Pacific Institute Online Update for July 2004

Upcoming
July 13, 2004
PBS will screen the water privatization documentary “Thirst” on its acclaimed “P.O.V” (point of view) series at 10:00 pm (check local listings). The Pacific Institute served as advisors on the film and contributed to the P.O.V website that accompanies the documentary. More info: www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/thirst/

July 20, 2004
Dr. Gary Wolff will present “Waste Not, Want Not” to The Southern California Water Dialogue from 12:00 to 3:00 pm. The Dialogue is a monthly gathering of water agencies, environmental and watershed organizations, consultants, and state and congressional staff to discuss, question, and challenge each other on water issues that affect Southern California. More info:
www.socalwaterdialouge.org.

Pacific Institute Launches New Website
Visitors to our website might have thought they were in the wrong place as our long-standing, but out-dated, website was replaced on June 15 with a new, more colorful design. But of course we revamped our site for more than just aesthetics -- we hope our new site will be easier to navigate and more coherent in presenting our work. The Pacific Institute site now features an improved document search, up-to-date relational news feeds, and more content. The site redesign was put into place by production artist Selena Chau and template-designer Arena Reed under the direction of the Pacific Institute staff and Communications Director Nicholas Cain. Please let us know if you have any questions, problems or feedback. We hope you enjoy our new website!
http://www.pacinst.org

West Oakland Health Survey Seeks Spanish-Speaking Volunteers
The West Oakland Health Survey, an effort to get reliable information on health and environmental conditions in West Oakland, will take place on July 28th, 29th, and 31st. Want to help? Interested volunteers, particularly those fluent in Spanish, should contact Emily Lee at elee(at)pacinst.org or call (510) 251-1600. This pilot health survey is a project of the Coalition for West Oakland Revitalization (CWOR) and the Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice program at Pacific Institute.

STAFF UPDATES
June 5-11, 2004
As part of our ongoing Water and Conflict work, Peter Gleick travelled to Costa Rica for a joint workshop with Oregon State Univesity on reducing conflict over water resource.

June 10-13, 2004
Catalina Garzon attended the "Crossroads: Critical Issues in Community-Based Research Partnerships" conference in Hartford, CT, sponsored by the Institute for Community Research.

June 13-20, 2004
Gary Wolff traveled to in Beijing and Yunnan to participate in the second leg of a Woodrow Wilson Center-sponsored River Basin Management . While in China Dr. Wolff presented the Institute's recent report on water conservation, “Waste Not, Want Not” to the Environmental Protection Bureau of Tianjin City, and to students and faculty of the Department of Environmental Engineering and Sciences at Tsinghua University.

June 14, 2004
Meena Palaniappan attended a meeting of the West Oakland Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council to talk about illegal truck traffic in the neighborhood and air pollution. There was great interest in the issue among community residents and many residents shared their frustrations about trucks idling and parking in their neighborhood, and decided to meet again about moving truck related businesses out to the Oakland Army Base.

June 16, 2004
Jason Morrison attended a training, organized by the ISEAL Alliance, on implementation of its newly released Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards. The training, which took place in New York City, provided Morrison valuable insights regarding best to advocate reform regarding standards development within ISO

June 17, 2004
Peter Gleick debated water privatization with Adrian Moore of the Reason Foundation and John Sylvia of Aqua International at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. Bay Area radio station KALW will air the program on July 13 at 1:00 pm. CDs of the discussion can be purchased for $12 from the Commonwealth Club. More info: www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/index.html

June 17, 2004
Margaret Gordon and Emily Lee attended a regional workshop organized by RAMP, the Prevention Institute, and Urban Habitat entitled "Housing, Asthma, and Health Workshop: Sharing Strategies and Building Alliances.” Ms. Gordon gave a presentation on her experience in the environmental justice movement and the issue of diesel effects in West Oakland. Discussions during the workshop addressed the question of how community-based organizations can work together to reduce diesel exposure, develop more affordable and low-income housing, and create positive changes in accessing quality health care.

June 19, 2004
Margaret Gordon and Emily Lee attended the Parent Leadership & Engagement Academy (PLEA) Summit at Lowell Middle School in West Oakland, CA. West Oakland EIP, Pacific Institute, and InfoOakland organized and presented a workshop for PLEA parents, which focused on the powerful use of data, community participation, and how to frame the fight for social and community change.

June 21-22, 2004
Jason Morrison participated in an ISO-organized conference focusing on what role ISO should play in the development of standards relating to Corporate Social Responsibility. Subsequent to the two-day event, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden, ISO’s senior management announced ISO’s intention to move forward with the development a guidance standard on the topic.

June 22, 2004
Emily Lee, Margaret Gordon, and Catalina Garzon attended the "Building up health communities, breaking down health disparities" workshop in Oakland, CA, sponsored by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network and the Prevention Institute.

June 21-22, 2004
Peter Gleick attended the June meeting of the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Academy of Sciences

June 24-25, 2004
Catalina Garzon represented Pacific Institute at the last two days of the San Francisco Foundation's "It Takes All of Us" series on race and power dynamics for their environmental health and justice grantees.

June 26, 2004
Meena Palaniappan co-hosted a toxic tour in West Oakland for members of the Sustainable Communities Leadership program. The toxic tour stopped at numerous sites in West Oakland and at the Port of Oakland and participants heard about successful efforts of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project to shut down Red Star Yeast, reduce diesel pollution from the Port of Oakland, and gentrification in the neighborhood.

June 28-30, 2004
Jason Morrison attended the 7th annual “Learning Together” conference of the Multi-State Working Group on Environmental Performance held in Charleston, West Virginia.

June 28, 2004
William C.G. Burns published “The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Migratory Species and the Role of the CMS” in the latest issue of the Bulletin of the Convention on Migratory Species.

June 29, 2004
Margaret Gordon, Catalina Garzon, and Emily Lee attended the InfoOakland Training workshop for West Oakland community members and advocacy organizations held at the Oakland Technology Exchange West (OTX). The objective is to close the digital divide, gain organizing tools, and use data for making change in West Oakland. The kick-off was well received by the participants and InfoOakland, Pacific Institute staff and EIP have been asked to organize more community trainings on data collection and how to use the information. More info: http://infooakland.org/

June 29, 2004
Meena Palaniappan, Emily Lee, and Margaret Gordon attended a West Oakland Community Health Survey planning meeting at the Prescott Joseph Center in West Oakland, CA. Ms. Palaniappan hosted the meeting, whose attendees included local health agencies and community-based organizations. For more information on how to participate, see headlines above.

A version of this newsletter is available online:
www.pacinst.org/publications/online_update/

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