Pacific Institute Online Update for October 2004

OCTOBER 2004 HEADLINES

San Francisco Climate Plan Taps Pacific Institute Research

With climate change accelerating and the United States government paralyzed at the federal level, the City of San Francisco released an aggressive Climate Action Plan to combat global warming. The plan aims, by 2012, to bring San Francisco's green-house emissions down to 20 percent below 1990 levels. At a September 27 press conference, attended by Mayor Gavin Newsom and staff from the city's Department of the Environment and Public Utilities Commission, Dr. Peter Gleick made the case that climate change will have severe impacts for San Francisco and the Bay Area -- unless we begin to take action. The San Francisco Climate Action Plan also includes a map the Pacific Institute created of areas around the Bay that are vulnerable to flooding from rising sea levels.

The San Francisco Climate Action Plan is available online.

Institute Co-Hosts Meeting on New Environmental Management and Reporting Standards

Ceres, Tellus Institute, and the Pacific Institute co-hosted a multi-stakeholder focus group meeting in San Francisco in mid-September to gain feedback on two complementary reporting tools. The tools will help organizations achieve improved economic, environmental, and social performance and communicate this information to stakeholders.

The two guidance documents discussed were the Draft Facility Sustainability Reporting Guidance, issued by the Facility Reporting Project, and the External Value Environmental Management System Voluntary Guidance: Getting Value by Addressing Stakeholder Needs (PDF), issued by the Multi-State Working Group on Environmental Performance.

UPCOMING

10/7/04, West Oakland Community Health Survey Release [West Oakland, Calif.], The health survey release will take place at the Prescott Joseph Center, 920 Peralta, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Info: Emily Lee, 510-251-1600 or elee @ pacinst.org.

10/19/04, Nevada Water Resources Association - Southern Nevada Symposium [Las Vegas, NV], Michael Cohen will participate on a panel entitled "Path Forward for Sustainability of Southern Nevada's Water Resources," and on an overview panel of the questions that have been discussed throughout the symposium. Info online.

11/17/04, The World's Water 2004-2005 Book Release [Washington, D.C.], The Pacific Institute and Island Press will release the new edition of The World's Water at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Info: Ian Hart, 510-251-1600 or ihart @ pacinst.org

11/18-11/19/04, POWER Conference [Los Angeles, CA], Michael Cohen will discuss Colorado River basin drought conditions and solutions on two different panels. Dr. Gary Wolff will present his paper, "Economies of Scale and Scope in River Basin Management," to the Watershed Management panel. Info online.

STAFF UPDATES

9/28/04, Dr. Peter Gleick gave a talk to UC Berkeley's Introduction to Environmental Studies taught by Professor Robert Haas and Garrison Sposito.

9/24-9/25/04, Staff from the Pacific Institute's Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice program participated in the First Annual Environmental Justice Summit in Richmond, Calif. Panelists included activists from the greater Bay Area and representatives from state and local regulatory agencies. Margaret Gordon from the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project presented the organization's past accomplishments and the new collaborative process with US EPA.

9/23/04, The Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice (CSSJ) program provided comments to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's new region-wide Ozone plan at a community meeting in Richmond, Calif. The plan includes a new rule to control refinery flaring as well as model ordinance for the enforcement of diesel truck idling restriction in the Bay area's cities and counties. The District also presented their new Community Air Risk Evaluation (CARE) program, which will assess the health risk from toxic air contamination in the Bay Area. The CSSJ program will continue to monitor the progress of the CARE program as it is implemented.

9/22/04, Margaret Gordon and Emily Lee attended and helped coordinate a West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project Committee Meeting at the West Oakland Senior Center. Committee members gave feedback on a city-proposed truck route for West Oakland and EIP Co-Chair, Allen Edson, presented new data on lead.

9/21/04, Emily Lee and Margaret Gordon attended the Alameda County Pilot Stakeholder Meeting, which presented health-tracking data on traffic pollution in Alameda County. Ms. Gordon gave a presentation on the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project's efforts to fight traffic pollution in West Oakland.

9/20-9/21/04, Jason Morrison attended the kickoff meeting of the UNEP-led Sustainable Development Best Practices Network (BPN) initiative. Held in Paris, the meeting was attended by representatives of UNEP and sustainable development experts from around the world. The meeting focused on developing a common set of priorities for the BPN and defining the role of the different sectors represented. Once launched, the BPN will focus on sharing and building knowledge relating to sustainable development.

9/10/04, Dr. Peter Gleick attended the United Nations Environment Programme's GEO-4 Meeting in Washington D.C.

9/9/04, Michael Cohen organized and participated in a Salton Sea Coalition meeting held in San Diego. At the meeting two of the most prominent Salton Sea rehabilitation alternatives were described by their proponents, and reviewed by Coalition members.

9/8/04, Michael Cohen participated in the California Department of Water Resources Salton Sea Advisory Committee meeting held in San Diego.

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