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Campus Global Theme

Transformative Energies: Repowering and Empowering the Planet

The Campus Global Theme program identifies a topic linked to one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and engages the entire UC Davis community in related discussion, learning, discovery, and action. 

The Campus Global Theme Transformative Energies: Repowering and Empowering the Planet, dares to imagine repowering and empowering the planet as being two sides of the same coin," bringing together the UC Davis community in this exploration of the humanistic, social, and scientific dimensions of energy.

View Schedule of Events

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Statement of Purpose

UC Davis’ second Campus Global Theme, "Transformative Energies: Repowering and Empowering the Planet," invites the campus community to explore the humanistic, social, and scientific dimensions of energy. Given the ever-impending environmental crisis that global warming poses, we, as part of planetary communities, need strategies for achieving a just energy transition. “Transformative Energies” dares to imagine repowering and empowering the planet as being two sides of the same coin.
hand signing agreement

Call for Proposals

Global Affairs announces a call for mini-grant proposals for the second Campus Global Theme— Transformative Energies: Repowering and Empowering the Planet—program for 2022-23. Students can request up to $250 and staff and faculty up to $1,000. Grant applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. 

Campus Global Theme Schedule of Events

Past Events

Energy Equity Seminar 

  • February 17, 2022, 2-3:30 p.m.
  • Webinar/Virtual
  • Sponsored by: UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute

Speaker: Dr. Jesus Hernandez, JCH Research

Policy and Popcorn: The California State Budget

  • Febuary 22, 2022, 2:30-4 p.m.
  • Hyrbid: 1605 Tilia Street, Davis (Room 1103) OR Virtual via Zoom
  • Sponsored by: Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy

Policy & Popcorn featuring speakers from the State Capitol to talk about the Governor’s budget proposal and the steps to bringing our state budget from ideas to reality.  Bring your ideas and questions about specific topics, and also questions you might have about process from proposals through committees and negotiations, and ultimately the signing of the fifth largest economy’s state budget. Check back soon for details about the speakers and for registration information.

What Does Sustainable Freight Look Like for Caltrans?

  • February 25, 2022, 1:40-3 p.m.
  • Attend via Zoom
  • Sponsored by: UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies

Learn how a large state department of transportation has navigated and embraced these new challenges, what Caltrans can do to help California achieve a more sustainable freight ecosystem, and what questions Caltrans still needs help answering in determining its most efficient path to this sustainable future 

Students Leaning for Climate Action and Justice

As part of the 2022 UN SDGs Action and Awareness Week, Global Affairs is hosting a student-run virtual symposium to bring attention to the many ways that UC Davis students are leading efforts to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular, how students are leading efforts to address SDG 13: Climate Action and climate justice.  Please join us as the Winter 2022 UC Davis SDG student interns and a selection of UC Davis student speakers discuss ways to advance climate action and justice along three dimensions – through awareness building, policy advocacy, and direct action.  

Energy Equity Seminar: Environmental Justice Fellows at UC Davis Share their Knowledge and Experience 

  • March 3, 2022, 2-3:30 p.m.
  • Attend via Zoom
  • Sponsored by: UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute

Speakers: Adaora Ifebigh, Director of Impact at Sol System, UC Davis Environmental Justice Fellows

Angela Islas, Community Development Specialist at Self-Help Enterprises, UC Davis Environmental Justice Fellows

Zero Waste and Sustainability Club's Food and Energy event: Don't be Trashy

  • April 20, 2022, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  • West Quad, UC Davis Farmers' Market
  • Hosted by: Zero Waste and Sustainability Club
  • 2022 Campus Global Theme Mini-Grant Recipient

The United Nations refers to the nexus of water, food, and energy as “central to sustainable development,” and has reported that “more than one quarter of the energy used globally is expended on food production and supply.” For Earth Month 2022, Global Affairs, Zero Waste & Sustainability Club and UC Davis Sustainability are teaming up to host a tabling event at the UC Davis Farmers Market centered on global food waste and food insecurity. The tables will be engaging topics including the global food system, the energy required to produce food and food emissions. After experiencing our event, we want participants to be able to walk away with a view of food as more than just an item in a grocery store and an understanding of how food is part of a global system. 

UC Davis Industrial Decarbonization Symposium

  • Monday, April 25, 2022, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
  • Conference Center and Welcome Center
  • Hosted by: Energy and Efficiency Institute
  • Register for this event

This in-person event will bring together public and private sector stakeholders to discuss near- and medium-term opportunities for decarbonization of California’s industry. Conversations will explore ways industry, utilities, regulators, and researchers can partner together to advance cost-effective solutions that reduce GHG emissions and increase resiliency and load flexibility.

Aviation Noise and Emissions Symposium 2022

  • May 1-3, 2022, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
  • UC Davis Conference Center, 550 Alumni Lane, Davis, CA
  • Hosted by: Air Quality Research Center
  • Register for this event

The 2022 UC Davis Aviation Noise and Emissions Symposium will focus on defining the challenges that face the noise and emissions industry over the next few years and discussing real-world solutions. Symposium Presenters will share ground-breaking efforts being undertaken by elected officials, airports, consultants, communities, and the FAA to mitigate noise and environmental impacts of aviation.Recent advances in technology and best practices for airports requires a diverse set of skills and an extensive knowledge base.  The NextGen launch, changes to noise remediation practices, and the latest findings from health effects studies require new approaches. Since 1985 the University of California has organized the Aviation Noise & Emissions symposium addressing the most pressing environmental concerns of airports. Join us this yearly for a program packed with talks by top experts and colleagues on key topics impacting the aviation sector.

Energy Bites Seminar

  • May 5, 2022, 12-1 p.m.
  • 1605 Tilia Street, Suite 100, Davis, CA or attend via Zoom
  • Hosted by: Energy and Efficiency Institute
  • Register for this event

A spring seminar series featuring energy research happening at the Energy and Efficiency Institute and UC Davis. Seminars will take place in person and will also be available via Zoom. Each seminar will have short presentation "bites" over the lunch hour. For those attending in person, we will have lunch available after the seminar for folks to enjoy outside

Bite 1: UC Davis Fossil Fuel Free Pathway Plan and UC Davis Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Camille Kirk, Office of Sustainability

Bite 2: Hourly Accounting of Carbon Emissions from Electricity Consumption
Greg Miller, Energy Graduate Group

TierraFest2022: A New Way to Discover the Earth

  • May 7, 2022, 10 a.m.
  • UC Davis Quad
  • Hosted by: Department of Environmental Science and Policy
  • 2022 Campus Global Theme Mini-Grant Recipient

TierraFest is a Latinx community-led Earth Day festival that creates interactive learning spaces with experiments, contests, and games to share with the general public experiences that bring us closer to understanding Earth processes and environmental challenges. Our goal is to provide a Spanish-language safe space to communicate Earth and environmental sciences to the broader community in Davis, Woodland, Dixon, Knights Landing, and other surrounding cities to engage them with the current scientific and environmental projects conducted by Latinxs students.

Coming Clean: A Demand for a Fossil Free UC

Coming Clean is a film directed by Carolina Montejo and Andre Salehian, members of the grassroots movement UCSD Green New Deal. The film explores the issues with the UC's Carbon Neutrality Plan and the need to step into the needs and demands of the 21st Century by keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Through various interviews with expert UC professors, students, labor unions representatives, and environmental justice advocates, the film addresses why the trending market of carbon offsets is allowing corporations and institutions to avoid taking genuine responsibility in the face of climate change. By including perspectives from diverse movements, Coming Clean shows the overlap of the environmental movement with that of social justice, labor, and climate action, as well as the importance of local mobilization and people demanding change where they have a voice.

The movie will be accompanied by a panel consisting of both students and faculty.

Careers in #SciComm with Colin Murphy

The Careers in SciComm speaker series is hosted jointly by UC Davis's Science Says, UC Berkeley's CLEAR, and UC Riverside's SciComm@UCR. We hope that you will find this speaker series inspiring as you think about where you want to take your science communication skills in your career. In the second-to-last installment of the #UCSciCommSeries, Colin Murphy will discuss science policy and sustainability. He is the Deputy Director of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy at UC Davis.

Fossil Fuel-Free Pathway Planning (FFPP) Town Halls

  • Town Hall #1  In person
  • Tuesday, May 17, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
  • Davis campus: Student Community Center, Multipurpose Room
  • No registration required; light refreshments provided.
     
  • Town Hall #2  In person & Zoom
  • Thursday, May 19, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
  • Sacramento (Health) campus: Education Building, Room 3204
  • No registration required for in-person attendance. Register for the Zoom option.
     
  • Hosted by: Campus Advisory Committee on Sustainability

Chancellor Gary May has directed the preparation of a plan for all of UC Davis, including UC Davis Health, to move away from fossil fuel use in our operations. Come to this Town Hall, sponsored by the Campus Advisory Committee on Sustainability, to learn more about UC Davis' greenhouse gas emissions, and our planning process to move away from fossil fuel use.

No Climate Justice without Racial Justice in Brazil

Andréia Coutinho Louback is a journalist from PUC-Rio with a masters in Ethnic Racial Relations from CEFET/FU and a specialist in climate justice in Brazil. She is currently a fellow of the Fulbright Humphrey Fellowship (2021-22) program at UC Davis. Her lecture will offer a brief overview of socio-environmental injustices in Brazil through marginalized and invisible voices. Beyond the Amazon region, what are the current racial, social, political and economic challenges of climate justice in the country? How is the black movement mobilizing resources to advocate for favelas, peripheral areas and suburbs population needs in the face of climate disasters.

Rethinking Latin American Mining Landscapes: Societies, Environment, and Knowledge

  • May 20 and 27, 2022 12 p.m.
  • Organized by: Extractive Pasts and Hollowed Futures: Unearthing Histories of Mining,  DHI cluster
  • Attend via Zoom

A virtual symposium that invites reflections on mining landscapes in Latin America through the dialogue of researchers from different disciplinary fields and periods of specialization. Mining and extractive economies have been classic programs in Latin American history. Mining centers have been poles of the early modern and contemporary economies, intimately rooted in far-reaching historical and ecological processes such as colonialism, the formation of nation-states, nationalism, capitalism, and neoliberalism.

2022 UC Davis Plant Sciences Symposium

  • May 22-27, 2022
  • UC Davis Alumni Center
  • Sponsored by: UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Plant Sciences 
  • 2022 Campus Global Theme Mini-Grant Recipient

Our event will facilitate the dissemination of breakthroughs in plant science research around biofuel energy crops. The event is organized and run by UC Davis graduate students under the supervision of a faculty sponsor. Historically, research presented at this annual symposium have been largely focused on plant research related to food crops. However, as a university, UC Davis also has a global reputation for pioneering plant science research and addressing current challenges beyond crops for food - with major advances in crop research for fuel production. Our place as a regional and international leader in plant science positions UC Davis to be at the center of important conversations about and research on crops with the potential to fuel the future.

UC Davis SheepMowers - A Campus Grazing Event

  • Spring 2022 (grazing hours 9 a.m.-3 p.m.)
    • March 30 - April 1 (Spring quarter welcome) 
    • April 23 (Picnic Day; Parade Only - no mowing) 
    • April 25-27 (Olmsted’s 200th birthday on Tues., Apr. 26) 
    • May 18-20 (Global Initiative Grant) Meditation/Mental Health awareness
    • June 8-10 (Finals/Graduation) Grad photos
  • Chemistry Mounds (near the Silo); LINK TO MAP
  • Sponsored by: UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Human Ecology
  • 2022 Campus Global Theme Mini-Grant Recipient

The UC Davis Sheepmowers are back in a new location: the Chemistry Mounds near the Silo. Haven Kiers, assistant professor of landscape architecture, is doing research to determine if sheep allowed to graze on campus turf can eat grass and weeds, fertilize and control pests as well as, or better than, using conventional landscaping methods. She invites the public to spend some time in nature, watching the sheep do their thing. The Chair Share project will be on hand, if you're looking for a seat. Follow @ucdavis_sheepmowers on Instagram for the latest news.

Ministries for the Future

Donna Haraway and Kim Stanley Robinson in conversation

  • March 8, 2023, 4-6 p.m.
  • UC Davis Student Community Center, Multi-Purpose Room
  • Sponsored by: Department of English, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Needham Endowed Chair, College of Letters and Science Dean's Office
  • Campus Global Theme Mini-Grant Recipient

An event celebrating the new Environmental Humanities Designated Emphasis at UC Davis. Moderated by Marisol de la Cadena and Tobias Menely.

 

More Information

This program complements the work of Global Education for All, an initiative to engage 100% of UC Davis students—undergraduate, graduate and professional—in global learning before graduation.

The inaugural Campus Global Theme Food for Thought: Feeding Ourselves, Feeding the Planet, explored the complexities surrounding the notion of “Food for Thought," bringing together the UC Davis community in this exploration.