Fall Mini-Grants

These projects were part of our mini-grant program, which involves a shorter application, shorter project timelines, and a total funding limit of $5,000 per project. 

ASUC Eco-Office Stipends

Project Description
The ASUC Eco-Office is comprised of 7 departments, including Pour out Pepsi, UC Green New Deal, Environmental Education, Environmental Justice Campaigns, Eco-Community Development, Social Media & Graphics, and Legislative Affairs. Each are headed by directors who coordinate and organize their respective departments. The directors are all undergraduate students who are passionate about sustainability and environmental justice and have chosen to lead the projects that they are working on. The Head of Staff position is adjacent to the director positions as they...

Bechtel Terrace Technological and Educational Rooftop Garden

Project Description

The goals of this project are to pilot new technologies for rooftop gardening and to enrich educational experiences in environmental sustainability at Cal. The pace of research in the science and engineering of rooftop gardens has increased as urban agriculture has become increasingly popular over the last decade. These technologies have the potential to contribute in important ways to more green and equitable cities. A successful rooftop garden pilot study at the Bechtel Terrace site would be the first demonstration site at UC Berkeley for rooftop...

Supporting Essential Operations at SOGA and UC Gill Tract Community Farms

Project Description

The project has three main sections. (1) Part of the grant would go towards covering a portion of the Student Organic Garden Association’s water bill. Currently, the Department of Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management (ESPM) covers half the bill and Professor Tim Bowles’ Berkeley Agroecology Lab covers the other portion. Having the Agroecology Lab help cover this expense has become a financial burden on them with their increasingly limited budget. Increasing SOGA’s economic self-sufficiency is the only way they can continue to distribute agroecological...

Social Impacts of Development on Treasure Island/Below the Bridge Documentary

Project Description

We want to make a documentary on the transformation of Treasure Island from a historical sacrifice zone to a site of intense development and gentrification. We are interested in the impacts that the development plan will have on current residents of the island, as well as businesses and organizations located there. We recognize that this case is likely one of environmental injustice, as the low-income, underserved, predominantly African-American and Latinx communities are going to be the first to face the repercussions of this gentrification. Our documentary will...

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Crops of World Internship

Project Description

As a senior studying Conservation with a focus on agroecology and rural development, I would like to incorporate the knowledge I have acquired from the past several years of classes on environmental justice as well as conversations from within the agroecology community on campus. 1. Garden for Ohlone foods and other Bay Area/Northern California indigenous foods would be added to the North American section. 2. There are various agroecological methods that could be replicated on a smaller scale within the garden as a display, including intercropping, no...

SCEC Retention Events

Project Description

The SCEC Retention Events will provide direct resources related to self-care and professional development for our members through student-led workshops and guest presentations. Examples of potential projects include BIPOC Environmental Mixers where BIPOC students and faculty have space to form a community with people of shared interests, while also focusing on intersectionality and resource sharing. Other potential retention events include professional development workshops on graduate school applications, networking events, and professional...

Community Climate Healing Circle

Project Description

The vision of Mobilize Berkeley is to lead an intergenerational citywide sustained mobilization towards stopping climate destruction and participating in a just transition toward sustainable, more equitable and healthier ways of living and working. SERC has been in partnership with Mobilize Berkeley for the last three years, and we hope to continue our partnership with them for many years to come. QTPOC students and community members organize and facilitate the circles. Within the Healing Circles QTPOC students' healing and voices are centered and...

THIMBY: Richmond Backyard Home

Project Description

Tiny House in My Backyard (THIMBY) is an interdisciplinary team of 27 UC Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students designing and constructing affordable, ecologically sustainable, tiny homes. THIMBY 3.0, the third home constructed by the THIMBY organization, will be piloting Richmond’s “Tiny House on Wheels Pilot Project” ordinance, which the team recently helped renew, by constructing and leasing an affordable, net-zero-energy 240 sq ft. house in the backyard of a predetermined single-family residence in Richmond. In collaboration with the City...

PlateUp: Reducing Single-Use Plastic Takeout Waste

Project Description

The proposed project consists of surveying, identifying, and assisting (10) pilot restaurants in their transition from single-use plastic takeout boxes to compostables and/or reusables.

Project Links

Project Application

Project Poster (coming soon!)

Fannie Lou Hamer Farm Project

Project Description

The Fannie Lou Hamer Farm Project is a Black, student-led initiative organizing around Black wellness and land-based learning and healing on and around campus. We are exploring the intersections of Black liberation and ecological justice through agroecological and Afro-Indigenous land-stewardship practices. Our goals are to (1) increase access to land and food, especially for Black students (2) provide land-based education in topics such as regenerative agriculture, food systems, agroecology, and Black agrarian histories (3) promote connection between people...