Lalayna Booth
My name is Layni Booth. I am a second year Environmental Studies and History of Art and Architecture major. I have been working as a UC Global Food Initiative Fellow since January, and I'm excited to see where else this project and this experience will take me. My project is focused on reducing food waste and increasing charitable giving throughout Isla Vista, Goleta, and Santa Barbara. It started after I worked in a local grocery store, and saw first hand both the large amounts of food that were being thrown out, along with the people who were struggling to put food on the table. I was inspired to make change, and founded the Go 10 More! campaign, focused on helping grocery stores find more ways to reduce food waste and getting necessities to those in need. I have since been able to branch out to restaurants to help them donate excess food as well. My project has also set up the donation of hygiene and other basic needs products to the most at-risk houseless community members. Through my project I have been able to work with local food rescue organizations, the county public health department, and many other key players in the nonprofit and food rescue world. I have also started working on setting up an annual donation drive with one of the local nonprofits.
If I could give any advice to future fellows it is to be able to role with the punches. Any project is going to have bumps in the road, no matter how much you want it to work. The important part is not avoiding these roadblocks in their entirety, but rather being able to learn from them, and find a new way to your end goal. This fellowship has been one of the best and most educational experiences of my academic career, and I'm so excited for anyone else who gets this same opportunity. Good luck future fellows!
Cameran Bahnsen
Indigenous Foods and Sustainable Gardening: Environment, Culture, Health, and Justice. Cameran’s project collaborates with the UC Santa Barbara American Indian and Indigenous Gardens Alliance (AIIGA) to introduce sustainable Indigenous foods/medicines, Indigenous gardening practices, and traditional ecological knowledge to the UC Global Food Initiative and UC Santa Barbara community, including the Environmental Studies Department and need-based organizations such as UC Santa Barbara Basic Needs and Healthy Beverage Initiative. She is working on implementing a UCSB course as well as workshops, such as an Allyship Training Workshop, within the Environmental Studies department that support the Indigenous community using UCSB garden collaborations as a bridge.
Cameran’s tips for future project fellows are to be adaptable to changes that come your way, being passionate as well as being a good listener, and knowing the small change is still a good change.