Climate Solutions Now

Talk Title

Tracks

Speaker Name

Title

Organization

Description

Conference Opening: The Politics of Climate Change and the Future of Offshore Wind in California

Plenary

John Laird

Senator

CA State Senate

After some brief opening remarks by ICLR Director Erin Pearse, CA Senator John Laird will speak on the following:

Climate change is impacting California, with climate-driven ocean acidification threatening ocean health, unprecedented wildfires, and dramatic shifts from historical droughts to historic floods. The Central Coast is particularly effected. To help address these concerns, the State Legislature passed several laws, including Senator Laird's 2022 legislation (SB 1080), accelerating renewable energy goals to 90% by 2035 and 95% by 2040. Additionally, the state is working towards transitioning to offshore wind power, which is scheduled to coincide with the decommissioning of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. This discussion explores California's political efforts to combat the climate crisis in the halls of Sacramento and beyond, as seen through the perspective of State Senator John Laird, the former CA Secretary for Natural Resources under former Governor Jerry Brown, an international climate leader.

Bending the Curve and Bouncing Back from the Climate Crisis

Plenary

Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan

Distinguished Research Professor, Climate Sciences

Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UCSD

We are now witnessing large scale amplification of warming-driven extreme weather events, impacting close to 5 billion people. Fossil fuels, the major source of warming, are still contributing more than 78% of global energy. The current approach that concentrates mainly on mitigation of emissions is not adequate. I will describe a much broader approach for bouncing back from the crisis cleaner, healthier, and stronger. It will target climate resilience, built on three pillars: Mitigation, Adaptation and Societal transformation. Mitigation to reduce risks; Adaptation to cope with unavoidable risks and Societal Transformation to educate and prepare the public for urgent climate actions. These climate actions require an investment of about $3000 to $6000 billion dollars. Because of the lack of massive public support (at least in the USA) for such investments, Societal Transformation is emerging to the top of the research/policy agenda. Societal transformation solutions include Climate Education for All from children to senior citizens; changing the climate change narrative to public health impacts & property damages; focusing on actions such as avoiding waste; cleaner and more technologically advanced America; a sustainable future for all including the poorest 3 billion. I am working with the Vatican to form alliance with local to regional faith leaders in the US to unpack climate change from all the other issues that has divided our Nation. In 2014, I chaired a team of 50 UC faculty  to create the Bending the Curve: Climate Education program, for college students; private sector leaders; and college educated public.

Climate Justice on California's Central Coast

Plenary

David Pellow

Distinguished Professor and Dehlsen Chair

University of California Santa Barbara

This presentation offers an exploration of climate justice movements among California's Central Coast BIPOC communities, with a focus on the Central California Climate Justice Network's campaign to create a Green New Deal. The talk will discuss the origins of the campaign and its inspiring vision of a sustainable, equitable, resilient regional economy.

Built This Way: Why our buildings contribute so much to climate change and how this knowledge can guide us forward

Plenary, Built Environment

Amanda Smith

Senior Scientist, Built Environment

Project Drawdown

We know buildings must decarbonize to move toward a healthier planetary future. However, there are vastly different estimates of how much of our global emissions should be attributed to buildings, and differing opinions on which solutions are most important. Project Drawdown provides the global picture of emissions tied to the buildings sector. In this presentation you’ll learn about processes that generate greenhouse gases and how they connect to processes in building design, construction, and operation. Many of these emissions actually occur outside of the building, in completely different sectors. 

A deeper look at the connections between buildings and emissions reveals a paradox: Each climate problem contains the kernel of a possible solution, and each possible solution contains the kernel of another environmental problem. The key to transforming the building stock lies in understanding how buildings function and why they’re built the way they are. The buildings sector must change its ways because of climate change, and this presents an opportunity to find new ways that keep us healthy, connected to each other, and connected to the earth.

Climate Emergency: How can California lead the world for accelerated, equitable climate action?

Plenary/Energy/Policy

Ellie Cohen

CEO

The Climate Center

This presentation will explore on The Climate Center’s collaborative partnerships focused on state policy – from community energy resilience to natural climate solutions including how we measure success.

From Smartphones to Satellites: Leveraging Digital Sensing Technologies for Climate Adaptation

Forest Carbon and Earth Observation

Aakash Ahamed

CTO

Working Trees

Tree inventories are a cornerstone of forest science and management. Inventories are essential for quantifying forest growth rates, determining biomass and carbon stock accumulation, assessing species diversity, and evaluating impacts of both forest management and climate change. Recent advances in digital sensing technologies on mobile phones have the potential to improve traditional forest inventories through increased efficiency in measurement and transcription, and through potentially increasing participation in data collection by non-experts. However, the degree to which digital sensing tools (e.g. smartphone applications) can accurately determine the tree parameters measured during forest inventories remains unclear. In this study, we assess the ability of a smartphone application to perform a user-assisted tree inventory, and compare digital estimates of tree diameter to measurements made using traditional forestry field sampling approaches. Results suggest that digital sensing tools on mobile phones can accurately measure tree diameter (R2 = 0.95; RMSE = 2.7 cm compared to manual measurements), while saving time during both the data collection stage and data entry stage of field sampling. Importantly, we compare measurements of the same tree across users of the phone application in order to determine the per-user, per-tree, and per-species uncertainty. Results suggest that digital technologies have the potential to facilitate efficient collection of high-quality and auditable data, collected by non-experts, but with some important limitations compared to traditional tree measurement approaches. High quality, broadly accessible, and efficient field data collected through mobile phones can in turn improve our understanding of tree growth and biomass accumulation, and the key factors (e.g. climate change or management practices) that affect these processes. Thus, accurate and usable digital tree inventory tools that can be broadly accessible stand to advance forest science and management.

Climate Action: Students Working for Community Good in the CA College Corps Program

Campus Sustainability

Amelia Velazquez, Lilly Fulton, Olivia Everett

Fellows

CA College Corps Program

The #CaliforniansForAll College Corps will help create debt-free pathways to college while engaging students across the state in solving problems in their communities. This first of its kind initiative was launched in partnership with California colleges and universities. Over the next four years these partner campuses will deploy more than 10,000 College Corps Fellows to tackle statewide challenges, and for the first time, they are proud to include AB 540 CA Dream Act Students in a state service program. College Corps annually provides more than 10,000 college students with opportunities to support and learn from community-based organizations working in three priority areas: K-12 education, climate action and food insecurity.

This initiative has three core goals:  1. Create a generation of civic-minded leaders with the ability to bridge divides and solve problems, 2. Help low income students graduate college on time and with less debt, 3. Address societal challenges and help build more equitable communities across California.

This panel discussion will feature multiple 2022-2023 CA College Corps Fellows, each of which was partnered with a local organization for the academic year in order to advance 1+ of the 3 programmatic goals in their community. Learn more about the meaningful work each student did, and the impact the program is having on students, communities, and the state overall.

What’s for Dinner? Food in 2050- Impact of Climate on California’s Food Chain

Agriculture

Anastasia Telesetsky

Professor

Cal Poly

This short presentation will share both the climate challenges facing California’s production of food and some proposed solutions to address keeping our food system resilient and dinner on the table.

U.S. Department of Energy National Community Solar Partnership & Workforce Development

Energy

Anastasiya Poplavska

Science and Technology Fellow

US Department of Energy

Community solar allows energy users to subscribe to a shared system of solar panels, often located within their community and can bring the benefits of renewable energy to all households, regardless of whether the household can install solar on its own roof. Because of additional project costs and, sometimes mistrust, it can be difficult for developers or municipalities to provide equitable deployment of community solar to low-income households. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) is a coalition of community solar stakeholders working to expand access to affordable community solar. The NCSP set a target to enable community solar systems to power the equivalent of five million households by 2025 and create $1 billion in energy savings for subscribers, which represents a 700% increase in community solar capacity and an average 20% bill savings.

Beyond putting more gigawatts of community solar on the grid, the NCSP is focused on ensuring that all community solar subscriptions provide meaningful benefits to subscribers and their communities, including: greater bill savings, low- to moderate-income household access, resilience and grid benefits, community ownership, and equitable workforce development. Regarding workforce development, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) also supports efforts to prepare and sustain a skilled and diverse clean energy workforce. Workforce development initiatives and partnerships funded by SETO include online and in-person training and education programs, work-based learning opportunities such as internships and apprenticeships, collegiate competitions, certification programs, and support services such as career counseling, mentorship, and job readiness.

The goals of this session are: 1) to learn about the impacts of the meaningful benefits of community solar from federal, state, lender, and developer perspectives; 2) to be informed about a new federal effort to streamline low income customer acquisition and access and expand the low income community solar market in partner states; 3) to understand the challenges and opportunities in bringing the message of community solar and its benefits to customer bases, especially those in low- to moderate-income households; 4) to learn about SETO’s recent workforce activities that enable the accelerated deployment of solar technologies, while advancing priorities around equity, job quality, and union participation.

A "nutrition label" for energy

Business, Energy

Andrew DeMille

COO & Co-Founder

Quantum Energy, Inc.

Imagine trying to make healthy decisions about food based on cost and calories alone. No real insights into the carbohydrates, fats, added sugars... the IMPACTs your food will have on your body. Do you see a problem here? A similar problem is facing the energy industry. Energy decision-makers from corporations, cities, utilities and governments are being tasked with investing trillions into our clean energy future, based mostly on cost and carbon emissions alone. No real insights into air pollution, water pollution, climate change impacts and more... the IMPACTS their energy decisions will have on you, me, our children and our planet.

The energy industry needs a "nutrition label" to make optimal energy decision for profit, people and planet. Quantum Energy, Inc. is the developer of the TotalView Energy Platform Software and API. Our vision is to bring this "nutrition label" to the fingertips of energy decision makers globally.

Climate Change in a Warming World: Legislative Solutions to the Climate Crisis

Business

Andrew Ellis

Climate Business Working Group Leadership Team

The Climate Reality Project

Please join Mr. Ellis for a virtual presentation, including a brief update from NOAA’s ARTCIC REPORT CARD that summarizes conditions affecting communities in the Arctic. Mr. Ellis will also cover new climate research affecting both the South and North Poles. Mr. Ellis will conclude his remarks with a discussion of the long-range impact of programs to reduce carbon emissions for individuals and businesses found in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  

Agroforestry Crop Mapping Reference Data: Applications to the NASA SERVIR program

Forest Carbon and Earth Observation

Andrew Fricker

Professor

Cal Poly

The last century was marked by accelerated expansion of the Amazon’s agriculture frontier, catalyzed by government-sponsored migration, the establishment of roads, and integration with international commodity markets. Monitoring systems that map agricultural expansion in the Amazon are critical to inform local policies and enable deforestation attribution. This presentation describes work performed as part of NASA/SERVIR’s program that aims to support monitoring systems with a focus on mapping perennial crops. The expansion of crops such as cacao, oil palm, and citrus can bring very different consequences for biodiversity, ecosystem services, and carbon fluxes. We will show the development of an open geospatial database that captures the locations of perennial crops in Ucayali, Peru. We will describe the development of a general schema, digitization, and publication of crop polygons for use by the broader remote sensing community. The use of the land cover database is demonstrated by intersecting crop polygons with Lidar observations to characterize canopy height. We also characterized heterogeneous smallholder farms.

Insects as a Sustainable Alternative Protein Source for Companion Animals

Agriculture

Anne Carlson

Founder and CEO

Jiminy's

This is an overview presentation that is a great introduction to the multifaceted topic of insect protein as a novel protein source for humans, companion and feed animals (with a focus on companion animals!). There are over 1900 identified species of edible insects. Insects are being raised for use as a food source in multiple forms (whole insect, meal, oil, etc). Even their by-products have utility as a fertilizer and a feed source. In this talk, I will discuss the history of this “new” food source and outline the various ways that insects are providing value. Benefit areas discussed include – nutrition, sustainability, taste / palatability, and humane treatment of animals.

Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in urban planning

Built Environment

Anushiya J.

Adaptation and Risk Analysis

CSTEP

The resilience of urban areas and their inhabitants is under threat due to the growing environmental, social, and economic difficulties cities face. Coastal cities are particularly vulnerable to the climate change impacts including sea-level rise, storms, flooding. Rapid unscientific land use puts more pressure on urban systems; the resilience of urban natural ecosystems is negatively impacted of widespread shift in land use and land cover in urban and peri-urban areas compounding with climate hazards. Nature-based solutions (NbS) have emerged as a feasible solution for climate adaptation and resilience in coastal cities. However, it is essential to consider the local context and the potential impacts of climate change when designing and implementing NbS in coastal cities. Furthermore, effective governance, finance, and stakeholder engagement are critical components of the successful implementation of NbS in coastal cities. This work briefs mainstreaming of NbS in urban planning in Indian coastal city and its ability to bring together science-backed, land-based action, integrate stakeholder expectations and influence policymaking.

KPMG Sustainability Work

Business

Brett Hanson

KPMG Climate Advisory

KPMG

I will be discussing my experience with the various services that KPMG offers, specifically the work we are doing helping companies decarbonize, and plan their ESG strategy.

The psychology of climate change; Doomism and the culture of 'uncare'

Science and Education

Cerys Broadbent

Climate Psychologist

University of Liverpool

The roots of the climate crisis can be attributed to our perception and relationship with nature; these are both affected by the culture we live in and the language we use. Individualistic cultures are shown to have the largest carbon footprints. This talk will discuss the psychology of individualism vs collectivism, and how this has created a culture of 'uncare'. This has been exacerbated by doomism narratives that focus on hopelessness and fuel climate denial and inaction.

The Intersection of Social & Environmental Justice: How supporting local food, beverage and farm businesses prioritizes people & planet.

Environmental Justice

Claire Tuohey-Mote

Communications Director & Farm to School Coordinator

Slow Money San Luis Obispo

Slow Money SLO is a nonprofit that supports the sustainable growth of food, beverage, and farm businesses. Our work prioritizes locally owned small businesses that are mission driven to provide healthy products that often use organic and locally sourced ingredients in an effort to protect environmental health. The under served small and medium farms we work with through lending projects and/or our Farm to School Central Coast program support people and planet by either practicing organic & sustainable agriculture and/or providing fresh and nutritious food to children in participating school districts.

Can We Make Active Transportation Work in the Suburbs?

Transportation and Planning

Dave Amos

Assistant Professor

Cal Poly

Suburban land use patterns make it difficult for people to walk or bicycle to a wide variety of destinations, like work, school, and shopping. With a majority of people in the United States living in the suburbs, this poses a challenge to moving away from cars, which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. This talk discusses the ways suburban land use patterns reinforce car use, and the ways communities can encourage active transportation.

Rebutting Climate Myths: Feedback Loops and Time Scales in Climate

Science and Education

Dave Camp

Professor

Cal Poly

The vast majority of climate myths propagated in climate-denial arguments are based upon poor understandings or misrepresentations of climate science in one or more of the following areas of climate science: 1) climate data records, 2) greenhouse effect, 3) feedback loops from interacting climate processes, and 4) the time scales upon which climate processes act. In this talk, we'll use climate data from the deep past to investigate the roles of feedback loops and their inherent time scales in the Earth's climate. Based on this understanding, we will explore some of the fallacies that underlie some of the common climate myths.

How SJSU is Combining Students' Basic Needs with Reducing Waste

Campus Sustainability

Debbie Andres

Sr. Sustainability Lead

San Jose State University

Today, students are more concerned about the effects of the fashion industry on our environment, while SJSU is continually striving to help meet our student basic needs. The Office of Sustainability started the Spartan Clothes Closet in the Fall of 2020 to divert clothing from landfills and to provide a resource for student to get basic clothing necessities. Since its launch, the Closet has spun-off other waste minimization/basic needs projects like Housing Move-Out/Move-In and the Share Shelf.

SLI: Connecting Lands to Climate Change Initiatives

Agriculture

Devin Best

Executive Director

Upper Salinas Las Tablas Resource Conservation District

Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) were born out of the Dust Bowl Era to assist local farmers with the stewardship of their land. As Climate Change continues to be at the forefront of policy makers, funding agencies, and community members, RCDs are playing a pivotal role in making the connection between initiatives, resiliency, and communities through the development of the Sustainable Land Initiative (SLI).  However, the limitation in the RCDs ability to meet the ever-changing demands of local communities is a condition of being reliant on the availability and cadence of grant programs, sometimes taking years to implement a single climate-smart agricultural practice. 

Success-Based Solutions for a Healthy Climate

Communications

Don Maruska

Climate Solver

Solve Climate Change Now

The public pays too much attention to the problems of climate change and not enough to the solutions that lie within our grasp. Now is not the time to despair and avoid responsibility. Now is the time to engage and take action. Learn what is working to curb greenhouse gases and what we can do to amplify those successes. Practice tools to help you reach out and mobilize more people to join in the efforts. See how together we can make a difference and have fun doing it. www.SolveClimateChangeNow.com 

Using remote sensing on forest carbon projects

Forest Carbon and Earth Observation

Fabio Secanho

Sr. Manager, Remote Sensing and GIS

Anew Climate

This talk will cover a variety of topics related to the use of remote sensing on forest carbon projects. It will include how to use remote sensing data to delineate forest carbon projects, identify different forest types, estimate carbon in remote areas, and the creation of streamside management zones (SMZs). Finally, the talk will cover important datasets used in these processes, such as satellite imagery and Lidar.

How ESG is changing the way companies do business

Business

Faiza Asifuddin

Director, ESG & Sustainability

Diligent

Environmental Social Governance is changing the way companies do business. As ESG regulations continue to emerge (and face challenges), many public and private companies are struggling to address concerns across stakeholders including investors, employees, and the communities they live and work in. Faiza Asifuddin is the Director of ESG & Sustainability at Diligent, a leading GRC software company. She heads up the company's ESG program and will share how she's implementing comprehensive and meaningful environmental and social justice initiatives while also helping to inform how other companies can do the same.

Journalism and the climate crisis: defining a pathway forward

Communications

Gabi Mocatta

Lecturer in Communication

Deakin University and University of Tasmania

Climate and environmental crises are the most pressing issues of our times. The IPCC told us in 2018 we had little more than a decade to make profound social changes necessary to avoid the most extreme effects of climate change (IPCC 2018). The ways we succeed or fail in communicating climate and environment now will have profound implications for how – or indeed whether – we accomplish what is required address the existential environmental challenges we face. Journalistic work on climate change importantly shapes the ways that people ‘understand, talk, care and act around climate change’ (Gunster et al., 2018, p. 775). Mediatised representations of climate and environment are therefore a crucial site for study in the current context. The role of media and journalism in enhancing, or obfuscating, publics’ climate literacy, and galvanising policymaking to respond to environmental harms has been extensively researched (for example, Boykoff 2011; Painter 2019; Hase et al. 2021). Journalists themselves have called for reporting to seek to ‘shape public opinion’ and ‘influence change’ (Watts, 2020), however, despite over two decades of extensive research into climate change journalism, there is still no consensus on what journalists should be doing to convey to media audiences the seriousness and urgency of the climate crisis. This talk surveys the field of climate and environmental journalism in this current crucial moment for climate action. It discusses difficult issues and positive affordances of journalism on climate change, and points to pathways forward. It investigates possible modes of journalism for the climate crisis including single subject news models, solutions journalism (Aitamurto & Varma 2018), transformative journalisms (Brüggemann et al., 2022), data journalism, engendering a sense of urgency, and defining 'responsibility' for climate harms, as well as climate action at every level of society.

This is it! Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary

Environmental Justice

Gianna Patchen

Campaign Manager

Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary

Join us on the LAST day to help make the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary a reality. Proposed off the Central Coast of California, this is the first Tribally nominated national marine sanctuary in the USA. Learn more about the sanctuary campaign, what a sanctuary is, and how you can use your voice to make the Chumash Heritage Sanctuary a reality.

Curiosity, Collaboration, and Everyday Leadership: The Driving Forces of Climate Impact

Communications

Hadley Willman

Assistant Director

Cal Poly Initiative for Climate Leadership and Resilience

With the feeling of impending doom dominating our days in the face of the ongoing climate crisis, it can feel impossible to make a positive impact for the planet. And yet, that couldn't be further from the case. Every single person on this planet has the capacity for leadership, and by attending this webinar, it is guaranteed that you are already on the road to actualizing that leadership and being the change you want to see in real time. Curiosity, collaboration, and everyday leadership are the three things needed to make a change. All of these things are easier and more impactful than you think. Learn more about how to build on the passion you already have and work with others to accelerate change for a greener future with Hadley Willman: Assistant Director of Cal Poly's Initiative for Climate Leadership and Resilience, and former Creator and Director of the University Climate Ambassador program at the Global Climate Pledge and U.S. Green Chamber of Commerce.

Protective Packaging for Ecommerce Businesses

Business

Heeva Asefvaziri

Founder/CEO

Flush Packaging LLC

One of the most universal resources that all companies need - regardless of size - is packaging. If you make a physical object as part of your business, it has to go into some sort of package. The number of micro/small businesses far outweigh the number of large businesses in the United States. Unfortunately, small businesses typically do not have the same level of access to resources as large businesses do; resulting in a narrow range of viable options to choose from. In the case of safely packing and shipping fragile products, readily-available material options are not typically environmentally friendly, attractive, or all that effective. Join me as we discuss packaging and shipping challenges faced by micro/small e-commerce businesses and how Flush Packaging is working towards a future free of wasteful and ineffective packaging materials.

Choose Passive House for High-Performance Buildings

Built Environment

Jay Gentry

Board of Directors

Passive House

High-performance” is becoming recognized by industry professionals as a critical factor in the design, construction, and operation of new buildings as well as the renovation/upgrading of existing buildings. Measurable elements of performance include comfort, energy efficiency, healthy indoor air quality, resilience to extreme weather, fire, smoke, and power outages. 

Passive House is the most aggressive energy efficiency standard for the design and construction of new buildings and the retrofitting of existing buildings. This presentation will introduce Passive House principles and how those principles deliver high-performance to buildings from small to extra-large.

Back to the Basics - The Small Steps That Can Make a Big Impact on Your Transit System

Transportation and Planning

Jerome Horne

Project Manager

The Transit Center

We often think of public transit as an all-or-nothing thing: Your city is either ready to invest billions in an amazing rail system, or you might as well just give up on having any meaningful transit. But that’s not the case. Any town, big or small, can take incremental steps to grow and improve a public transit system that helps residents get around easily and comfortably. In this talk I'll explore many small steps you can take to make transit more viable in your city, whether you work for city government or you’re just a regular person who cares about your community. From building bus stop benches to considering bus rapid transit, this session will open your mind about the many ways we can improve public transportation, whatever size budget our cities may have.

Tri-County Regional Energy Network: Building an Energy Efficient Central Coast

Built Environment

Jordan Garbayo, Gray Gauteraux

Energy Programs Manager

3CRen

3C-REN (Tri-County Regional Energy Network) is a partnership between the Counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura established to deliver energy-saving programs and industry trainings that reduce energy use, strengthen local job markets, and support efforts to achieve climate goals. For households, 3C-REN offers energy saving rebates and resources, with an emphasis on hard-to-reach and underserved communities. For industry, 3C-REN offers free workforce training and technical code support for professionals and newcomers to the building energy space. In this presentation, attendees will learn more about the Regional Energy Network model and how 3C-REN is reinvesting ratepayer funds to build energy efficiency in the Central Coast. 

Climate Action in California's Water-Energy Nexus

Energy

Jordi Vasquez

Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist)

CA Dept. of Water Resources

An overview of the Water-Energy nexus in California, adaptation and mitigation actions underway in the nexus in response to climate change, and the opportunities to participate in these actions for students, educators, and general members of the public. 

Transformational Climate Justice Action at a CSU Campus: Building Diverse Climate Leadership, Collaboration, and Community

Campus Sustainability

Kai Burrus, Aritree Samanta, Autumn Thoyre

Professor Burrus, Associate Professors Samanta and Thoyre

San Francisco State University

Climate change is the defining issue of our time and the planet. It is already impacting people's lives around the world through changes in weather, fires, sea level, ocean chemistry, energy production, infrastructure, biodiversity, and food and water security, and these impacts will increase into the future. Low-income and communities of color bear the disproportionate and worst impacts of climate change, making it inherently a justice issue. Unfortunately, while climate change causes, impacts, and solutions are inherently interdisciplinary, education, decision-making, and action on these themes has largely proceeded within disciplinary silos and not always rooted in justice. The mitigation of and adaptation to climate change will require us to break down these disciplinary barriers and anchor climate action in justice. Students, faculty, staff and community members have expressed a desire to be a part of the solution, but often do not know where to start.

Sustainability in dining programs

Campus Sustainability

Kaitlin Gibbons, Bernadette Falany-Davis

Registered Dietitian & Sustainability Coordinator (Kaitlin), Sustainability Manager Chartwells CSU Partnership (Bernadette)

Chartwells CSU Partnership, Cal Poly Campus Dining

Kaitlin will highlight recent sustainable advancements in the dining program at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Bernadette will present the broader sustainability strategy and focus for the CSU Chartwells partnership. 

Decarbonizing Construction- addressing material impacts

Built Environment

Kate Simonen

Professor

University of Washington

The importance of decarbonizing structures - eliminating the emissions resulting from manufacturing, using and disposing of the materials used to construct buildings and infrastructure-is inarguable. Approximately 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to just two major structural materials, cement and steel. We will not meet global climate goals unless we address these significant material emissions. While lower carbon structural solutions are available today and novel methods and materials are emerging, the pathway to totally decarbonize structures remains uncertain.  In this context, Professor Simonen will present an examination of established methods used to enable the construction of lower carbon structures currently in practice as well as share research underway at the Carbon Leadership Forum to help inform and enable emerging material decarbonization policies and practices to scale. 

How is stormwater management producing pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure?

Transportation and Planning

Kelly Gregg

Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

University of Buffalo

This exploratory research engages stormwater management and street design. Specifically, how streets incorporate pedestrian and cyclist, improvements with stormwater goals thus producing multiple benefits for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Stormwater management is a well-articulated aspect of street design within landscape architecture practice, and civil engineering. Likewise, the National Association of Transportation Officials (NACTO) is leading transportation planning toward streets that accommodate pedestrians and cyclists. However, the expectations that streets will incorporate stormwater management and pedestrian and cyclist improvements is less clearly conceptualized. Contrary to this division, the recently completed Niagara Street Cycle track in Buffalo, NY is one such example that combines stormwater and alternative transportation goals. In building Niagara Street, the City of Buffalo leveraged funding that was available for implementation of stormwater projects due to the city’s Consent Decree status and under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Many other US cities are also under an EPA Consent Decree for storm water. This initial research inventories similar street design projects within cities that have an EPA Consent Decree. From this cohort we will explore how funding sources are being leveraged to build street that incorporate stormwater management and pedestrian and cycling amenities.

Climate Education & Literacy: A Proven Pathway to Climate Action

Communications

Kurt Holland

Instructor

Cal Poly

Participants will explore three community-based climate action programs that have produced measurable and enduring results. From framing messages to launching community action programs, join us as explore how high-quality communication can change minds, build community and reduce or mitigate climate impacts. Our presentation uses California's coast locations for context, science communication as the method, and community based climate action as the goal.

Communication strategies for combating climate change fear and overwhelm

Communications

Lauren Kolodziejski

Professor

Cal Poly

This talk will outline simple communication strategies to use when trying to counteract feelings of fear or loss of hope in response to climate change news. 

Making Energy Sustainability Innovation Real at Stanford

Energy/Campus Sustainability

Lincoln Bleveans

Executive Director - Sustainability & Energy

Stanford

Climate change is changing everything at Stanford University, with comprehensive decarbonization at the forefront. In 2015, we commissioned a first-of-its-kind, $500 million district thermal energy system. That system, in turn, is now powered by 100% renewable energy. In the meantime, we are pushing the envelope of building energy efficiency and instrumentation and control across a diverse and demanding built environment. And we’ve only just begun – from transportation electrification to resource recovery to deep digitalization – for Stanford’s 24/7 operational benefit; to meet our aggressive sustainability, resilience, and justice goals; and as a living lab and global exemplar. My presentation brings the audience along for a deep dive into Stanford’s one-of-a-kind sustainability, operational decarbonization, and district energy journey. It’s a challenging and wonderful ride and, again, we have only just begun.

A nuclear-free green transition

Energy

Linda Seeley

Spokesperson

Mothers for Peace

There's a lot of talk now about needing nuclear energy to meet climate goals. Don't believe it. Nuclear power is expensive and it takes years to implement from planning to power production. In addition, nuclear power produces the most toxic substances ever created on the planet, and there is nowhere to safely store them for 200,000+ years. Using the money that's being spent on nukes and instead providing all roofs with solar panels and battery backup would be a good use of taxpayer dollars. Just in California, we have wind, geothermal, hydro, pumped storage, energy conservation and demand response to safely retire Diablo Canyon. We will explore the link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Questions welcomed!

Partnering with Community Farms

Agriculture

Lindsay Ringer

Professor

Cal Poly

Farm Conservation is a for profit grant-writing company founded this year to leverage partnerships and carbon farming projects on organic farms. We would like to address the critical importance of community farms in the face of climate change. Our current partners are City Farm SLO, First Fruits Farm and Avila Valley Barn. First Fruits farm is addressing food insecurity in our communities by donating fresh veggies and fruit to 7 food banks over the past 10 years. City Farm SLO is fostering community by hosting existing outreach programs like a garden for all, youth empowerment, farmer to farmer, college corps, and therapeutic horticulture. First Fruits is applying to a USDA Agricultural and Innovation grant due in March in partnership with the Food Bank and Glean SLO. City Farm SLO is considering expanding their youth empowerment programs by applying to AFRI next July with One Cool Earth, Cal Poly Initiative for Climate Leadership and Resilience, and the Center for Sustainability.

Climate smart agriculture: Creating Living Learning Labs in Higher Education

Agriculture

Lisa DePiano

Senior Lecturer

UMass Stockbridge School of Agriculture

We will go through an overview what climate smart agriculture is, and the benefits of creating living learning laboratories for student exploration and innovation. This talk will use the UMass Carbon Farming Initiative, a two acre silvopasture and alleycropping outdoor classroom and demonstration site at UMass Amherst's Agriculture Learning Center as a case study.

Fair Trade Business and Climate Change

Business

LynAnne Wiest

Manager

HumanKind Fair Trade

The most impoverished people on our planet are feeling the effects of climate change more acutely than the rest of the world population. Fair Trade, a global movement and an ethical way of doing business, is working to create opportunities for these people to fight climate change, preserve natural resources, and create sustainable income so that these vulnerable populations can thrive.

SLI: Carbon Cycle Institute and the Regional Hub Program

Agriculture

Lynette Niebrugge

Associate Director, Carbon Farming Education

Carbon Cycle Institute

The Carbon Cycle Institute (CCI) advances the carbon cycle as the fundamental organizing process underlying land management and on-farm conservation in our efforts to mitigate and adapt to the global climate crisis. Their mission is to stop and reverse global climate change by advancing natural, science-verified solutions that reduce atmospheric carbon while promoting environmental stewardship, social equity, and economic sustainability. Over the last five years, CCI’s capacity building efforts have focused on building a Carbon Farming Network in California, in partnership with local Resource Conservation Districts. The CF Network has come a long way in a short period of time. To date, CCI has trained over 100 RCD carbon farm planners and helped establish nascent carbon farming programs at 32 RCDs across California. RCDs, working with farmers and ranchers in their districts, have completed 137 carbon farm plans, encompassing approximately 71,440 acres of agricultural lands, with a total estimated potential, if fully implemented, to sequester more than 1.7 million metric tons of carbon by year 20. Network members are currently working with producers in 39 counties, encompassing a diversity of climatic regions, ecosystems, soil types, and agricultural production systems, paving the way for broad adoption of carbon farming and soil health practices. Join this session with CCI's Carbon Farm Planning Manager to learn more about this important work being done.

Planting Seeds for Basic Needs: Cultivating Sustainable Food Systems and Feeding Students

Campus Sustainability

Mabel Trigueros, Sarah Johnson

Lead Sustainability Specialist; Sustainable Agriculture Technician

CSU Northridge

Food is the largest single source of municipal landfill waste. While lack of access to affordable, healthy food is one of the most pressing issues among college students. For this reason, California State University, Northridge (CSUN) has worked to reduce campus food waste while also aiming to support food security among students. The Institute for Sustainability operates a traditional 1/2 acre Garden with fruit trees and native plants as well as a hydroponic vertical shipping container garden. CSUN students benefit from the fresh produce and service learning educational experiences, and produce is donated to the campus Food Pantry. This talk will provide an overview of the program, its impact, and how it's operated.

How Renewable Energy Concepts Can Save Water

Water/Business

Marc Cortez

CEO/Co-founder

Liquid8

This discussion will show how concepts like carbon credits can be used in the water market to help companies meet their net-zero-water goals. We have created a new energy commodity called Certified Water Credits - capturing home and business' water savings - and selling those to companies who are looking to offset their water usage. The result is empowering companies with new market-based tools to meet their corporate water goals.

Teaching Climate Change and Resilience

Campus Sustainability

Mark Stemen

Professor

CSU Chico

In the Spring of 2022, 62 faculty from six different California State University campuses representing over 30 disciplines participated in the CSU Faculty Learning Community in Teaching Climate Change and Resilience, the first multi-campus faculty learning community in CSU history. The FLC heard from over 20 speakers from inside and outside academia who connected faculty with a broad range of approaches and ideas, as well as resources that were well researched, relevant, and relatable. By June of 2022, over 75 classes spanning all fields of study—from Polymers to Plato—had been redesigned to include greater engagement of climate change and resilience. A panel of participants will discuss their experience.

Visualizing Climate for NASA's Earth Information Center

Science and Education

Mark Subbarao

Lead, Scientific Visualization Studio

NASA

NASA's Earth Information Center aims to show people the Earth as NASA sees it. The hybrid (physical and virtual) exhibit is a data visualization rich experience which shows NASA data and highlights the experiences of various individuals using that data to build climate resiliency. This talk will give an overview of the Earth Information Center and highlight some of the design considerations that go into creating effective climate data visualizations.

The Power of Stories in Climate Solutions

Environmental Justice

Matt Scott

Director of Storytelling and Engagement

Project Drawdown

According to climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe, one of the most important things we can do when it comes to climate change is talk about it. While conversation is a step in the right direction, how we talk about climate and whose voices we uplift also matter. Too often the voices of those on the frontlines of the crisis—including Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color (BIPOC)—are overlooked or ignored. How can we use stories to “pass the mic” to those who frequently go unheard – and, in the process, bring effective solutions to life?

Join Project Drawdown’s director of storytelling & engagement Matt Scott to learn how and why Project Drawdown is embracing storytelling and “passing the mic” to unheard voices. Learn about the work of the Drawdown Stories program and the Drawdown’s Neighborhood documentary series, which has featured nearly 50 everyday climate heroes to date across the United States.

What is the problem with the climate stories we currently tell? Why do stories matter in climate solutions? How can stories help build power, shape culture, and change behavior? Why are BIPOC voices critical to the dialogue? How can you and your communities leverage stories to address climate change? Join this session to walk away with a better understanding of the power of stories in solutions.

Radiative Forcing and the Greenhouse Effect

Science and Education

Matthew Zoerb

Professor

Cal Poly

Planetary climate is controlled by the balance between energy flowing in and out of the Earth system. The greenhouse effect is an atmospheric process that maintains warm temperatures by retaining some of the energy provided by sunlight. Radiative forcing describes how processes shift the balance of energy by introducing warming or cooling contributions to the energy budget. These topics will be presented in the context of today’s changing climate.

Green Campus Impact Report

Campus Sustainability

Maya Sandhofer

AmeriCorps VIP Fellow

Cal Poly

Join us for a discussion of the remarkable achievements of Green Campus, a student team working under Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability here at Cal Poly. During the 2022-2023 school year, our expanded team successfully launched a variety of projects aimed at making campus more sustainable. Come hear the impacts we made on energy efficiency, water conservation, campus reuse, and student engagement, as well as our goals for the future.

Energy Demand Slashed By Electrifying Heat & Transport

Energy

Michael Barnard

Chief Strategist

TFIE Strategy Inc.

The era of molecules for energy is drawing to a close. As it exits, stage left, gliding in from the right is a new era of electricity. It's the future of all energy, and it's much more efficient. As we electrify heating and transportation and pivot to renewable generation, the amount of energy we need plummets. This is counter-intuitive because obviously electricity demand will increase. Burning coal, oil and gas for transportation, heat and electricity results in wasting a lot of the energy embodied in it. About two-thirds of all the energy that enters our economy wafts away into the sky.

SLI: Digitalizing Government Processes with cBrain

Agriculture

Michael Larcher

Solution and Sustainability Lead North America

cBrain

Improved cookstoves in Central America and their measured reduction in CO2 Emissions

Environmental Justice

Mike Hatfield

Director of Monitoring and Evaluation

StoveTeam International

StoveTeam International has distributed over 80,000 improved cookstoves in the past 15 years in Central America to replace cooking over a traditional open fire. These stoves have been found to provide many benefits to the recipients including reduced fuel use, reduced smoke in the kitchen and reduced chance of dangerous burns. Over the past three years we have added a monitoring system to our project to quantify the actual CO2 emission reductions resulting from the reduced fuel use. This system not only helps quantifies the actual impact of our work but has given us a framework and an incentive for better placement resulting in not only better analysis of our impact but improved impact in general.

A SLO Social Enterprise Nursery's approach to climate change and mental wellness

Business

Nick Deinhart

Vocational Services Director

TMHA

Wholesale nurseries can play a role in promoting positive responses to climate change by growing their offerings of draught tolerant plants. Yet, the lack of consumer demand and need for profit often prevents nurseries from leading this charge. The Growing Grounds Nursery in SLO is uniquely positioned to take up this charge by focusing on the social benefit of its businesses while offering therapeutic vocational services to County residents with mental health challenges. Staff from SLO's Growing Grounds Nursery will discuss how cultivating, nurturing, and selling drought tolerant plans using horticultural therapy practices contributes to climate change solutions.

Designing and building the world’s first fusion power plant

Energy

Nick Lima

Vice President, Engineering

Helion Energy

Helion, a fusion power company based in Everett, WA, has set an ambitious goal to build the world’s first fusion power plant and have it operating as soon as 2028. Nick Lima, Helion’s Vice President of Engineering, will provide insight into how the company approaches this goal and the parallelized engineering paths entailed to deliver electricity to the grid as fast as possible. The presentation will feature discussions related specifically to electrical and mechanical engineering design, as well as an overview of Helion’s latest progress.

Creating Manufacturing Capacity in a Poor Country for a new Green Technology

Environmental Justice

Pete Schwartz

Professor

Cal Poly

I've spent this year traveling through Africa, and Nepal (where I'm writing this abstract), in the effort to create local manufacturing capacity for a clean cooking technology we developed at Cal Poly. Multitudes of challenges provided daily lessons in what it takes to create an industry, and how my African collaborators need to change if they are to succeed. After three months in Nepal, we are poised to begin manufacturing a product for distribution, providing a template for success that will NOT be easy to replicate in Africa. Why? I have three months to unpack that before the talk.

No Clean Energy Under Extractivism

Environmental Justice, Energy

Raquel Dominguez

Circular Economy Policy Advocate

EarthWorks

For decades, mining companies have waged a rhetorical campaign to convince Global North governments, residents, and consumers that the only solution to the climate crisis is more mining and less regulations. For even longer, Indigenous and other communities on the front lines of hardrock mining extraction have been resisting this narrative and searching for alternatives to relentless extraction. Transitioning away from a fossil fuel-based economy under an extractivist, linear economic model will not be just for these communities. Instead, Global North governments at all levels should develop and implement circular economy policies prioritizing demand reduction and reusing and recycling already-extracted minerals.

Biochar: An Important Natural Climate Solution

Agriculture

Raymond Baltar

Biochar Projects Manager

Sonoma Ecology Center

The use of biochar to enhance agricultural production has been used by indigenous farmers for centuries in the Amazon and around the world. The modern movement to scale biochar production and use recognizes these important benefits, but also emphasizes its ability to help solve forestry and agronomic "waste" problems while also providing a strategy for sequestering carbon in soil and as a replacement for fossil inputs in industry. Biochar production also produces both heat and gases that can be used as renewable energy. This talk will discuss what biochar is and its multiple benefits, how it can be produced by small land holders or in larger industrial settings, and why it is considered one of the least expensive natural climate solutions available today.

SLO Climate Justice Alliance

Environmental Justice

Rita Casaverde, Eric Veium

Executive Director, Co-Founder and Chair

Diversity Coalition (SLO), SLO Climate Coalition

The San Luis Obispo County Climate Justice Alliance (SLOCCJA) is a newly founded group of nonprofit and community-based organizations united in the pursuit of environmental justice, climate resilience, and sustainability initiatives. Its goal is to ensure that every person on the Central Coast has access to a fair share of dwindling natural resources by advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the regional response to climate change. This session will provide an overview and update on the state of the Alliance.

How do technological climate solutions actually get implemented at scale?

Business

Ryan Dunfee

Engagement Manager, Buildings

ADL Ventures

Solar panels. Hydrogen-powered planes. Fusion energy. All three of these technologies offer huge potential as solutions to climate change. The first you're starting to see everywhere. The second, just a few demonstrations here and there. And the third is still very much in the research & development phase. Why?

Impactful technological solutions to climate change must get carefully ferried down a rocky road full of obstacles, potholes, unanticipated left turns, and steep hills. For students & others interested in understanding how their own careers can help climate solutions get deployed at scale, understanding what this road looks like, and where along the journey their skills are most useful, is essential. Ryan Dunfee of ADL Ventures, which focuses on building new companies to ensure decarbonization in buildings, transportation, and energy happens at scale, will speak from ADL's experience working with startups, governments, and large corporations to get climate innovations successfully adopted into the market at the scale necessary to benefit people and the planet.

Rumores Renovables: Analyzing the Online Ecosystem of Spanish-Speaking Communities Opposed to Renewable Energy Initiatives

Communications

Santiago Lakatos

Intelligence Analyst

Graphika

This talk will detail Graphika’s research on the specific dynamics of the online Spanish-language conversation that opposes renewable energy sources in the U.S. and internationally. Through social network analysis, we found that the Spanish-language anti-renewables conversation is characterized by a range of narratives, and driven by actors from Spain, Latin America, and other ideologically aligned communities. We also uncovered insights into the dynamics and tactics used to spread this discourse across platforms. 

While no coherent network exists focused solely on spreading anti-renewable narratives to U.S. audiences, influential accounts serve as bridges. Prominent narratives include claims that wildfires are being used to clear land for renewable energy projects and broad claims that renewable energy projects cause significant harm to the environment. Mirroring some key findings from our first report, these accounts aren’t exclusively focused on environmental topics – instead, they are connected by ideological affinity and shared language, focused on advancing right-wing narratives, some of which occasionally involve pushing back against renewable energies. Consistent with our previous findings, the volume of content produced by these communities correlates directly with extreme weather events or environmental policy updates featuring renewable energies. Understanding this complex ecosystem is key to communicating the risks of climate change and the measures needed to address it with Spanish-speakers in the U.S. and worldwide.

An Out of This World View of Climate Change

Science and Education

Susan Callery

Managing Editor, climate.nasa.gov

NASA JPL

See amazing photos and graphics from NASA that bring the causes and impacts of climate change into focus. 

What are Community Choice Agencies (CCAs) and How Do They Support Rooftop Solar in CA?

Energy

Taylor van Rossum, Nevia Stickney

SEI Energize College Interns

Cal Poly

Rooftop solar plays a vital role in California’s energy production, and incentivizing homeowners and businessowners to participate is a key component in the pursuit of a sustainable, clean energy future. Attend this free webinar to learn about the impact of rooftop solar and hear the results of research on the policies of 11 California Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) on true-up, compensation, and incentives.

Commissioning for Building Energy Reduction

Built Environment

Travis McDaniel

Associate | Commissioning Co-Director

Guttmann & Blaevoet

The built environment accounts for about 76% of electricity use and 40% of all primary energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. This is more than transportation (~37%). This talk will give an overview of the Commissioning Process as a way to reduce energy consumption in new and existing buildings. We will also discuss how other roles play their part in reducing energy in buildings (engineers, contractors, building owners).

Communicating soil care to inspire collective action

Agriculture

Yamina Pressler

Professor

Cal Poly

Soils degradation is a global challenge and soil conservation is key to addressing the climate crisis. Efforts to communicate the importance of soils to humanity often focus on utilitarian values and ecosystem services that soils provide. To better understand the approaches that soil scientists use to frame arguments about soil conservation and management, we conducted a thematic review of soil editorials published in prominent scientific journals. We found that soil scientist's key messages aligned with suggested messaging from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Soil health as an outcome of soil management was a common theme, but the practice of soil care was rarely communicated explicitly. Reflecting on this communication gap, I will present two examples of how I prioritize soil care and the intrinsic values of soils in my public communication work. Both case studies (an essay series and a documentary film) aim to engage new audiences in conversations about soils. I will provide principles for building community engagement through authenticity and intentional messaging, and suggest recommendations for future soil science communication efforts to inspire collective action amidst the climate crisis.