Meet Bea Hemstreet: A recent University of Oregon graduate who is joining the UCSF Health Sustainability team for FY 25. She will be completing an Americorps fellowship and will be supporting the zero waste team in achieving the following UCOP goals:
Achieve 50% waste diversion by 2025, 25 pounds of generated waste per adjusted patient day by 2025, and then 20 pounds by 2030.
Growing up in both Colorado and Oregon, Bea spent most of her days outdoors, snowboarding, hiking, backpacking, and fostering a love of the natural world. With this deep appreciation, a fierce calling for environmental protection was born.
During her fellowship, she will assist with waste audits, trainings, and diversion projects. She will also be responsible for expanding the waste standardization program to outpatient and ambulatory sites.
Get to know Bea:
What led her to pursue a career in sustainability?
Bea always knew that she wanted to focus her career on helping people. For several years, she assumed that her career path would involve healthcare, and she aspired to be a doctor. However, after learning about sustainability and environmental justice, she realized her passions lie in environmentalism and helping people through environmental advocacy. She participated in the Environmental Leadership Program at the University of Oregon, where she and a team of her peers worked on riparian restoration. There, she came to understand the ecological, social, and economic benefits of environmental protection and is excited to bring this passion to UCSF Health.
Throughout her time at the University of Oregon, Bea worked in laboratory settings researching soils and pollinator populations. It was here that she came to understand the importance of how ecological systems affect the human environment. These experiences fostered a passion for living more sustainably and teaching others how they too can contribute to the stewardship of our world.
What is Bea looking forward to the most?
Bea is excited to join the sustainability team to work on reducing the amount of waste generated in the UCSF Health system and add to her understanding of zero-waste practices.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the sustainability programs, email the team at healthsustainability@ucsf.edu.