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Student Organizations

    Student Environmental Center (SEC)

  • The purpose of the Student Environmental Center (SEC) is to initiate student involvement through research, education, and implementation of environmentally sustainable practices through focused campaigns guided by the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus.

    For more information visit the website or contact them at sec-group@ucsc.edu.

    • People of Color Sustainability Collective

  • The mission of the People of Color Sustainability Collective is to make UCSC a leader not just in mainstream sustainability, but also environmental justice, in recognition of our changing demographics and pressing ecological challenges. Find out more on their website.

    • Students for Climate Justice

  • We as the Students for Climate Justice affirm that the Climate Crisis poses a disproportionate, unjust, and imminent global threat to human rights. The current capitalist system of governance is unfit to solve the emergency it has created, and adequate solutions to the crisis will require international restitution, inter-governmental cooperation, and solidarity among a diverse range of progressive causes.
    Our mission is to build power at UCSC among students that are concerned for our future. We aim to create opportunities for intersectional education surrounding climate justice, and we seek to foster solidarity among the many environmental organizations on campus.
    Email: lnhaug@ucsc.edu 

    • Earth Week Team

  • Earth Week is a campus-wide week of events coordinated by the Rachel Carson College Earth Week Team. Our goal is to provide students with tools to engage with different environmental efforts and include those historically left out of the traditional environmental movement. Our events serve as a foundation for students to gain exposure to relevant climate and sustainability issues, and promote spaces to connect, express, and affirm student identities regarding topics centered around environmental and social justice. 

    Visit their website or find them on Instagram at @ucscearthweekorg 

    • Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP)

  • A student run organization that puts on a student-led course during Spring quarter.  Work is done throughout the year planning the night lecture series, training facilitators, creating curriculum, and spreading student empowerment. General Gatherings take place with SEC on Wednesdays in the Red Room.  Visit the website for more information or contact eslp@ucsc.edu.

    • Friends of the Community Agroecology Network (FoCAN)

  • CAN is an international network that connects students to rural communities and food systems around the world. FoCAN engages UCSC students in learning and educating others about alternative food systems, primarily through internships. General Gatherings take place every Tuesday from 6-8 PM at the Sustainability Center (Building A3 in the Village). Visit the website for more information or contact them at actioned@canunite.edu.

    • Program in Community and Agroecology (PICA)

  • A program in which students learn about sustainability through practical experience and community building.  This learning experience includes seminars, training in agroecology and organic gardening, composting, and caretaking of campus gardens. There are Drop-in Garden Workdays every Saturday from 10am-2pm at the Foundational Roots Garden in the Village, which includes a free home-cooked meal! Visit the website for more information or contact Olivia Thom at omthom@ucsc.edu.

    • The Campus Sustainability Council (CSC)

  • Provides funding for the programs and events of the many UCSC student organizations, ensuring the institutionalization and long term viability of efforts towards campus sustainability. Visit the website for more information or contact csc@ucsc.edu.

    • Gaia Magazine

  • Gaia Magazine is the student-run environmental magazine that aims to provide coverage of sustainability-related issues and initiatives on, or linked to, the UCSC campus, as well as the broader community, in order to further awareness and inspire constructive action. Gaia welcomes submissions from UCSC students, publishing online content year round in addition to an annual print issue in the Spring. Visit the website for more information or contact gaiamagazineucsc@gmail.com.

    • Right Livelihood Club

  • Our mission is to facilitate systemic change through student-led action education, research, advocacy, and civic engagement related to the Right Livelihood Laureates — including Greta Thunberg / Fridays for Future and Bill McKibben / 350.org — and building global solidarities with students and social movements at our nine partner Right Livelihood College campuses in Chile, Argentina, Nigeria, Thailand, India, Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany. 

    Learn more at https://rightlivelihood.ucsc.edu/club/ and email us at rightlivelihood-group@ucsc.edu 

    • Food Systems Working Group (FSWG)

  • FSWG works to bring sustainably grown food produced by socially responsible operations to campus dining halls and through a collaborative process, promote education and awareness of our food system. To learn more, visit the website or email ucscfswg@gmail.com. 

    • Sea Slugs

  • Sea Slugs is an ocean-minded campus organization dedicated to environmental stewardship. It is an excellent opportunity for students (both undergrad and grad) to engage in the greater community through public service while making a positive impact on the local environment. Their ties with local organizations such as the Surfrider Foundation, Save Our Shores, Save the Waves, The Clean Oceans Project, etc, can help dial students in to the local oceanic environmental community. Visit the website for more information, or email seaslug.ucsc@gmail.com.

    • Gente de la Tierra

  • Gente de la Tierra (GDLT) provides a space for students of color and communities to express their struggles on social, economic, environmental and cultural issues through dialogue, art and other forms of activities as a healing process. Community members of GDLT believes bringing awareness is a start to address the current issues with interdisciplinary resolutions from UCSC’s different departments and initiating those issues in  communities as a spiritual empowerment movement. To learn more, visit their website.

    • Everett Program

  • Digital Tools for Social Innovation

    Everett’s goal is create a new generation of “info-savvy” advocates using information technology to overcome informational exclusion–based barriers to civic participation and social justice. The learning goes both ways: While advancing the larger public good, Everett students accumulate valuable technical knowledge, while sharpening their leadership and project management skills. For more information, visit their website.

    • The Love Foundation

  • Inspiring People to Love Unconditionally

    The Love Foundation Inc. is a nonprofit organization with the mission of inspiring people to love unconditionally. Their vision is to assist people by building a practical foundation and understanding of unconditional love within individuals and society as a whole. For more information, visit their website.

    • Stevenson Community Garden

  • Stevenson Garden seeks to provide sustainability education, beauty, food, and community for the Stevenson College, UCSC, and Santa Cruz communities and beyond. To learn how to get involved, contact them at stevenson-garden-core-group@ucsc.edu or visit their website.

    • Kresge Garden Cooperative

  • The Kresge Garden Cooperative's goal is to maintain and develop the space of the Kresge Garden. This includes the cultivation of the soil as well as the cultivation of the spirit. The creative permaculture practices that the cooperative applies value the interdependent and cyclical essence of nature. They do this through an autonomous and consensus based decision making process, with a horizontal power structure. Part of the cultivation of the garden rely on the passing down of knowledge through mentorship, a student based educational experience that reinforces and maintains the structure of the cooperative as well as the garden space. For more information, visit their website.

    • Kresge Food Co-op

  • A Kresge Tradition

    The Kresge Community Natural Foods Co-op is a non-profit student run food store located on the south side of Kresge, supporting small farmers, the UCSC Farm Project, and the Kresge Organic Garden. They are open weekdays, 9 am to 6 pm.

    • Oakes Garden

  • Oakes Garden is an environment to cultivate the mind, body, and soul, while also bringing awareness to global social justice issues associated with environmental impacts.