SEI Report to the DAS,
June 7, 2024

• April 20: El Camino College Earth day: The SEI participated in a panel at the College's Earth Day. Using the framework of Project Drawdown, this Earth Day Event focused on climate solutions in key sectors, education and environmental justice.

 

• Our APRIL 25TH seminar hosted Didi Pershouse who shared her insights into the link between soil health, agriculture and mental health. She works in regenerative agriculture. It was well attended, 30 faculty in total.

 

• On May 2nd and 3rd, the SEI attended the Annual Forum Symposium—a two day remote event sponsored by ECCLPs (Environment and Climate Change Literacy Projects) which is a consortium of institutions of higher education, including UCs and CSUs committed to embedding climate literacy into the curriculum.

 

• May 14: The SEI attended “Equity-Driven Climate Action: Higher Education Leading the Way” at Mt. San Antonio College sponsored by the Foundation for California Community Colleges A wide range of speakers, interactive workshops, discussions, and networking opportunities provided attendees with innovative strategies and best practices for integrating equity into climate action initiatives on campuses.

 

• We will be hosting our annual retreat for our Steering Committee on June 20.We will update you.

 

• July 12: We are presenting at the state academic senate meeting in Pasadena July 12

 

• We continue to work with UCLA programs that included a marine biology boat trip yesterday with people we are also working with and who are offering the SEI an actual space in their newly converted Spring Street facility DTLA.

 

• We are working to increase our visibility within the District by attending District and regional events.Our support for Gold Creek and the BECAP program at AltaSea are examples of how we work with existing District organizations.This includes the CCCCE at WLAC and Gold Creek.

 

• We continue to work with the LAUSD climate team as they have made great progress in getting the Board of Education to hire climate champions on every LAUSD campus. Our goal at the SEI is to find ways of developing first year climate curriculum for students who have already had some exposure to material in grades 11 and 12.

 

• We continue to work with the AFT intern program and the offices of electeds to pressure Sacramento to dedicate funds to community college climate education.June 14 and June 19 are major dates for getting support for SB252, the fossil fuel divestment bill for CalPERS and CalSTRS.

 

• The SEI hopes to have a summer intern starting July 10.This we are working out with the Climate Center at WLAC.

 

G. Leddy, co-coordinator, SEI

​