Center for Latin American Studies Walks the Talk when It Comes to Sustainability

The faculty, staff and students of the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) are proud to be drinking tap water. CLAS is going green with new sustainability business practices. Among those practices is the elimination of purchasing bottled water, reducing their carbon footprint and now walking the sustainability talk to practice what they preach.

Beth Perry, CLAS Program Coordinator, is thrilled with the elimination of the water cooler and its 5-gallon plastic containers in favor of tap water. “CLAS’s use of tap water and our movement to greener business practices reflects our research interests,” says Perry. The CLAS faculty are dedicated to research on environmental injustices in the Americas and they host numerous film screenings, events, and meetings to discuss alternative energy and sustainability in Latin America.

CLAS is the latest of several departments to join the "I ♥ Tap Water" campaign, sponsored by four campus units and funded by the Green Initiative Fund. With the methodical help of McCall Wood, student intern from the Building Sustainability at Cal (BS@C) group, funded by the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS), CLAS has adopted these green changes in their two-story 1920s building.

Wood's efforts included analyzing energy use of the water cooler and energy production costs of the plastic containers, coordinating testing of the water, and educating the faculty and staff on the pros/cons of tap and bottled water using the I ♥ Tap Water resources. The cost analysis demonstrated a direct bottled water cost of over $70 a year, while filtration system and tap water options presented significantly lower costs. Wood found that educating the staff on the environmental costs of producing the plastic bottles -- 83.99 thousand BTUs are required to produce a month’s supply of 5-gallon bottles and is equivalent to the amount of energy it takes to run a laptop computer for 144 hours or run a washing machine for 17 hours – was particularly motivating to consider how they could all play a role in reducing their carbon footprint.

Perry is pleased with CLAS’s progress in reducing electrical consumption and building waste.  In addition, she makes note of how she has personally benefitted, “I prefer drinking water at room temperature; something I could not do with the water cooler.”

Despite some initial wariness about eliminating bottled water, the CLAS staff is proud to be among the tap water drinking departments on campus. By incorporating more sustainable habits in their business practice, the faculty, staff and students at CLAS fulfill campus goals and demonstrate that they are dedicated to their research on sustainability in the Americas.

April 2010

Story by McCall Wood, student intern from the Building Sustainability at Cal (BS@C) group and funded by the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS).