UC Green New Deal: Environmental Justice Efforts and the Anti-Cogen Rally

Photo from the Anti-Cogen rally taken by Stella Moore

Amidst an age of rising concerns for detrimental environmental issues across the world, the need for advocacy and justice within the realm of environmentalism is becoming increasingly crucial. Yet, even UC Berkeley is in desperate need of such environmental policy change. Enter the UC Green New Deal Coalition. 

The UC Green New Deal Coalition (UC GND) — a democratically organized, grassroots organization — works to promote environmental justice and limit actions that contribute to the climate crisis on UC campuses. Although the UC GND consists of students, alumni, faculty, and community members across the entire UC System, the UC Berkeley chapter specifically strives to combat harmful energy infrastructure, unaffordable housing, and issues regarding seismic retrofitting. Currently, UC GND at Berkeley is working to address the highly damaging implications of the Cogeneration Plant, UC Berkeley’s central source of energy that contributes to about 71%, or 135,000 metric tons, of the campus’ CO2 emissions each year.

“The Cogeneration Plant is a natural gas power plant on campus that cogenerates steam and electricity for both our electrical and thermal needs,” said Layne Fajeau, a Co-Director of UC GND. “The...deeply unfortunate part about the Cogeneration Plant is that natural gas is a fossil fuel, so by combusting it, we are actively contributing to the climate crisis on campus.” 

Photo by Stella Moore

As explained by Ashi Mishra, another Co-Director of UC GND, the natural gas being used is mostly made up of fracked methane, which can lead to harmful water quality, leakages, and even land instability. Worse yet, the UC system receives much of this fracked methane from other parts of California, potentially negatively affecting many UC students and their families themselves.

“In my hometown, the residents are fighting a fracking proposal that is 2,000 feet from my neighborhood,” Fajeau said. “It affects all of us and has detrimental effects that release toxins into the air and water.”

According to a 2020 report by the Associated Regional and University Pathologists (URUP), UC Berkeley began a study in 2019 to seek out possible solutions to the problems posed by the aging and inefficient Cogeneration Plant on campus, including its high carbon emissions, leaking distribution, and contribution to declining air quality. Of these proposals is the Central Heat Recovery plan in which the current Cogeneration Plant would be replaced by an electric heat pump that would be both carbon neutral and entirely electric.  

Photo by Stella Moore

“The biggest thing we can do to solve all the issues related to the Cogeneration Plant is just to retire the fossil fuel infrastructure. We are at this point where we need to do it anyways. What we can do is make sure that this university sets an example by not only retiring the oldest cogeneration plant (in the UC system) and moving away from fossil fuel infrastructure, but making sure we don’t...commit to any new fossil fuel infrastructure,” Mishra said. 

In hopes of actively advocating for the termination of the Cogeneration Plan, the UC GND organized a set of events for Climate Justice Week, which took place October 25th through the 29th, including an Anti-Cogen rally on campus. The Anti-Cogen rally occurred on Sproul Plaza and aimed to unite the student body in a protest advocating against the Cogeneration Plant. Events like these are especially critical now, as UC Berkeley administration currently seems to be more receptive to electrifying campus and finding alternatives to fossil fuels than in the past.

“What this week [was] really important for is showing that the student body is still keenly aware that the university is failing to uphold its climate goals in any manner and that we’re ready...to pressure them to uphold their commitment,” Fajeau said. “The sooner that we switch over, the less of a harm [we will have] on other communities, and the more climate just we can actually say that we are.”

In a broader lens, however, addressing the problems associated with the Cogeneration Plant is just one component of UC GND’s work. The organization seeks environmental justice and advocates for equity regarding different environmental issues apart from the Cogeneration Plant as well, Mishra explained. 

“While the work we’re doing is extremely important, there are definitely other concerns campus faces that need to be tackled at the same time, such as affordable housing, seismic retrofitting,” Mishra said, “and making sure that we’re using sustainably in the sense that there are other members in the Berkeley community.”

Staying involved and aware of on-campus efforts and events may help advance environmental justice efforts on a larger scale. Through organizations such as the UC GND, UC Berkeley is able to move one step closer to achieving a carbon free system and benefiting the environment as a whole.