Environmental sustainability is a huge issue in today’s society and UCLA is doing its part by joining the entire UC system in the Cool Campus Challenge. President Napolitano has invited everyone to join in on this online challenge in order to be the first university system to wipe out its carbon footprint within the span of ten years and become carbon neutral by 2025. By reducing our carbon footprint and becoming carbon neutral, UCLA will be reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere through the use of electricity, transportation, and many other everyday things we take for granted. Every school in the UC system is competing against each other to collect the most points and become the most environmentally friendly school in the system.
In order achieve this goal, students and faculty are encouraged to help out in any way they can. Whether it be by reducing the electricity you use daily or getting around the city with public transportation (which is easy to do being a college student living in Los Angeles), any little thing can truly make a difference. The challenge has a different theme each week that features topics on how to reduce our impact on the environment. All you have to do is upload a photo or story regarding the certain challenges. For example, if the challenge was to turn off the lights in your room and use natural lighting instead, you would upload a picture of the room you’re in with the lights off and natural light flooding the room. The more points you contribute, the more likely it is you will win a cool prize from a raffle. Who doesn’t love winning free gifts?
The challenge ends on December 10th, so be sure to sign up as soon as possible and do your part in keeping our planet in good condition for future generations. All you need to do is have a UCLA email address to create an account, so sign up with the link below right now and do your part in saving our environment!
http://www.coolcampuschallenge.org
Photos courtesy of University of California Cool Campus Challenge