This fall, UCLA is welcoming more than just new students. For the first time, the campus will be home to a chapter of Regenesis, a youth-led nonprofit dedicated to advancing environmental justice, climate data and systems-level sustainability solutions. With UCLA to recognize the group as a Student Organization, Leadership and Engagement, or SOLE, club beginning in the 2025-26 academic year, the launch represents more than another green group on campus — it marks the arrival of a movement that approaches environmental action differently.
When Giselle Dalili, executive director of Regenesis U.S., talks about sustainable action, she doesn’t start with statistics or policy jargon. Instead, she speaks about students — their energy, their ideas and their power to reshape the future. She spoke about how Regenesis was founded in 2007 by a group of college students who saw an opportunity to contribute to sustainable work. “Their vision and dedication grew into an international network of chapters, each run by students for students,” said Dalili.
The US chapter did not begin until 2023, though, as recalled by Dalili. “At an organization-wide event, I pitched to executive director and founder Michael Jodah, that the same innovative model of student-run social enterprises was equally, if not more, needed in the United States. After months of research, collaboration and recruitment, Regenesis US was launched.” Since then, Regenesis has grown into a network that empowers students to launch sustainability initiatives rooted in data, systems thinking and collective action. And now, the movement is planting new roots at UCLA, where a student chapter is preparing to take flight.
The word Regenesis carries a deliberate meaning. For Dalili, it represents not just sustainability but replenishment — the idea that we create systems not only to sustain life but continually renew it. “From my perspective, the name Regenesis is an homage to the circularity found across all disciplines, in math, physics, philosophy, biology and technology. Everything is circular. Ecosystems regenerate, relationships evolve and students emerge from learners to teachers. We believe our economies and communities should reflect that same principle: cycles of renewal, growth and reciprocity,” she said.
Regenesis is grounded in the belief that students bring something unique to the fight against climate change: creativity, urgency and the ability to organize peers around a shared cause. At UCLA, this mission feels especially relevant. The campus has long been a hub for student activism, and its location in Los Angeles — a city grappling with rising heat, wildfire risk and environmental inequality — makes sustainability more than an abstract issue. The new UCLA chapter of Regenesis is stepping into this landscape with ambitious goals: to launch collaborative projects, build partnerships with existing green organizations and spark conversations about what climate justice means in a local context.
The student leaders behind the UCLA chapter — Holly Foothorap, Sreedeekshita GV, Stasia Hanson, Katherine Mueller and Jasmine M — are already envisioning what’s possible. Projects may range from advocating for sustainable food systems in campus dining halls to piloting zero-waste initiatives at major events. They also plan to host teach-ins and workshops that bring data science into the conversation, showing how technology can help track, analyze and accelerate climate solutions. Other events include hosting Solar on Campus demos and DIY solar charger workshops, rolling out a Bike to Campus Week with local bike shop sponsors and partnering with UCLA Facilities to launch an Energy Hunt that identifies and reduces power waste. The chapter also hopes to run Trash Audit days, recycling competitions and Tap Water Taste Test booths that make conservation both fun and accessible.
Dalili strongly believes in personalizing events and activities based on the campus type. “At Regenesis US, systems-level sustainability means embedding long-term environmental initiatives within the very infrastructure of a campus so they endure well beyond one academic cycle. At UCLA, that could take the form of a Free Store, Seed Library or Green Revolving Fund. At another campus, it might mean integrating vocational green job training into career centers or partnering with faculty-led research. The defining pillar that supports our systems-level sustainability is flexibility. Each chapter determines the initiatives that best serve its community while building them on a foundation that lasts,” she said.
What’s unfolding at UCLA is part of a broader experiment: Can a youth-led network scale across universities and still stay true to its grassroots spirit? Regenesis believes it can. The chapters there are designed to share resources and strategies, but also adapt to the unique needs of their campuses. This flexibility allows each chapter to grow organically while contributing to a larger collective impact.
Looking ahead, Regenesis envisions a future where the chapters operate not just as student clubs but as incubators of change. “By giving students professional experience, access to partnerships and the ability to institutionalize their projects, we ensure they are not just participating in climate action but actively shaping it. This bottom-up approach creates scalable, systems-level change while cultivating the next generation of climate leaders who will carry those lessons into every sector they enter,” Dalili said.
A natural question does come up — Why Regenesis? What makes it different from other established Non-Governmental Organizations, or NGOs? When Dalili was asked a question regarding this, her answer was unequivocal and pragmatic: “Governments often move slowly, and large NGOs can be bound by top-down mandates. Regenesis US, by contrast, empowers youth to pilot programming that is nimble, context-specific and embedded directly into campus ecosystems. College students are smart. We trust their instincts. They deserve the space, support and resources to create the initiatives they believe will best serve their campus.”
For UCLA students curious about getting involved, the invitation is simple: Show up with an open mind and a willingness to learn. Regenesis doesn’t require members to have prior experience in activism or environmental science — just an interest in being part of something bigger. To learn more about this mission, follow @regenesislosangeles on Instagram.
Every student has a role to play. In the felicitous words of Dalili, “What I find most important is not how I define Regenesis, but how UCLA students define, and will continually redefine it for themselves.”
As the summer of 2025 concludes, Regenesis at UCLA is more than just the launch of another student club. It’s a chance to reimagine what student power looks like in the age of climate change: bold, creative and regenerative.
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Featured Image Photographed by Sapna Drew/BruinLife