University of California, Los Angeles
IN-2: Innovation 2

ESLP Action Research Teams

The Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) is a student-initiated, student-led organization that connects undergraduate students to the world of sustainability. At UCLA, the program is supported and administered by the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES).

The ESLP program consists of three components that are all student-led; a speaker series, a film series and Action Research Teams (ART). The speaker series and ART are taken for course credit through the IoES (Environment 185A/B/C) and may apply towards the Environmental Systems and Society minor offered by the Institute.

Through the ART component of the program, students form research teams to tackle issues of campus sustainability including energy efficiency, transportation, waste stream management, sustainable food practices and more. The goal of ART is to generate a coalition of student researchers that, together with faculty members and UCLA staff, strives to make UCLA a model campus and national leader in sustainability. Each ART team is comprised of two team leaders, 3-6 team members, and a UCLA faculty or staff member that serves as the project stakeholder. The stakeholder is responsible for helping students target their research by serving as a mentor as well as acting as a liaison by offering logistical support and advice on behalf of the University’s interests.

Over the course of two quarters, winter and spring, students are expected to frame their research topic, develop a hypothesis and research plan, compile and analyze data, complete a 15-20 page group report on their findings, and present their results at an event open to all UCLA faculty, staff and students.

During the entire process, students meet with their stakeholders to continually refine their research and identify targets of possible change through new information gained from action research. The two-quarter time frame allows for an in-depth journey that enables a thorough analysis of the research project. The ART projects provide campus stakeholders with invaluable information they would not otherwise have the capacity to gather. All participants work together to make UCLA more sustainable, which also contributes to creating a sense of community on campus.

ART has impacted many sectors of campus by tackling a wide range of topics including: food systems and dining hall waste, overhaul of campus waste and recycling system, greening laboratories, mapping trees on campus, residence hall energy metering to affect behavior, hospital initiatives, greening the Greek system, drought-tolerant landscaping, curriculum assessment and enhancement, recreational facilities, paperless course evaluations, promoting fair trade products, educating student groups on being sustainable, and more.

To date, over 170 students from more than 30 different departments have contributed thousands of hours toward making UCLA more sustainable and many teams have helped to save money, energy, water and carbon emissions.

Funding for ESLP has been generously provided by the Dart Foundation, ASUCLA’s The Green Initiative Fund and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.