Celebrating UCSB’s Unique Environment

Kim and Jack Johnson and UC Santa Barbara share a significant commonality: The Johnsons and UCSB are nationally recognized leaders in green and environmental initiatives. For their continuing support of sustainability and UCSB, the UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association is honoring alums Kim and Jack Johnson with 2015 UCSB Distinguished Alumni Awards.

The awards will be given during the “Kim and Jack Johnson: Better Together” event on Friday, April 24, at 7 p.m. in Corwin Pavilion on the UCSB campus. The event is not open to the public.

The award is given to those who have demonstrated outstanding recognition in their field of endeavor. The Johnsons not only fulfill this criteria, but truly embody this year’s All Gaucho Reunion’s theme, which celebrates UC Santa Barbara’s unique environment. The couple have used Jack Johnson’s musical success to encourage and empower green practices through their Kokua Hawaii Foundation, Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation and “All at Once” campaign.

The Johnsons’ most recent undertaking, the Edible Campus Project, is designed to improve food production at UC Santa Barbara. It aims to address local food insecurity by repurposing underutilized space, essentially turning waste into food. Co-led by the Associated Students (AS) Department of Public Worms, AS Food Bank and UCSB Sustainability, the project endeavors to educate students to become responsible stewards and leaders of our food system.

Kim and Jack Johnson join an impressive list of recipients who have received UCSB’s Distinguished Alumni Award. They include Jason Lezak, four-time Olympic gold medalist; Michael Douglas, producer and actor; and Lynn Koegel, co-developer of the Pivotal Response Treatment for autism and clinical director of UCSB’s Koegel Autism Center.

The evening event will also feature a discussion about the Johnsons’ sustainability and greening initiatives, film highlights from Jack Johnson’s 2014 “From Here to Now to You” tour and music performed by Johnson with fellow alumnus Zach Gill.

For more information about the All Gaucho Reunion, contact John Lofthus at john.lofthus@ucsb.edu or (805) 893-8416.  To register for the event go to https://www.alumni.ucsb.edu/events/all-gaucho-reunion.