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SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT
INSTITUTE Introducing the Sustainable Environment Institute West LA College Offers Nation's First AA Degree in Climate and Environmental Studies Valley EcoAdvocates Working through the Summer The Revitalization of the LA River LA Harbor Opportunity for LACCD Students News Briefs |
Introducing the Sustainable Environment Institute
For many of you, this newsletter will be your first contact with the SEI. You’re likely to wonder who we are and what we’re all about. We are LACCD educators deeply concerned with the state of the environment and passionate about the need to raise the level of environmental awareness among our students. We began meeting informally a long time ago, in 2007, under the auspices of the District Academic Senate, and in 2011 became an official DAS committee. In recent years we have put out a newsletter, maintained a website, occasionally sponsored speakers, and developed ties to outside environmental organizations. That there should be more discussion in the district about the environment is for us a given, as the magnitude of the problems the world faces could not be clearer. The climate emergency stares us baldly in the face, witnessed by this summer's heat waves in the Arctic and fires in the Amazon. Air pollution, water scarcity, endangered ecosystems, and the prospect of widespread species extinction are additional enormous challenges. A broad understanding of the environment and the human impact upon it has never been more vital, and the district community should be more deeply involved in that pursuit. Our immediate goal is to communicate environmental news. We will do so through a more frequent and much more widely distributed newsletter, an expanded website, and a new speaker series. We are especially interested in presenting local and statewide environmental news, which is often underreported in the media. Meanwhile, UCLA, CSUN, and other local universities have created important sustainable environment programs, and we will report on the issues they raise for the future of Los Angeles. Needless to say, we will share news about environmental programs at our colleges. SEI is about more than communication, however. We also encourage and support the expansion of district environmental studies/sciences classes and programs and coordinate district participation in the Southern California Marine Institute at the Los Angeles Harbor. We are in the process of installing air quality/weather stations at some of our colleges, and we participate in various local environmental conferences and meetings. We’d like to see all these programs grow substantially. Our primary task right now, however, is the communication within the district of environmental news. We urge you to visit our website, which includes a wide range of relevant articles from both national and international sources, as well as links to numerous environmental organizations. We have a blog on the site and welcome your comments. If you would like to help in any of our projects, please contact us. We welcome the participation of administrators and staff, and faculty from all disciplines. Broad public education is essential to the health of our beleaguered planet, and we all have a role to play. Join us! |
