Green Directory – Green Toolkit

The Green Directory is a way to explore sustainability efforts at USC. Use the search bar or filter by the following categories: Events, Operations/Departments, Partner Resources, Research Centers/Studies, Scholarships/Funding, Schools/Programs, Student Organizations and University-Wide Initiatives.

Find even more ways to get involved with sustainable actions for students, faculty and staff. And, be sure to check out Assignment: Earth, USC’s sustainability framework for creating a healthy, just and thriving campus and world.

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Academic Senate

The Academic Senate’s Committee on Sustainability researches and advocates ways that USC can make all of its policies and operations more consistent with environmental sustainability on a university-wide and school-by-school level.

American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists

AAEES is a professional organization for all USC students interested in environmental and sustainable careers. Our mission is to bring professional resources and opportunities to students.

American Lung Association Collegiate Council (ALA)

ALACC strives to improve two core aspects within our community: health and the environment. Members of ALACC take on exciting projects from tobacco control to making change with government legislators.

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

The ASCE Chapter at USC is a student-run organization that enriches the lives of civil and environmental engineering students through events, community service, industry interaction and competitions.

Annenberg Innovation Lab

We are a curious, creative and committed Think & Do Tank that practices innovation as a collaborative exploration involving artists, scientists, humanists and industry professionals.

Annenberg Media Earth Desk

The Annenberg Media Earth Desk is a student-led multiplatform news media focused on climate and sustainability. Get the latest updates delivered to your inbox! Sign up for the newsletter.

Arts & Climate Collective

The Arts & Climate Collective (ACC) centers arts, culture and storytelling to address sustainability and environmental justice. The ACC supports USC students’ work and engagement with funding, guidance, communications and community support.

Associated Students of Planning and Development (ASPD)

ASPD is dedicated to promoting academic and professional development, fostering social relationships among planning students and advancing social equity in the planning profession.

Athletics

The USC Athletics Department is committed to sustainability in sports venues and operations and has joined the U.N. Sports for Climate Action initiative to raise awareness of climate change.

Auxiliary Services

Auxiliary Services manages a wide range for services — from dinning to housing to bookstores to transportation — and maintains a overall sustainability mission and practice in delivering services to the USC community.

Bloom Boutique

Bloom Boutique is a funky, thrifty resale boutique run by USC students united by love for fashion and the planet, born out of a desire to bring sustainable fashion to our community and cut down on waste caused by the fast fashion industry.

Blueprints for Pangea

Blueprints For Pangaea is a student-run nonprofit organization that reallocates excess, unused medical supplies from U.S. hospitals to areas of need both locally and overseas.

Bookstore

The USC Bookstore has a goal to implement green infrastructure and operations. We focus on waste diversion/aversion, water/energy conservation and “Scope 3” (indirect carbon emissions) supply chain assessment.

BrightAction

You have the power to help create a safer, healthier, more sustainable world. At BrightAction, we are here to help you learn about solutions, resources, and actions that are right for you. You can also work together with friends, neighbors, co-workers, book clubs or any community you belong to. Sign up and see what you are already doing and find out what actions will make the biggest impact for you.

Business Services / Sustainable Purchasing

USC Business Services supports sustainability by buying green products and services, applying best environmental practices in procurement, and using a green certification process for purchases.

C.A.R.E. Challenge Micro-Grants

The Community, Accessibility, Restoration and Ecology (C.A.R.E.) Challenge is a community call to action for a year-long series of programming of broad interests to foster contributions and engagement from our university community. The C.A.R.E. Challenge awards microgrants of $500 to $5,000 to organizations hosting university-wide events.

Career Fairs

We encourage our students and employers to bring their own refillable bottles. In place of trash bins, there are “Zero-Waste Sort Stations” to recycle or compost.

Center for Sustainability Solutions

The Center for Sustainability Solutions develops policy, technological and behavioral solutions to the most pressing sustainability problems of the region and the world.

Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life

The Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life serves as a platform for collaborative research, graduate training, and public engagement on problems at the intersection of science, technology, and society.

Chan Division of Occupational Science & Therapy

Chan faculty and students coordinate the USC Peace Garden Project, transforming a little-used plot of land into a flourishing garden space to host educational programs for the community.

China Entrepreneur Network (CEN at USC)

CEN at USC aims to develop leadership, facilitate innovation and encourage entrepreneurship for a better, environmentally sustainable future.

Climate Forward Conference

The Wrigley Institute and Dornsife Center for the Political Future host a series of conversations on climate change issues.

Climate Momentum Seed Funds

The USC Office of Sustainability will provide one or more $5,000 internal seed funds geared toward driving climate action through the intersection of the Arts/Mass Communication/Storytelling and Behavioral Sciences.

CLOVER

CLOVER (Conscientious Living Organization – Veganism, Environmentalism, Reduce-tarianism) has a goal to lessen our negative impact on the Earth, animals, and our own health.

Community Engaged Sustainability Scholarship and Education

Community-engaged research, when properly done, can be transformative: transforming the relationship between universities and communities, challenging the underlying structures that result in inequities in opportunities, health, and sustainability, and identifying sustainable solutions that reflect local knowledge and lived experiences.

Dashboard.Earth

From composting your food scraps, to taking car-free transportation, use Dashboard.Earth to log your climate actions. Every action earns you tickets to weekly giveaways, and some come with direct payments. Discover expert-curated resources and incentives specific to LA County, so you can have maximum impact in your community, and join a community of like-minded Angelenos at climate-positive events.

Department of Middle East Studies

The department focuses on the role of the environment on social change in the Middle East. Faculty and students have a distinctive framework through which they explore more traditional topics such as politics, ethnicity and religion.

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Faculty and students in the USC Dornsife Department of Physics are making sustainability breakthroughs in biological charge transfer and biological fuel cells, water quality and safety, and generating electricity from waste.

DivestSC

DivestSC is a coalition of students, alumni, faculty and staff that seeks to reduce USC’s ties to the fossil fuel industry. We believe that USC must become a leader in helping shift to a carbon-neutral economy.

Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences

Dornsife is the home to many of USC’s environmental degree programs, academic studies, research institutes, and student and faculty-led projects on sustainability, climate change, and green living.

Dornsife Office of Overseas Studies

Students participate in virtual summer internships that focus on UN Sustainable Development Goals, and can also spend a semester abroad focused on environmental sustainability in Australia, Ecuador (Galapagos Islands), or Tanzania.

Dornsife Public Exchange

Public Exchange connects a wide range of academic researchers with policy, industry and non-profit partners that need their expertise to tackle complex challenges and amplify the social impact of academic research.

Earth Month

Join fellow Trojans as we celebrate the Earth and take part in sustainability activities and events.

ECO JEDIS

ECO JEDIS (Environmental Community Organization for Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Sustainability) focuses on local environmental and social justice issues.

Eco-Alarm: A USC Podcast

USC students with a passion for our planet interview environmental change makers and share stories of environmental progress and success to sound the alarm for practical change.

Ecochallenge

Ecochallenge is a platform to educate, entertain, and engage the community on ways to drive sustainable habits. Building a more sustainable world and healthier planet can’t be done alone. Ecochallenge provides the support and resources to transform behaviors at work, school, and beyond.

EH Matters

EH MATTERS offers USC undergraduate students from under-represented groups a paid, two-year, three-semester per year internship to engage in environmental health sciences and community health disparities research.

Energy & Environmental Law Society

EELS brings together students interested in environmental and energy law, green energy policies and social justice. We explore real estate, land use, water and construction law.

Environmental Justice Student Interest Group

We raise awareness about the link between non-sustainable systems and their inequitable public health impact and partner with our local community.

Environmental Student Assembly

ESA encourages and facilitates the academic, pre-professional, cultural, social and political self-realization of USC’s environmental student groups. ESA advances and develops the campus green culture.

Environmental Studies Program

The Environmental Studies Program at USC Dornsife offers majors, minors, and masters programs in environment and sustainability with the goal of educating the next generation of leaders.

Equity Research Institute (ERI)

ERI uses data analysis to power social change with an emphasis on the impacts of climate change, air pollution, and urban heat zones on communities of color.

Facilities Planning and Management

Facilities Planning and Management (FPM) is responsible for USC’s built environment, including the design of new buildings, managing facilities and grounds, and water and energy usage reduction.

Food Recovery Network (FRN)

Food Recovery Network unites college and university students in fighting food waste and hunger by recovering and redistributing surplus perishable food from their campuses and surrounding communities.

Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) hosts the annual conference, and USC Office of Sustainability provides funding for students to attend.

Graduate Student Government – Sustainability Committee

The Sustainability Committee allows students a more direct medium for voicing sustainability-related concerns at USC.

Green Games & Tailgating

Come cheer on the Trojans and help USC achieve our goal by properly sorting your game-day waste into the compost and recycle bins. Try to limit your use of single-use items and re-use items where possible.

Green Week

Green Week empowers you to engage in sustainability-focused projects and activities across the campuses to expand your knowledge and make connections.

Hospitality

USC Hospitality meets the needs of the campus without compromising the environment. We reduce our impact by eliminating excess waste, purchasing sustainable products and educating our customers.

Hotel

The USC Hotel is Green Seal certified with a silver ranking (recognizing our environmental sustainability). We focus on waste management, energy/water conservation and plastic reduction/elimination.

Housing

We are committed to the needs of our residents, while preserving the environment in everything we do. We focus on upgrading energy systems, improving water and waste management, recycling and purchasing.

Human Resource Equity and Compliance

HREC participates in sustainability efforts, including recycling, transitioning to digital systems, and implementing a standard equipment turnover and e-waste program.

Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

ITE is a group of student engineers, planners, and thinkers who work with industry experts to reimagine the streetscape and engage in a dialogue with other ITE teams all over the country.

Institute on Inequalities in Global Health

The Institute fosters inclusive approaches to sustainability that engage a range of disciplines, including medicine, public health, law, social science, human rights, sustainability, economics, policy, communications and social work.

Keck School of Medicine

Keck School of Medicine of USC is conducting vital research on the impacts of environmental change to health in our local community and across the globe. The Keck School is working on solutions to make the health care industry more sustainable.

LA Green Business Program

Businesses enroll in this free program to save money on utilities and be part of the solution to the climate crisis. Businesses are given access to free consulting, referrals to City rebate programs, networking opportunities, and marketing perks.

LA Memorial Coliseum

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum ranks as one of the most sustainable sports venues in the country. For a stadium with a capacity of more than 75,000, that’s no small feat. Trojan fans cheer for victories in a Zero Waste facility.

Landscape Justice Initiative

The Landscape Justice Initiative (LJI) provides a chance for students to participate in service-learning and long-term projects that depend on sustained engagement with local and regional communities.

Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute

The Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute is at the forefront of carbon dioxide capture and conversion technologies. The Institute is also active in energy storage technologies.

Los Angeles Community Impact (LACI)

LACI strives to provide pro-bono consulting services to local socially-minded organizations in order to enhance their ability to create a sustainable, tangible impact.

Marshall Energy Club (MEC)

The Marshall Energy & Sustainability Club (MESC) is a professional club focused on business roles in energy, clean-tech, and sustainability.

Marshall Outdoor Club

The Marshall Outdoor Club serves as a catalyst to get MBA students active in the environment, educate them on outdoor skills and etiquette, and connect them with other students outside of the urban setting.

Marshall School of Business

Marshall offers a Certificate in Sustainability in Business that prepares students to shape solutions to social and environmental sustainability challenges.

MASH Magazine

The MASH Magazine is a fashion publication that dissects fashion through the lens of market performance, sustainability, ethics, and design, covering large companies as well as small and local businesses and designers.

MASTS (Media As SocioTechnical Systems)

MASTS is an interdisciplinary community that aims to rigorously and playfully build better media infrastructures, strengthen public life, advance social justice and address the worsening climate crisis.

Nemirovsky & Bohnett Residential Colleges

Students seek innovative solutions for a broad range of social issues such as homelessness, gun violence, diversity & inclusion, college access, and sustainability.

Norman Lear Center

The Center’s Media Impact Project conducts research on the content, audiences, and impact of media narratives to inform and inspire storylines on health, sustainability and social justice.

Office of Research

USC offers faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and research administrators a wide range of internal and external funding sources for sustainability research, guides through the proposal and award lifecycle, grants management tools.

Ostrow Sustainability Group

OSG raises environmental and sustainability awareness among the School of Dentistry and USC community. OSG creates opportunities for personal, academic, and professional development.

Peaks and Professors

We are an organization dedicated to bringing USC students and professors together in the great outdoors. Join us on a wide variety of hikes and you’ll get to meet students and professors from all over USC’s departments with nature as the backdrop.

President’s Sustainability Internship Program (PSIP)

PSIP is a paid internship that connects students with co-curricular learning opportunities and equips them to become advocates for sustainability at USC and beyond.

Presidential Sustainability Solutions Fellowship

The Presidential Sustainability Solutions Fellowship program plays a central role in USC’s Assignment: Earth framework.

Presidential Working Group on Sustainability in Education, Research, and Operations (PWG)

The PWG provides recommendations on how USC can become a model for sustainability in its education, research and campus operations.

SC Garden Club / Parkside Garden

The SC Garden Club manages the Parkside Garden, a community garden featuring raised beds, aquaponics and composting facilities that is always accepting kitchen scraps. We are open for visitors and welcome volunteers.

SC Outfitters

SC Outfitters is a student-run outdoor adventure organization. Our mission is to foster a diverse and inclusive outdoor community while connecting as many students as possible with the wilderness of Southern California, the West and beyond.

SC Solar Car Team

The SC Solar Car Team was founded in 2014. Our team’s goal is to design, build, fund, and race a full-size solar-powered vehicle in the Formula Sun Grand Prix and American Solar Challenge races.

School of Architecture

The School of Architecture’s degree and certification programs, innovation labs, and environmental justice initiatives are at the forefront of research and education on sustainability and the built environment.

School of Cinematic Arts

Programs and media labs instruct filmmaking through a sustainability lens. The Green Film School helps develop environment-related productions and administers the “Green Seal” approval of student films.

Science Policy Group

The Science Policy Group examines how policy affects science, how science can be translated into policy, and how to improve your own science communication skills. Everyone from any discipline is welcome. We host seminars, workshops and events.

Sibs

Sibs is the ultimate app where your “stuff” becomes your currency. Swap, buy, or sell with ease. Join our community and see what’s on the app today!

Single-Use Plastic Beverage Bottle Elimination

Every year billions of tons of plastic waste are landfilled, incinerated, or dumped in the ocean, where they leach pollutants into our water, air, soil, and food. To help address the crisis, USC has eliminated single-use plastic beverage bottles from campus. Since July 2022, our ban on single-use plastic beverage bottles has kept over 3 million bottles out of landfills.

Skill Up

Skill Up by USC Online is an online, lifelong-learning platform offering short professional advancement courses designed to address career skills gaps in informal learning alongside a community of peers.

Society for Earth Science Students/Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Society for Earth Science Students builds community in and out of the earth science department for people passionate understanding and taking care of our natural environment.

Sol Price School of Public Policy

Through path-breaking research and scholarship, and a Certificate in Sustainable Policy and Planning, faculty and students help improve the quality of life for our global community.

Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center (SCEHSC)

SCEHSC develops the scientific knowledge base, investigator teams, and community engagement needed to reduce diseases and disability caused by environmental impacts.

Student Scholarships, Fellowships & Internships

Explore the variety of sustainability-related scholarships, fellowships, internships, and project funding for students across disciplines provided by USC and external grantors.

Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

A subcommittee of the USC Presidential Working Group on Sustainability (PWG), the SCC provides recommendations on how USC can become a model for sustainability in its education, research, and campus operations.

Students for Environmental Action (SEA)

SEA is a student-led organization geared towards advocating for environmental change and encouraging everyone to engage in sustainable practices.

Surfrider Foundation – USC Chapter

The Surfrider Foundation is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and appreciation of the world’s oceans, waves, and beaches through a powerful activist network.

Sustainability Across the Curriculum Initiative

The Sustainability Across the Curriculum Initiative (SACI) supports the development of new courses, programs, and curricular approaches that focus on sustainability through grants, producing symposia, and providing resources.

Sustainability Course Finder

This tool allows users to identify USC courses which relate to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With this information, students can focus their studies in particular sustainability goals, and faculty can identify ways to incorporate sustainability into their classes.

Sustainability Data Hub

The USC Sustainability Data Hub provides access to sustainability-related data for the USC community. The site has been built with crucial input from USC undergraduates engaging in experiential learning with faculty and staff of the Spatial Sciences Institute and the Office of Sustainability.

Sustainability Map

Locate USC environmental resources, sustainability services, and green points of interest on the UPC and HSC campuses.

Sustainability Research and Extension Experience for Undergraduates

USC offers year-round training and research and development engagement in the science and practice of aquaculture and blue economy at the Algal Lab at the Port of Los Angeles.

Sustainability Research Finder

This dashboard is a tool that helps users identify which USC research and scholars relate to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainability incorporates protection for the environment, balancing a growing economy, and social responsibility to lead to, an improved quality of life for current and future generations.

The Southern California Children’s Environmental Health Research Translation Center: 2024/2025 Pilot Projects

The mission of the Southern California Center for Children’s Environmental Health Translational Research is to reduce the burden of childhood air pollution-related diseases by building an innovative framework for multidirectional engagement in which communities, government and civil society use science to develop solutions, with a focus on environmental justice communities. The theme of the Center is Urbanism, Air Pollution, Children’s Health and Environmental Justice. The Center framework includes novel approaches to youth engagement and community science, urban design and policy solutions, and communication and public knowledge.

The Sustainability Project

The Sustainability Project educates others on the importance of sustainability in business, advocates for greener policies and projects in our community and connects people who are passionate about the cause.

Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go is a social impact company on a mission to inspire and empower everyone to fight food waste together. The app is the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food, helping users rescue good food from going to waste and offering great value for money at local stores, cafes and restaurants. Download the app to discover Surprise Bags available at stores and restaurants near you.

Transportation

USC Transportation’s sustainability initiatives include campus electrification of the bus fleet and campus vehicles. We also support alternate modes of transportation to campus.

Trojan Family Magazine

USC Trojan Family Magazine is the official publication for alumni, parents and friends of USC. We share stories about the faculty, staff, student, and alumni efforts to advance sustainability and innovative solutions.

Trojan Farmers Market

The Trojan Farmers Market is an open-air marketplace that brings fresh, locally sourced produce every Wednesday to McCarthy Quad, 11 am to 3 pm. EBT is accepted.

Trojan Sustainability Network

The Trojan Sustainability Network (USC TSN) is committed to amplifying, educating, empowering, and inspiring sustainability across the USC community and beyond. USC TSN brings together sustainability professionals and those passionate about making an impact. The network organizes educational seminars/workshops, career resources, and networking events. Alumni from all USC degree programs are welcome.

U.S. Green Building Council Membership

USGBC members are driving the entire green building community forward and they represent the best organizations from all fields. Access your national USGBC membership benefits by connecting to the membership account. Benefits include access to exclusive green building events, education hours in USGBC’s course catalog, volunteer opportunities, and discounts on LEED publications, GBCI credentials, and more.

Udall Undergraduate Scholarship

The Udall Foundation awards scholarships to sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service and commitment to Native American nations or to the environment.

Undergraduate Student Government

The USG Sustainability Committee serves as the liaison between the administration and students, and ensures students are aware of important sustainability changes and available resources.

Undergraduate Sustainability Grand Challenge Fellowship Program (USGCF)

The Center for Sustainability Solutions sponsors a fellowship for USC students to pursue multidisciplinary research on sustainability.

unithrifts

External research has shown that users are often overwhelmed by a surplus of choice, especially when it comes to eCommerce. We’ve created a school-specific Tinder-esque interface where users can swipe on collegiate gear specific to their college! Scrambling to look for something to wear for game day? Missing the cowboy hat to complete the look for your party outfit? Tap into your college community (and beyond) before shopping new!

University of Southern California Sea Grant

The Sea Grant Program at the University of Southern California is a federal-state-university partnership that integrates research, education, and outreach with a specific focus on the ‘Urban Ocean’ and solving issues arising out of managing people and natural resources in an intensely urban and developed coastline.