Current Earthweek Events
Earthweek in the Past
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Evening Events
Monday, April 21
Green Jobs Panel
7pm, 2050 Valley Life and Sciences Building.
Learn about the future and present state of Green Jobs. Mayor Tom Bates will discuss Berkeley’s latest environmental progress, as well as student Rachel Barge (co-author of the The Green Initiative Fund Bill), Professor Dan Kammen (Professor of Energy and Resources 100), and Tim Pine (Environmental Specialist in the Office of Environmental Health and Safety). The moderator will be graduate student John Stanley (co-author of The Green Initiative Fund Bill).
Tuesday, April 22 (Earth Day!)
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Workshop—Online tools for Change: Using the Web to Promote Environmental Sustainability & Social Justice (WiserEarth)
5pm, 110 Wheeler.
People from around the world are working toward environmental sustainability and social justice and have created one of the largest movements for change in history. Web-based tools play a crucial role in this movement, because they offer a space for this movement to organize, collaborate, and grow. This workshop explores WiserEarth, a community networking site for students, non-profits, and community organizers, and engages participants in a discussion about their experiences using web tools to network the causes they are passionate about.
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Workshop—Living Green: How Cal Students Can Do It (Students for a Greener Berkeley)
6pm, 110 Wheeler.
Get an overview of the sustainability available at Cal as well as the secrets on living a more sustainable life, including:
-Sustainability Structure and Overview at Cal
-Sustainability Secrets
-How to be a Sustainable Student -
Spring Farm to Table Dinner: Local Organic Sustainable Menu Served (Cal Dining)
Dinner time, campus Dining Commons
Come to any Dining Commons for a full menu featuring local organic produce from the 'grower's collaborative.' Foothill Dining Commons will hold special events such as taste tests and distance challenges with prizes, compost awareness, and food films.
BUY FRESH. BUY LOCAL. -
“An Evening On Strawberry Creek”
6 – 8pm, Alumni House.
Learn about the historical significance of this beautiful waterway to the Cal campus, hear updates on recent restoration activities, and share in the vision of a restored Creek that nurtures, refreshes, and educates the Berkeley community.
This is a free event with limited seating, so please RSVP to tpine{AT}berkeley{DOT}edu to ensure we can accommodate you. Light refreshments will be served from 6:00 to 6:30; the program will begin at 6:30 p.m.
"An Evening On Strawberry Creek" is organized by the U.C. Berkeley Office of Environment, Health, & Safety; the Campus Strawberry Creek Environmental Quality Committee, and the Strawberry Creek Fund.
We hope to see you there!
Wednesday, April 23
Speaker, Jason Mark—Local Environmental Activist
7pm, 100 Genetics and Plant Biology.
Jason Mark is the editor for Earth Island Journal and also just came out with a new book! He is the co-author (with Kevin Danaher and Shannon Biggs) of Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the grassroots. His book charts the efforts of local communities to create a more ecologically sustainable and socially responsible economy.
But Jason does not just write about sustainable practices and lifestyles, he is a part of them! He is the co-manager of Alemany Farm (www.alemanyfarm.org), a 4.5-acre farm in the middle of San Francisco. Alemany Farm uses organic fruit and vegetable cultivation to give "at-risk" youth meaningful job training and to educate the public about our reliance on natural systems. The Farm, located next to a public housing complex, participates in a government-subsidized farmer's market geared toward improving food security in San Francisco's poorer neighborhoods.
Author-Activist-Farmer Jason Mark is an energetic and engaging speaker who you do not want to miss. He just did a bike tour last fall with Nina Rizzo that was received enthusiastically by colleges around the San Francisco bay area and he is eager to speak at other events/schools in California.
Click here for more information about Jason Mark and Global Exchange.
Thursday, April 23
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LEED Green Building Symposium
6:30 – 8:30pm, the Wells Fargo Room in the Haas Business School.
There is a reception between 6 and 6:30pm, and the panel starts at 6:30pm.
The green movement in real estate has been building for a decade now. As the movement grows, investors, private developers, and end users are all recognizing the potential in participating. Our panel will examine the unique challenges, as well as the opportunities, associated with financing, designing, constructing and developing green building projects. Our panelists will discuss such topics as:
-What is Green Building?
-Why is there a push for Green building?
-How do the benefits of building green compare to rising construction and materials cost?
-Who is currently investing in green buildings?
-Is there quantifiable proof that going green does not drive up costs?
-How do you position green buildings to be value-added?
-Do design teams often encounter resistance from the construction team and engineers?
-What are the most important factors when designing a green building?
-How do you measure the return on your investment?The panel includes:
Dan Geiger, Executive Director of the Northern California USGBC (Moderator)
Grant French, Corporate Sustainability Manager of Swinerton Builders
Andrew Nelson, Vice President of Research at RREEF
Kacey Clagett, Development Director of Field Paoli Architects
Richard Springwater - The Prado GroupThis event is sponsored by UREC, Urban Land Institute, and The Fisher Center.
Affiliated groups include Beacn, AIAS, CASA, BUSSA, and the Barch Group.
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Speaker, Rosemary Enie— Geologist and Gender Ambassador
6:30pm, 100 Genetics and Plant Biology.
Rosemary Olive Mbone Enie is a Cameroonian Geologist and Gender Ambassador with the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) of the Netherlands in Cameroon. She was as the General Secretary of Women International Coalition Organization (WICO) International, the President of WICO Africa and the Executive Director of Cameroon Vision Trust, a Cameroon based NGO. For over 15 years she has been actively working in the field of sustainable development and environmental management at grassroots levels in Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and beyond.
1st Annual UC Berkeley EarthWeek Environmental Film Festival
6 – 9:30pm, Wheeler Hall, Rooms 110, 210, and 220
Come to Wheeler, watch one or all of these nine environmental films, and speak with several of the makers! Refreshments will be served and a $5 donation is suggested.
Film descriptions are listed below (click the links for more information):
By: Stephen Strout
Runtime: 78 minutes
Summary:
Revolution Green is a revealing documentary about the renewable energy called biodiesel and it’s importance to the world economy. Based on a true story, Revolution Green follows the lives of Bob and Kelly King, whose pioneering vision created America’s first sustainable biodiesel refinery in Maui back in 1996. Bob and Kelly’s company, named Pacific Biodiesel, became the first private company in America to divert and refine thousands of tons of municipal grease trap waste and waste vegetable oil into clean-burning, premium ASTM certified, B100 biodiesel. Years later, country music legend Willie Nelson became very interested in the King’s vision of sustainable biodiesel, eventually forming a strong partnership. Over a short period of time, Willie and good friend Bill Mack would single-handedly use satellite radio to talk to truckers and farmers about biodiesel, elevating the renewable fuel into mainstream recognition.
Revolution Green is an American story about the responsibility that comes with freedom of choice. It follows one man’s vision to manufacture biodiesel and one man’s determination to spread the word; one man’s quest to use it in his big rig, and one man’s desire to farm his soybeans into biodiesel. Their unique perspectives on living a sustainable way of life offer audiences a chance to become empowered to make a difference in simple everyday choices.
By: Emiko Omori, Jed Riffe
Runtime: 56 minutes
Summary:
Many Californian farmers are struggling to fend off overdevelopment and the loss of lands and traditions, while embracing innovative visions of agricultural sustainability. At the same time, California is where fast food was born and a center of the biotechnology industry and large corporate agribusiness. This fascinating documentary explores the intersection of food and politics in California over the last 30 years. Ripe for Change reveals two parallel yet contrasting views of our world. One holds that large-scale agriculture, genetic engineering, and technology promise a hunger-less future. The other calls for a more organic, sustainable, and locally focused style of farming that reclaims the aesthetic and nurturing qualities of food and considers the impact of agriculture on the environment, on communities, and on workers.
By: Holiday Johnson and David McGuire
Runtime: 27 minutes
Summary:
Take a voyage of underwater discovery and study the ecological relationship between reef sharks and the coral reefs they inhabit. The film examines escalating threats such as habitat destruction and overfishing that are causing Pacific reef shark populations to plummet. Through stunning footage of remote Pacific islands, the film takes you on a journey of adventure that dispels the notion of sharks as vicious man-eaters and inspires our audience to take action protecting these ocean treasures.
By: Jed Riffe
Runtime: 78 minutes
Summary:
The movie is the first documentary film to investigate the controversy over the legalization of cannabis as a medicine in the United States. This powerful film features leading experts and researchers from all over the world on both sides of the controversy over the therapeutic potential of marijuana. In the United States, while many states have passed laws with medical marijuana provisions, its use, cultivation and possession - for any reason - remain illegal under federal law.
The award winning film does not serve as propaganda for one opinion or another, but focuses instead on the real stories and struggles of people on opposite ends of this provocative spectrum. Above all, Waiting to Inhale opens our eyes to the unique world of individuals enmeshed in a conflict whose stakes are nothing short of life and death.
By: Katie Heineman & Madison Sheffield
Runtime: 9 minutes
Summary:
Two college vegetarians think they can transform the eating habits of a local cowboy because it's better for the earth, or so they think. The vibrant vaquero has his own thoughts too.
By: Isaac Brown, Eric Flagg
Runtime: 27 minutes
Summary:
Lawns are undeniably an American symbol. But what do they really symbolize? Pride and prosperity? Or waste and conformity? Gimme Green is a humorous look at the American obsession with the residential lawn and the effects it has on our environment, our wallets and our outlook on life. From the limitless subdivisions of Florida to sod farms in the arid southwest, Gimme Green peers behind the curtain of the $40-billion industry that fuels our nation’s largest irrigated crop—the lawn.
For the Price of a Cup of Coffee
By: Hypatia Porter
Runtime: 15 minutes
Summary:
Follow the life cycle of a paper cup and the environmental repercussions of a society reliant on convenience. Filmed in the San Francisco Bay Area with interviews from local activists and experts. Maybe you’’ll remember now to bring your own cup to the café.
By: Aaron Wolf
Runtime: 88 minutes
America's fast-food empire is fueled by a secret ingredient: corn. High fructose corn syrup makes the sodas sweet, corn-fed beef makes the burgers fat, and corn oil crisps the fries. As college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis find out, their junk food generation has grown up eating so much corn that if you test their hair– it's actually made of the stuff. King Corn follows Ian and Curt to a tiny town in the middle of Iowa, where they plant and grow an acre of America's most powerful crop, and attempt to follow its fate as food. What they find is alternately hilarious and horrifying: genetically modified seeds and home-brewed corn syrup, a bumper crop of obesity and diabetes, and a government paying farmers to grow what's making us sick. You'll never enjoy a soda again.
By: Katie Heineman & Madison Sheffield
Approximate runtime: 5 minutes
A short film about what UC Berkeley students are doing to bring sustainability to campus. Hosted by Sustainability Team, The Local! is the first-ever UCB student cooperative organic vegetable/fruit stand on campus! Come to the steps of the MLK Student Union building (at Bancroft and Telegraph) between 11am to 3pm every Wednesday to purchase locally-grown, sustainable produce at a reasonable price! It's run entirely by volunteers so that the produce is practically a wholesale price! Support local farms, know where your food comes from, and spend less - what could be better?