Report by Dr. Sam Doctors, CalState University-Hayward, on May 25, 1995
Notes prepared by Jim Stewart, SCCED
We started at CalState Hayward four years ago to do applied environmental research, and received a small grant from the California Solid Waste Board in 1991. We want to integrate environmental research and education with the rest of the university. This year we got $0.5 million from the USEPA Office of Research and Development inserted as a line item by the US Congress for an Urban Environmental Research and Education Center. The Center initially includes the 5 CalState universities in the Bay Area. But our mission is very broad, it is to eventually work with all universities in the state. Our projected activities include:
However, the political change in the Congress this year is making funding very difficult. We managed to escape the current recission bill, but we need specifically appropriated funding every year. We will make some grant awards this year, and we are going back for more money in the 1996 budget (but there is less money available for environmental programs).
One project is working with the three Federal Laboratories in the East Bay area, Lawrence-Livermore, Lawrence-Berkeley, and Sandia. Their loss of 25% of their funding, plus military base closings, will cost about 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the area. To help the labs commercialize their environmental technologies, we have set up the Alameda Center for Environmental Technology (ACET), but we have not received the seed money for it. We want to work on licensing intellectual properties, cleaning up military bases, environmental financing, etc. The President says this is a model program for the nation.
We have some key allies in Congress, especially Republican Representative Jerry Lewis, but our Democratic delegation has less influence.
Next year we want all CalState universities to be involved and in the following year all universities and colleges, public and private. We hope to be working with local communities, including many in Southern California. We are looking to move into space at the Alameda Naval Air Station soon. We have only 3 full time staff at present.
About 40% of our initial budget is for grants, and the rest for administration, including building bridges to programs like ACET. We hope some CSU faculty will work on applied research. We are working to create a mini-shopping center to sell recycled products. We want to establish an Environmental Funding Corporation to provide financial guarantees for funding environmental technologies.
Discussion:
Joe Haworth, LA County Sanitation District: We have problems communicating with the agriculture community. The heavy elements (lead, etc.) are out of our biosolids by-products, so they are very good for use on farmland. Our biosolids are great fertilizers and have minerals farmers need, but the pesticides/fertilizers people say our biosolids are no good. Could we have academic research that could help us? We could provide some money to support it.
Doctors: We have not looked at sustainable agriculture, I used to be a certified organic farmer, but it is going to take the state a long time to convert to organic farming.
Ted Crovello, Dean, CalState L.A.: The question we need to look at is, "What is the status of environmental research and education in Southern California, do we need such a Center here? Do we need to get the different groups together to work on this?"
Ruben McDavid, Mothers of East L.A.: For the last five years, we have been trying to convince people of the need for the involvement of the minority community in environmental issues. I have tried to work with several colleges and universities, but they have little interest in working with minority communities. I have 50 communities that want my environmental expertise. They want help to research landfills, contaminated sites, etc. but they do not have the expertise to do it themselves. We need trained minority researchers.
Doctors: The University of New Mexico is working with the communities on the border to provide expertise on water quality, etc. That could be a model for us. The USEPA has a program for minority small business people to become educated on the environment.
Cory Walsh, Director of Center for Environmental Education: Will you open an office in Southern California?
Doctors: Yes, and it could be focused on your concerns.
Walsh: Our Founder, Jayni Chase, testified before a Congressional Subcommittee last year and could be available again, if needed.
Crovello: We need an on-line list of all environmental education organizations in Southern California, but that has not happened. What are other unfilled niches?
Paul Turner, LA Economic Development Corporation: The Earth Spirit Bulletin Board does have a comprehensive list of organizations on-line. I believe the key is venture capital for environmental projects, such as solar power. We also need to look at environmental racism.
Doctors: The lack of venture capital is because the financial people see environmental technologies as risky investments, because of potential regulatory changes. We need to create a climate of certainty. Through ACET we are trying to expedite the certification of new environmental technologies. Clarisse Gaylord is the director of the environmental racism program at USEPA and could be helpful.
Kathleen West, Southern California Edison: We have a staff looking at environmental issues in Southern California, but because of utilities deregulation, our research budget has been cut from $8 to $2 million. How could we make our expertise available to the larger community?
Doctors: We are looking forward to working with the utilities.
We want to document the environmental education programs at universities and put environmental research on readily available databases.
Walsh: Our Center has spent six years collecting information and is putting it on-line.
Madeline Glickstein, Director, The Barbara Striesand Center for Conservancy Studies: We provide academic research and conference facilities. We are creating a teleconferencing facility. Our goal is to facilitate the connection of academic researchers, bring more funding for environmental activities into California, and provide a meeting center for researchers to meet for collaboration. We are focused on eco-system protection and sustainable development, but are interested in supporting other work.
Crovello: What is the best next step? Do we need a larger conference focusing on what is missing in Southern California?
Glickstein: We need an environmental clearinghouse, a bridge among organizations.
Ketcham: We need a better directory of environmental organizations, available both on-line and on paper. I collected a list of high school environmental clubs and hope the Center for Environmental Education can make it available.
Haworth: Nancy Pearlman's mailing list is comprehensive.
Crovello: What are the important environmental issues that need to be addressed in Southern California?
Glickstein: We lack a way to get people of color into environmental careers, there is one group that works with only 6 people a year to train them for this work.
Crovello: What is the next step to help move this?
Turner: Lillian Kawasaki put a program together on this topic, and the Mayor put together a conference involving the leadership, but not the grassroots people. We need information on job creation, perhaps an environmental technology trade association, to create more vitality in this job sector.
Dan Baskerville, Recycling Program Coordinator: There is a Market Development Zone program to assist recycling businesses.
McDavid: We can do things in a conference or on Internet, but we really need to get out and talk to the people and find out their needs.
Crovello: We are not able to come to closure in this discussion, because this topic is too broad, we are talking about environmental education, racism, technology, finance, etc.
Haworth: Our organizations all have different mission statements, the Southern California Environmental Alliance encompasses a very broad range of interests.
Doctors: There will be substantial cutbacks in Federal funding, the question is how to continue without funding (unless the people change their minds about Federal funding priorities).
Mary ____________: People want to avoid duplication in public programs and have them work together to use the resources very well.
Doctors: What are our priorities? Should we just clean up one or two military bases? I don't believe putting State money into recycling is really that helpful. We had a conference in San Francisco with a lot of vision, but not much implementation.
Jan G____, City of LA Environmental PR: I do environmental outreach to students, but we have lost 75% of our staff in the past year due to budget cutbacks.
Glickstein: We need pooling of our resources.
Ketcham: We need people to know who is doing what on what issues.
Crovello: We have a lot of information, what are we doing with what we have?
___: I represent a private environmental consulting firm in Santa Monica. We need to look at what is missing in our environmental work -- community involvement is important.
Turner: What is missing is strategy, the region is too big, and we can't get enough people together to create a common strategy, so the Center will have to create its own niche and programs.
Walsh: A couple of years ago, our Center put together a conference to assess how to complement each other, but no one was really ready to work together, perhaps now is the time. We have managed without government funds -- there is money in this town.
Haworth: Corporations and foundations provide money, but they need comprehensive proposals involving partnerships, with a coherent end point that we are aiming for.
Crovello: USEPA has either small grants with a maximum of $5,000 or the multi-million dollar category, but nothing in between. The rest of you can help us move together toward preparing a mega proposal with a combined effort.
Ketcham: We need to identify the various turfs.
Glickstein: We had an academic retreat for people to invent the new ideas. I am not clear if another one like that is needed here. We need to bridge the gaps among groups.
Haworth: SCCED convenes conferences, but perhaps their issue spread is so broad that people don't go because it is not focused on the narrow needs for their own work.
Crovello: We need a team of many different groups with some action results, such as a combined proposal that could be submitted for funding.
Walsh: All the water people could find each other and work together, and the same for the other issue areas.
Pari Parsa, Society for Public Health Education: I would like to see a research center tied to education and public advocacy training to help the development of strong public policies, so the public could be strong in advocacy on environmental issues.