SERG Co-Chair Hilary Steinman hosts an Earth Day table in the Oakland Franklin Building lobby.

The wildflower superbloom wasn’t the only earthly spectacle happening across California in the month of April. UCOP employees from Oakland to the UCPath Center in Riverside, and at various campus locations in between, came together to celebrate Earth Month, sponsored by UCOP’s Sustainability Employee Resource Group (SERG).

SERG members in Oakland and at the UCPath Center distributed eco-conscious magnets, flowers and positive planetary vibes with on-site staff, giving employees an opportunity to connect with sustainability enthusiasts across the organization about all sorts of earth-centric topics like water, gardening and climate change. SERG also helped to distribute a flyer on Greening the UCOP Workplace (PDF), produced by UCOP Energy and Sustainability.

The display in Oakland featured a gratitude wall where employees could write down their plans for Earth Day — an opportunity to reflect on small, but impactful behaviors to promote a healthy planet.

UCOP Oakland employees added their Earth Day plans to a poster in the Oakland Franklin Building.

On April 20, SERG moderated a virtual event entitled The Future of Water in California. Featured speakers were Erik Porse, California Institute for Water Resources director, and Brandi McKuin, assistant project scientist at UC Merced. The talk focused on our state’s complicated relationship with water and the creative solutions underway to ensure that future generations of Californians have equitable access to water. The impact of Brandi McKuin’s research, which inspired California’s first solar-over-canal project, was covered by the New York Times just a week prior to the event, giving the conversation an even greater significance. You can access materials from the talk and other resources below.

As a finale to Earth Month, SERG hosted a prize draw for UCOP staff to win a $50 gift certificate to a local nursery of their choice. Any attendees who signed up at the SERG tabling events, or attended The Future of Water in California virtual event, were entered into the drawing. Nearly 100 staff entered the drawing, and we’d like to extend a big congratulations to our winner, Kathy Garcia, workforce administration associate at the UCPath Center!

SERG’s Earth Month celebration was filled with gratitude, positivity and important conversations. We are so grateful for our planet and hope to celebrate Earth Month next year with our colleagues at UCOP.

SERG Earth Month resources

UCOP Box log in is required.

• Greening the UCOP Workspace flyer (PDF)
• Erik Porse’s presentation (PDF)
• Brandi McKuin’s presentation (PDF)
• Event recording: The Future of Water in California

Learn more about SERG. For questions, please contact Hilary Steinman.

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