Sustainable Environment Institute
Los Angeles Community College District
Spring, 2023 and SEI events and resources for this academic year.
This Spring the SEI is offering a series of seminars and events related to the Climate Crisis and what is happening locally, regionally, and globally to confront this pivotal moment in the existence of the human species. The next in the series is scheduled for May 18. This seminar will be led by Andrew Ellis from the Climate Reality Project who will discuss the critically important environmental and climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, a signature budgetary bill from the Biden administration Our May 2023 events and news appear in the newsletter for May 16.
May 18
The Sustainable Environment Institute in Partnership with the Professional Development College of DAS present:
The Inflation Reduction Act: What's the IRA all about?
"Numerous analyses show that the bill (IRA) will put the US on the path to cutting emissions roughly 40% from 2005 levels by 2030" -Climate Reality project
With our guest Andrew Ellis, Environmental Scientist and speaker from the Climate Reality Project, SEI will take a deep dive into the Inflation Reduction Act and its capacity to significantly reduce carbon emissions. We hope to address why it is so important, and what its impact can and will be. We will look at IRA policies, programs, resources and incentives for our students, ourselves and our communities. Flex credit is available.
It is my pleasure to formally invite LACCD employees and their families to our rescheduled Gold Creek Open House, beginning at 8am on Saturday, May 20. For those of you who were planning to come last weekend, our road has dried out from the surprise May storm, and our site will be ready to go! For anyone else, this is a fresh opportunity to come visit the site.
This year's event includes trail tours, nature collection displays, and community science demonstrations. Early registration and bird walk begin at 8am. Trail tours start at 9am and our potluck lunch at 11am. Veggies burgers/dogs will be provided by the Gold Creek Committee. Please bring a side dish or something else that can be shared.
Please RSVP with your Gold Creek campus representative by Wednesday, May 17, and that person will provide a map and directions to our Ecological Field Station which is located near Sylmar.
Mike Farrell
The SEI’s own Xiao Behlendorf has prepared a webpage via the LA Valley College library that hosts resources for faculty and students in confronting this challenge. Beginning with a useful definition of this phenomenon, the site offers links to book titles and short reviews as well as articles. There are podcasts and videos as well as links to local environmental organizations where students can volunteer, intern, and even get paid positions. Most importantly, the page offers several organizations that can help people facing a mental health crisis. The tab on Climate Crisis Conversations hosts 17 of them running from 30 minutes to 1 hour. The TED talk on mental health is also very well selected. Xiao was recently featured in the Valley Star for her work at the LAVC Library.
Recently the national availability of an emergency phone number, 988, is now national service for the most immediate help in a crisis. The issue is also getting attention in the LACCD so that Student Health services on each campus are stepping up their capacity to help students distressed by the tsunami of bad news. The SEI will host a roundtable of sorts on November 10 as part of the Professional Development College series of Summer/Fall talks. See other article here on the planned schedule for these talks.
George Leddy
Beth Abels
Xiao Behlendorf
David Beaulieu
May 15, 2023