Switzer Foundation News

Siegel featured in video about California Delta Region

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:40:52 +0000

http://www.swampthing.org/index.php/projects/video

Stuart Siegel (1992)

Stuart Siegel (1992) featured in Wetlands and Water Resources video about California Delta Region.

View the video

Bozzi presented at Duke's Forum for Law and Social Change Symposium

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:40:49 +0000

http://ondemand.duke.edu/video/30920/law-and-social-change-symposoi?playlist=46

Laura Bozzi (2011)

Laura Bozzi (2011) presented at Duke's Forum for Law and Social Change Symposium about transitioning from coal. Her presentation starts 27 minutes into the video.

View the video

Poleman about innovative campus sustainability programs at the University of Vermont

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:40:02 +0000

http://www.cas.sc.edu/greenquad/walterpoleman?page=2

Walter Poleman (1994)

Walter Poleman (1994) spoke at Sustainable Carolina about innovative campus sustainability programs at the University of Vermont.

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Ramirez appointed to California's Central Valley Flood Protection Board

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:40:48 +0000

http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17392

Timothy Ramirez (1995)

Timothy Ramirez (1995) has been appointed to California's Central Valley Flood Protection Board.

Timothy Ramirez, 45, of Albany, has been appointed to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board. Ramirez has served as the natural resources and lands management division manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission since 2005. He served as senior advisor for the California Bay-Delta Authority from 2003 to 2005. Ramirez was assistant secretary for water policy and science at the California Resources Agency from 2002 to 2003 and water policy and science advisor from 1999 until 2002. Ramirez was resource science director and acting executive director for the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust from 1996 to 1999. He has been a member of the American Geophysical Union since 1995 and a member of the American Fisheries Society since 1999. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $40,669. Ramirez is a Democrat.

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Greiner on using supplier scorecards to track energy consumption and performance

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:40:54 +0000

http://www.sustainableplant.com/2012/02/how-smart-grid-empowers-sustainability/

Timothy Greiner (1992)

Tim Greiner (1992) spoke recently about using supplier scorecards to track energy consumption and performance.

Tim Greiner of Pure Strategies talked about how supplier scorecards with questions about energy can help companies track energy consumption and energy performance as energy reduction metrics.

Why are some companies taking a closer look at energy consumption as they analyze the scorecard results? Greiner sees cost reduction, brand image and global development trends as prompts for this heightened interest. As a validator, Greiner cited values obtained from US Green Data [http://usgreendata.com] that say a driver for supplier scorecards is a company’s desire to understand its carbon footprint and how reducing energy use meshes with being green via lower-cost supply chains.

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Wolf confirms flying squirrel and habitat to be evaluated for endangered status

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:40:32 +0000

http://www.pe.com/local-news/breaking-news-headlines/20120131-region-officials-t...

Shaye Wolf (2000)

Shaye Wolf (2000) quoted in article confirming flying squirrel and habitat to be evaluated for endangered status.

“People once had the pleasure of spotting flying squirrels gliding through the forests and visiting their porches at night in the San Jacinto Mountains, but not anymore,” said Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s a tremendous loss. The flying squirrel needs the immediate protections of the Endangered Species Act to ensure that it doesn’t suffer any more declines.”

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Steiner quoted in aftermath of deadly crashes on part of interstate where fire is natural part of landscape

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:35:38 +0000

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120202/ARTICLES/120209845/-1/entertainment?...

Ruth Steiner (1993)

Ruth Steiner (1993) quoted in aftermath of deadly crashes on part of interstate where fire is natural part of landscape.

"One of my first thoughts is perhaps (I-75) shouldn't have been built through that area," said Ruth Steiner, an associate professor in urban and regional planning at the University of Florida.

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McCarthy reviewed "A Great Aridness" for Planet Change

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:35:51 +0000

http://change.nature.org/2012/01/18/book-offers-glimpse-of-climate-transformatio...

Patrick McCarthy (1990)

Patrick McCarthy (1990) reviewed the book "A Great Aridness" by William deBuys for Planet Change.

If you want to know what climate change will bring to the Earth’s aridlands, look to the North American Southwest. Better yet, talk to landscape ecologist Craig Allen, who has been working to understand and conserve New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains for 30-plus years, and who is featured in A Great Aridness, William deBuys’ well-researched new book on the region’s ongoing transformation.

Read the full review

Fernandez-Gimenez interviewed about "Picking ranchers' brains, from Colorado to Mongolia"

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:35:45 +0000

http://www.hcn.org/articles/picking-ranchers-brains-from-colorado-to-mongolia

Maria Fernandez-Gimenez (1991)

Maria Fernandez-Gimenez (1991) interviewed in High Country News about "Picking ranchers' brains, from Colorado to Mongolia" http://bit.ly/A4HZ1Q

As a college student in the mid-1980s, Maria Fernandez-Gimenez worked as a seasonal interpreter for the National Park Service. That’s when she was first exposed to the great Western debate over public-lands ranching. She soon became familiar with environmentalists’ gripes about grazing impacts, but realized she knew nothing about the ranchers’ point of view. So she went to work on a distant cousin’s ranch in northwestern Colorado, where she spent the summer sleeping in a hayloft.

She went on to study the traditional ecological knowledge of Western ranchers –– the information and experiences that guide how individual livestock growers and communities work the land and manage local resources. Most of the researchers in her field focus on indigenous cultures; Fernandez-Gimenez was one of the first to concentrate on ranchers in the West, whose ecological knowledge and practices risk being lost as rangelands are transformed by development and environmental change.

In addition to working in rural towns and Native American communities around the West, she’s studied nomadic pastoralists in Mongolia and, most recently, Spanish sheepherders in the Aragonese Pyrenees. Now a Colorado State University professor, Fernandez-Gimenez recently shared her unique perspective on ranchers’ global habits with High Country News.

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Rubinstein's NERC opposes use of degradable additives in plastic packaging

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:35:40 +0000

http://www.recyclingtoday.com/nerc-opposes-degradable-additives-plastic-packagin...

Lynn Rubinstein (1993)

Lynn Rubinstein's (1993) Northeast Recycling Council opposes the use of degradable additives in plastic packaging.

The Northeast Recycling Council Inc. (NERC), based in Brattleboro, Vt., has adopted a policy position in opposition to the use of degradable additives in plastic packaging.

“The board determined that this practice currently has a negative impact on plastics recycling markets and the effectiveness of plastics recycling in general,” reports Sarah Kite, president of the NERC board.

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Shaw, Pendleton study picked up on New York Times Green Blog

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:35:33 +0000

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/linwood-pendleton/

Rebecca Shaw (1992)

Linwood Pendleton (1994)

A study Rebecca Shaw (1992) and Linwood Pendleton (1994) co-authored was picked up the New York Times Green Blog.

To see how thoroughly the concept of ecosystem services — the economic analysis of the natural world’s intersection with human endeavors — is embedded in climate change research, check out this forecast from a group led by researchers at Duke University and the Environmental Defense Fund.

It examines the future of cattle ranching, an industry that is bound up with America’s self-image, thanks to Hollywood, pulp novels and Cormac McCarthy, through the lens of a climate-changed California landscape. It concludes that, whether the state’s climate becomes warmer and wetter or warmer and drier, it will be more expensive to raise cattle because there will be less forage to sustain the animals.

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Shaw, Pendleton co-author article in Climate Change

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:30:56 +0000

http://www.springerlink.com/content/q773hv252l138240/fulltext.html

Rebecca Shaw (1992)

Linwood Pendleton (1994)

Rebecca Shaw (1992) and Linwood Pendleton (1994) co-authored article "The impact of climate change on California's ecosystem services" in Climate Change.

Ecosystem services play a crucial role in sustaining human well-being and economic viability. People benefit substantially from the delivery of ecosystem services, for which substitutes usually are costly or unavailable. Climate change will substantially alter or eliminate certain ecosystem services in the future. To better understand the consequences of climate change and to develop effective means of adapting to them, it is critical that we improve our understanding of the links between climate, ecosystem service production, and the economy. This study examines the impact of climate change on the terrestrial distribution and the subsequent production and value of two key ecosystem services in California: (1) carbon sequestration and (2) natural (i.e. non-irrigated) forage production for livestock. Under various scenarios of future climate change, we predict that the provision and value of ecosystem services decline under most, but not all, future greenhouse gas trajectories. The predicted changes would result in decreases in the economic output for the state and global economy and illustrate some of the hidden costs of climate change. Since existing information is insufficient to conduct impact analysis across most ecosystem services, a comprehensive research program focused on estimating the impacts of climate change on ecosystem services will be important for understanding, mitigating and adapting to future losses in ecosystem service production and the economic value they provide.

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Donlan op-ed arguing for bison at Grand Canyon

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:30:30 +0000

http://azdailysun.com/news/opinion/editorial/coconino-voices-bison-belong-at-gra...

C. Josh Donlan (1998)

C. Josh Donlan (1998) co-authored an op-ed for The Arizona Daily Sun arguing for bison at Grand Canyon.

Americans want more bison in more places. As the National Park Service makes the case for the eradication of bison from Grand Canyon National Park, a growing number of scientists and citizens are convinced that bison should remain there. Eradication would be inconsistent with ecological history and counter to the Service’s mission to “promote and regulate the use of the ... national parks ... which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein … for the enjoyment of future generations.”

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Kramme quoted in Washington Post blog post about Kroger decision to halt purchases from Va.-based Mercury Paper

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:51:46 +0000

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/virginia-politics/post/mcdonnell-lobbies-kro...

Linda Kramme (2005)

Linda Kramme (2005) quoted in Washington Post blog post about Kroger decision to halt purchases from Va.-based Mercury Paper.

Linda Kramme, manager of the forest program at World Wildlife Fund, said her organization and others applaud Kroger for making a responsible business decision.

“WWF and other groups that are asking consumers not to buy Mercury’s products...aren’t trying to put Mercury or APP out of business, but simply asking them to adhere to the same forestry practices that responsible pulp and paper companies the world over adhere to,’’ she said.

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Hall on Ballona Creek's historical ecology report and new map website

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:49:19 +0000

http://lacreekfreak.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/ballonas-historical-ecology-and-new...

Jessica Hall (2000)

Jessica Hall (2000) on LA Creek Freak blog about Ballona Creek's historical ecology report and new map website.

As many of you probably already heard, last week the Coastal Conservancy approved up to $6.5 million to complete studies and permitting for the Ballona Wetlands. If that price tag for planning is giving you sticker shock, I have two words: Army Corps. Actually more than two words – you see, one alternative proposes removing and relocating the levees that currently contain Ballona Creek’s flows from spreading over the wetlands. (You know, the way in undisturbed situations fresh water from a stream or river normally spreads over wetlands, making the land, you know, wet.) And removing and relocating levees is sensitive business, and an involved regulatory process that has to be paid for and that can rapidly add up to a big chunk of the $6.5m.

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Glasser on new WMU electric car charging stations and solar panels to power them

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:44:24 +0000

http://www.westernherald.com/news/campus-keeps-it-current/

Harold Glasser (1990)

Harold Glasser (1990) quoted on new WMU electric car charging stations and solar panels to power them.

“The two go together in an overall plan, and that overall plan is for the University to support students, faculty and staff to be purchasing better hybrid or electric vehicles,” said Harold Glasser, Executive Director of the Office of Sustainability.

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Collins on how the Prairie Rivers Network became affiliated with the Illinois Marathon

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:38:13 +0000

http://www.news-gazette.com/blogs/starting-line/2012-01/going-distance-clean-wat...

Glynnis Collins (1994)

Glynnis Collins (1994) quoted in article on how the Prairie Rivers Network became affiliated with the Illinois Marathon. bit.ly/xX2WEJ

“It’s especially appealing because our headquarters are here in town,” said Glynnis Collins, executive director of Prairie Rivers Network.

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Dolin's book on whaling in America kept Drew Barrymore entertained while filming her latest movie

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:35:51 +0000

http://www.wickedlocal.com/medford/blogs/shorelines/x782336917/Whale-of-an-endor...

Eric Jay Dolin (1989)

Eric Jay Dolin's (1989) book on whaling in America kept Drew Barrymore entertained while filming her latest movie.

Drew Barrymore "unplugged" during three months in Alaska filming her new movie, "Big Miracle," shunning e-mail and the Internet, according to USA Today. Among the things that helped her pass the time: the work of a Marblehead author.

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Calhoun about vernal pool initiatives in Maine

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:26:51 +0000

http://www.news.vcu.edu/news/VCU_Symposium_Raises_Awareness_about_the_Conservati...

Aram Calhoun (1991)

Aram Calhoun (1991) spoke about vernal pool initiatives in Maine during a symposium at VCU.

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Lemoine quoted in Washington Post article on relative winners and losers with global warming

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:24:21 +0000

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/global-warming-would-harm-...

Derek Lemoine (2009)

Derek Lemoine (2009) quoted in Washington Post article on relative winners and losers with global warming.

When you talk to climate scientists about winners and losers, a few words come up over and over again: could, might, maybe. According to University of Arizona environmental economist Derek Lemoine, local climate-change patterns are difficult to predict because uncertainties in the global model “are compounded when considering smaller scales.”

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Nardo-Morgan's latest news told in a charming article

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:22:20 +0000

http://www.sonomanews.com/News-2012/Meet-the-Morgan-family-of-Glen-Ellen/

Angela Nardo-Morgan (1996)

Angela Nardo-Morgan's (1996) latest news is told in a charming article that will make you wish you lived in Glen Ellen.

Early in December when a lot of us were frantically planning hectic holidays, the Morgan family of Glen Ellen was out and about educating the world about the oceans, the land and how to conserve and save both.

Angela Nardo-Morgan wears many hats, among them: Bouverie docent and coordinator of their Quercus Quarterly events, secretary of the Glen Ellen Historical Society and much more. In December, she planned a talk for the Bouverie Preserve featuring nationally recognized speaker Dan Imhoff on organic farming and environmental protection, through encouraging biodiversity.

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O'Rourke says mobile technology will transform the food system

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:19:19 +0000

http://blog.goodguide.com/2012/01/26/mobile-technology-and-the-future-american-d...

Dara O'Rourke (1998)

Dara O'Rourke (1998) spoke at the Sustainable Foods Summit on how mobile technology will transform the food system.

During his talk, Dara pointed out the growing number of consumer-facing apps that help individuals connect directly with producers. Some allow you to map local farmers markets or identify retailers that only sell locally-produced goods. Others allow you to scan QR codes to literally find out what farm your meat came from. Presently, these apps serve as excellent marketing tools for regional food systems, in that they end up curating a database of products and services with fully definable supply chains.

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Pairis quoted in article on Obama administration's first climate change workshop

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:13:30 +0000

http://www.statehornet.com/news/obama-administration-s-climate-change-workshop-f...

Amber Pairis (2001)

Amber Pairis (2001) quoted in article on Obama administration's first climate change workshop.

Amber Pairis, Climate Change Adviser of the State of California Department of Fish and Game, said the release of the public draft of the NFWPCAS is a major milestone for natural resources adaptation and clearly illustrates how state, federal, and tribal entities are working together to create a collective vision for how they respond.

"All of the entities involved in creating this strategy have different missions and responsibilities, but we are working collaboratively to find common ground and define a vision for safeguarding fish, wildlife, and plants for generations to come," said Pairis.

Pairis said she finds it incredibly rewarding to be surrounded by colleagues and partners who are ready to "roll up their sleeves" and work together to find solutions to the challenges they are facing.

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Moir's organization supports NOAA's Ocean Ecosystem Research within a portion of Stellwagen

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:10:23 +0000

http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/In_support_of_NOAAs_Ocean_Ecosystem_R...

Rob Moir, Jr. (1996)

Rob Moir's (1996) organization joined others to support NOAA's Ocean Ecosystem Research within a portion of Stellwagen Bank NMS.

Today, four Massachusetts-based community organizations submitted a letter to John Bryson, Secretary of Commerce, requesting that NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) expedite important measures designed to further science-based management of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and fisheries in New England. "Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary, an 842-square mile area spanning the approach to Massachusetts Bay, is home to over five hundred species of fish, sea birds, whales and diverse marine life," said Rob Moir, PhD, of the Ocean River Institute. "This ocean ecosystem research is an opportunity for fishermen and scientists, working together, to ensure plentiful seafood and a healthy marine ecosystem for the future."

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Orenstein published op-ed arguing for protecting all species in the sand dunes of Israel

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:02:08 +0000

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/obit-for-the-sand-dunes-1.410728

Daniel Orenstein (2004)

Daniel Orenstein (2004) published an op-ed in Haaretz arguing for protecting all species in the sand dunes of Israel.

“With little regret but out of respect to protocol, the State of Israel announces the loss of Cerbalus aravensis, a newly discovered species of spider, which made its home in the Samar sand dunes in the southern Arava. Although the spider, like all of earth’s diverse species, is the unique product of millions of years of evolutionary history ‏(or the no-less wondrous work of God, if you will‏), we saw fit to sacrifice it by plowing up its only known habitat for approximately NIS 1 million worth of sand. True, alternatives may have existed, but the Samar sand was the most easily accessed and that sand was needed for construction and gardening in Eilat. Now the species is gone. May the memory of the spider be blessed.”

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Micheli quoted in article "Protecting Pepperwood"

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:57:17 +0000

http://windsor.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2012/01/news/protecting-pepperwood/

Lisa Micheli (1993)

Lisa Micheli (1993) quoted in article "Protecting Pepperwood" in Windsor Press Democrat.

“His vision was that this property was so special that it shouldn’t be cut up into chunks,” said Pepperwood’s Executive Director Lisa Micheli. “And it is special.

“The property has about eight different kinds of habitats on site, with over 750 different plant species.”

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Fitzgerald quoted about Alameda County home energy upgrade rebate program

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:52:29 +0000

http://blog.sfgate.com/inoakland/2012/01/11/for-county-homeowners-rebates-make-e...

Garrett Fitzgerald (2004)

Garrett Fitzgerald (2004) quoted in SFGate Neighborhood Blog about Alameda County home energy upgrade rebate program.

Despite this year’s unusually warm and dry January, winter in the Bay Area is often cold and wet, and that means higher heating bills. “Many Oakland homeowners are thinking about heating bills again, and how drafty their homes are,” said the City of Oakland’s sustainability coordinator Garrett Fitzgerald. “This is a great time to go ahead and make those improvements that will make their homes more comfortable and more affordable.”

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Rinker publishes stinging op-ed about TransCanada's Keystone pipeline

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:49:21 +0000

http://newsroanoke.com/?p=14722

H. Bruce Rinker (2000)

H. Bruce Rinker (2000) published a stinging op-ed about TransCanada's Keystone pipeline in The Roanoke Star-Sentinel.

What will cost $7 billion; will snake across the country from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, carrying 700,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude oil; and seems (at least from the animated assertions of Congressional Republicans and the American Petroleum Institute) a perfect solution for the flagging U.S. economy?

Answer: TransCanada’s Keystone oil sands pipeline expansion project. Imagine a river of dirty oil running right through the country’s mid-section.

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Webinar: Blogging About Your Work

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:41:26 +0000

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/764568294

Event Date:

Monday, June 25 2012

Event Time:

1 - 2 p.m Eastern / 10 - 11 a.m. Pacific

Location:

online webinar

Training

Join us for a roundtable as Switzer Fellows discuss all of the ways you can use blogs and blogging to spread the word about your science, activism, and more.

Join us for a roundtable as Switzer Fellows discuss all of the ways you can use blogs and blogging to spread the word about your science, activism, and more. We'll cover technical aspects like choosing a blogging platform, finding motivation to keep going in the early months, and working with collaborators to increase your reach and spread out the work.

Webinar: How to Write and Publish a Book

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:26:55 +0000

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/262442822

Event Date:

Monday, May 21 2012

Event Time:

1 - 2 p.m Eastern / 10 - 11 a.m. Pacific

Location:

online webinar

Training

Join us for a lively and informative event that will bring successful Switzer authors together for the first time! Hear about their writing process, finding environmental subjects that sell, finding an agent, and more.

Hear from these published Switzer authors about their writing process, finding environmental subjects that sell, finding an agent, and more:

Eric Jay Dolin will moderate the event. Eric's books include the Smithsonian Book of National Wildlife Refuges; Snakehead: A Fish Out of Water; and Political Waters, a history of the degradation and cleanup of Boston Harbor. His book Leviathan: The History of Whaling In America (W. W. Norton) was chosen as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe. His latest book is Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America (W. W. Norton).

Mark Elbroch has authored and coauthored several field guides to wildlife tracking, animal skulls and mammal behavior, including his 2011 Peterson Reference Guide Behavior of North American Mammals

Susan Clark is an educator and facilitator, focusing on community sustainability and civic participation. She is the co-author of All Those In Favor: Rediscovering the Secrets of Town Meeting and Community (RavenMark, 2005) and has a new book coming out later in 2012 on civic participation nationally.

David Sonnenfeld (invited)
Thor Hanson (invited)
Sharon Smith (by video)

[WEBINAR] Greening Stonyfield Farm with Tim Greiner (Switzer Foundation Webinar Series)

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:19:23 +0000

As a consultant with Stonyfield Farm for the past 12 years, Switzer Fellow Tim Greiner discusses efforts to broaden and deepen sustainability within the company. He describes the company's efforts to track its environmental impacts, barriers the company had to overcome, and the environmental and financial savings the company has seen as a result of these efforts.

He answers questions including:

What are the key steps to establishing a sustainability vision for a company?
How do you integrate responsibility for sustainability initiatives into core business processes such as manufacturing, sourcing, packaging, and logistics?
What mistakes were made in the process of greening the company that anyone seeking to do similar work should avoid?

Please join us and feel free to pass this invitation to colleagues who are interested in the topics.

Originally broadcast February 17, 2012.

TO VIEW WEBINAR IN FULL SCREEN MODE, please click the television set icon in the window below.

Additional resources:

Timothy Greiner (1992)

Register Now for the CA Spring Retreat and Study Tour!

elloyd — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:49:16 +0000

http://www.switzernetwork.org/calendar-events/2012-california-spring-retreat-and...

Show On:

Special

Friday, February 17 2012

Click here for the retreat agenda and a link to the registration page.

Back to Announcements

Garzon quoted on study of Bay Area's urban planning risks to public health

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:20:29 +0000

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/study-bay-areas-urban-planning-must-addre...

Catalina Garzon (2005)

Catalina Garzon (2005) was quoted in a California Watch article on a study of the Bay Area's urban planning risks to public health.

“There is a far-reaching impact from freight transportation in these neighborhoods,” said Catalina Garzón of the Pacific Institute. “Toxic diesel pollution is a harmful substance that has been shown to contribute to additional cancer risk in these communities and which has contributed to respiratory conditions like asthma.”

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2012 California Spring Retreat and Study Tour

elloyd — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:26:46 +0000

Show On:

Homepage Foundation Announcements

Foundation Announcements Page

Event Date:

Friday, March 23 2012 - Sunday, March 25 2012

Location:

Corona, CA

Retreat

California's Inland Empire: A land of contradictions - an examination of water management and social equity in a rapidly developing region

March 23-25, 2012, Corona-Riverside-San Bernardino, CA

Switzer Fellows Spring 2012 Retreat and Study Tour
California's Inland Empire: A land of contradictions - an examination of water management and social equity in a rapidly developing region

Click here to register!

The Inland Empire of southern California (east of Los Angeles) is at the center of several critical environmental management, agriculture and water policy issues. The annual spring retreat is an opportunity for Switzer Fellows and environmental colleagues to examine these critical environmental issues from an interdisciplinary perspective and to share expertise and a creative exchange.

The study tour will highlight:

The cumulative impacts of development and goods movement on low-income communities. A "toxics tour" will be hosted by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ). We will visit railyards in San Bernardino, neighborhoods facing air quality and goods movement impacts near a school and other critical locations where community activists are working to protect their air, land and water quality. We will be hosted by statewide and local community leaders on our tour, including Penny Newman, Executive Director, and Sylvia Betancourt, Organizing Director of CCAEJ.
Innovative leadership by the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority and its General Manager, Celeste Cantu, who has years of experience in water policy and management with award winning programs. The organization is based in Riverside, CA, and we will visit several sites and programs in the watershed and hear about their 21st Century Vision.

Other events:

Hike and tour of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, hosted by Switzer Fellow Naomi Fraga (2010), its Conservation Botanist;
Talk by Switzer Fellow Rafe Sagarin about his new book, Learning from the Octopus (invited);
Dry-farming agriculture at Galleano Winery;
Highlights of solar power development in the desertlands (an update from Switzer Fellow Dustin Mulvaney).

Venue:

Accommodations at Hotel Paseo Corona.

Resource people for the weekend:

Celeste Cantu, General Manager, Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority

Celeste Cantú joined the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA) five years ago and has been working on the crest‐to‐coast, corner‐to-corner Integrated Regional Watershed Management Plan called, One Water One Watershed (OWOW) that addresses all water related issues, joins all entities and hundreds of stakeholders seeking to create a new vision of sustainability for the Santa Ana River Watershed. SAWPA owns the Inland Empire Brine Line, a utility that collects salt from the upper watershed groundwater to improve water quality in the Santa Ana River and benefits the lower watershed. Celeste served as the Executive Director for the California State Water Resources Control Board, which is responsible for water rights and water quality for the State. During the Clinton Administration, Celeste served as the USDA Rural Development State Director for California. Celeste was born and raised in the Imperial Valley to a pioneer family. There she served first as Planning Director for her hometown, Calexico, and later as Executive Director for the Imperial Valley Housing Authority. Celeste has a BA from Yale in Urban Planning and Policy and a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She lives in Temecula with her husband, Dr. Barry Stampfl, an English Professor at SDSU, Imperial Valley Campus. They have two sons.

Juan D. De Lara, Assistant Professor, American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California

Juan De Lara received his Ph.D. in geography from UC Berkeley. His research interests include: the geographies of global commodity distribution, emerging scales of metropolitan and regional growth, the role that labor and community organizations play in the social production of space, urban political ecology - especially as it relates to environmental justice and the green economy movement, and the politics of race and representation in California's rapidly expanding inland counties.

Penny Newman, Executive Director, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice

Penny Newman has been active in environmental justice issues for more than 34 years and lives in the small rural community of Glen Avon, California. Trained as a Speech and Language Pathologist with an emphasis in neuropathology, Penny began her organizing career through the battle to stop exposures from the Stringfellow Acid Pits, California's worst toxic waste site. Penny has written extensively on environmental justice issues and is featured in several books on environmental justice. Penny is a highly sought after speaker, trainer and advisor locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, conducting workshops around the nation and in China, Russia, India, and Cuba. Penny has appeared on television in shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show, and The Today Show, and was featured in the HBO America Undercover documentary movie, Toxic Time Bomb. In 2008, Penny received the California Leadership Sabbatical Award from The California Wellness Foundation, was named Woman of the Year by the California State Senate in 2005 for District 32, is featured in the California State Museum exhibit on California's Remarkable Women, and was named a Woman of Achievement by the Riverside YWCA and the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce, as well as Citizen of the Year by the West Riverside Business Association.

Sylvia Betancourt, Organizing Director, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice

At CCAEJ, Sylvia has worked as policy advocate, A Team Coordinator, coordinator of the program to prepare individuals for the U.S. citizenship exam and interview, community organizer on the goods movement action team, and acted as Executive Director in Penny Newman's absence. Her formal training is in mental health/illness research. Her lived experience as a community member surrounded by polluting industrial facilities, particularly those industries directly tied to the global movement of trade goods, has redirected her attention to community organizing full time. She dedicates her efforts based on the belief that leadership and responsibility in our communities must be shared.

Francisco Donez (2009 Switzer Fellow), Environmental Protection Specialist, EPA Region 9

Nancy Steele (1993 Switzer Fellow), Executive Director, Council for Watershed Health

Jessica Hall (2000 Switzer Fellow), Senior Associate, Restoration Design Group

DRAFT AGENDA:

Friday, March 23, 2012

1-3 pm Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden tour hosted by Switzer Fellow Naomi Fraga (a behind-the-scenes tour is available!) - Claremont

3-5 pm Rafe Sagarin, on his new book, Learning from the Octopus (invited) - Claremont

5-7 pm Dinner in Claremont

7-8 pm Travel to Corona, check in to Hotel Paseo Corona

Saturday, March 24, 2012

8:00-9:00 am Breakfast at hotel

9:00 am Board bus, travel to Riverside, where Juan de Lara will set the context for the morning tour

9:30-12:30 pm Toxics Tour, with Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. The CCAEJ is a progressive, multi-issue, non-profit organization based in Riverside and Westside San Bernardino, whose focus is to address disproportionate environmental impacts in working class / working poor communities. CCAEJ's mission is to bring communities of people together to find opportunities for cooperation, agreement and problem solving in improving our social and natural environment. This tour will visit several sites in Riverside, Mira Loma, and San Bernardino.

12:30-1:00 pm Travel time, lunch on bus

Afternoon - Water and land management issues, icons, and challenges: Site visits in the Santa Ana Watershed. Our host for the afternoon, Celeste Cantu, has dedicated her career to addressing complex water management issues in the state of California and most recently in her current role as General Manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA). As a Joint Power Authority (JPA) that is involved with several utilities, stakeholders and water management efforts, SAWPA is playing a visionary role in planning for the region's water future, with many lessons for the state and beyond. Fellows will have a rare opportunity to look at large scale water management challenges with a well-respected policy expert.

1:00-2:30 pm Visit to Galleano Winery. The Galleano Winery is an icon of local history, operating as a "dry farming" (non-irrigated) winery for generations. We'll spend some time with the winery managers to hear about their agricultural practices, land use pressures as goods movement infrastructure builds in around them, and how they have placed their efforts in the context of the region's history as well as its best aspirations for water management and land use.

2:30-3:30 pm Visit to the SAWPA Headquarters and de-salting facility (the Inland Empire Brine Line). Celeste Cantu will give us a tour of their facility and the opportunity to learn about salt management - how a region with high natural levels of salt in the soil and water manages its resources for drinking water, conservation and effective treatment. This often overlooked source of slow and incremental harm to human health and land will be described. In addition, we'll hear about SAWPA's 21st century vision for water management, One Water One Watershed (OWOW), that addresses all water related issues and stakeholders to create a new vision of sustainability for the Santa Ana Watershed.

4:00-5:30 pm Prado Dam - a model for water conservation. SAWPA staff and Army Corps of Engineers staff (TBD) will show us Prado Dam and tell us about its operational strategies for water conservation.

5:30 pm Return to hotel in Corona

6:00-7:00 Reception

7:00-9:00 Dinner (location TBD)

9:00 + Late night conversations

Sunday, March 25, 2011

8 – 9:00 am Breakfast

9 am - noon River recreation (TBD)

Noon-2:00 pm Short hike and lunch, location TBD

2:00 pm Depart

Click here to register!

Torn quoted in ScienceNews article "Soil's Hidden Secrets"

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:15:00 +0000

http://bit.ly/A7NXTu

Margaret Torn (1990)

Margaret Torn (1990) quoted in ScienceNews article about soil's response to climate change.

“A major question is before us,” says Margaret Torn, head of the climate and carbon sciences program at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. “How does our new molecular understanding tell us about how soil will respond to climate change?”

Read full story

GreenTRIP's plan for provisional parking and creating new models for carshare system expansion

Stuart Cohen (1996) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:46:14 +0000

Editor's Note: Stuart Cohen and Ann Cheng presented TransForm's GreenTRIP program during a webinar on January 11, 2012. This blog post follows up on several points and questions made during that presentation. You can find out more about Stuart Cohen and Transform, as well as sign up for updates about the program, at our Switzer Network News report page.

Thanks so much to the Switzer Foundation for supporting our work. We are very excited to be working with a cohort of innovative developers that are breaking the mold and setting a new bar by providing transit passes and carshare memberships for 40 years! Thanks to the creativity of our GreenTRIP developers partnered with visionary city staff, elected officials and transit and carsharing agencies, we’ve discovered a couple of techniques to show how parking codes and traffic reduction strategies can be implemented together.

Provisional Parking: At Parker Place, a GreenTRIP certified project in the City of Berkeley, the developer was allowed to delay installation of expensive parking lifts after committing to providing one free transit pass per unit for 40 years and unbundling parking 100% (separating the cost of renting parking from the home). In either case the garage will be built high enough to accommodate parking lifts, so if the transit passes and unbundling don’t work, there is still room to add more parking spaces to meet demand. By providing transit passes, the developers can also market and attract residents that are more inclined to use transit and further ensuring that they won’t need to add lifts at a later date. Find more information about Parker Place here.

New Models for Carshare System Expansion: We are currently helping a couple of our GreenTRIP developers explore new ways to provide carshare in locations where it isn’t currently available. In addition to offering a space for parking a carshare vehicle, our GreenTRIP applicants are also getting direct feedback from the CEO of City CarShare on site design tips to ensure successful use of carsharing cars. Our GreenTRIP developers are also exploring the possibility of providing the cars themselves.

In the past most developers have only asked carshare agencies to locate their shared cars on their properties, without offering any cost sharing. This is a stretch for carshare agencies as most of the time they are being asked to come to locations that they know will not be financially viable (not enough density, transit and too much parking available). Usually the conversation stops there, with many developers feeling like carshare won't come.

Thanks to GreenTRIP, we’ve facilitated a totally different conversation between GreenTRIP developers and City Carshare. We work with GreenTRIP developers to design carsharing in, before the project gets entitlements. As a result GreenTRIP developers are incentivized to consider the cost of reducing the project by 0.25 parking spaces in exchange for providing 2 or 3 cars. With a 100 unit project this could be up to 25 parking spaces. Buying two or three cars and connection to a carshare network like City Carshare, is vastly cheaper than $500,000 on unused parking, assuming parking costs an average of $20,000 per space to build

We are definitely looking for funding and project partners. If you are doing related work or want to support us please sign up for our updates.

Stuart Cohen (1996)

Frank Lowenstein on "Confronting Climate Change"

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:07:51 +0000

http://bit.ly/AFxIZW

Event Date:

Wednesday, February 15 2012

Event Time:

7 p.m. Eastern

Location:

American International College

Training

In honor of Presidents' Day, American International College will welcome scientist, environmentalist, and author Frank Lowenstein (1991 Switzer Fellow) for a presentation on global climate change.

"Confronting Climate Change: NGOs, Politics, and Dissent in the 21st Century," will be held Wednesday, February 15, 7:00 p.m. in the West Wing of the Karen Sprague Cultural Arts Center. The event, sponsored by the AIC Honors Program, is open to the public free of charge.

Lowenstein is Climate Adaptation Strategy Leader for The Nature Conservancy's Global Climate Change Team. In this role he heads up the organization's work on how natural systems can contribute to helping people adapt to climate change.

During his 17 years with The Nature Conservancy Frank has worked to conserve forests and wetlands in many diverse habitats, including the Selva Maya of Mexico, the Tumbesian dry forests of Ecuador, pine forests of the Bahamas and the deciduous forests of the Northeastern U.S.

Gary Jones, assistant professor of History at AIC, said the event is both timely and relevant. "I would say that climate change is the most fundamental threat the United States (and the world) faces today. Continued failure to address that threat in an effective manner could be catastrophic. The way to respond to climate change is through our democratic political system. Hence the significance of our Presidents Day speaker, Frank Lowenstein, who is a climate change specialist," he said.

Lowenstein is a coauthor of two popular books, "Bugs: Insects, Spiders, Centipedes, Millipedes and Other Closely Related Arthropods," and "Voices of Protest: Documents of Courage and Dissent," as well as numerous scientific journal, magazine and newspaper articles.

John Andrew on "Responses to Climate Change for California's Water Sector"

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:02:07 +0000

http://bit.ly/yuU2nt

Event Date:

Wednesday, February 8 2012

Event Time:

1 p.m. Pacific

Location:

University of California, Berkeley

Training

Adapt, Flee, or Perish; Responses to Climate Change for California's Water Sector

The talk will present: 1) the challenges posed by climate change for California's water supply, including a reduction in snowpack, shifts in seasonal timing of runoff, and rising seas; and 2) adaptation strategies for California's water management systems.

John Andrew (1995 Switzer Fellow) is Assistant Deputy Director of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), where he oversees all of DWR's climate change activities. He was the lead author of DWR's climate change water adaptation white paper, Managing an Uncertain Future; Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for California's Water (October 2008), and served as the water sector lead for the California Climate Adaptation Strategy (December 2009). He holds degrees in Civil Engineering and Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

About the Colloquium:

The Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning Colloquium (LD ARCH 253, CCN: 48629) brings together distinguished speakers to present research, theories, and practices relevant to the landscape architecture and environmental planning. Speakers include academics, professionals, practitioners, and graduate students in landscape architecture, environmental planning, urban planning and design, environmental studies and other related fields.

All are welcome to attend. For more information, including other speakers in the series, see the Colloquium website:

http://laep.ced.berkeley.edu/events/colloquium

Rinker quoted in LA Times article about pristine Mexican beach

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:52:38 +0000

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-beach-pollution-20120...

H. Bruce Rinker (2000)

H. Bruce Rinker (2000) was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about a pristine Mexican beach being ruined by washed up plastic trash.

The plastics on Mahahual's picturesque beaches are more than an eyesore. They may threaten the fragile coral reef and mangrove ecosystems of the Yucatan Peninsula, said H. Bruce Rinker, an ecologist at the Maine-based Biodiversity Research Institute and science advisor to Sustenta.com.

"If we turn our backs, we risk harming the integrity of those systems," Rinker said.

Read full story

Clean energy prices (not the sky) falling in California

Laura Wisland (2007) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:30:46 +0000

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) released a report this week on the costs of California’s progress in generating more electricity from renewable power and there was good news. Prices of new contract bids submitted to utilities last year were about 30 percent lower than in 2009, according to the report, signaling a more competitive future for the renewable power industry in California.

Until now, the CPUC has released quarterly reports on the number of contracts signed by utilities toward meeting California’s goal of getting 33 percent of its retail electricity sales from clean, renewable sources by 2020. The new report is the first time that the actual costs that utilities have paid for renewables since 2003 — and expect to pay in the future — has been made public due to a new legislative mandate requiring an annual report on how much is being spent to obtain renewable energy.

While the current report shows that renewable power continues to be more expensive than the costs of burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, it also points to a more affordable future for clean energy.

Renewables serving us now
The weighted average utility cost of delivered renewable electricity (that is, electrons delivering to the grid now) in 2011 ranged from 5 to 8.6 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). That's pretty price competitive considering that I paid an average of 14 cents per kWh on my January electricity bill.

So why so cheap? It's important to remember that these prices are by and large from renewable energy facilities that were built way before the RPS program got started. These are the costs to run a facility, not build it from the ground up. In most cases, these projects are so old that many of their capital costs have been paid off. Small hydropower, geothermal, and biomass facilities are a hearty portion of this mix.

Renewables in the works
The report shows that the weighted average cost of contracts signed and approved by the CPUC to meet future RPS requirements ranged from 12.1 to 13.3 cents per kWh in 2011. Now remember, these are mostly the costs to build new renewable energy facilities (not just to buy power from existing ones), including a lot more wind farms and solar plants. The 2011 prices reflect negotiations that likely began in 2009, which means that they do not reflect the significant price reductions we've seen in the renewable energy market since then, particularly in the cost of building photovoltaic power plants due to the steep drop in solar panel prices globally.

The increased costs of renewables between 2003 and 2011 should be consumed with a grain of salt. Building new renewable energy projects in California is challenging and many of the approved projects will never actually get built. As the market has matured, more developers are competing for projects and they have a better understanding of what it takes to get the job done. I would not be surprised if we saw several of the more expensive contracts signed in previous years replaced by newer projects that are priced more competitively.

As San Francisco Chronicle business reporter David Baker writes in his article "Renewable energy costs are starting to come down" : "New contract bids submitted to the utilities last year were about 30 percent lower than in 2009, according to the report. Those contracts haven't been signed yet, so they weren't included in the 2011 average."

It’s a most promising sign that California’s ambitious blueprint for a future relies on greater use of clean energy, which not only mitigates climate change but is developing an industry poised to deliver more affordable rates to consumers.

To read more of my blogs, click here.

Laura Wisland (2007)

Ayana Johnson wins 2011 Solution Search

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:25:00 +0000

http://bit.ly/A5czJC

Ayana Johnson (2009)

Ayana Johnson (2009) won the 2011 Solution Search and was awarded the $20,000 grand prize with Tim McClanahan.

“Ocean conservation seems like a daunting problem,” says Johnson. “But the solutions can be simple.” Johnson received about a dozen emails from colleagues encouraging her to apply to Solution Search – an online platform designed to find successful innovation in conservation. “Everyone thought it was a good fit,” says Johnson. “Apparently, they were right.”

Read the article

Thor Hanson in Audubon magazine

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:15:00 +0000

http://bit.ly/wmq0Hi

Thor Hanson (1998)

Thor Hanson (1998) published "The Multiple Miracles of Bird Feathers" in Audubon magazine.

The subtle rust and charcoal hues of the robin’s plumage told me it was a female, and her feathers shone fresh and porcelain smooth in the sunlight. She cocked her head, hopped, and then lunged forward to root at something in the soil. Tilting upright again, she suddenly launched skyward, turning sharply around a fence post and swooping up at an impossible angle to land on an alder branch. Perched there, the robin shook her tail and fluffed up her body feathers before letting everything settle back into place. Then she began to preen, turning and dipping her beak to lift and comb individual quills and vanes, like a fussy housekeeper arranging and rearranging the furniture.

I smiled, but who could begrudge her perfectionism? Those feathers influence every aspect of her life. They protect her from the weather, warding off sun, wind, rain, and cold. They help her find a mate, broadcasting her femininity to any male in the neighborhood. They keep out thorns, thwart insects, and, above all, give her the skies, allowing a flight so casually efficient that our greatest machines seem clumsy in comparison. Satisfied with her plumes, the robin abruptly dropped from the branch and set off over the field, wings parting the air in quick, certain strokes. I lowered my binoculars, glad to have been reminded of a natural miracle—feathers—as common around us as a robin preening and taking flight.

Read the full article

Joe Bryan on "Building Community Where You Are"

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:52:50 +0000

http://bit.ly/yvyrWM

Event Date:

Tuesday, February 21 2012

Event Time:

7:30 - 8:30 p.m. Mountain

Location:

University of Colorado

Training

Dustin Mulvaney on "Are Green Jobs, Just Jobs? Innovation, Environmental Justice, and the Life Cycle Impacts of Photovoltaics"

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:41:22 +0000

Event Date:

Tuesday, February 7 2012

Event Time:

12:30 - 1:45 p.m. Mountain

Location:

IBS 155A, University of Colorado at Boulder

Training

Green jobs and innovation are widely heralded as means to a low carbon economy. But what is a green job and how clean are they?

This paper explores the environmental justice (EJ) implications from solar energy manufacturing, deployment, and end-of-life. Photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing processes involve hazardous materials and processes similar to those found in the electronics industry, where groundwater contamination and occupational burdens were widespread. Seen as the frontiers of innovation and darlings of venture capital, some emerging thin film PV semiconductors are made of toxic materials or by novel nanoscale processes. These new commodity assemblages are producing new political ecological configurations of energy procurement and generation, linking Malaysian thin film PV fabs to public lands in the US Desert Southwest. To understand these impacts researchers have turned to life cycle assessment tools to evaluate and compare the impacts of various technologies through the construction and commensuration of performance metrics. By integrating traditions in global commodity chains, political ecology, and science and technology studies, this research explains how such renewable energy metrics can obscure potential environmental justice impacts from PV manufacturing, and how an uncritical moral economy of carbon is shaping solar energy deployment.

Webinar: Go Botany! with Switzer Fellow Elizabeth Farnsworth (Switzer Foundation Webinar Series)

Lauren Hertel (2003) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:33:45 +0000

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/922136486

Event Date:

Wednesday, April 18 2012

Event Time:

1 - 2 p.m Eastern / 10 - 11 a.m. Pacific

Location:

online webinar

Other Event

Hear how Elizabeth Farnsworth leveraged a National Science Foundation Grant for $2.5 million into the newly launched website-- Go Botany: Integrated Tools to Advance Botanical Learning.

How do you develop consumer-oriented websites that both inform and inspire sustainable action? Find out from Switzer Fellow Elizabeth Farnsworth as she takes us inside Go Botany!, a new website designed to help you identify over 1,200 of the most common native and naturalized New England plants. It includes interactive features that allow users to find friends, collaborate on field surveys for plants, and make maps; teaching tools to encourage education in botany; and advanced ID tools to assist experienced botanists with complete identification.

Collaborative Initiatives Grant Awarded

elloyd — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:20:47 +0000

http://www.switzernetwork.org/current-collaborative-initiatives-grants

Two Switzer Fellows were awarded a Collaborative Initiatives Grant in the amount of $40,000 to address threatened and endangered species conservation.

Show On:

Homepage Foundation Announcements

Foundation Announcements Page

Wednesday, February 1 2012

Josh Donlan (1998) and Todd Gartner (2006), working with the World Resources Institute, were awarded a $40,000 Collaborative Initiatives Grant for their work on an innovative approach to species conservation. Click here for more details.

Back to Announcements

Re: Whatever happened to mandatory recycling?

Lynn Rubinstein (1993) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:19:36 +0000

I am always surprised that bans and mandatory recycling rarely “match.” It is pretty apparent to me that the most effective strategy is having both a ban and mandatory recycling requirement. I also think that an increased use of these regulatory strategies is important for driving recycling. There is a national shortage of materials available for US recycling companies to process. Most of the recyclables collected – such as paper and plastic – are sent to overseas processors. The general belief is that if we had more material available, then the domestic companies would have a greater opportunity to thrive.

Three New Leadership Grants Awarded

elloyd — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:25:39 +0000

http://www.switzernetwork.org/grant-programs/leadership-grants/awards

The Switzer Foundation awarded $115,000 for three new Leadership Grants at our December board meeting. Fellows are working to address aquatic habitat connectivity under a changing climate, environmental justice and clean water in California's Central Valley, and whale conservation in the Pacific.

Show On:

Homepage Foundation Announcements

Foundation Announcements Page

Wednesday, February 1 2012

Click here for more information on the most recent Switzer Leadership Grants!

Back to Announcements

Infusing Organizations with Sustainability

jkay — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Teaser:

Join us for a webinar with Tim Greiner on "Greening Stonyfield Farm" on Thursday, February 17 at 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific. Register now

How do you take a sustainability mandate at the corporate level and infuse the entire organization with it? 1992 Switzer Fellow Tim Greiner is Managing Director of Pure Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm helping companies improve the sustainability performance of their businesses, products, supply chain, and internal operations.

Related Fellows:

Timothy Greiner (1992)

Additional Resources:

Pure Strategies

Stonyfield Farm

Tim Greiner is Managing Director of Pure Strategies, a consulting firm that specializes in building environmental and social integrity into products, brands, and businesses. Mr. Greiner consults with retailers, manufacturers, and environmental groups – helping them on their sustainability journey.

Tim is currently working with clients to incorporate sustainability into product design and development using tools such as life cycle assessment and chemical hazards analysis. Current and former clients include Seventh Generation, Walmart, The North Face, Millipore, Timberland, Rockline, Stonyfield Farm, Dell, The North Face, US EPA, and NRDC.

Tim is a Switzer Fellow and holds a bachelor’s degree in Materials Science Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and masters degrees in Environmental Policy and Business from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Greiner is a founding member of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Planners Association and a former Board member and President. He is also founder of the Cape Ann Climate Change Network and is a Research Associate at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production.

Healthy Food in Health Care

jkay — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Teaser:

How can hospitals improve the food everyone eats?

Related Fellows:

Kendra Klein (2011)

Kendra Klein is a 2011 Switzer Fellow working at the intersection of public health and sustainable agri-food systems. In this video she explains what hospitals can do to advance the agenda of healthy food and sustainable food production systems for everyone.

Switzer Foundation News

Siegel featured in video about California Delta Region

Bozzi presented at Duke's Forum for Law and Social Change Symposium

Poleman about innovative campus sustainability programs at the University of Vermont

Ramirez appointed to California's Central Valley Flood Protection Board

Greiner on using supplier scorecards to track energy consumption and performance

Wolf confirms flying squirrel and habitat to be evaluated for endangered status

Steiner quoted in aftermath of deadly crashes on part of interstate where fire is natural part of landscape

McCarthy reviewed "A Great Aridness" for Planet Change

Fernandez-Gimenez interviewed about "Picking ranchers' brains, from Colorado to Mongolia"

Rubinstein's NERC opposes use of degradable additives in plastic packaging

Shaw, Pendleton study picked up on New York Times Green Blog

Shaw, Pendleton co-author article in Climate Change

Donlan op-ed arguing for bison at Grand Canyon

Kramme quoted in Washington Post blog post about Kroger decision to halt purchases from Va.-based Mercury Paper

Hall on Ballona Creek's historical ecology report and new map website

Glasser on new WMU electric car charging stations and solar panels to power them

Collins on how the Prairie Rivers Network became affiliated with the Illinois Marathon

Dolin's book on whaling in America kept Drew Barrymore entertained while filming her latest movie

Calhoun about vernal pool initiatives in Maine

Lemoine quoted in Washington Post article on relative winners and losers with global warming

Nardo-Morgan's latest news told in a charming article

O'Rourke says mobile technology will transform the food system

Pairis quoted in article on Obama administration's first climate change workshop

Moir's organization supports NOAA's Ocean Ecosystem Research within a portion of Stellwagen

Orenstein published op-ed arguing for protecting all species in the sand dunes of Israel

Micheli quoted in article "Protecting Pepperwood"

Fitzgerald quoted about Alameda County home energy upgrade rebate program

Rinker publishes stinging op-ed about TransCanada's Keystone pipeline

Webinar: Blogging About Your Work

Webinar: How to Write and Publish a Book

[WEBINAR] Greening Stonyfield Farm with Tim Greiner (Switzer Foundation Webinar Series)

Register Now for the CA Spring Retreat and Study Tour!

Garzon quoted on study of Bay Area's urban planning risks to public health

2012 California Spring Retreat and Study Tour

Switzer Fellows Spring 2012 Retreat and Study TourCalifornia's Inland Empire: A land of contradictions - an examination of water management and social equity in a rapidly developing region

Click here to register!

The study tour will highlight:

Other events:

Venue:

Resource people for the weekend:

DRAFT AGENDA:

Click here to register!

Torn quoted in ScienceNews article "Soil's Hidden Secrets"

GreenTRIP's plan for provisional parking and creating new models for carshare system expansion

Frank Lowenstein on "Confronting Climate Change"

John Andrew on "Responses to Climate Change for California's Water Sector"

Rinker quoted in LA Times article about pristine Mexican beach

Clean energy prices (not the sky) falling in California

Ayana Johnson wins 2011 Solution Search

Thor Hanson in Audubon magazine

Joe Bryan on "Building Community Where You Are"

Dustin Mulvaney on "Are Green Jobs, Just Jobs? Innovation, Environmental Justice, and the Life Cycle Impacts of Photovoltaics"

Webinar: Go Botany! with Switzer Fellow Elizabeth Farnsworth (Switzer Foundation Webinar Series)

Collaborative Initiatives Grant Awarded

Re: Whatever happened to mandatory recycling?

Three New Leadership Grants Awarded

Infusing Organizations with Sustainability

Healthy Food in Health Care

Switzer Fellows Spring 2012 Retreat and Study Tour
California's Inland Empire: A land of contradictions - an examination of water management and social equity in a rapidly developing region