How Our Campus Goes Green

We always do what we can to stay green and help the environment, which is why we are super excited that UC Davis has an entire page dedicated to the University's impact on the environment. As many of our clients know, we can offer Zero Waste Services to minimize your event's impact on the Earth. But, you might ask yourself, besides event planning what else does the University do to go green?

Well, to answer your question, a lot. The newest buildings in the University Gateway are Gold LEED Certified, 21% of the food purchased on campus is organic or local,the campus plans to reach 1990 emission levels by 2020 and compost bins were introduced into all the buildings on campus. The University's contributions to the environment, however, go much deeper than sustainable building and disposal -- members of the UC Davis take steps every day that make a difference. A 2009 campus travel survey found that over 75% of the UC Davis community uses earth friendly modes of transportation.

Since Davis is known as one of the most bike friendly cities in the United States, with miles upon miles of bike paths, the city had a bit of a head start on sustainable transportation. Bike lanes, bike paths, bike tunnels, bike teams, a bike museum, bike appreciation day -- okay, so maybe not that last one, but the bike-crazy city of Davis has everything else!

Everyday there are between 15,000 - 20,000 bikes on campus. That's right, THOUSAND. Pretty amazing, huh? So if its your first time on campus, be sure to look both ways before crossing the street, and if you are daring enough to take a bike ride on your first day here, please, go through the bike circle in the right direction!

And bikes aren't the only green way to get to campus. With their ID cards, all students have access to free bus rides to and from campus, on a bus system, Unitrans, run completely by students. 95% of all Unitrans buses are powered by clean-burning compressed natural gas.

The goClub, introduced by Transportation and Parking Services, rewards members of UC Davis community who commute by foot, bike, train, bus or carpool. As a thank you to these commuters, goClub offers on-campus bike maintenance, campus lockers and showers, and discount parking passes.

So when you come to UC Davis expect more than just green planning. Expect to see a community dedicated to a better future.