Nature Village Presentation at CHESC 2013

Sustainable Student Family Living University Village, UC Berkeley Lludmila Moran NV Founder and Director California Higher Education Sustainability Conference - CHESC Topic area: Institutionalizing sustainability Session: Innovative Partnerships for sustainability in campus housing

Santa Barbara, CA June 25th 2013

About this talk - Universities with family housing facilities - Many characteristics in common - Institutional sustainability goals - Challenges - Different experiences - Nature Village is one of those experiences

Sharing our experiences is the only way we can learn from each other

What is Nature Village?

- Multidisciplinary - Multicultural - Incorporates - Village residents - UC Berkeley students and staff - Local organizations - Volunteers - Working toward Sustainability at UV Goals: - Promote sustainable living practices - Reduce environmental impact - Strength the sense of community - Improve the life experience of residents NV integrates ordinarily underrepresented community members

University Village -

Student Family Housing 974 apartments West Village - LEED Community garden Recycling program Bioswales 3.5 mi from campus Languages at the Village (%) 22 1

12 35

32 4 6 15

17

English Chinese Korean Spanish Hebrew Japanese Taiwan India Brazil German Other

-

Social Perspective Approx. 3,000 residents High turnover rate - 40% per year Diverse community Dependents of students

Nature Village timeline Beginning

Outreach and fundraising

Baseline

Preparation

Implementation

Implementation & Evaluation

Winter 2011

Spring 2012

Sumer 2012

Fall 2012

Spring 2013

Summer 2013

University Village Administration

GFP Saving tool

Group of volunteers

Idea development

How does the Village works?

Getting to know our community

Participation in events

Program preparation

Organization of events waste disposal facilities Green Family Program Energy Audits Surveys Saving tools

Water saving tool evaluation Moving In & Out Guides Green cleaning

Awareness Talks & workshops

Resource Management

Waste Management

- Highly contaminated recycling bins - No Reuse program - No one tracked consumption - Only one meter for the whole Village - No hazardous waste program - No compost - Utilities not individually metered

Weekday

Weekend

Daily electricity demand

University Village Resources Flow Carbon = Climate footprint change Driving

Operations & Maintenance + Household

Driving and Shopping in general

Shopping

(habits + choice making)

Furniture, toys, Clothes, etc‌

Cleaning products Used water

Treatment plant & San Francisco Bay

Trash

125 cubic yd/week 13,000 cubic yd/year

Recycling

Special waste

1.4 tons of beverage containers/ month

pick up/month $18,788

Furniture, toys, clotes

e-waste

Hazardous

Green Family Program - GFP

Households and offices

Energy audits

Challenges • Funding • Families recruitment • Logistics and organization

Drying racks

Dual flow shower Valves (UZLOW)

Energy & Water Projects

Waste – Improvements & Programs Cardboard bin

24 E 20 W

Special waste

Community events

Village Festival, September 2012

Community Yard Sales

Swaps (Clothes, books, toys)

Cycling workshops

Nature Village team achievements Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability Award

An enthusiastic and committed group of volunteers

Next steps (second year) - Green Family Network - Compost - Special waste

- Awareness & education - Energy efficiency

Conclusion - First steps to institutionalize sustainability at the Village - Benefits of community participation in sustainability - Leadership & Outreach - High involvement of residents in programs - Appropriate programs for specific needs of the community

- Importance of Institutional Support - Village Administration ďƒ information, implementation - TGIF ďƒ Funding for green programs - University departments ďƒ Services & facilities

- Student Engagement - Implementation & Evaluation - Learning from experiences in a real community

- Collaborations needed -

Campus programs Local organizations

- Cities - Family housing in other institutions

Sustainable Family Living at UC Berkeley www.naturevillage.org naturevillage@berkeley.edu