1. Don’t worry about it, climate change will totally solve itself. Actually, April fools. Climate change won’t solve itself. People have to solve it.
2. You want to be a leader, not a follower. If you’re part of the University of California, today is the first day to join the Cool Campus Challenge. UCLA students, staff and faculty can sign up for the competition to get ideas on how to combat climate change, earn points for their efforts, and help UCLA beat the other UCs.
3. Reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. During the last challenge, the actions taken by students, staff and faculty across the UC system eliminated 7,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, enough to power 1,200 homes for an entire year.
4. Get ideas, earn points and prizes. Bruins can get ideas for how to help and earn goodies by joining the Cool Campus Challenge from April 1–26. UCLA will award individual prizes throughout the competition, and UC will award funding for celebrations to the winning campuses — $2,000 to the campus with the most points, $1,000 to the location with the largest percent of participants, and $1,000 to the health system with the most points.
5. Become even smarter. One of the ways Bruins can help is by learning how to participate in the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative to eliminate or offset all carbon emissions by 2025, or the UC Zero Waste initiative to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost its way to zero waste by 2020. Those projects can’t succeed without participation. And of course, Bruins get points for learning about those initiatives.
6. Bragging rights. Climate change won’t solve itself, but a little friendly competition can help. UCLA was in the lead until the final days of the first Cool Campus Challenge in 2015. This year, reduce your carbon footprint because you want cleaner air and a healthier planet — but also to beat, say, UC Berkeley.
7. It’s not hard. You can reduce your carbon footprint just by taking public transit or a bike instead of a private car. Wash your clothes in cold water. Turn off your computer at night. Visit Bruin Plaza on April 3 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to even learn more at the Cool Campus Challenge Kick-off.
8. Join the “cool” kids. Beyond bragging rights, the real point of the competition is to build a culture of sustainability across the UC system, said David Phillips, UC’s associate vice president for energy and sustainability. “Lots of little things really add up when we work together.”
9. You like helping your friends. In 2015, the challenge encouraged 19,000 people across all 10 UCs to help counteract climate change, including more than 2,500 from UCLA. Organizers hope even more people will get involved this time.
10. Seriously, climate change won’t solve itself. Help UCLA chill and sign up to beat the other UCs at CoolCampusChallenge.org.