Earth Summit

A group of ten young people and an older woman posing together indoors in front of a white banner that reads 'Earth Summit', all smiling and making the same hand gesture. The venue has wooden floors and wooden beams on the ceiling, with large windows in the background.

Earth Summit History

In 2001, the SEC was created with the goal of seeking clear and specific sustainable initiatives through student voice, education, and empowerment.

To achieve these goals, SEC convened the first Earth Summit in 2002. They brought students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members together to discuss the state of sustainability at UC Santa Cruz.

Of many notable accomplishments that first Earth Summit manifested, it first guided Earth Summit participants to form working groups and the Chancellor's Sustainability Action Council (CSAC), a supporting group designed to "help institutionalize and coordinate the ongoing efforts of the working groups." Together, these working groups and CSAC sought to spark important conversations and put projects identified at Earth Summit into action.

Today, Earth Summit remains on of the longest running events on campus. And while we do focus on sustainability each year, we change the focus and theme to reflect current campus and global issues. 

25h Annual Earth Summit 2026

Don’t Forget Your Roots: The Past Builds The Future

This year marks marks the 25th Earth Summit Anniversary

In a time of significant political and environmental turmoil, we aim to acknowledge and motivate productive action that can result from proper education on past efforts and advocacy. History is a non-negotiable aspect of planning for the future. It teaches us what issues have been faced and fought, what mistakes have been made, and what we can replicate and avoid in order to properly plan for the future.

Enviroslug worked in collaboration with UCSC alumni and environmental advocates to recognize past endeavors in Enviroslug and Santa Cruz to inspire participants to take note of what they can change today. For the first time since 2020, the 25th annual Earth Summit is extending its invite to the local community in order to broaden our mobilization and to recognize the strength in communal efforts.

Keynote Speakers: Justin Cummings & Winona LaDuke
Alumni Panel: Tash Nguyen, Lily Urmann & Tim Galarneau
Live Performances: Peter Weiss & the Earth Rangers and Kev Young

Earth Summit 2025

Cultivating Climate Action

The Student Environmental Center debuted the Zero-Waste Planning Guide during Earth Summit 2025.

Learn more here

This year, Enviroslug went all out— hosting the most attended Earth Summit in the past five years.

Centered on the theme of cultivating climate action within the UCSC student community, Earth Summit 2025 brought energy, creativity, and purpose to campus.

Our keynote speaker, Alexandria Villaseñor—founder of the international nonprofit Earth Uprising, speaker at the Democratic National Convention, and youth delegate at COP26—shared her powerful message of youth-led climate advocacy.

The event featured hands-on workshops, a community mural, yoga sessions, a clothing swap, bottle painting, and tables from sustainability-focused organizations across campus. It was a day of connection, action, and inspiration.

  • Two individuals standing behind a table outdoors on a grassy field, with trees in the background, smiling at the camera. They are wearing matching light blue shirts with a logo and text related to Earth Summit 2023. The table is covered with various items including rocks, scissors, paper, and household objects, and has a sign that says 'NO SEW'.
  • People participating in an outdoor event at a park, with tables displaying scissors, cloth, rocks, and small items, under a clear blue sky and surrounded by green grass and trees.
  • A group of young women and men posing outdoors on a wooden platform surrounded by green trees, wearing matching light blue t-shirts with a logo.
  • A group of people gathered outdoors on a grassy field engaging in activities, with trees and a partly cloudy sky in the background.
  • Two men performing music outdoors on a wooden stage, one playing guitar and singing, the other holding a microphone, with trees and a house in the background.
  • Four young women smiling outdoors during the daytime, wearing light blue t-shirts with Earth Summit 2025 logo for environmental cause, with trees and grass in the background.
  • People playing a game on a grassy field outdoors during the daytime, with trees and a small hill in the background.
  • Group of seven young people sitting on grass outdoors, participating in a discussion or activity, with trees and a table with supplies in the background.
  • A group of five young women and one person with long red hair sitting on the grass in a park on a sunny day. Four women are standing on a wooden platform, and one is sitting on the grass to the right. There is a large globe on the ground near one of the standing women. The background features lush green trees and a grassy hill.
  • Group of five people sitting on grass in a circle, using a globe to discuss environmental issues, with multiple small white flowers in the grass and trees in the background.

Earth Summit 2024

NO TIME TO WASTE

Thank you all for coming out to our 23rd Annual Earth Summit! This event continues to be a space for the campus community to come together and celebrate past and current actions in campus sustainability, reflect on the year, and promote education for a sustainable future at UCSC. We loved getting to see your messages to the Chancellor about the waste crisis on campus. Stay tuned for updates on our new projects!

  • Group of seven diverse young people posing together indoors, standing around a decorative branch tree in a wooden crate.
  • Two teenagers sitting at a table outside the student commons building on a sunny day. One is smiling, and the other has a neutral expression. There are drinks and a laptop on the table.
  • A woman sitting at a desk with a laptop covered in stickers, smiling in a classroom or conference room with a sign and a television screen displaying 'Earth Summit' in the background.
  • Four young people sitting at a table with various craft supplies in a room with plain walls.
  • A large sheet of paper on a desk with handwritten messages in different colors, including one in red that says, 'We have NO TIME TO WASTE! (get it? Cause waste!)', and another in green that says, 'This should be TOP PRIORITY!' Additional notes and markers are scattered on the paper.
  • A young woman with short hair and glasses, wearing a black hoodie, giving a thumbs-up and smiling in a room with boxes on the table in front of her.

Earth Summit 2023

NO TIME TO WASTE

Thank you to everyone who came out to our 22nd annual Earth Summit and participated in the No Time to Waste Scavenger Hunt! Congratulations to McKenna Berry for winning the $500 REI gift card! If you are interested in checking out all the submissions, you can find them in our submission gallary located on the ESLP website. Huge shout out to our donors: New Leaf, Go Ask Alice, Verve, Petroglyph, Sockshop Santa Cruz, REI Co-op, and Epicenter Cycling for their contributions to our NTTW Scavenger hunt! Stay tuned for updates on our No Time to Waste campaign progress coming in summer.

  • Two women standing in front of a projector screen at the Enviroslug's 22nd annual Earth Summit, smiling and celebrating.
  • Two young women standing next to a large whiteboard with colorful writing that says, 'Welcome to Earth Summit 2023,' with drawings of the Earth and a globe. They are indoors, in front of informational posters and a map.
  • A large lecture hall filled with students watching a presentation on a big screen at the front. The presentation displays the logo for MEI COOP and the text 'Now let's vote!' A few people are standing near the podium, and there is a person speaking into a microphone. The hall has tiered seating with many students taking notes or using devices.
  • A smiling woman at a buffet table holding a plate of food, wearing a denim jacket and gloves, with snacks and a pool table in the background.
  • Group of nine young people and a woman posing in front of an 'Earth Summit' sign inside a wooden-ceiling room.
  • Handmade banner with green lettering that reads 'Earth Summit,' decorated with blue and yellow paper flowers, displayed on a wooden ceiling with fluorescent lights.

Earth Summit 2022

NO TIME TO WASTE

Pie chart titled 'Should we stop purchasing products that end up in landfills?' with segments labeled 'Disagree 4%', 'Neutral 13%', and 'Agree 83%'.
Slide titled 'What do these results mean?' with bulleted points explaining that the majority of students voted for more sustainable actions by the university, that the votes will help stop purchasing items not accepted by waste facilities, and that the votes will involve students in creating zero waste initiatives.

Our Earth Summit theme this year, “No Time To Waste”, focused on education and political engagement. Enviroslug submitted an opinion poll for the 20202 UCSC campus elections to gain a better understanding of where students stand on the issue of Zero Waste. We asked 2 questions:

Should UCSC stop purchasing products that end up in landfills?

Should students have a say in future sustainability plans?

Students responded with a resounding YES to both questions, not only supporting the movement for a Zero Waste campus, but also starting critical conversations around the importance of including student voices in sustainability initiatives on campus.

Earth Summit 2020

OUR TIME IS NOW

Illustration of two people holding a globe with wind turbines and a solar panel, surrounded by text promoting EnviroSlug Radio and UCSC's Enviroslug for an Earth Summit 2020.

As a part of the 2020 Earth Summit: Our Time Is Now, a podcast entitled “Enviroslug Radio” was created by a few Enviroslug members to discuss sustainability and the environment, and how those issues affect the students of UC Santa Cruz and the surrounding Santa Cruz County. 

The first episode, released June 5, 2020, highlighted farmworker exploitation and the power of a union amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosts Bijan, Chelsea, James, and Neil sat down with Sarbjit Sangha, a United Farm Workers representative and leader among Punjabi farmworkers at Monterey Mushrooms, a fresh mushroom company in Morgan Hill, California, to talk about the protections and benefits his union provides.

Earth Summit 2019

Just Sustainability: Intersecting Narratives of Hope

As a part of the 2020 Earth Summit: Our Time Is Now, a podcast entitled “Enviroslug Radio” was created by a few Enviroslug members to discuss sustainability and the environment, and how those issues affect the students of UC Santa Cruz and the surrounding Santa Cruz County. 

The first episode, released June 5, 2020, highlighted farmworker exploitation and the power of a union amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosts Bijan, Chelsea, James, and Neil sat down with Sarbjit Sangha, a United Farm Workers representative and leader among Punjabi farmworkers at Monterey Mushrooms, a fresh mushroom company in Morgan Hill, California, to talk about the protections and benefits his union provides.

  • Group of ten young people posing indoors with a large poster about global food wastage.
  • Group of seven young people sitting on chairs in a panel discussion or presentation, with a large window in the background letting in natural light, and an easel with a blackboard displaying the agenda for an Earth Summit event.
  • Students sitting at a long table dining in a bright, spacious cafeteria with large windows showing trees outside.
  • Two young women in white t-shirts standing behind a table with food trays at a buffet. The tray on the left has lemon bars, the middle tray has meat and vegetables, and the right tray has rice. Other people sit at tables in the background with a large window showing trees outside.
  • Two students sitting at a table with a globe and laptops, smiling at the camera, in a bright room with folded chairs stacked against the wall, and two people in the background talking at another table.
  • Group of people sitting in a circle on a grassy area outdoors, with apartment buildings and trees in the background.
  • Two young people, a woman holding a yellow drink can and a man giving a thumbs-up, standing in front of an environmental awareness poster at an indoor event.
  • People sitting in a circle on the floor during a workshop in a large, open indoor space with high windows.
  • A woman sitting at a table with various informational brochures, printed materials, and a sign that reads 'Homeless Garden Project.' She is smiling and wearing a black hat, with large windows and a potted plant in the background.

Earth Summit 2018

Now U.C. It: Basic Needs Crisis At UCSC

This year's Earth Summit focused on the current crisis at UCSC in which students are being forced to fight for their basic rights. Earth Summit was an opportunity for students, alum, faculty, and community members alike to come learn how the current enrollment crisis at UCSC has permeated every aspect of students' lives and what folks can do to get involved in the movement to fight it. Speakers and workshops helped give attendees methods of enacting change on and off of campus.

Amah Mutsun Tribal Band Leader, Valentin Lopez spoke on the history of the land UCSC is on and helped the SEC reveal the Mission Bell petition we worked with the Amah Mutsun to create.

Students learned about food and housing justice on campus from members of SUHWG.

Attendees participate in our direct action station where they could sign petitions, register to vote, and comment on the Student Housing West environmental impact report.

We also be featured our 4th Annual Student of Color Caucus and Whiteness in Sustainability workshop in order to engage in the conversation about racism within the sustainability movement and on campus.

  • A man speaking at a presentation in a hall with large windows and a projection screen. The slide shows the USC logo and the words "Basic Needs Crisis at USC".
  • Group of four women standing on stage beneath a large screen that reads 'Housing is a Human Right,' with an audience in front and large windows behind them.
  • Students at an indoor informational or registration table with a colorful painted banner reading "NAEP" and "LHS" in the background, next to large windows.
  • Indoor display with colorful posters and research projects on student housing, environmental impact, and food transportation, with a table holding papers and materials.
  • A man is speaking in front of an audience in a room with a large screen displaying the hashtag '#THESTRUGGLEISREAL' and an image of a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

Earth Summit 2017

16th Annual

During the 16th Annual Earth Summit the People of Color Sustainability Collective hosted a Student of Color Caucus. We also had student speeches, and interactive tabling where attendees could plant seeds, learn how to recycle, write to our representatives, and more!

We had performances from:

Isang Himig, a muliti-cultural a cappella group, rooted from Bayanihan.

The Climate Music Project, a project based in San Francisco that aims to showcase climate change data through music.

Terisa Siagatonu, a spoken word poet and a UCSC alum.

We ended the day with making signs for the Science and People's Climate March, and free cookies!

Earth Summit 2016

15th Annual

The 15th Annual Earth Summit had button making and taste testing workshops, interactive tabling for each of the SEC campaigns, and a Student of Color Caucus hosted POCSC. It also featured student speakers from the SUA, SEC, CHP, A/BSA, and the 2016 Blueprint Team.

Keynote speakers included:

Nikki Silvestri, CEO of Silvestri Strategies and former Director of People’s Grocery and Green For all. She helped to launch the Education for Sustainable Living Program on the state-wide level. She was named one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans in 2014.

Jessian Choy, original co-founder of the Student Environmental Center at UCSC. She’s now an independent citizen journalist , writing for Sierra magazine’s Ask Ms. Green column, videos, and podcasts. Along with that, she also serves on the board of Earth Island. 

Earth Summit 2015

14th Annual

Our 14th Annual Earth Summit featured an open art gallery, as well as interactive workshops. These workshops included the living building challenge, fossil freedom at the UCs, POCSC sustainability caucus, what is your coffee worth, solar charging, global food initiative, and alternative transportation.

Our big focus was the debut of our Living Building Challenge which was created as a response to the proposed West Housing Development. This challenge was run by Renata C. Abma and Katie Bachman.

Our speakers included:

Keynote Favianna Rodriguez, a transnational interdisciplinary artist and cultural organizer. Her projects deal with migration, global politics, economic injustice, patriarchy, and interdependence.

Renata C. Abma, a designer, AIA Associate, LEED AP BD+C Living Building Challenge Ambassador.

Katie Bachman, LEED AP+, Project Manager Environmental Building Strategies.

Earth Summit 2014

Imitate - Innovate - Initiate


Our 13th Annual Earth Summit featured Blueprint Breakout discussions on Waste Prevention, Food Systems, Green Building, Land Habitat and Watershed, Transportation, Green Purchasing, Academics and Curriculum, Social and Environmental Justice, Water Conservation, and Energy. Prior to this event, Enviroslug held a t-shirt making contest to make this year’s event shirt!

Our keynote speakers included:

Lina Constantinovici, Co-founder and CEO of StartupNectar

Tommaso Boggia, SEC Alum - Sustainability Events Coordinator, and creator of the bike co-op

Performers included:

Climbing Poetree - Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman,  a spoken word, hip hop, multimedia theater performance with the aim of exposing injustice, channeling hope to vision, and make a better future visible, immediate, and irresistible.

Earth Summit 2013

Branch Out! Fostering Inclusive Solutions

Our 12th Annual Earth Summit’s theme, "Branch Out! Fostering Inclusive Solutions," is inspired by the importance of inclusivity between these various perspectives. Workshops included topics on population growth, how to create a student led class, green purchasing, habitat destruction, water privatization, food systems, and recyclable art.

Our keynote speakers included:

Maya Salsedo, a food systems activist working toward food justice with a focus on working with the youth towards these goals.

Flora Lu, Ph.D, A UCSC professor in Environmental Studies. She is an ecological anthropologist, focused on human and environment dynamics, environmental justice, educational equity, and the political economy of conservation and resource extraction.

Performers included:

Karen Kaplan, a spoken word poet

Second Floor Funk, local Santa Cruz band

Earth Summit 2012

 Sprout → Ideas, Action, Change

Our 11th Annual Earth Summit focus was to unite students over a shared passion for environmental sustainability, social justice, education, and food! Their goal was to get their hands dirty planting the seeds of action. Students engaged with faculty, staff, and other students to learn more about campus action plans, and getting involved for the future!

Workshops included topics on stewardship, Green Purchasing, the AgroEco coffee model, fermentation, UCSC budget transparency, Sustainable Transportation, Take Back the Tap campaign, Green Building strategies, and recycling materials.

Our speakers included:

Eric Holt-Gimenez, Executive Director of FoodFirst, author, and Ph.D alum from UCSC.

Anneliese Harlander 

Don Lane, previous Mayor of Santa Cruz

Performances included:

Spoken Word Artists - Robin Leipman, Brooke Velasquez, Simone Cordona, Kevin Hall, Nadia Peralta, Claire Williams, and Malgosia Kosteka

North Pacific String Band, a local Santa Cruz band.

Earth Summit 2011

10th Annual

Unfortunately we do not have a record of this Earth Summit, but we’re sure it was a lovely event!

Earth Summit 2010

Ode to the Globe - celebrating culture, community, and the environment

Our 9th Annual Earth Summit featured our longest set of programming to date, with eight days of programming leading up to the Earth Summit. Our goal was to build community, connection, coalition, and empower students to take environmental action.

Our week long programming included a Gardeners Alliances bike tour, a lecture on renewable resources, Stand up, Speak Out!, Earth Fest, a date with Mother Nature, Planet Earth marathon, speak up to bias workshop, electronic waste recycling drive, Eco Fair, and a Bring in the Spring celebration to finish the week.

This year’s event saw performances from Eliquate and Wooster, some local Santa Cruz bands.

Activities included a community art project, native pot planting, and a bike workshop.

Earth Summit 2009

Collaboration towards a sustainable campus and community

Our 8th Annual Earth Summit centered around building community and collaboration towards a more sustainable campus. We provided students with an orientation to UCSC sustainability topics, where we focused on waste prevention, curriculum, food systems, green purchasing, long range planning, social justice, campus and community relations, climate, energy, green building, water, nuclear investments, transportation, and institutionalizing sustainability.

After orientation, workshops were held all around Colleges 9 & 10. These included topics on effective collaboration for positive change, preparing your bike for spring, home energy audits, grant application writing, the Santa Cruz watershed, building food sovereignty, and composting for beginners.

This event also featured a panel on the environment, sustainability, and collaboration. Panelists included:

Ronnie Lipschutz, a politics professor 

Rachel Shiozaki, an undergraduate activist

George Blumenthal, UCSC Chancellor

Aurora Winslade, Enviroslug Sustainability Coordinator

Kirsten Liske, Vice President of Ecology Action 

Nikki Henderson, moderator and senior researcher of Green for All 

Felicia McGinty, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs 

Earth Summit 2008

7th Annual

Our 7th Annual Earth Summit featured workshops on how to live greener, as well as discussing campus issues like waste prevention, green building, and transportation. 

Event speakers included:

Fred Keeley, County Treasurer

George Blumenthal, UCSC Chancellor

Daniel Press, ENVS Chair

Student leaders, Faculty, and Staff

Earth Summit 2007

6th Annual

Our 6th Annual Earth Summit featured a variety of speakers, as well as different workshops students could attend.

This years speakers included:

Keynote Melissa Nelson, UCSC Alumni, as well as an Indigenous scholar, activist, and a cultural ecologist, writer, and media-maker. She is also focused on Indigenous food sovereignty.

George Blumenthal, acting UCSC Chancellor

John Laird, Assembly member

Matthew St. Clair, UCOP Sustainability Specialist 

UCSC Student leaders

Earth Summit 2006

Growing Changes at UCSC

Our 5th Annual Earth Summit featured a sustainability poster fair, allowing students to share the unique work they were doing with the UCSC community.

Additionally, students worked on the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus. The breakout groups included topics on campus food systems, long range planning, transportation, curriculum, waste prevention and composting, green building and renewable energy, green purchasing, and lastly environmental justice and social inequities. This event was also fully zero-waste, and served organic food.

Event speakers included:

Enviroslug members - Carly Memoli, Vlad Metrik, Angela Harris, Alissa White, and Ryan Power 

Matthew St. Clair, UCOP Sustainability Specialist  

CSAC committee - Aspen Kvicala and Diane Behling,

CSA - Ilse Kolbus and Marcia Winslade

Denise Denton, UCSC Chancellor

Tim Galarneau and Terrance Welch, food systems

Performers included:

Tawn Kennedy, lyrical rhythm 

Ryan Power, guitar and song 

Rolling Cultivators, bluegrass field tunes

Earth Summit 2005

4th Annual

Our 4th Annual Earth Summit aimed to bring together the campus community through the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus. The creation of the Chancellor’s Sustainability Action Council (CSAC) was also unveiled!

The breakout groups for the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus included campus food systems, campus gardens/composting, campus-community networking, CSAC implementation, curriculum, energy, faculty research, Fair Trade, green building, green purchasing, Long Range and Development Planning, socially responsible UC investments, transportation, and waste prevention.

Our keynotes speaker was David Orr, an author and professor focused on how education should evolve to emphasize sustainability, in both ecology contexts and larger frameworks.

Other speakers for this year’s event included:

SEC - Tim Galarneau, Cassandra Davis, Leah Walsh, Jessian Choy, Diane Behling, and Carly Memoli

Martin Chemers, acting UCSC Chancellor

Matthew St. Clair, UCOP sustainability specialist 

Jodi Anderson, Student Regent

Mike Rotkin, Mayor of Santa Cruz and UCSC Lecturer

Ben Crow, UCSC Faculty and Green enterprises initiative 

Frank Zwart, Physical Planning and Construction  

Patric Testoni, Physical Plant

Chloe Lieberman, Community Agroecology Network 

Steve Gliessman, Program in Community and Agroecology and Curriculum

Robin Ellis, Bookstore Operations Manager

Charles McIntyre, Information Technology Services 

Dan Blunk, Environmental Health and Safety Office

John Barnes, Campus Planner

Arthur Coulston, UC Office of the President 

Slugstock - 2004

2nd Campus Earth Festival

This Woodstock inspired event featured a music festival celebrating sustainability and the power of community. Campus Earth Festivals were held in Spring Quarter, usually after Earth Summit to celebrate sustainability on campus.

Workshops during the festival focused on solar energy, sprouting, garbage art, waste prevention, and Youth for Environmental Sanity.

Our keynote speaker was Ocean Robbins, performing his speech: “when hope takes a stand”. Robbins is an author and entrepreneur, and co-founder of Food Revolution Network, Inc.

Earth Summit 2004

3rd Annual

Speakers at the 3rd Annual Earth Summit included:

Keynote Anthony Bernheim

MRC Greenwood, UCSC Chancellor

Mathew Murray, UC Regents member as a Student Regent 

John Laird, California Assembly Member representing the 27th Assembly District. He is also a UCSC Alum and former Mayor of Santa Cruz.

Earth Summit 2003

2nd Annual

The purpose of the 2nd Annual Campus Earth Summit was to open up a dialogue on sustainability between UCSC students, faculty, staff, administration, and the surrounding community. Given the rapid expansion of our campus and its population, sustainability needs to become a central issue in the planning and maintenance of this university. We aimed to build a partnership so that we may mutually reinforce each others’ efforts to minimize the environmental impact of our university.

Breakout groups for the Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus included campus food systems, waste reduction, recycling, composting, transportation, alternatives to pesticides, green purchasing, green building/renewable energy, and long range planning.

Speakers included:

Michelle Robbins, Co-founder of Youth for Environmental Sanity 

Joe Jordan, Director of Sky Power Institute

Matt Jones, Chair - UCSC SUA

Marcia Winslade, SEC Co-chair

Campus Earth Festival 2003

1st Festival

Welcome to our first ever Campus Earth Festival! This event featured nationally and locally recognized speakers, free food, activities, and performances. We worked with the Heumann energy project and KZSC to bring this event to life, as well as Greenpeace’s rolling sunlight (solar powered truck) to power our stage.

Local Santa Cruz bands, illumiNation, Estradasphere, and Shady Groove performed during the festival.

Activities included: interactive media and local artists exhibits, handcrafted environmentally conscious goods, biodiesel and veggie oil demonstrations, student and faculty project tables, professional massage booth, informational booths, community orgs, campus orgs, and non-profits.

Workshops included: Environmental consequences of war, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, waste prevention, green building, social justice, yoga and meditation, wild farming, mushroom foraging, Fair Trade and an ecological design lecture.

Tabling organizations present were Synergy Party, No Enemy, Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, Joe’s Pizza, ECCO Design, Slug Books Co-op, Cruzio, and more!