A historical commitment to sustainability gathers strength
At UC Irvine, every week is Earth Week. Environmental sustainability permeates every part of campus, from its 33 LEED-certified buildings to the dozens of centers and laboratories dedicated to research into the human impact on the Earth system and the innovations helping combat climate change.
UC Irvine’s history as a leading environmental research institute dates to its founding in 1965. The first chair of the Department of Chemistry, F. Sherwood “Sherry” Rowland, and his postdoctoral research colleague Mario Molina made the startling discovery of the damage widely used chlorofluorocarbon spray propellants were wreaking on the Earth’s protective ozone layer. Rowland and Molina received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery, which ultimately led to a worldwide ban on these CFC compounds. Rowland also won global acclaim as both a scientist and an advocate for change to government policies and for a shift in the daily habits people had become accustomed to.
Rowland’s spirit of learning and advocacy lives on at UC Irvine. An example is the mission behind the recently established Clean Energy Institute, an organization that coordinates myriad campus efforts to create solutions to the problems of resource scarcity, environmental justice and resiliency in the face of global climate transformation.
A historical commitment to sustainability gathers strength
At UC Irvine, every week is Earth Week. Environmental sustainability permeates every part of campus, from its 33 LEED-certified buildings to the dozens of centers and laboratories dedicated to research into the human impact on the Earth system and the innovations helping combat climate change.
UC Irvine’s history as a leading environmental research institute dates to its founding in 1965. The first chair of the Department of Chemistry, F. Sherwood “Sherry” Rowland, and his postdoctoral research colleague Mario Molina made the startling discovery of the damage widely used chlorofluorocarbon spray propellants were wreaking on the Earth’s protective ozone layer. Rowland and Molina received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery, which ultimately led to a worldwide ban on these CFC compounds. Rowland also won global acclaim as both a scientist and an advocate for change to government policies and for a shift in the daily habits people had become accustomed to.
Rowland’s spirit of learning and advocacy lives on at UC Irvine. An example is the mission behind the recently established Clean Energy Institute, an organization that coordinates myriad campus efforts to create solutions to the problems of resource scarcity, environmental justice and resiliency in the face of global climate transformation.
