Sustainable Futures Speaker Series
This interdisciplinary speaker series, established in September 2005, is intended to stimulate cross disciplinary discussion, debate, and collaboration around issues related to energy, the environment, and society. The series is sponsored by the Environment and Community Program and the Schatz Energy Research Center. All members of the HSU community and the general public are welcome to attend these presentations.
Spring 2013
Unless otherwise noted, events are 5:30pm-7:00pm Thursdays in BSS 166
John Laird
February 21
“California’s Sustainable Resources Future”
John Laird was appointed California Secretary for Natural Resources by Governor Jerry Brown on January 5, 2011. He has spent 35 years in public service, including 23 years as an elected official. In 2002, Laird was elected to represent the 27th Assembly District in the California Assembly, which includes portions of Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara Counties. While serving the maximum three terms in the Assembly, Laird authored 82 bills that were signed into law. Laird was a member of the State Integrated Waste Management Board from 2008-2009. Laird has been a long-time resident of Santa Cruz with his spouse John Flores. He has traveled extensively, is fluent in Spanish, enjoys conducting family history research, and is a life-long Chicago Cubs fan.
Nicholas L. Lam
March 7
“Let There Be (Clean) Light: How Kerosene Lighting in Developing Countries Is Contributing to Climate Warming and the Global Disease Burden”
Nick’s primary research interests address the relationships among household fuel use, air quality and human health. His current research focuses on measuring and modeling the contribution of household cooking and lighting in developing countries on human exposure, disease risk, and emissions of climate-altering air pollutants. He has conducted and managed numerous evaluations of cookstove performance and program impacts throughout Africa, South Asia and Latin America. This experience has allowed him the opportunity to develop curricula and training programs for local organizations and researchers on techniques for monitoring and evaluating household energy projects. He most recently served as director of the first US CDC Summer Cookstove Research Institute in Antigua, Guatemala. Prior to his efforts in household energy, he investigated the effects of air pollution on lead paint deterioration and its potential contribution to historic lead exposure in children. He is currently a doctoral student in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.
Julie Guthman
March 14
“Fat Places? Exploring Environmental Causes of Obesity”
Julie Guthman is a professor of social sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz where she teaches courses primarily in global political economy and the politics of food and agriculture. Since receiving her PhD in 2000 in Geography from the University of California at Berkeley, she has published extensively on contemporary efforts to transform the way food is produced, distributed, and consumed, with a particular focus on voluntary food labels, community food security, farm-to-school programs, and the race and class politics of “alternative food.” Her first book, Agrarian Dreams: the Paradox of Organic Farming in California, (University of California, 2004), won the Frederick H. Buttel Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement from the Rural Sociological Society and the Donald Q. Innis Award from the Rural Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. Her recent book, Weighing In: Obesity, Food Justice, and the Limits of Capitalism (University of California, 2011) was awarded the 2012 James M. Blaut Innovative Publication Award from the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and the 2012 Book Award from the Association for the Study of Food and Society.
Jonathan Woolley
March 28
“Radically Efficient Design for Zero Net Energy Buildings”
Jonathan Woolley is an Associate Engineer with the Western Cooling Efficiency Center at the University of California Davis. Woolley’s building science research focuses on design, development and control of low energy mechanical systems. His efforts target full-scale demonstration and evaluation of emerging technologies for commercial and residential buildings, with a focus on strategies to enable Zero Net Energy construction. While these demonstrations employ cutting edge mechanical technologies, his building design philosophy is founded on passive techniques that reduce the need for active mechanical systems.
Mr. Woolley will share about the integrative design of a Zero Net Energy home in Davis, CA that will generate enough electricity on site to cover household needs, plus the annual drive cycle for an electric vehicle. The home employs many innovative design techniques to address inefficiencies in every aspect of standard residential construction. Some of these elements include a highly-insulated building envelope, radiant heating and cooling, grey water heat recovery, passive ventilation, very high efficiency nighttime cooling strategies, and multi-function mechanical systems to provide heating, cooling, and domestic hot water. The home is slated for construciton in 2013 and should serve as an example and research case to support California’s goals for Zero Net Energy residential construction by 2020.
Bill Stewart
April 4
“Timber Harvests and Managed Forests: Good or Bad for Climate Change?”
Bill Stewart is a Cooperative Extension Forestry Specialist based at the University of California Berkeley since 2007. He is also the Director of the Center for Forestry that oversees Berkeley’s research forests and the Co-Director for the Center for Fire Research and Outreach. His research and extension efforts focus on defining and promoting sustainable forest management activities that will have both local and global benefits. Before completing his PhD on California forestry, he spent a decade working in Asia on forestry and rural development projects.
Carol Rische and Sheri Woo
April 11
“Evaluating Mad River Water Use Options: A Local Issue with Regional Impacts”
Carol Rische joined the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District (HBMWD) in 1996, and for three years, worked in an administrative capacity for the former General Manager, Art Bolli. In March 2000 she was appointed General Manager and has been serving in that capacity since that time.
Prior to joining the HBMWD, Carol worked for PG&E for 12 years in their corporate headquarters (San Francisco), first in an engineering capacity, then managerial.
Carol earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Davis and her Master of Business Administration from California State University, Hayward. She is a registered Professional Engineer.
Sheri Woo is a licensed civil engineer who writes environmental science content. She prepares permitting documents with HT Harvey & Associates, is a Board Director of the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District, holds shares in a local environmental firm, and is chair of the ArMack Orchestra parent committee, because in Humboldt County, one can’t have too many jobs.
Laurie Richmond
April 18
“Incorporating Human Dimensions into Environmental Management: A Story in Three Acts”
Laurie Richmond is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Management at Humboldt State University. Her research focuses on developing collaborative relationships with natural resource-dependent communities to examine how they navigate both political and ecological changes in their resource systems. She has worked with the Alaska Native village of Old Harbor Alaska, and with indigenous communities in New Mexico, Hawai`i, and the Commonwealth of the Norther Marianas Islands (CNMI) on natural resource issues.
Jen Marlow
May 2
“Climate Change and Human Rights: Justice Beyond Law”
Jen Marlow co-founded Three Degrees, a multidisciplinary climate justice project, and is an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle. Jen graduated from Middlebury College in 2002 with a degree in environmental studies and literature, and earned her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law in 2010. Prior to law school, Jen worked as an editor at Orion magazine and as a writer and editor at Ecotrust. Jen is a member of the Washington State Bar.
Fall 2012
Unless otherwise noted, events are 5:30pm-7:00pm Thursdays in BSS 166
Greg Davis
September 6
“Curiosity and Beyond: Exciting Developments in NASA’s Unmanned Space Program”
There have been many exciting developments in NASA’s unmanned space program recently, the most recent of which being Curiosity’s impressive Martian landing on August 5, 2012. In this seminar, Dr. Davis will share the latest news regarding Curiosity’s nascent explorations, as well as recount highlights from over the last 24 months of the two planetary encounters and five new missions that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, NASA’s lead center for unmanned robotic exploration of the solar system and beyond has managed. This talk will provide an overview of the key science, engineering, and technology features of these exciting missions, and conclude with some of the speaker’s perspectives on future directions in space exploration.
Dr. Davis has worked for the past 23 years as a member of the technical staff at JPL, where he is currently the Chief Technologist for the Mechanical Systems Division. Greg has also been a Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Caltech for the past six years. Most recently, he served as chair for the many payload reviews on Juno, now on its journey to Jupiter after being launched in August 2011. Greg was also the mechanical systems engineer for cruise, entry, descent and landing on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Project, where—among other things—he was responsible for developing an end-to-end mechanical verification program for the Spirit and Opportunity Rovers. Prior to MER, Greg supported several planetary spacecraft programs at JPL including Mars Pathfinder, for which he received a NASA Honor Award for Exceptional Engineering Achievement, ST4/Champollion, and NSCAT. He is also the recipient of three Group Achievement NASA Honor Awards. Before arriving at JPL, Greg worked as an exploration geophysicist in Houston, Texas and as a physics teacher in Stow, Ohio, both for five years. Greg holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University, B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics from the University of Akron, and just received his EMBA from the Drucker School of Business at Claremont Graduate University in May 2012.
Matthew Marshall and Jim Zoellick
September 20
“RePowering Humboldt: A Strategic Plan to Scale Up Renewable Energy Use in Humboldt County”
Humboldt County has the opportunity to satisfy the majority of its energy needs using local renewable resources. This can be accomplished by aggressively implementing energy efficiency, utilizing abundant biomass, wind, wave and small hydro energy resources, and electrifying the transportation and heating sectors. The Redwood Coast Energy Authority and the Schatz Energy Research Center are developing a strategic energy plan that can lead the county toward a sustainable, low-carbon energy future. Matthew and Jim will discuss their community energy planning work and engage the audience in a dialog about the path forward.
Matthew Marshall is the Executive Director of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority. Over the last 12 years Matthew has been involved in a variety of energy and sustainable development planning, policy, and implementation endeavors. Most recently, Matthew served as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program Administrator for the City and County of Denver, where he was responsible for developing and managing greenhouse gas reduction projects and community partnerships in support of Denver’s Climate Action Plan. A graduate of Humboldt State University, Matthew’s work on innovative sustainable energy efforts has been recognized and honored by the National Hydrogen Association, the U.S. Department of Energy, the California Hydrogen Business Council, the American Lung Association, and the United States Congress.
Jim Zoellick is a Senior Research Engineer at the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University. Jim has worked in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency for the last 22 years. Currently he is conducting planning studies for renewable energy development and electric vehicle deployment in northern California communities.
Andrea Tuttle
October 4
“What Next for AB32? California’s Efforts to Implement the Global Warming Solutions Act”
Andrea Tuttle is a former Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and is now a consultant in forest and climate policy. She has attended the past 5 COPs (Conference of the Parties) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and will again be an Observer at this year’s COP in Doha, Qatar. She especially tracks the mechanism known as REDD+ (REDD plus) aimed at reducing emissions from loss of tropical forests. Andrea is also a Board Member for The Pacific Forest Trust, a think-tank NGO that helped pioneer the California Forest Protocols, and has kept thousands of acres of privately-owned forestland in sustainable production and prevented conversion to non-forest uses.
In the distant past Andrea taught Natural Resources at Humboldt State University and has served on the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Coastal Commission. Her Ph.D. is in Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley. Andrea is a strong advocate for retaining working forestlands for their climate benefits and their environmental, economic, and social values.
Corey Johnson
October 11
“Geopolitics of Overconsumption”
Corey Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Corey’s research and teaching areas include the political geography of Europe and Eurasia, borders and border security, natural resources and energy geopolitics, and Germany. In 2011-12 he was the Joachim Herz Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, DC, where he worked on a international collaborative report entitled “The Global Resource Nexus: The Struggles for Land, Energy, Food, Water, and Minerals.” Originally from Emporia, Kansas, Corey holds a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Oregon and a B.A. in geography (honors) and German from the University of Kansas.
Miguel Altieri
October 25
“Who Will Feed Us in a Planet in Crisis?”
Dr. Miguel A . Altieri is a professor of agroecology in the Department of Environmental Science, Management and Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Altieri has served as a Scientific Advisor to the Latin American Consortium on Agroecology and Development (CLADES) Chile, an NGO network promoting agroecology as a strategy for small farm sustainable development in the region, and as the General Coordinator for the United Nations Development Programme’s Sustainable Agriculture Networking and Extension Programme which aimed at capacity building on agroecology among NGOs and the scaling-up of successful local sustainable agricultural initiatives in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In addition, he was the chairman of the NGO committee of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research whose mission was to make sure that the research agenda of the 15 International Agricultural Research Centers benefited the poor farmers of the world. Currently, he is advisor to the FAO-GIAHS program (Globally Indigenous Agricultural Heritage Systems), a program devoted at identifying and dynamically conserving traditional farming systems in the developing world. He is the author of more than 200 publications, and numerous books including Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity, Pest Management in Agroecosystems, and Agroecology and the Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture.
Anthony Eggert
November 1
“California’s Clean Energy Future: Policies and Politics”
Anthony Eggert is the executive director of the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy, which is dedicated to leveraging University of California expertise to inform better policy.
From 2007 through 2012, Anthony served as an appointee of Governors Brown and Schwarzenegger in several senior policy positions including science and technology policy advisor to the chair of the Air Resources Board, commissioner for the California Energy Commission, and deputy secretary for energy policy of the California Environmental Protection Agency overseeing clean energy and environmental policy development for California.
Prior positions include advising the University of California on federal energy and climate policy, directing research on low-carbon fuels and vehicles at UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies, and as an engineer and then manager for Ford Motor Company. Anthony serves on the boards of the Alliance to Save Energy, the UC Energy Institute at Haas, the UC Transportation Sustainability Research Center, and is a technical advisor to the US Department of Energy.
Anthony received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison and master of science degree in transportation technology and policy at UC Davis.
Mark Baker
November 29
“Neoliberalism and the Environment: The Case of Small Hydropower Development in the Western Himalaya”
Mark Baker is Associate Professor in the Politics Department and Coordinator of the Environment and Community M.A. in Social Science Program at Humboldt State University. He recently conducted six months of field research on small hydropower development in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, funded by an American Institute of Indian Studies research fellowship.