Objective 1: Allocate a green and educational space for a butterfly – pollinator garden on the UCF campus.
Objective 1: To improve and protect natural shorelines through revegetation and the use of other organic materials.
Objective 1: Provide a variety of accessible fresh fruit to the UCF community and the Creative School for Children.
IDEAS For UCF is an integral part of IDEAS For Us serving on the largest college campus in the nation. Our branch is a registered club of UCF that seeks to make our campus sustainable as we educate, engage, and empower our students to become better stewards to the earth.
We welcome you to join the organizing team which now meets virtually weekly or attend one of our monthly meetings called the IDEAS Hive which takes place the First Thursday of every month from 6 pm – 7:30 pm . For more information, please email: [email protected] or [email protected]!
Go Knights and Charge On!
Please reach out to [email protected] or [email protected] to learn more about our upcoming events and see if you can get active by joining our organizing team! Follow us on Facebook , Instagram, or Twitter to learn more and stay updated on our upcoming events.
Kaisy Prieto is the leader of the IDEAS For Us – UCF branch and with her organizing team, they are able to create monthly action projects, and workshops in the pillars of sustainability consisting of Energy, Water, Food, Waste and Ecology. Contact her directly for ways on how you can get involved with her team: [email protected]
IDEAS For Us – UCF focuses on environmental advocacy through education, action, and awareness. First, we work on environmental education by seeking to guide our fellow students on ways to live a wholesome and sustainable lifestyle. We also strive to engage students in environmental action through projects that are based on achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Finally, we wish to create a space for students and teachers to collaborate and discuss on-campus action projects that will bring us closer to our Carbon Neutral and Zero Waste goals.
The Hive is the IDEAS For Us staple monthly meeting inviting speakers from all disciplines relating to environmentalism to come and give informative talks on their areas of expertise to educate students about specific environmental issues.
At the end of each meeting, we hold a “think tank” where we give the audience a breakout question relating to the topic, and the audience must come up with solutions for the problem at hand.
IDEAS For Us founder, Chris Castro, came to speak at our Hive for Energy month and informed students on how he is working to make Orlando a more sustainable city. He talked about how he has made all new buildings in downtown Orlando LEED-certified, installed solar panels and solar panel covered carports at the Facilities and Operations sites around Orlando, and many more of his current and upcoming projects.
Students were able to see how sustainable cities are essential in the fight for climate justice, and how public service positions such as Chris Castro’s are incredibly important roles for environmental advocacy. These Hive meetings are vital in creating educational opportunities which is one of the IDEAS For Us’s main focus.
The IDEAS For Us Swarms are held every 2nd and 4th Sunday at East End Market. Fleet Farming aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger, as it strives to provide accessible healthy produce for people. Swarm rides are bicycle rides through plots of land, tending the micro-farms in the area.
In partnership with IDEAS and SALT (Service And Love Together) at UCF, who strive to provide respect and dignity to the houseless population and do so by providing basic needs services. We put together care packages with the sustainable donations that we were able to acquire the past Spring 2021 semester, these packages were then given out to houseless individuals on our behalf by SALT UCF.
We dedicated some of our time on a Saturday morning to clean up the local Martin Luther King Jr Park. Partnered with our friends SALT at UCF (Service And Love Together) and in conjunction with Keep Winter Park Beautiful, we were able to acquire the equipment and personnel necessary to clean up this local sporting park. We give thanks to KWPB for the supplies and eco souvenirs, the division is led by the City of Winter Park Sustainability Planner, Vanessa A. Balta.
In Fall of 2020 we were granted the opportunity to adopt Gemini Blvd East located on the UCF Main Campus. This program is in conjunction with UCF’s Natural Landscape & Resources Department and every 2-3 weeks we conduct road cleanups with UCF students and volunteers. We go picking up the debris and thoroughly separating it from recyclables and trash; making sure to document the items collected. We are looking forward to receiving a permanent sign in tribute to our service in the Fall of 2021. If you’re ever at the UCF Main Campus, you can stop by the IDEAS UCF Branch sign and possibly see us there!
We were invited by Linda Walters to help her team, Coastal and Estuarine Ecology Lab, plant mangroves. During the planting project, we were able to see mangroves that are very young and also ones that are going to be planted in the Indian River Lagoon. We took baby mangroves, put them in soil rich pots and planted them in small pools of water so they can start growing. Once these mangroves get to about five years old Linda Walters’ team will plant them in different parts of the Indian River Lagoon and they will help filter the river, keep our coastlines safe, and become a home for the marine animals.
IDEAS For Us initiates a collaborative relationship between many like minded clubs and organization that work towards achieving sustainability. We have so far obtained symbiotic connections with UCF RSO’s such as Knights for Marine and Wildlife Conservation, Knights for Animal Rights, Pride Student Alliance, Campus Peace Action, and Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity. We also have connections with outside organization such as U-Konserve and ReGrained. IDEAS For Us is open to building a relationship with any group wishing to promote environmental advocacy.
Thank you to our donors, Earth Easy.
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