SEI Update
March, 2023
LACCD Sustainable Environment Institute
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Join SEI and the Professional Development College for our Earth Day Month Events.
We will be hosting a series of seminars on April 28th from 9:00am-12:00pm over Zoom.
Speakers will address food and fashion, and relevant film lists (and where to watch them) will be provided to round out the experience.
Faculty, staff and students are all welcome to participate.
WLA Will hold their California Center for Climate Education Grand Opening on
Earth Day April 22nd
See below
We look forward to seeing you there, stay tuned for more information
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IPCC Report: the World is on the Brink of Catastrophic Warming
“The report released Monday March 20 by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that the world is likely to surpass its most ambitious climate target — limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial temperatures — by the early 2030s.”
This Washington Post article is both alarming, as it should be, and also hopeful. That is, the article points out that the window has not closed on the opportunities present to avoid the “tipping points” that are irreversible. Some of those are close or have been surpassed, such as the melting of Antarctic glaciers and subsequent sea level rise, and the loss of the Amazon rainforest. But “concerted international coordination and effort needs serious action now”, Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, is quoted in the article. He added that the rich countries need to take responsibility for the greenhouse gasses now in the atmosphere and divert financial and technical resources for the Global South, the region suffering the worst impacts.
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Women's History Month and the environment
A recent article in the Guardian by Fatima Bhutto titled “There’s no greater feminist cause than the climate fight – and saving each other” brings together the two critical veins of environmental activism, the women’s movement and the climate crisis. Fatima Bhutto reminds us that 30% of her country, Pakistan, was under water last year. Her account highlights the fact that the impacts of the climate crisis are disproportionately affecting the poorer nations of the Global South, whose contribution to the problem is relatively small when compared to that of the rich countries. Pakistan contributes less than 1% of the greenhouse gasses that are the cause of the climate crisis.
The last issue of the SEI Update made special mention of Wangari Maathai, Kenya’s Nobel laureate and founder of the African green belt movement in many major cities. She is one of the many recognized and unrecognized women who have led the fight to save the environment. From Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) to Lois Gibbs (Love Canal), women are often in the center of community organizing around environmental challenges to human health. In Los Angeles, the Mothers of East LA are credited with launching the environmental justice movement in Los Angeles.
“Women are the most impacted by climate change”, says the One Earth website that, in a recent publication, names the many women who have fought against pipelines and deforestation. Of the winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize, what some call the “Nobel Prize” for the environment, approximately 60% of more than 200 hundred prize winners are women.
As Fatima Bhutto quotes at the end of her piece in the Guardian, “As Mike Davis, the “prophet of doom”, said before he died last year: “Despair is useless. What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight.”
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The California Center for Climate Change Education at West Los Angeles College
Grand Opening
Saturday, April 22, 9 a.m.,
at the WLAC campus.
The event will feature remarks by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan and Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez. It is open to the public.
That same day, WLAC is hosting a community event to commemorate Earth Day.
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College 101 update
LAUSD may well require all 11th graders to take College 101.
College 101 was created by Valley College as a way to assist students transitioning into college. We estimate that there maybe as many as 500 sections added - spread between nine colleges. SEI has requested, and course developers and instructors, have agreed to include climate literacy in the current classes and in the COR. A Canvas module has already been added address this.
We at SEI are very excited that we can reach so many students with this vital knowledge, and that we can assist LAUSD and the Climate Literacy Committee of the Climate Reality Project, to meet their goals of embedding climate literacy into all k-12 classrooms, across all age groups.
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SEI at PANDO Days April 16
The SEI’s two teaching modules submitted to PANDO Days will be part of an event April 16 from 2pm to 5pm at Dabney Hall and Gardens Caltech Pasadena, CA 91125. Originally funded by the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute with funds from the Kendeda Fund, the SEI is submitting the two modules under the rubric of building a sustainable campus. Energy efficiency in buildings and water conservation are the two foci. The modules are shared on Canvas and Google Slides. Instructors and facilities staff will fund these useful since all the components will also be accessible. We are happy to have had the cooperation of Vice Chancellor for Facilities, Dr. Reuben Smith and Barat Patel from Jacobs/Build LACCD.
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Drenching brings snow to mountain communities and floods to valley communities. At LAVC, the flooded retention pond at Allied Health & Sciences brought a pair of ducks to ride out the bad weather right on campus. |
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SEI Steering passes two resolutions
SEI Steering passed divestment resolution and climate education funding
The March meeting of the SEI Steering Committee included a vote on a resolution supporting the SEI’s effort to seek funds for implementing climate literacy. The AFT has also been contacted to get faculty support for:
Resolved that the (SEI Steering Committee, AFT COPE Committee, AFT1521) supports LACCD Sustainable Environment Institute’s effort to seek funding from the state legislatures to develop a multidisciplinary approach to teaching climate science and environmental justice that is supported by high-quality and ongoing professional development for faculty.
The Steering Committee also took a vote to support SB252, the divestment bill currently in the legislature. This bill instructs the two pension funds to divest from fossil fuels. There mostly ayes, one nay, and one abstention.
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Gold Creek
Open House May 6th!
The Annual Gold Creek Open House will be held this year on
Saturday, May 6th, 8am-2pm
As of March 10th- Gold Creek had received over 25 inches of rain! 8" fell in just 48 hours. This is before the last giant rainstorm and the current one at the end of March.
Bobcat at Gold Creek, 2020
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District Discipline Day, March 17
The SEI hosted two back-to-back breakout sessions on Discipline Day, March 17. Titled “Embedding Climate Literacy Into Curriculum” we hosted a lively discussion that included teaching resources and possible practices on addressing climate disruption in the classroom. We hope to start an ongoing Community of Practice for support as we experiment with what works.
We were happy to have Lucy Garcia, Co-Chair, Climate Curricula Committee from the Climate Reality Project update us on the advances being made in the LAUSD in climate literacy on all campuses and in all subjects. The Climate Center at WLAC will have a certificate program for climate educators in K-12. Each LAUSD campus will have a climate champion.
Professor Denise Robb (LAPC) shared the classroom exercises she uses in her political science class to bring the climate issue to social sciences. She encourages her students to try and understand the thinking of people whose politics include climate denial, or worse, accepting doom. Students are randomly grouped by four political leanings and affiliations. They research and even speak for opposing views.
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February: Finance and Fossil Fuels: a Panel- banking defunding and divestment from carbon burning
The monthly SEI seminar for February co-hosted by the Professional Development College of the LACCD looked at the financing of fossil fuels. Ever since COP26 (Glasgow) the role of large commercial banks, multilateral development banks and governments of the Global North have been criticized for the ongoing subsidizing of funding fossil fuel development Other investor institutions such as CalSTRS and CalPERS, have sizable investments in coal, oil and natural gas companies.
The recorded seminar features Professor Cynthia Kaufman, director of the Vasconcelos Center for Democracy in Action at DeAnza College. She has written extensively on environmental issues. Her most recent book, “The Sea is Rising and So are We: a climate justice handbook” . Our very own Dr. Andrew Walzer (LACC) spoke to the issues of pension fund divestment where a bill is pending (SB252) that would obligate the state pensions to divest from fossil fuels. He also reminded us all that March 21 was the day where Third Act has asked elders and seniors to protest private investment banks. Despite the rain, many local banks were picketed by seniors who even held acts of civil disobedience at well known banks like Chase and Wells Fargo.
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Organizations We are following this month: |
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Bioneers
Bioneers is a nonprofit organization that communicates innovative solutions for restoring the health of people and planet. Their Annual Bioneers Conference will be held on April 6-8th. Most talks are recorded and available on their website.
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The Story of Stuff
This organization uses creative and inspiring films to inspire and encourage civic engagement . Their movies are available for easy sharing and help to engage students in discussions around environmental and social issues.
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Pando
Pando is an organization committed to imagining and working toward a better future for Los Angeles. Including, helping to implement the LA County plan for regional resilience.
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CFT Climate Justice Tool Kit
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from the editors…
As always we welcome submissions and feedback from LACCD faculty who might have a short text or commentary to share on any aspect of the environment from the global to the local to your own campus. Email the SEI staff with your proposed article or news brief, or calendar event. Contact SEI@laccd.edu.
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