Illustration by Christine Hipp.

As UCSC continues to push toward “zero waste by 2020,” paper towels are now in the crosshairs of campus environmentalists. Beginning next year, Cowell College will no longer supply paper towels in the dorms or the apartments.

Cowell and Stevenson administrative officer Jim Carter said student awareness and involvement in conservation has been critical.

“[To be totally] sustainable by 2020 is ambitious, but it’s a good goal,” Carter said. “We want to do whatever we can to get as close to that goal as possible.”

Stevenson and Cowell coffee shops are moving away from paper products as well, as around 40 percent of landfill waste campus-wide is paper towels alone.

Last spring, Stevenson students proposed to replace paper towels with reusable personal hand towels. The switch was a success and the idea has been spreading across campus.

“Awareness about waste is growing and we’re trying to reduce waste wherever possible,” Carter said. “This includes cardboard corrals during move in, swap meets during move out,” and now the absence of paper towels throughout the whole year.

“Brittany was a beautiful young woman with an angel’s heart and a soft and caring voice,” wrote Bertram’s family in her obituary, published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on Dec. 19. “She touched so many on this earth and always cared for those who might be alone and in need.”

After walking with her graduating class last June, Bertram was due to graduate this spring with a degree in molecular, cell and developmental biology. Cowell college and the office of the registrar have been working together in hopes of procuring a posthumous degree for her.

A memorial service was held in her hometown of San Luis Obispo on Dec. 22. Many friends and family have been sharing memories and leaving wishes for Bertram and her family in her online guest book.

Bertram was an active young woman who loved adventure. According to her obituary, she had an affinity for hiking, camping and fishing, among her other activities such as skiing, riding horses, shopping and “just being around her family.”

UC Santa Cruz alumnus and friend Vanessa Sandberg said that while she didn’t know Bertram well, the few times they hung out have left a lasting respect.

“She was a super funny, kind and happy girl,” Sandberg said. “Brittany made an impression on me as someone who will never be forgotten.”

Cowell college has invited anybody with concerns to contact their college office, 831-459-2253. UCSC also offers grief counseling and may be contacted at the CAPS office by calling 

831-459-2628.

Photo by Sal Ingram.

Photo by Sal Ingram.

“What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

Marching across campus, holding signs condemning hate speech and chanting in unison, nearly 100 student demonstrators denounced racist graffiti found in a men’s restroom in Cowell College on Cinco de Mayo.

A photo of the graffiti posted on the UC Santa Cruz ethnic and critical race studies Tumblr account shows the image of the graffiti in its entirety, which reads: “STOP the invasion kill a Mexican!”

This latest incident comes after the discovery of swastika graffiti — which contained a threat of violence on 4/20 — in March, as well as the images of nooses drawn in restrooms on campus last year.

“This is bigger than just this incident,” said fourth-year Frank Bejarano, who was demonstrating with the crowd today. “It is sad that we have to do this. For us to be in the higher institutions and have to deal with this – it angers us.” Bejarano is the internal affairs officer for the UCSC chapter of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana y Chicano de Aztlan, a student organization promoting the values of the Chicano movement.

In calling attention to the instances of hate speech across the UC recently, the demonstration underscored the imperativeness of supporting programs on campus that encourage ethnic diversity as well as the incorporation of an ethnic studies major.

“Without those programs, this campus would be entirely white,” said a co-chair of Engaging Education to the crowd gathered in front of the Cowell/Stevenson dining hall.

The demonstration began at Kerr Hall, where students tried to meet with Chancellor George Blumenthal, before moving across campus onto a knoll in Cowell College and eventually into the Cowell/Stevenson dining hall.

Several Cowell students leaned out of their windows and balconies as Cowell College provost Faye Crosby approached the demonstrators atop the knoll and spoke though a megaphone.

“It diminishes our community,” Crosby said regarding hate speech and racism on UCSC’s campus. “We need to be united and respectful of all members of our community.”

Photo by Morgan Grana.

About 100 people filled the seats of the Stevenson College Event Center to hear a lecture given by nuclear policy expert Daniel Hirsch on the Fukushima nuclear disaster and its implications for the United States.

Hirsch began his talk with the message that what happened at the Fukushima plant is not an isolated incident.

“In one sense we all live in Fukushima,” said Hirsch. “What happens in one part of the world affects us all.”

The lecture stressed the importance of constantly cooling both the reactor and spent fuel rods, and explained how cooling systems at the Fukushima plant failed after backup power sources were damaged or depleted.

“A nuclear reactor is an absolutely extraordinary machine that actually can’t be turned off,” he said. “If you lose cooling, there’s no way to extract the heat, and radioactivity is released. As long as the reactor is cool and the fuel stays solid, things are relatively safe.”

Hirsch also chronicled the events that led to the Fukushima disaster. The plant’s primary electricity system was disabled by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that erupted off the coast of Japan, and back-up generators were destroyed by the tsunami that soon followed. Batteries used as a last resort to keep the cooling system running died after eight hours. Footage of the explosions that followed now serve as an iconic image of the Fukushima disaster.

“Dante could never have imagined such an inferno,” Hirsch said, referring to the explosions that destroyed three of Fukusima’s reactors and four of its spent fuel pools.

Debra Ellis, coordinator for residential education at Cowell College, organized the lecture.

Ellis planned the event to provide the campus and greater Santa Cruz community with accurate information regarding the disaster and said she was thrilled with the engagement of the audience.

“It is the responsibility of those of us fortunate enough to be a part of this university to educate ourselves and others about the implications of this event in history,” Ellis said.

Cowell College provost Faye Crosby opened the event by recounting the phone call from her son, a Tokyo lawyer, that awoke her on March 11 to inform her of the disaster. Despite the danger posed to her immediate family, Crosby echoed Hirsch’s words of existing in one world and said this is a personal tragedy for us all.

Hirsch closed by saying that he hopes this disaster will mark the end of the nuclear era:

“It began with Hiroshima and ends with Fukushima.”

Chancellor George Blumenthal reveals a LEED plaque in recognition of Cowell Dining Hall’s certification as a green building. The presentation of the plaque was part of the Sustainability and Resource Fair on Monday. Photo by Rosanna van Straten.

UC Santa Cruz is the 11th “greenest” college in the nation, according to a ranking released by the Sierra Club in August. On Monday, the university held the first ever Sustainability and Resource Fair at Cowell College.

The event, which was sponsored by the Sustainability Office, featured over 30 campus environmental organizations and a presentation by Chancellor George Blumenthal, who officially declared the new Cowell Dining Hall a silver LEED-certified green building. LEED certification, which stands for Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design, is an internationally recognized green building certification and has four different levels: certified, silver, gold and platinum.

Blumenthal is the first UCSC chancellor to declare sustainability a priority in his two-year plan. The crowd listened as he explained the importance of sustainability on the UCSC campus.

“It is truly a mark of distinction, nationwide and worldwide,” he said. “It says something about who we are and what we are as a campus.”

Cowell Dining Hall is the second building on campus to be LEED-certified, and one of the 12,000 LEED-certified buildings in the country. Steps toward achieving certification included maximizing natural light, conserving water, minimizing and composting waste, using computerized ovens to save energy and installing completely recycled and recyclable carpet and countertops.

The next campus buildings to be LEED-certified include several buildings at Porter, the biomedical sciences facility and the Student Health Center.

The crowd cheered when Blumenthal announced news about the McHenry Library renovations, which will feature an environmentally-friendly addition.

“When the new section of the library opens, there will even be solar panels on the roof,” Blumenthal said.

The Sustainability and Resource Fair also served as the kick-off for the COOL Campus Competition, a three-week event with 40 universities competing to reduce their resource consumption. UCSC is adding an inter-college aspect to the competition, with Kresge, Porter, Cowell and Stevenson each vying for the title of the most energy-efficient.

The competition is sponsored by the Student Environmental Organization, the Green Campus Group and the Sustainability Office.

Cameron Fields, one of the event’s main organizers, described the competition process, as well as the outreach effort, intended to promote participation.

“Meters have been installed in each of the four colleges to measure their water and electricity usage,” Fields said, “and students can check online to see how they are doing, as it updates their electricity usage live and their water usage weekly. We’ve been tabling at colleges, knocking on students’ doors and posting flyers to try to get students involved.”

The installation of the meters cost the school approximately $17,000 — including the cost of labor and the setting up the website. Fields said that, although the cost is high, the awareness that could come as a result of this competition will outweigh the expense.

“As this is a pilot event, it’s the first time we are doing something like this, [and] we’ll have to see how it goes,” Fields said. “But I feel really positive about it, and students seem to as well. Raffles will be held for the next three weeks as the competition continues. Students can win iPods and other gadgets.”

Blumenthal expressed his intent to further UCSC’s sustainable and environmentally friendly reputation and reiterated the positive effects that the LEED certification will have in the future.

“Thirty-two percent less lighting will be used, due to computerized lights that adjust as the light changes in the building,” he said, “and 62 percent less heating.”