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About

ESA encourages and facilitates the academic, pre-professional, cultural, social, and political self-realization of the University of Southern California’s environmental student groups as individuals and as a unified student community and advances and develops the green culture of the University and neighboring community.
It is our mission to...
  • Engage: connect students to the environmental community through our programming and bring in new students to ideas of sustainability.
  • Inform: provide students with correct information about environmental issues and about university action to confront them.
  • Empower: give students the resources and opportunities to get involved, voice their interests, and have an impact.
We meet every Tuesday from 8pm-9pm in TCC 450
Click here to see how we fit into USC’s environmental community!

Events

Initiatives

Sustainability Goals by 2020

Sustainability 2020 embraces the integration of sustainability into all facets of the university. This plan supports coordination and implementation through USC’s decentralized management model by focusing on policies that affect the university as a whole.
Sustainability in Education and Research
  • Encourage the development of environmentally literate students and faculty
  • Develop degree programs that train students to be practitioners of sustainability studies and science with a curriculum that embodies breadth and depth
  • Develop excellence in research that includes cross-disciplinary studies, promotes competitiveness in grant applications, and produces transformative findings
Divestment/Reinvestment
  • The University has about $277 million of their endowment invested in either natural gas or petroleum
  • We estimate that this amounts to emitting ~5.5 billion KG of CO2 per year, more than 16x what is emitted by USC’s campuses each year
  • Divesting from fossil fuels and reinvesting in renewables and green tech is a great way to help ease the transition to clean energy, and it will also make the University money as fossil fuel assets have been massively underperforming, and the green tech/renewables sector has been growing at an impressive rate
Engagement in Sustainability
  • Strengthen awareness of existing campus sustainability practices and set targets to increase activity
  • Establish the USC campuses as living laboratories for sustainability
  • Engage the community in the principles of sustainability
Energy Conservation & Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions per square foot by 20% from 2014 levels by 2020
  • Capitalize on energy risks and opportunities
Sustainable Transportation
  • Reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles (SOVs) traveling to and from the USC campuses
  • Increase student, faculty, and staff participation in alternative transportation programs
Sustainable Procurement
  • Engage 75% of USC departments and offices in responsible purchasing practices by 2020
  • Purchase 10% of food from sustainable sources by 2017 and 20% by 2020
Waste Diversion
  • Achieve 75% waste diversion levels by 2020
  • Increase education on waste reduction and recycling and expand diversion and recycling programs
Waste Conservation
  • Decrease potable water use 10% by 2017 and 25% by 2020
  • Increase awareness of current water conservation practices
  • Implement audience-appropriate educational campaigns designed to modify behavior and increase conservation

Click here to learn more about the Sustainability 2020 Plan’s origins.
Click here to read the entire plan.

Executive Board

Claire Mauss

Co-Executive Director

Nathaniel Hyman

Co-Executive Director

Lauren Abbattista

Assistant Director

Juan Luna

Director of Financial Operations

Sachi Elias

Director of External Affairs

Jacob Totaro

Director of Internal Affairs

Kathleen Verendia

Director of Speaker Engagements

Meli Rodas

Director of Community Outreach

Olivia Stites

Director of Univeristy Outreach

Alana MacMahon

Director of Community Gardens

Rosie Rothman

Director of Greek Relations

Benjamin Cho

Director of Advocacy

Dillon Cranston

Director of Advocacy

Lindsay Luchinsky

Director of Advocacy

Maya Canonizado

Pre-Enrollment Project Manager

Shreya Havaldar

Director of Technology

Jackson FitzGerald

Director of Public Relations

Andy Wood

Co-Director of Graphics

Elizabeth Berson

Co-Director of Graphics

Camille Masuda

Co-Director of Social Media

Helen Williams

Co-Director of Social Media

Membership

We meet every Tuesday from 8pm-9pm in TCC 450!

Partners

Office of Sustainability


The USC Office of Sustainability office members work on teams with internal and external stakeholders such as operations units, students, faculty and school leaders, community and city leaders, and the private sector to help develop lasting solutions for some of USC’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Website

Program Board


Made up of 5 special-interest committees and 9 community-focused assemblies all united with the common goal of promoting diversity and entertainment through events on campus, USC Program Board is the programming branch of Undergraduate Student Government and the umbrella organization for many other student organizations on campus.

Website

USG


The USC Undergraduate Student Government is the official governing body of the nearly 19,000 undergraduates at USC. Through extensive advocacy, programming, and funding work, they seek to make a meaningful impact on the undergraduate experience.

Website

Member Organizations

American Academy of of Environmental Engineers & Scientists
Clover
Eco-op
Environmental Core
Peaks and Professors
SC Outfitters
SC Underwater
Solar Car Team
Science Policy Group
The Sustainability Project
EcoBright
Bloom Boutique
American Society of Civil Engineers
Trees by Trojans
Citizen's Climate Lobby
SC Surfrider

News

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.



January 2020
USC discloses investment numbers in fossil fuel energy
Students rally for fossil fuel divestment
USC environmental groups are on right track
Environmental groups request transparency in fuel investments


September 2019
Hundreds protest for environmental action in USC, U.S.
Letter to the Editor: ESA will strike on climate
USC releases August report on sustainability, new initiatives


Novermber 2018
As one sustainability plan nears its end, students push for the next one to be stronger
Students share thoughts on campus sustainability at forum


March 2018
ESA launches petition to eliminate plastic straws in dining halls


March 2017
Environmental Student Assembly holds 2020 sustainability forum


April 2016
Springfest draws large crowd to campus

Erin Brockovich promotes environmentalism


February 2016
ESA holds open forum about sustainability

Make it rain


January 2016
ESA hosts panel on COP21 conference

Solar panels installed at campus center

Sustainability 2020 is a step in the right direction for USC


November 2015
Students de-stress in McCarthy Quad Monday


October 2015
ESA, Schwarzenegger Institute host author

‘Know Tomorrow’ educates students on climate change

ESA event gives students drought prevention tips


Applications


Click here for the ESA Member Org Funding Application.
Click here for the ESA Member Org Media Request Form.

Click here to apply to be a ESA Member Org

Contact

Seen an environmental problem in our community? Have an idea you’d like to see come to life? An event you’d like to see on campus? Want to be more involved but don’t know how? Leave a question, comment, and/or suggestion below.