Both A New And Long-Time Partner

By Judy Moores

Cool Davis welcomes ASUCD Campus Center for the Environment (CCE) as an official new Partner and Coalition member organization. The CCE’s ambitious mission is “to educate students about environmental sustainability and be a resource for students by helping increase the visibility, capacity, and effectiveness of individuals and groups engaged in activities that improve environmental education, awareness, ecological health, and environmental justice at UC Davis.

As Kelly Kong, CCE Outreach and Education Coordinator, explains, “One of CCE’s goals is to engage students through classes and workshops and provide volunteer opportunities for students who want to learn more about environmental issues.”

She continues, “Students with ideas to implement, are invited to propose Action Research Teams (“ART Teams“), which can give them access to CCE resources. The Campus has benefited from past ART Teams, that have spear-headed such on-going projects as “Project Compost,” that offers free composting workshops, and the Food Recovery Network, which delivers extra food from the campus dining commons that would otherwise be wasted, to the food insecure in Davis, tackling the growing problem of food waste in our community.

Sarina Daya, Eco-ally liaison for CCE, is responsible for outreach to the many related environmental efforts on campus from the Aggie Reuse Store and the Bike Barn to other activists groups not traditionally regarded as sustainability-related like the Women’s Resource Center and the Cross Cultural Center to various student clubs and off-campus organizations like Cool Davis. CCE also helped the statewide California Student Coalition for Sustainability (CSCS) Convergence that took place last fall.

CCE logo
CCE logo

Sarina noted, “The CSSC holds a “Convergence,” a bi-annual conference of sustainability- and activist-minded groups and individuals at a college or university somewhere in California. UCD has hosted the conference several times and helped the coalition to grow throughout the years.  Last October, CCE provided volunteers for the Cool Davis Festival 2014, and in turn, members of Cool Davis helped the student organizers find housing for those attending the CSSC conference.

While Kelly and Sarina knew that CCE volunteers had participated in the Cool Davis Festival 2014, they were surprised to hear that CCE members had been involved with Cool Davis from its beginning in 2010, attending meetings, offering great advice, and providing volunteers for events.

That noted, Kelly and Sarina agreed that a major challenge facing CCE is the lack of continuity as students come and go every few years. However, the current CCE leadership team is working to provide a lasting foundation for environmental leadership by taking the time to document its work and history as a tool for future CCE leaders. The team also wants to find ways to entice a larger audience of students, not just the “choir,” to get involved with CCE and learn how to take better care of our planet – at UCD and in the future, wherever they go.

Cool Davis welcomes the CCE and looks forward to their involvement in the Cool Davis Coalition in the months and years to come.

The CCE has an office in TB24 (the same building as the Bike Barn), right next to the Aggie Reuse Store and is open 11am – 3pm, Monday through Friday. For more info about CCE, check out this website