CSUN Sustainability 2020

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Projects

bottle water for water day

Water Day

Every March, The Institute for Sustainability hosts our annual Water Day Event, held in recognition of World Water Day. This event is sponsored in part by the University Student Union and hosts Guest Speakers and CSUN Sustainability Leaders who will present and discuss important issues surrounding water supply, quality, and access to clean water. Our 2020 event theme focused on "Water and Sustainable Fashion," featuring Dr. Tracy Tung (CSUN, Department of Family and Consumer Science) and Nikhil Schneider (CSUN Energy and Sustainability Coordinator, Facilities Planning).

people in a conference

Sustainability Day

Every October, CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability holds Sustainability Day, a free event where students, faculty, staff and the greater community can learn about various topics related to sustainability that have local and global impacts. This year’s theme was biodiversity loss and the effects it can have on the land, water, food supplies, and different cultures. Biodiversity is the variety of life in a particular habitat, ecosystem or the entire world. This year’s event featured three workshop sessions: Land and Water, Cultural Diversity, and Biodiversity and Food

CSUN Oviatt library

Upgrading a Campus Fixture

With over 230,000 square feet of building space, the University Library is the largest building on CSUN’s campus. During a normal semester, its study spaces, computer labs, coffee shop, & other resources attract thousands of visitors per day, who enjoy spacious lounges and cozy book stacks in the historic building. While the Library has undergone a number of renovations, most notably after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the building’s lighting is still a thing of the past. Over 10,000 fluorescent lightbulbs line the building's ceilings, each drawing around twenty-five watts of power.

water meters with numbers

Saving Water Through Better Metering

Since adopting its Sustainability Plan in 2013, CSUN has achieved a 28% decrease in annual water consumption. This has been done through a variety of different strategies, which include the replacement of water-intensive lawns with drought-tolerant plants, the injection of algae-based hydrogels into the root zone of fields and lawns to improve water retention, efficient irrigation systems, and the replacement of water faucets and fixtures with low-flow alternatives.

sourdough bread on a skillet

Sourdough Starter

The CSUN Sourdough Starter Project is a collaboration with First Year Programming to teach about and share the extraordinary microbial world of sourdough. Led by Professor David Medeiros, this project is inspired by similar efforts undertaken at NC State's Public Science Lab. Download the recipe.