A glimpse into the 2025-2026 GETH cohort, in attendance at the Fall 2025 Theme Program social
Description
The Global Environment Theme House (GETH): Championing a Greener Way of Life
The Global Environment Theme House (GETH) offers a small, close-knit community within the larger university for students committed to protecting the environment. GETH residents, also known as GETHies, explore sustainable living, build leadership skills, and form meaningful friendships while engaging in environmental learning and action.
The community is supported by a Theme Program Resident Assistant, who helps guide GETHies through the GETH seminar, facilitates opportunities such as campus and community clean-ups, retreats, and programs, and supports residents’ social and academic development.
The seminar, taught by distinguished and invited speakers, including UC Berkeley faculty and state legislators, features discussions on topics such as sustainability, pollution, environmental and animal advocacy, environmental and social justice, global climate issues, gentrification, and urban planning and development.
GETH values the experiences and passions students bring to the community and encourages residents to leave their mark through their own ideas, initiatives, and projects.
CKC Orchard Restoration
Program Requirements
GETH residents are expected to spend 2–4 hours a week engaged and actively participating in theme program activities, including:
- Seminar Participation:
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- Enrollment in two 1-unit (Pass/No Pass) freshman seminars—one each semester. These seminars meet once per week for approximately 90 minutes and are taught by faculty in the City and Regional Planning and Geography departments.
- The seminar will be held in the CKC Building 1 Academic Student Center and will explore topics related to environmental action and research on and around the Berkeley campus.
- Community Project:
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- In conjunction with the seminar, all GETH residents will complete a self-directed community service or research project, culminating in a final submission during Berkeley’s Earth Week celebration.
- Theme Community Engagement:
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- In collaboration with your Theme Program Resident Assistant (TPRA), residents will participate in semesterly floor retreats and local field trips. These experiences may include exploring local communities and their histories, engaging with community organizations through service and clean-up efforts, and touring campus sustainability initiatives such as the CKC Garden & Orchard, GETH Garden, and Berkeley Student Farms.
- Additional Opportunities:
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- Additional meetings, events, and opportunities will be shared throughout the semester.
Students admitted to GETH will receive additional information on course enrollment at the start of the semester.
GETH 2025 Fall Retreat: Full Moon Kayak & Berkeley Botanical Garden
GETH 2025 Fall – Theme Program Social
GETH 2025 Fall – CKC Fire Trails Clean-Up
GETH 2025 Spring – Spring Retreat at Blodgett Forest Station
Signature Events & Programming
GETH offers a variety of leadership and community-building opportunities, including faculty dinners, study groups, and excursions to sites of environmental change throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Additional activities may include tours of Strawberry Creek, gardening in the CKC Garden or orchard, hikes along the CKC Fire Trails or to the Big C, opportunities to support local organizations through clean-up and restoration efforts, and outdoor exploration in the surrounding hills and community.
GETH residents are also expected to support their Theme Program Assistant in hosting key events such as the GETH Open House, Earth Week Showcase, and Fall and Spring retreats. Participants are strongly encouraged to attend additional theme program events throughout the year.
GETHie hikes up to the CKC Fire Trails viewpoint
GETH Merch – Screen print by GETHies, and design by our cohort reflecting our values and care for Earth
Living Space
GETH residents live together on the Clark Kerr Campus (CKC) which is situated below the beautiful Berkeley hills on the southeast end of campus. For more information about CKC, including amenities and features, academic services, transportation options, and more, please visit housing.berkeley.edu.
Theme Programs are open to all incoming students. UC Berkeley does not use race as a criteria in making housing assignments and uses sex/gender as a criteria in making housing assignments only as permitted by UC anti-discrimination policies.