Happy 20th!

EAB celebrated its 20th Anniversary this year with a reunion that brought back a lot of the folks who have made the organization the vibrant place it’s been these past years and continues to be! More about all that at the end of this report.

Introduction

The Environmental Affairs Board (EAB) is a branch of UCSB’s Associated Students Government and is the largest and most active environmental group on campus—weekly meetings often draw close to 100 people.

The charge of EAB is to protect, preserve and enhance the environment, principally at UCSB and its surrounding communities. The board coordinates and coalition-builds with other groups to promote environmental perspectives and sustainability throughout the University and its surrounding communities, as well as at the state, national, and global level. See their campaigns for more on the projects they’re currently running. Many of these campaigns are ongoing.

Starting in Summer quarter 2011, EAB once again spent the year engaging students through activities ranging from the global to the local to the personal. At the global level they addressed issues like global warming and environmental justice. Locally they hosted Adopt-a-Block cleanups, tree plantings with Goleta Valley Beautiful, and the annual IV Earth Day celebration. Individual participants in EAB went on hikes (more photos here)

and spent time working together at the EAB garden plot and sharing the garden’s fresh produce (more photos here)

For several years EAB has been participating in the discussion of environmental justice in collaboration with the on campus Human Rights Group and the A.S. Human Rights Board. Environmental justice chiefly addresses the disproportional distribution of environmental burdens–such as proximity to industrial facilities, landfills, and mining operations–borne by impoverished communities and people of color. Equally important is ensuring that these communities have access to clean air, water and nutritious food.  EAB began the academic year by meeting with graduate students in the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. The graduate students were impressed by EAB’s commitment to increasing awareness about environmental justice.

Here in Santa Barbara County EAB was involved in the discussions regarding the county ballot initiative to ban plastic bag use and with Coastal Fund participated in Day Without a Bag activities that brought Santa Barbara City Council members Grant House and Cathy Murillo to campus. Cathy is the former KCSB News Director.

Also on campus, EAB helped sponsor UCSB Reads. This year’s read was Donovan Hohn’s book Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,000 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them. To further discussion of the book, 3000 copies were made available for free to students, faculty, and staff. The book was also read on the air at KCSB.

On a rainy day in January EAB helped A.S. Recycling launch the Compost Pilot Project. Six Campus-Composting “Berthas” were placed around campus to collect all and any food scraps people threw in them to be composted and diverted into the compost stream rather than trash. Composting saves money and energy!

Students participating in EAB continuously strive to stay informed regarding the latest trends in sustainability and environmental stewardship. Conference attendance is part of this effort. This year several students attended the California Student Sustainability Coalition’s Fall and Spring Convergences. The convergences bring together hundreds of students form across the state to network, build community, share resources, attend workshops, and have fun.

EAB members also participated in working groups to study and take action on specific issues, including plastics in our environment, sustainable foods, and environmental justice. In the course of the year they collaborated with several on and off-campus groups, including IVCRC, Coastal Fund, Human Rights Board, IV Food Coop, CALPIRG, External Vice President Local Affairs Office, State Representative Das Williams, Sierra Club, Gaviota Coast Protection, Goleta Valley Beautiful, and Surfrider Foundation.

Sustainable foods was the focus of the annual Green Chef cooking contest, which has become a much anticipated event since its inception a couple of years ago. Students were challenged to enter dishes made with locally grown ingredients and a secret ingredient that all contestants had to use in their dishes. The event also featured a guest speaker and live music.

To get to the source of the food students toured the Rancho San Julian a local sustainable cattle ranch and learned about sustainable farming practices. EAB also encourages Meatless Mondays as part of a national movement to improve the health of people and the planet. Finally, to find out about native flora, edible or not, students toured the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

In the Spring of 2011, Legislative Council passed the “Green Bill”, a resolution to promote sustainable practices within Associated Students by bringing environmental consciousness to the spending of student funds. The bill requires that at least half of all money allocated to food and supplies be used to buy sustainable products. In addition to proactive spending the Green Bill also targets passive spending habits by requiring the promotion of energy conservation techniques in student government offices. This year, EAB launched a campaign to increase awareness of the Green Bill. Students created a Green Consultant position in EAB’s core group of officers. The Green Consultant publicized the Green Bill to other boards, committees, and commissions and served as a resource for student groups that are unfamiliar with environmentally friendly practices or are looking for new ones.

EAB also works with local businesses to develop creative answers to climate change in socially, environmentally, and economically positive ways. This year they organized a Carrot Mob at the Coffee Cat in downtown Santa Barbara. Proceeds from the increased sales will be used to renovate the store to make it more energy efficient.

As part of EAB’s campaign to educate the student body about the importance of water conservation and to improve water use practices on campus, the board worked with campus officials to install hydration stations. The stations combine a drinking fountain with a filtration system and a tall faucet to facilitate filling reusable water bottles. The idea is to both conserve water and, more importantly, cut down on the use of bottled water.

On February 1st 6 EABers got the chance to ditch class for the wonderful opportunity to visit Anacapa Island.  In the words of EAB blogger Michelle Mcarthy “We got the chance to explore edge to edge, eat on the cliffs of inspiration point, oh ya, and we did some restoration too.

It was a great crew.  Our group was paired with a group of workers from the zoo which made for a great group, lots of laughs and singing.  And the hard work was actually quite relaxing.  Planting plants overlooking the endless blue ocean, not a bad way to go.  We didn’t even have to dig the holes, just plop a plant in a hole and throw some dirt on it. A wonderful day, maybe next time we can camp out with the foxes on Santa Cruz!”

In the interest of bringing people together and giving them a chance to share, EAB hosted the first ever SWAP (Sharing With a Purpose) event in IV. People were able to bring stuff to trade for other stuff, instead of going out and buying a bunch of new stuff.

EAB capped off the year with the IV Earth Day Celebration. The one day festival filled Anisq ‘Oyo’ Park with smiling faces, informational booths, music, dance and general good times. It’s a day to celebrate the Earth, remember the history of the environmental movement, which had it’s beginnings in Santa Barbara with a major drilling rig spill, and give people the resources to build a sustainable future.

On a final note. EAB took a trip down memory lane this year celebrating its 20-year Anniversary!