A biweekly publication for faculty and staff

Cool Campus Challenge Sign-Ups Now Open

October 5, 2015

Electric vehicles are just one of the many ways people can help reduce the campus's carbon footprint.Help UC Merced be recognized as the coolest campus in the UC system by signing up now to participate in the University of California’s inaugural Cool Campus Challenge.

The challenge is a competition between all 10 UC campuses to motivate and reward staff and faculty members and students for reducing their carbon footprints and help the UC system reach its carbon neutrality goals.

President Janet Napolitano has pledged the UC will become carbon neutral by 2025, which would make it the first major university to reach that goal.

Through the competition, participants will be challenged to understand their own carbon footprints and pledge to take actions to reduce them. People can take part as individuals or teams, and every point earned by each participant counts for his or her campus. Points are tallied at the end, and the winning campus is crowned the Coolest UC Campus.

The challenge continues through Dec. 10. You can sign up any time, and you'll get instructions and guidance on how to score points.

Over the course of the campaign, different sustainable themes will be highlighted weekly and people can show off their participation by using the hashtag #UCool on social media.

Visit the challenge's website to sign up and get more details.