Diarrheal disease from drinking unsafe water is one of the leading causes for death in Mexico. Today, millions of Mexicans in low-income communities are still at high risk of waterborne diseases because of inadequate water infrastructure and insufficient water quality control. In particular, safe water remains unavailable to those who cannot afford commercially sold bottled water. Point of use water technology like the UV Tube, developed through a collaboration between UC Berkeley and Fundacion Cantaro Azul, is an effective means to secure water quality at home. Nuestra Agua, a new social franchise designed by UC Berkeley students, will expand on the UV Tube project and offer a local, affordable, and reliable option for people who need to purchase safe water and an economic opportunity for local entrepreneurs. (Note: This project originally won in the Big Ideas “Safe Water Enterprise” category.)
The Berkeley Student Food Collective BSFC (formerly known as the Berkeley Student Food Cooperative) was the 1st place winner of Big Ideas Improving Student Life competition in 2009. The mission was to provide fresh, healthy, environmentally sustainable, and ethically produced food at an affordable price to Berkeley students and community. Since winning the 2009 grant, BSFC has been successful in the opening of the Bancroft Way storefront, actively expanding its educational presence on campus, facilitating a “Berkeley in the Global Food System” DeCal, and holding their 2nd Annual Harvest Gala in 2010. With the new grant award, BSFC plans to scale up their program to increase outreach to the student and greater Berkeley community through several educational and outreaching venues, such as creating a curriculum to increase food awareness and the REAL food guidelines, scaling up catering and food prep programs, and expanding the preparation of food made and sold at the storefront. A long term plan for the BSFC is to open their own cafe in the renovated Lower Sproul area.
BTTR stands for “Back to the Roots”, a phrase that encompasses their business model of transforming one of the largest urban waste streams in America – the tons of coffee ground waste generated daily – into a highly-demanded, nutritious, and valuable food product: gourmet mushrooms. Not only has this initiative created a healthy food source, but it has also provided urban jobs, prevented thousands of tons of valuable substrate from being dumped into landfills, and donated a substantial amount of its mushrooms, soil amendment and kits back into the communities from which the coffee ground waste originated. Scaling up efforts for BTTR will go towards their sustainable business for a Whole Foods national rollout of mushroom kits, efforts to diversify their raw material (soy and barley), invest in an industrial autoclave, hire more employees, and to overall push the urban gardening and growing your own food movement.
There are many problems in various areas of the world: poverty, inadequate healthcare, and a lack of natural resources, to name a few. Yet with sufficient help, the affected communities themselves can stand up to inequality, poverty, and disease by having the ability to solve their own problems. Future Scientist was founded with the belief that science education can provide people with the ability to solve many of the problems that affect the communities they live in. Future Scientist provides immediate technical resources to those in need through community-based projects. Scaling up, Future Scientist will be focusing on two projects: developing an international medical rotation in partnership with UCSF and starting partnerships between K-12 schools in the U.S. and Peru.
Current water-heating technologies in developing countries are either expensive or have poor quality that increase health and environmental risks. CalSolAgua (CSA) designed a simple, yet patentable, low cost solar water heating system capable of reducing energy costs and carbon emissions for households in developing countries. CSA’s solar water heater can sell for onethird of the price of competing water tank heaters and less than one-eighth the cost of existing solar water heaters. Additionally, it will reduce carbon emissions by over 90 million tons, which is equivalent to taking 17 million cars off the roads. As a 2008 Big Ideas award recipient, CSA has made considerable progress in developing its technology, partnerships and business model. The team will build off this foundation by launching sales in Guatemala and preparing to launch in Mexico City through market research and test installations, to be followed by expansion to Brazil, China and India.
Youth Creating Change (YCC) is a program that connects inspired high school students with UCB student groups. The design of this program will includes high school students submitting proposals for projects they believe will positively benefit their community. UCB student groups will then pledge to serve as mentors, advocates, and partial funders for those projects. YCC believes community-led projects are most reflective of community needs and youth’s perspectives should be more valued. Organizing students and making them experts in their community helps youth see that they have agency and the possibilities of change. YCC gives students the financial support to work on these issues, as well as the logistical support to help them succeed. (Note: This project originally won in the Big Ideas “Social Justice & Community Engagement” category.)
Project Pueblo is seeking to build a sustainable cordwood office Hogans and a 20’x40’ multipurpose warehouse in the former Bennett Freeze region of the Navajo reservation for Forgotten People, a grassroots nonprofit organization formed and based in the region. With only 24% of homes in the region habitable, these funds will provide a base that will enhance organizational capacity to house work crews, host meetings, and conduct distribution and storage of safe drinking water, produce, and other forms of aid. This project will also enable UC Berkeley students from various disciplines to engage in a unique and sustainable construction project while simultaneously learning and experiencing the Navajo culture. (Note: This project originally won in the Big Ideas “Social Justice & Community Engagement” category.)
This project will enhance community engagement on campus on three levels: practice, education, and research. A collaborative process between design students on campus, a nearby community, and CARES – a multidisciplinary team of designers and researchers – will be initiated through a design challenge, where students will offer design ideas to a real life design problem of an underserved community in need. The collaborative design process will provide ideas ready to be used by the community, real-life design experience, and a research platform for evaluating various methods for their ability to engage the community in the design process and produce more locally appropriate designs. (Note: This project originally won in the Big Ideas “Social Justice & Community Engagement” category.)
The goal of CAL Community Kitchen is to create a community-run kitchen which makes use of consumable leftover food goods from a network of local restaurants and small farms to creating healthy boxed meals for families in need. This work will be done by UCB undergraduate and graduate students and various community organizations dedicated to hunger alleviation and food justice. Ultimately, CAL Community Kitchen will offer a sense of community and a safe space to enjoy healthy meals. (Note: This project originally won in the Big Ideas “Social Justice & Community Engagement” category.)
