SEI Update

November, 2024

Welcome to the Fall Speaker Series

WE LIVE HERE

The focus is on our understanding, awareness and responsibilities to the region where we live, work and play

Join us for our Fall seminar with Lazaro Arvizu Jr.,

Tongva Artist and Educator

November 21, 12:00-1:00pm.

To attend

Direct zoom address https://laccd.zoom.us/j/81583996227

or for

FLEX CREDIT

Register with the VRC HERE

Each seminar is followed by a 1 hour Community of Practice

Event recording will be available here

https://www.seilaccd.net/copy-of-teaching-resources

We are very excited to have Lazaro Arvizu Jr. come speak to the LACCD at the next SEI Seminar this Thursday, Nov 21 at noon. Lazaro Arvizu Jr. (Gabrielino/Tongva) is an artist, educator, musician, and researcher dedicated to the culture of the First Peoples of Los Angeles. Born in the Los Angeles Basin, he is knowledgeable of the landscape and cosmology of the Gabrielino culture. He has worked for over twenty years facilitating creative and meaningful cultural experiences to people of all ages and walks of life.

Most recently Mr Arvizu is featured at the Broad Museum for his collaboration on Social Forest: Oaks of Tovaangar a reforestation art project inspired by Joseph Beuys's 7000 Oaks. Partnering with Tongva leaders, the project centers on Tongva people's deep history and thrivance, aiming to plant 100 native oak trees in Elysian Park and five at the sacred Kuruvungna Village Springs, in collaboration with North East Trees and the Gabrielino Tongva Springs Foundation. The Broad Show in Defense of Nature: Joseph Bueys includes work by Mr Arvizu Jr. as well.  

Social Forest: Oaks of Tongvaangar

Indigenous Peoples Month and Native American Heritage Day

November 29 is Native American Heritage Day. In observation of National Indigenous Month we have dedicated our fall series, "We Live Here", to Native American perspectives. 

October "We Live Here" Seminar Speaker

In October Matthew Teutimez, Kizh Tribal Biologist spoke to the LACCD community about the Flora and Fauna of the Los Angeles Basin - Through the Eyes of the Kizh. Mr Teutimez discussed the Los Angeles area including, the history of the Kizh People, and the impact that US policies and perspectives have on indigenous communities in the area. Once these roots were established, Mr Teutimez to took a deep dive into the plants of the basin, including the medicinal and scientific indicators these plants posses. Elderberry and Black Sage were discussed at length and had particularly interesting role to play in Mr Teutimez’s talk. 

The video of the talk can be viewed on the SEILaccd.net website here

Good Fire

In Butte County, Native groups are working with CalFire to make "Good Fire": the controlled burn that native people in the state practiced to avoid greater losses to large fires. Youth groups and students take part in the training and learn to observe from Lookout points. The devastating and unprecedented experience of the Bridge Fire in September of this year increased the attention given to native methods of fire suppression. Along the Central Coast, Chumash people have organized to secure conservation of a marine area.

"It’s all based off of seeing what the land needs,” Hankins said. He calls the technique “reading the landscape,” best captured by the Plains Miwok word Elelte, which refers to the practice of “reading” in all its sensorial forms: “sight, smell, sound, touch, taste, and the sixth sense of spirit or intuition of life force.”

Don Hankins, a renowned Miwkoʔ (Plains Miwok) cultural fire practitioner and scholar

See also these excellent online sources:

https://resources.ca.gov/Tribal-Nature-Based-Solutions-Program

https://www.tataviam.land/about/news/

https://the-lookout.org/the-lookout/

Fall Semester Seminars and

Community of Practice

Join us for our Community of Practice if you are in the process of embedding environmental equity into your curriculum in any discipline. We will be discussing strategies and best practices (or worse) for integrating concepts gained from the seminars and other resources into our classes. Stay after each seminar this semester to participate.

Looking for ways to integrate sustainability, environmental equity or climate literacy into your curriculum? Follow this link to a compilation of resources  Environmental Equity Education Resources

COP29: Climate-conference in Baku, Azerbaijan and the climate crisis

The latest United Nations sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Conference, COP29, is underway in Baku, Azerbaijan. This is the third time a climate summit is hosted by a petrostate. The hosts extended the red carpet to oil executives. Meanwhile, climate scientists have serious concerns as to whether the political will is there to act now.

The theme for this COP meeting is finance. The focus of COP28 was establishing the Loss and Damage Fund to help the poor countries of the Global South invest in renewables and in designing resiliency into their infrastructure. But commitments have fallen behind even as the crisis worsens for poor countries while many countries and large banks continue to finance fossil fuel extraction. 

The trends are alarming. 2024 is going to be the hottest year on record, with August being the hottest month ever recorded, and average temperatures now exceeding 1.5ºC. That “ceiling” had been set as an acceptable upper limit of average global warming at the 1995 first meeting of the IPCC in Berlin. What will a 2ºC increase bring? Indeed, the "tipping points" are fast upon us. And the scientific community is alarmed at the apathy and return of the Trump administration in the US.

Record floods in Central Europe and Spain are ongoing; hurricane season is longer and the storms are more powerful on average; and climate refugee populations are growing and becoming normalized as thousands are driven out of their homes by fires and floods, even here in California. 

The outgoing Biden administration, through John Podesta, has tried to assure the Baku conference that the US will remain committed to its climate goals even under a Trump administration. This is doubtful in light of cabinet positions announced for the EPA and other agencies. But even the CEO of Exxon is asking the president-elect to not renew his previous break with the Paris Accords of 2015. Given Trump’s nominees to run the EPA (see article below) we can only hope Podesta is right.

This last October all three SEI coordinators attended an international conference in Havana, Cuba on oceans and coastal zone conservation. Marcuba brought scientists and experts from all over the hemisphere to present their findings on the various impacts of climate change and local ecological impacts in the coastal zones of island nations and coastal regions of the mainland. Topics included micro-plastics, coral bleaching, mangrove losses, toxic runoff from sugar mills, and invasive species. 

Among the outstanding projects are those that involve American institutions of higher learning with Cuban institutions. The SEI was part of a delegation that included Auzzssa Eaton’s work in international GIS data sharing and Citizen Science and the SEI’s George Leddy’s work in social oceanography. Ainsley Rivera from the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium shared her experiences in reaching out to urban youth in Los Angeles. SEI staff engaged with community organizations and education institutions, meeting with students, faculty and deans, as well as exploring the long time Cuban practice of integrating environmental equity into education, sharing best practices.

The Southern California Marine Institute

and the LACCD

The LACCD has been a member of the SCMI for many years thanks to efforts by the SEI and the Chancellor’s office. To date faculty from ELAC and LA Pierce have taken advantage of the membership to take students out on the R/V Yellowfin which can accommodate as many as 40 students in one tour.   

The biggest challenge to the SCMI right now is to adapt to the closing the Vincent Thomas Bridge, cutting off the access to the Terminal Island facility. Possible berthing of the Yellowfin vessel at the AltaSea docks is being discussed. The eventual relocation of SCMI to AltaSea in San Pedro still hinges on many improvements that are being made at that facility, now celebrating its 10 years as a marine research and Blue Economy hub for the region.  

See the 2022-23 Annual Report here.

Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are discussing ways in which the state can defend its gains and policies, or “safeguarding California” from what is coming under Trump. In place are many climate-related policies on energy, transportation, and buildings. But there are also important wilderness protections and water conservation measures that get federal money, and that people in the state have supported seeing the benefits. Fire disaster money could be at stake.

Preparing for what well likely be coming, California judges are asking for continuing education for future climate litigation. Polls show that 85% of young people want action from the government on climate. Indeed there is much to be done at the state level at this point.

There is much trepidation in the US and the world on the changes most likely to take place in the second Trump administration. There will be a doubling down on fossil fuel extraction, a repudiation of international agreements, a stripping of budgets at NOAA and EPA, a relaxing or reversing of important regulations. Lee Zeldin to lead EPA suggests climate denial as policy and regulatory cutbacks. But Bill McKibben is trying to tell people here that there is a lot we can do.

The International Climate Initiative (IKI) at the CBD COP 16 in Cali, Colombia (21 October to 1 November 2024)

The Convention on Biological Diversity—COP16 met for two weeks in October in Cali, Colombia. Not surprisingly, it met with headwinds, but also large demonstrations that oppose the use of climate offsets in the efforts to protect forests and wilderness areas. Agreements were made on the global levy on drugs made from natural genetics, but financing the needs of the poor countries who are hosts to the greatest biodiversity in the world is not forthcoming.

The pledges from rich countries were far short of the 700 Million USD promised in Montreal at COP15. Severn rich countries (excluding the US) pledged a meager 163 Million USD, far short of what is needed. The original 30 billion USD by 2030 target is far away now that the fund has just shy of 400 million USD.

"Upon being asked about the likelihood that the United States would ratify the convention, having previously refused to do so, the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Astrid Schomaker, said that while the US were "always participating at the COPs with reasonably big delegations", ratification had not been an "actively discussed" subject in the country, regardless of the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, due to a lack of support from a solid majority of the Congress." (Wikipedia)

The NRDC offers a report on what was achieved. The summary of the meeting is here

Protests at COP16 in opposition to granting carbon offsets to corporations for claims to biodiversity protection in Global South countries.

Events

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For the archive on all SEI-sponsored seminars (2021-2024)

click here​

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Through Feb 15 Pacific Standard Time; Art and Science Collide 800+ artists. 70+ institutions. 

Thru March 23rd The Broad- Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature. And Social Forest: Oaks of Tovaangar is a reforestation art project

Saturday Nov 23 8:00am-11:00am Habitat Restoration Day with Friends of the Los Angeles River at Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Preserve Link here to register

Saturday Nov 23 3:00 pm-5:00 pm Soundscape Nature Stroll at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, Nature Nexus Sign up here

Sunday afternoon, December 8, 2:30pm: Los Angeles Maritime Institute: Join us to ring in the holidays and raise funds to support our programs that provide education and adventure at sea. More here.

Thurs, Dec 12: 6-8pm: US Army Corps of Engineers sponsors 2024 LA River Flood Risk Awareness Workshop. Online.

Saturday, Dec 14, 3:00 pm- 5:00pm Sketching with Natural Materials at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, Nature Nexus.   Register here

Sunday Dec 15 9:00 am-11:00 am Wings on the Move- Bird Migration Friends of the Los Angeles River (FOLAR) leads a walk through the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Preserve Link here to register 

Ongoing

Become a California Climate Action Corp Fellow - for more information link here

Drop off your compost at a farmer’s market near you! L.A. Compost hosts collection points in most areas. Link here to find a schedule that meets your needs.

TreePeople is hiring, many positions, all levels

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