UC, there's probably a GFI or CNI fellow nearby! Here's 5 ways that you can get involved in these initiatives on on your campus!
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Attend an event, like cooking demos, zero-waste workshops, research symposia, farmer's markets, and more. There are countless GFI and CNI happenings on every UC campus!
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Volunteer! Lots of food and climate sustainability efforts rely on the power of volunteers in the UC community. Check out your campus garden or farm for their volunteer hours, or join an organization like UCLA's Food Forward or UC Berkeley's ReUse!
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Participate in a working group or committee. Multi-campus groups meet regularly to discuss issues ranging from zero-waste dining to energy efficiency to healthy vending machine options. These groups all benefit from and value student perspectives and participation.
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Get in touch. There are students, faculty, and staff on all ten UC campuses (plus Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Agriculture & Natural Resources) involved in GFI and CNI. Browse the initiative webpages for their contact information, or reach out to the student ambassadors from your campus.
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Become a 2018-19 student fellow! Applications for next year's fellows will be available in April, so now is the perfect time to start planning your own GFI or CNI project and identify a project mentor on your campus. You can browse all of the current fellowship projects at:
GFI Student Involvement: 2017 Fellows