2023 Award Recipients
Sustainability Organization
Winner: Sustainable Fashion Club
Nominated by club member Lenaya-Aiden Gonzales, Sustainable Fashion Club promotes education, artistry, and community through sustainability in fashion. They do this by holding informational meetings, promoting second-hand "slow" fashion, and working with local businesses to host sustainable events. Sustainable Fashion Club focuses on the disproportional impacts of the fast fashion industry on underrepresented communities. They promote not only the sustainability of individual consumption but of society as a whole. On campus, they host an ongoing, monthly "Swap and Shop" event in collaboration with Green Campus. The event has served to promote sustainable clothing choices by swapping unused clothes for new pieces and shopping from local, student-run small businesses.
Staff Sustainability Champion
Winner: Marlene Cramer
Nominated by Takuto Doshiro, Marlene is the Director, Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS). On top of managing sustainable and alternative transportation methods within TAPS, Marlene has taken the initiative to become an accredited US Green Building Council LEED Green Associate and apply her understanding of green building and development to parking and transportation programming.
She is a driving member of the Campus Transportation Demand Management Study and supporting the Cal Poly Climate Action Plan update as it applies to greenhouse gas reductions from transportation. She is also an active user of alternative transportation programs- utilizing the vanpool for much of her commute to work and has worked to transform the TAPS building by stocking it with reusable dishware, sustainable appliances, and eco office supplies. As Takuto stated in his nomination, Marlene, “Talks the talk and walks the walk!”
Student Sustainability Champion
Winners: Kalea Conrad and Allie Mortensen
Kalea Conrad, nominated by Hope Springer, is a graduate student in the Environmental Science and Management program and a current Team Leader for Green Campus. Kalea works tirelessly to further sustainability efforts on Cal Poly’s campus by working to reduce campus waste streams and create a “circular economy.” Kalea has helped facilitate a free item pickup day with the Cal Poly Surplus department, serving hundreds of community members and saving perfectly usable items from going to landfill. She is also working with campus dining to identify compostable to go box options, various stakeholders to create a permanent reuse station on campus, and to expand the graduation gown reuse program. Kalea was also a partner in developing the Sustainable Living.edu training that will roll out to all Cal Poly students in the fall. The training covers waste management, water, energy, and transportation. For many incoming students, this training will serve as their introduction to sustainability at Cal Poly. As Hope states, “Kalea always has something positive to contribute to classroom discussions and works hard to share her passions with others.”
Allie Mortensen, also nominated by Hope Springer, is a former Eco Rep and current Green Campus team member and a third year Natural Resources and Environmental Science student. In overseeing the Eco Reps x Sustainability Roundtables (ERSR), Allie has worked hard to write agendas for, and plan weekly meetings. Additionally, Allie organizes guest speakers for the roundtable group. This past years meetings have included individuals from the Land Conservancy of SLO, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, and Resilient SLO. With these guest speakers, the group has been able to facilitate discussion around important topics like environmental justice, eco-anxiety, collective community action, climate action planning, and more. As Hope states, “Allie consistently showed up to every meeting and always had something of substance to add to the group. She brought an air of excitement and passion to the meetings, along with questions for how she could get involved and make impact.”
Honorable Mention: Niles Werts
Nominated by the Chair of the Swanton Pacific Ranch Advisory Committee Walter Ruzzo, Professors Matt Ritter, Carmen Trudell, alumni Jack Ortega and three fellow students, Nile’s seven separate nominations illustrated how impactful his project to build a sustainable and mobile storage shed was at Swanton Pacific Ranch. While Niles impact did not quite fit the criteria for this specific award, the sustainable storage shed project demonstrated an exceptional commitment to sustainable design and planning while also modeling a true learn by doing project on Cal Poly lands.
Faculty Sustainability Champion
Winner: Erin Pearse
Nominated by Professor Jonathan Reich and community member June Cochran, Professor Pearse teaches math, but he does so much more - for Cal Poly, the community, and the planet! His brief autobiographical statement on the Cal Poly website illustrates his passion for both math and for the environment. He states, “When I'm not working on mathematics, I work on the climate crisis.” His degrees in both philosophy and mathematics provides him with great insight to the complicated metrics of environmental science.
Erin Pearse consistently engages his students in taking climate action by inviting them to sustainable events and meetings and discussing sustainability practices before and after classes. His t-shirts are walking thought-provoking billboards for sustainability. He is also gifted at activating other faculty members, staff, and students to explore climate solutions and promote a sustainable campus.
Erin is Co-founder and Director of the Initiative for Climate Leadership and Resilience (ICLR) at Cal Poly. This organization trains the next generation of climate leaders, increases regional resilience on the Central Coast, and makes Cal Poly a recognized climate leader in higher education. It does this by facilitating collaboration among donors, industry partners, various campus departments, and the San Luis Obispo community to create a future workforce that can produce climate solutions.
Under Erin’s leadership, the ICLR has organized two Climate Solutions Now Conferences that connect faculty, government employees, industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and students to showcase current and future solutions to climate and sustainability challenges. The second annual event was held in October 2022. It featured 64 speakers on a wide variety of climate topics and had hundreds of attendees.
Erin was instrumental in bringing the College Corps Fellows program to San Luis Obispo in 2022 through an $8 million grant. Many of the College Corp Fellows are working with sustainability-focused programs on the Central Coast. Each of these Fellows is providing 450 hours of service to nonprofits and government agencies. They are accomplishing an incredible amount of sustainability work, reaching out to the most vulnerable communities, and learning to be climate leaders.
In the SLO community, Erin interweaves the work he does at Cal Poly with other organizations as an advocate, advisor, activist, and researcher - working for a sustainable, just, and resilient economy in the region. He is on the Leadership Team of the SLO Climate Coalition (SLOCC), is a co-founder of the Climate Justice Coalition, and works with the Central Coast Climate Collaborative and the Economic Recovery Initiative. A climate leader to the core, Erin has positively impacted thousands of people’s lives and the health of our planet.