Written by Alison Sanchirico, UCSD’s Staff Sustainability Network (SSN) member and staff at the UC San Diego Extension International Programs
At UCSD’s annual Summer Celebration (All Staff Picnic), Tritons had the opportunity to traverse through time by viewing an early 80s DeLorean automobile, and admiring the newly-invented UCSD Solar Roller. Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), a UCSD student organization, designed and built the Solar Roller, a mobile solar charging station with solar tracking. For the Summer Celebration, UCSD’s Staff Sustainability Network (SSN) teamed up with ESW to help promote renewable energy by using the Solar Roller to power a movie theater styled popcorn machine that provided popcorn for more than 150 Tritons who stopped by the SSN booth!
At the booth, attendees had the opportunity to donate to SSN by buying a variety of 
native plants that were grown by SSN member Chris Johnson. Attendees were also able to make sustainability pledges, enter a raffle for a reusable bamboo cup, and ask current eco-passionate SSN members about the advantages of becoming a member of the Staff Sustainability Network. SSN also provided several volunteers who collaborated with UCSD Facilities Management to ensure that recyclables at the event made it into the proper receptacle, thus minimizing the amount of waste going to the landfill. In the years to come, SSN hopes to play a larger role in UCSD events with composting efforts to make all future staff events true zero waste events.
A special thank you to SSN’s Events Officer, Yvonne Brown, and all of the hard working SSN volunteers who helped make the event a success! 126 visitors signed-up at the SSN booth for more information, and we hope to see many of you again at our next general meeting! SSN meetings are every third Thursday of the month. If you missed us at the celebration, please check us out on Blink!