UCLA’s Graduate Students Association will hand out reusable water bottles to GSA members at tonight’s forum meeting. The event follows the group’s ongoing efforts to keep up with sustainability efforts made by the entire UCLA community.
The water bottle initiative is part of a set of broader initiatives being made by the student governments.
During fall quarter, the GSA and Undergraduate Students Association Council separately enforced paperless initiatives, which includes digitalizing paperwork for forum and council meetings rather than using printed copies.
GSA hopes to cut down on waste in the office with its water bottle initiative.
In the past, the GSA forum meetings provided two-liter bottles of beverages and cups for its members.
But Juan Matute, leader of the initiative and director of GSA’s Sustainable Resource Center, said GSA plans to move away from cups and in the future use reusable beverage containers provided by ASUCLA catering.
Matute said that the GSA thought distributing reusable water bottles, which are gray-colored and decorated with the UCLA and GSA logos, will be a good way to reduce waste at their meetings.
“Giving water bottles with the GSA logo to graduate student leaders all over campus is a good way to raise awareness of the GSA,” Matute said.
He also said that during the forum meeting, GSA’s Sustainable Resource Center will encourage representatives to use the bottles at future meetings.
The GSA water bottles will be sold in the GSA offices while supplies last and are available to everyone.
UCLA’s Anderson School of Management has also been giving away water bottles to new masters of business administration students for years, and many students continue to bring these reusable bottles to class, he said.
Ryan Roberts, GSA’s vice president of internal affairs, said that the GSA ultimately made the decision to go paperless because of the amount of paper GSA historically used in its forum meetings.
“In the past, GSA would prepare about 35 to 40 packets for each forum meeting and these packets could be up to 20 to 25 pages each,” Roberts said. “Thus, around 800 sheets of paper were being printed for a two-hour meeting, which met three times a quarter.”
Because of the paperless initiative, GSA now projects all documents via Microsoft PowerPoint. Most delegates also bring their computers, Roberts added.
Although GSA has not completely gone paperless, Roberts said that they are currently working on doing as much as they can to maintain sustainability efforts.
High-quality handouts such as brochures and glossy pages are still distributed, though rarely, he said.
GSA is also currently working on developing an electronic sign-in similar to logging in to a student’s UCLA account with their university identification number.
By going paperless, GSA has saved hundreds of dollars due to reduced use of ink, toner, paper and staff time as well as encouraged members to review documents before the meeting, Roberts said.
Among GSA’s current projects include Matute’s partnership with the South Central Farmers Cooperative to bring community-supported agriculture to Weyburn Terrace.
“The program allows UCLA students to order a box of fresh, in-season produce each Wednesday from the South Central Farmers Cooperative,” Matute said.
USAC has also made several efforts to improve its sustainability, enforcing a similar “paperless” initiative.
Agendas and attached packets are now e-mailed to council members before the meetings, giving them ample time to look over materials, said Homaira Hosseini, USAC president. PowerPoint presentations are encouraged for council members to use, she added.
But two agenda packets are still printed for students to view outside of the USAC president’s office, Hosseini said.
USAC’s internal vice president Evan Shulman and facilities commissioner Galen Roth are on USAC’s sustainability action agenda item committee.
The committee, like GSA’s Sustainable Resource Center, is also working to make the campus more sustainable.
The committee is currently working to improve access to recycling bins upon request and collaborating with ASUCLA to discuss turning off lights in classrooms and buildings that are not being used, Hosseini added.
In an effort to meet Associated Students UCLA’s “Target Zero Waste” policy, a sustainability policy that focuses on the reduction of waste and the conservation of resources, ASUCLA is currently working on targeting ways to reduce energy usage, Shulman said.
Upcoming sustainability awareness events for GSA and USAC include a presentation for students in the upcoming USAC town hall meeting and a student sustainability showcase hosted by GSA’s Sustainable Resource Center.
The showcase is being held so that graduate students can learn about what their peers are doing in the field of sustainability, Matute said.
GSA and USAC hope to set a good example with their sustainability initiatives.
“I know many in the UCLA community are already going paperless and I hope our example can encourage others as well,” Roberts said.