UC Irvine earns 3rd place in the UC Cool Campus Challenge 2.0

By Samer Khan, 2018-19 UCI Bonnie Reiss Carbon Neutrality Initiative Student Engagement Fellow

 
The second UC Cool Campus Challenge took place this year from April 1st to April 26th with over 3,200 Anteaters participating. The friendly competition encouraged students, staff, and faculty throughout the University of California system to reduce their carbon footprint by pledging to take sustainability actions. The more pledges made, the more points earned by participants and campuses. UC Berkeley secured 1st place, followed by UCLA in 2nd place, and UCI in 3rd place. Pledges by UCI students, staff, and faculty saved 2.9 million pounds of carbon emissions.
The purpose of the Challenge was to raise awareness about how we can all reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI). The UC CNI aims for all UCs to become carbon neutral by the year 2025. Efforts by UCI students, staff, and faculty are crucial to our campus achieving carbon neutrality. Actions presented by the Cool Campus Challenge are simple ways that every Anteater can make an impact in their daily lives.
The Challenge was promoted at various UCI events throughout April, including the Sustainability Foods Fair, Earth Day Fair, and Cool Campus Challenge Pizza Pledge Party.
UCI students, staff, and faculty with impressive involvement in the Challenge were presented with awards at the Cool Campus Challenge Champions Celebration on May 21st, 2019.
Check out the University of California press release announcing overall results of the Challenge and how other campuses got involved.

UCI highlights and top-scoring Anteaters:

 

Top UCI Students

1st Place – Owen Yang

2nd Place – Esmeralda Hic

Top UCI Staff/Faculty

1st Place Staff – Tammy Livingstone

1st Place Faculty – Dr. Steven Allison

Top UCI Student Teams

1st Place – Calit2

2nd Place – We All Got Calves

3rd Place – Gondolin

Top UCI Student Organizations

1st Place – UCI Circle K (#10 overall in UC system)

2nd Place – Theta Psi

3rd Place – Climatepedia at UCI

Top Staff Teams

1st Place – Division of Finance & Administration (#3 overall in UC system)

2nd Place – Student Affairs (#8 overall in UC system)

3rd Place – Office of Information Technology