Staff, faculty and students are encouraged to submit ideas for making UC Davis a greener place in 2008-09. The best ideas will receive funding support from the campus administration. Submission deadline is May 7.

This is the second year of the Campus Sustainability Grants program, said Sharon Ruth, communications and marketing manager for the John Muir Institute of the Environment. She chairs the campus committee that reviews the grant submissions.

"We have funded 16 proposals so far, with grants from $295 to $4,000, for projects ranging from a pedal-powered desk to a program that reduces building waste," Ruth said. "This spring we have $11,525 to give to promising new ideas."

The pedal-powered desk was one of the most successful projects in 2007-08, Ruth said. A team of two graduate students and three undergrads used a $900 grant to design "a pedal-powered electricity generating station built into an attractive table that can be used for dining or study." They also demonstrated sustainable design and productive use of human energy. You can see their result in their humorous video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB3NkahC8DQ.

Ruth said grants will be awarded for projects that foster a more sustainable campus through research, education or planning. What's a sustainable campus? One that is able "to meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs," according to the campus Web site, http://sustainability.ucdavis.edu/.