Education For Sustainable Living Program

Course Info

Spring 2011:
Wednesdays, March 30 - June 1
4:10PM - 6:00PM
Giedt Hall 1002
Undergrad CRN: 33713
Grad Student CRN: 33768
ESLP 2011 FLYER.pdf
2011 ESLP Syllabus.pdf
2010 ESLP Syllabus.pdf
2009 ESLP Syllabus.doc
ESLP_Syllabus_2008.doc

For questions or more information, please contact Stephanie at stcastle@ucdavis.edu.

What is ESLP?

The Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) is a collaborative interdisciplinary effort to realize a sustainable community throughout the University of California. This course is structured as a 2-unit seminar series, hosting guest lectures by renowned educators, authors, environmentalists, and progressive thinkers. Lectures are open to the public free of charge to encourage collaboration between the campus and local community. The course encourages reflection upon and analysis of the principles of sustainability, and is designed to encourage dialogue between students, faculty, staff, administration, local community, and the entire UC system. For 2 additional units, students have the option to form Action Research Teams (ART's) in partnership with guest lecturers, faculty, administration, and community members to implement tangible change. These groups focus on campus specific issues such as sustainable transportation, socially & environmentally preferable purchasing, energy consumption reduction, waste reduction/prevention, and green building. Such experiential learning inspires participants to internalize the concept of sustainability, and carry it in practice beyond academia into a greater society. Students may enroll in this course to receive two units of academic credit for selected departments, or may opt to take the course for four units by participating in the Action Research Teams.

Additionally, this lecture series is open to everyone in the Davis community.

We are putting out a call for ART (Action Research Team) leaders! This is a great opportunity to work with students, staff, and faculty to implement change on the UC Davis campus. You can find out more, and fill out the application here.

Objectives for Course

I. Explore the meaning of "sustainability."

II. Explore specific ways to apply the concepts of sustainability to daily lives and to our university.

III. Encourage communication and collaboration between all members of the campus community to envision, initiate, and enact tangible change locally, nationally, and globally.

IV. Challenge participants to think beyond the short term interests that currently drive global systems; examine how our present decisions and action affect future generations; apply a cross disciplinary systems level analysis to our community decisions and consider their regional and global effects.

Schedule for 2011

3/30 - Nikki Henderson
2010 ELLE Gold Award and executive director, People’s Grocery in West Oakland, California

4/06 - World Cafe and ART introductions

4/13 - Dr. Geerat Vermij
Intersections of Ecology and Economy
1992 MacArthur Fellow and Distinguished Professor of Geology, UC Davis

4/20 - Marcela Oliva - The End of Education - as we know it
Professor, Architecture and Environmental Design, L.A. Trade Technical College

4/27 - Ciudad de Luces and Micah Posner
Ciudad de Luces- Latino bicycle collective from LA
Micah Posner- director, People Power

5/4 - Chris Jones
author of a Carbon Footprint Calculator

5/11 - Josiah Cain
Principal, Design Ecology

5/18 - Greywater Guerillas

educators, designers, builders, and artists

5/25 - Kim Stanley Robinson

2008 Time “Hero of the Environment” and science fiction writer (author of best-selling Mars Trilogy)

6/01 - Wrap-up and Action Research Team Presentations

Schedule for 2010

3/31 - Course Overview and Action Research Team Introductions

4/07 - Food Waste and Recovery feat. DIVE: A film about living off of America's waste and a panel of community food waste/recovery leaders.

4/14 - Katie Maynard

4/21 - Engaging with Disengagement

4/28 - Transportation

5/05 - Coalition of Immokalee Workers

5/12 - Community Services Unlimited

5/19 - Dr. Tina Jeoh - Biofuels

5/26 - TBA

7/03 - Action Research Team Presentations and Wrap-up

Schedule for 2009

4/01 - Course Introduction & ART Introductions

4/08 - Erik Knutzen - Urban Homesteading

Author, activist, and blogger extraordinaire

4/15 - Matthew Wolf-Meyer - Medical Anthropology

Associate Professor of Anthropology at UC Santa Cruz

4/22 - Frank Loge - Why Your Wastewater May Save Your Life

Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis

4/29 - Green For All - Creating a Green Collar Economy

5/6 - Panel Discussion on Energy

5/13 - John de Graaf - Taking Back Your Time

Author, activist, filmmaker

5/20 - Sharon Davison

Educator, activist, progressive thinker

5/27 - Stephen Wheeler -

Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design at UC Davis

6/03 - Action Research Team Presentations

Schedule for 2008

04-01 - Course Introduction

04-08 - Kevin Wolfe - Sustainable Living

Founder of N Street Co-Housing

04-15 - Margot Higgins - Biomimicry - Nature as a Model, Measure, and Mentor

04-22 - Joan Ogden - Hydrogen and Society

Associate Professor, Environmental Policy and Planning, UC Davis

04-29 - Jason Mark - Sustainable Food Systems

Author, activist, and farmer

05-06 - Veg Rev - Vegetable Oil Fuel Systems and Demonstration

05-13 - Ellis Jones - Socially Responsible Consumption

Professor of Sociology, UC Davis

05-20 - Nikki Henderson - Social Justice as a Pillar of Sustainability

Master's Student, UCLA

05-27 - Action Research Team Project Presentations

06-03 - Gary Snyder - Deep Ecology

Poet, Deep Activist

2007 course information has disappeared

Action Research Teams (ART's)

The purpose of these “action research teams” is to involve students in a process of experiential learning by collaborating with faculty, staff, administration, and community members to implement tangible change at our university. Action Research Teams are lead by graduate students, students, or even community members, and meet weekly, outside of scheduled class time. Students earn an additional 2-units (total of 4 units w/ lecture and ART) for participation in an ART. Specific areas of focus could include but are not limited to:

• Food Systems & Agriculture
  

• Community Development
  

• Green Building
  

• Transportation
  

• Renewable Energy
  

• Natural Resource Management
  

• Environmental justice
  

• Public policy
  

• Religion and spirituality
  

• Sustainable Consumerism

The Education for Sustainable Living Program is requesting proposals from graduate students, undergraduates, or community members to lead action oriented research groups related to sustainability in our campus community. If you are interested in coordinating an “action research team” please express interest TODAY! If interested in leading an ART, we ask that a general project proposal (proposal form attached below) be submitted to Stephanie Castle at stcastle@ucdavis.edu by Wednesday, March 17th. After submission, proposals will be reviewed and organizers for the course will work with you to develop specific project guidelines by the end of winter quarter. Please contact Stephanie Castle (stcastle@ucdavis.edu) for more information!
art 2011.pdf
ART+application+2011.docx

2011 Action Research Teams

*To Be Announced

2010 Action Research Teams

• Promoting Sustainability on the Radio - Dani Lee and Natalie Yahr, ncyahr@ucdavis.edu
  

• Agriculture, Food, and Intersectionality: Food Justice and Sustainability - Liz Fitzgerald and Janaki Jagannath, lizfitzgerald@ucdavis.edu, jjagannath@ucdavis.edu
  

• Inspiring Appropriate Lighting - Allen Doyle, apdoyle@ucdavis.edu
  

• Volunteer Gardening Team - Lauren Cockrell, lrcockrell@ucdavis.edu
  

• Awareness, Availability, and Action with the Campus Center for the Environment - Lauren Jabusch, Jessica Bray, and Will Klein, ucdcce@ucdavis.edu
  

• First-Year Dorm Gardens - Sarah Stockdale, Will Klein, and Kara Fleshman, skstockdale@ucdavis.edu
  

• Orchard Park Gardens - Christopher Salam, mrsalam@ucdavis.edu

2009 Action Research Teams

• Developing the Low-Impact Vehicle Education (LIVE) Center - Bryan Jungers, bryan.jungers@gmail.com
  

• Green Building at the Domes - Bryan Jungers, bryan.jungers@gmail.com
  

• Gleaning Project - Maggie Lickter and Liz Fitzgerald, molickter@ucdavis.edu
  

• SolArising - Brennan Bird, bbbird@ucdavis.edu
  

• Experiments with Collective Transportation - Christopher Salam, mrsalam@ucdavis.edu
  

• Strategic Communication - Isabell Call and Sara Diamond, divingskylark@gmail.com
  

• Organizing in the Community - Lauren Jabusch and Jessica Bray, lkjabusch@ucdavis.edu
  

• Consensus Documentary - Jessy Schmidt - jaschmidt@ucdavis.edu
  

• Local Food Week/Real Food Week - Danielle Lee and Jen Heinlein, danielle.louhrine.lee@gmail.com

2008 Action Research Teams

• Oxen Powered Farming-Shosha Capps, sacapps@ucdavis.edu
  

• Sustainable Food Systems for UC Davis- Maggie Lickter, molickter@ucdavis.edu
  

• Sustainable Housing- George Hubert, george.hubert@stantec.com
  

• Bicycle Education Documentary- Ken Celli, kcelli@energy.state.ca.us
  

• Our Salt March?: Thinking about Change - Tobias Joel, thjoel@ucdavis.edu
  

Tobias here—this ART will really be a lot of fun. We will address the elephant in the room. That is, slow down and look critically at the change we (as a movement) are trying to enact, and explore the modes of thought underpinning the problems we work to solve. That means taking responsibility for their causes and, from that point, considering how we can move forward. As we dig into these issues we will awaken our movement to a renewed introspection and, moreover, self-doubt. The goal is NOT to simply devise some homogeneous, systemic understanding of "sustainability". That would only replace the artificiality of mainstream culture with our own home-grown myths. Instead we will create a space to recognize sustainability's plurality of meanings and consider, What are we actually trying to do?


We will read one short (but rich) text a week and meet to discuss. Each participant will produce a small reflection on these issues by the end of the quarter (an essay, poem, drawing, performance piece—whatever you like!). Those will be the only assignments. It's about thinking. The flavor will be laid-back, calm and happy. Finally, the ART will organize a public demonstration in which all of ESLP can participate. That will be fun. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE AND COME TO ANY MEETINGS.


Tentative syllabus (readings made available in a reader): Salt March Syllabus.pdf


Presentation for ESLP 27 May: http://strangedays.viewbook.com/salt_marching

• Sustainable Campus Transportation Design Collective - Chris Congleton, cdcong@gmail.com
  

Project Titles, followed by contact person for those projects:


• Revive the Campus BUG (Bicycle User's Group)
  

Skyler (wsblakeslee@ucdavis.edu)


• Summer Freshman Orientation: 5 minute film on biking convenience (and safety?)
  

• Social Costs and Benefits of Travel Choices Focus Group Study
  

Chris C (cdcong@gmail.com)


• Car-Free Downtown Davis on Weekends
  

Chris S (mrsalam@ucdavis.edu)


• Design and Build Covered Bike Parking
  

• Build some Bike Trailers or a 7 person Bike Bus
  

Will (wpklein@ucdavis.edu)"

• Sustainable Crafts with Kids- Aisha Young, theyoung@ucdavis.edu

Topics for Action Research Teams from 2007 and 2006

• Pedal Power - Built a pedal powered work desk to run your laptop while you cycle.
  

• Open Sustainable Modern Media Distribution (Video/Audio Casting, aka Podcasting) - Creation & Distribution of lectures via modern media using Free Open Source tools
  

• Green Business - Organized a Panel of Professionals on Green Business in Practice
  

• Sustainable Food Systems - Surveyed Coffee House patrons about their preferences and knowledge of Organic, Fair Trade food.
  

• Sustainable Food Systems II - How far does it take food to get to the table, and how do you measure the global impact.
  

• Campus GreenMap
  

• Starting a Non-profit
  

• Sustainable Food Systems
  

• Campus Transportation
  

• Green Building (LEED)