General Sustainability Announcements

Berkeley Institute of the Environment and the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability, in conjunction with the UC Berkeley Calendar Network, have launched the new UC Berkeley Environmental Events Calendar (EnviroEvents).To view this calendar, visit http://enviroevents.berkeley.edu .This new calendar is intended as a resource for the entire environmental community at Cal. It currently contains up to a dozen environmental events daily!

Users can browse events by event type (lecture, meeting, student event, etc.) or issue area (water, energy, public health, etc.). To add or update an event, simply click the "submit or edit an event" link on the left side of any EnviroEvents calendar page. If you need assistance adding an event, please contact events@bie.berkeley.edu. EnviroEvents allows users to email events, add events to personal calendars (ics), and receive RSS feeds of upcoming events.

BIE and CACS can also help campus organizations set up custom RSS feeds with only their organization's events.

Come check out the calendar and join in!

The Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC) is hosting its first Annual Lecture with Dr. Richard Sandor, an expert on environmental, financial, and commodity markets with a vast wealth of academic and industry experience. The lecture will be followed by a reception.

Dr. Richard Sandor, Founder and Chairman of the Chicago Climate Exchange, and also widely regarded as the "father of financial futures," will speak on the subject of how markets can be used to solve environmental problems and, simultaneously, create wealth. Dr. Sandor is a former faculty member of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

The lecture will be moderated by Severin Borenstein.

When: Tuesday, October 2nd, 6-8 pm
Where: Lipman room: 8th Floor in Barrows Hall

When: Wednesday, September 26th, 7:30-9:30
Where: North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave

Background:
Climate Change is a global problem with local impacts. Our state and region are already experiencing rising temperatures, rising sea levels, increasing incidence of major forest fires, and decreasing snow pack. Come learn and share ideas about what we can do as a community to respond to the impacts of global warming.

Presentations include:
"A Rising San Francisco Bay"
Presenter: Will Travis, Executive Director, Bay Conservation and Development Commis
This presentation will focus on the threat of rising sea levels in the SF Bay and how Berkeley and other cities in the region should respond.

"Cities at Risk: Responding to the Local Impacts of Climate Change"
Presenter: Amy Luers, Environmental Scientist, Union for Concerned Scientists.
This presentation focuses on the threat of increasing major wildfires and other impacts of global warming and how our community should respond.

For more information, visit the City of Berkeley website and click on "Climate Action Events."

The Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology (SAFE) is in its second year of existence at UC Berkeley. It is run by students whose mission is to catalyze honest discussion of a truly sustainable food system. They screen subject-related films as well as have panel discussions.

The next film screening is Our Daily World + We Feed the World on October 11th with San Fransico area breadbakers: Steve Sullivan (founder Acme Breads); Julie Cummins (CUESA) Phoenix Pastaficio. It will be moderated by Renato Sardo (ex. President of Slow Food International). Visit the film series website for an entire screening schedule.

Berkeley Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a free Climate Change Workshop on Friday, September 14th from 12:30-1:30pm. The event will take place in the Gaia Building Art Space on 2116 Allston Way. The focus of the workshop is to share ideas about how business can help to reduce Berkeley's greenhouse gas emissions, learn about programs that help cut carbon while raising profits, and be a part of Berkeley's growing climate protection movement.

For more information, contact Jennifer Cogley at (510) 981-5438 or visit the website.

The Third Annual "This Way to Sustainability" Conference will be held Thursday November 1st - Sunday November 4th at California State University, Chico. The conference will offer 80 regular sessions, 5 keynote addresses, and 7 tours during the first three days. Further information and details are provided here.

Registration Fees are as follows:
Conference:
General: $25
Students: Free with valid student ID

Annual Conference Banquet on Friday, November 2nd
General: $15
Students: $10

Annual Organic Lunch, Saturday November 3rd
General: $10
Students: $7

The Ecology Center will be hosting the Second Annual Berkeley Sustainability Summit on Friday, September 21st, from 9am to 3:30 pm. It will take place at the Krutch Theater on Clark Kerr Campus, and feature an all-new lineup of 24+ speakers. structured networking, and an organic lunch. Fahmida Ahmed an Laura Moreno from the University will speak about various campus initiatives. This year students receive discounted tickets. For more information, please visit www.ecologycenter.org/summit.

The City of Berkeley now facilitates composting in order to meet its goal to reduce waste sent to landfills by 75% by 2010. Starting September 3rd, the city will collect green bins weekly. Residents can put food scraps and food-soiled paper products (such as napkins and pizza boxes) into pails provided by the city, and then empty them into the bins in addition to the usual yard trimmings.

Collected food scraps will be composted in a plant near Modesto and used by local farmers and landscapers to enrich the soil.

Instructions and details how to compost and get the bins as well as background information are provided on the linked websites!

AC Transit has proposed a Bus Rapid Transit line connecting Berkeley, Oakland, and San Leandro, featuring:
1. Dedicated bus lanes
2. Transit signal priority
3. Bus service operating at 3.6 to 5.0 minute headways (time between buses) during peak periods
4. Stations spaced 1/4 to 1/2 mile apart (wider than local buses, comparable to light rail service)
5. Pre-paid ticketing and proof of payment fare verification and enforcement
6. Shelters, boarding platforms, benches, security features, fare machines, and real time bus arrival information.

Where (in Berkeley)?: Telegraph Avenue (from Oakland border to Sproul Plaza); Shattuck Avenue between Bancroft and University Avenue. Route options between Telegraph and Shattuck described below.

UC Berkeley is in the process of commenting on this proposal, and preliminary comments are included in this post.


BRT_UC_Berkeley_Comment_20070702-1.pdf
BRT_AC_Transit_Summary-1.pdf

Berkeley staff has decided to organize to promote environmental awareness and sustainability on campus. The goal of this meeting is to determine the group's name, operating process, aims, and approach to already existing policies as well as relationship with the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability. CACS participants will also be on hand to brief the meeting on sustainability developments on campus.

Faculty and staff are invited to attend this meeting on September 13th, 12-1 pm in the Section Club Room of the Tang Center on the 1st floor. For questions and more information, email Nick Slater or call him at 510.62.1918.

The Design for Sustainability Colloquium (Arch 249) is back! This year there is a great line-up of speakers presenting topics related to the physical environment in buildings. Sign up on Telebears as soon as possible to get in, however everyone is welcome to attend the lectures without enrolling in the class.

The 1 unit course is taught by Gail Brager, Thursdays 2:30-2pm in 112 Wurster Hall.

GRIST, an online environmental journal, ranked UC Berkeley as a runner up to the top 15 Green Colleges and Universities in the world. UC Berkeley is recognized for its organic salad bar and officially certified organic kitchen - the first in the nation. Congratulations to the campus and CalDining!