Globalization Program Convenes CEO Water Mandate Meetings at World Water Week

In its capacity as operational arm of the CEO Water Mandate, the Pacific Institute's Globalization Program convened two meetings at this year's World Water Week in Stockholm. 

The first meeting was an extension of the initiative's ongoing work with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on corporate water accounting. This event brought together key stakeholders to discuss core issues relating to current and emerging water accounting practice and to identify opportunities for alignment, harmonization, and/or coordination. In particular, the meeting explored possibilities relating to Phase II of the Mandate's collaboration with UNEP ­-- the development of an online capacity-building platform that will attempt to characterize, categorize, and serve as a jump-off point for corporate water accounting tools and methodologies. This online tool will build on the corporate water accounting stocktaking exercise published in April 2010.

The second meeting -- open to all World Water Week participants -- aimed to inform interested stakeholders about the CEO Water Mandate and allow the Mandate Secretariat, endorsing companies, and NGO partners to share information about the initiative. This included:

ˇ         Informing the audience of the initiative, its objectives and approaches, as well as the initiative's three current focus areas/workstreams;

ˇ         Garnering feedback regarding the degree to which current approaches, focus areas, and workplan meet stakeholder needs and interests; and

ˇ         Gathering input from audience (and ideally common ground) on next steps for the Mandate.

The Mandate will hold its next working conference in Cape Town, South Africa, from November 14-17. Read more about the Pacific Institute's work with the CEO Water Mandate.

Community Strategies Launches Research Project for Formerly Incarcerated Residents in Richmond, Calif.

A new project launched this month by the Pacific Institute's Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice Program will advance community health and safety by building the capacity of a group of formerly incarcerated residents to research and take action on the challenges facing Richmond residents coming home after incarceration. Ten Community Researchers will participate in trainings and planning meetings led by the Institute over the next year, preparing them to plan and carry out primary research in an effort to improve service provision and employment opportunities for the Richmond community.

The project is a partnership with the Richmond Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) and Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO). ONS and CCISCO will provide leadership development capacity-building for the Community Researchers and support them as they advocate for solutions they develop in analyzing their findings. This exciting new area of work draws on the Institute's experience in developing curriculum and trainings on community-based research and partnering with community organizations to combine rigorous research methods with on-the-ground experience and strategies for implementing innovative policy solutions to complex social and environmental health and justice issues. For more information, contact Eli Moore.

Pacific Institute Advocates Solutions to Drinking Water Contamination

California's Irrigated Lands Program has granted waivers to the agricultural industry for years, exempting it from certain Clean Water Act standards; however, they are now considering increased monitoring and regulation. Drawing on our ongoing research on the impacts of nitrate contamination of groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley, the Pacific Institute provided input to the Irrigated Lands Program on the costs of drinking water for consumers and communities that had been excluded from the draft of the Environmental Impact Report and economic analysis of the state program.

Communities across the San Joaquin Valley cannot drink their tap water due to public and private wells being contaminated with nitrates. Nitrates can cause death in infants and contribute to various chronic illnesses, and are found at high levels largely due to over-application of agricultural fertilizers.

Pacific Institute Enters the Social Media World

The Institute is happy to announce the launch of our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Follow us to receive regular updates, news, links about the Institute, the water world, and environmental justice issues. Stay connected to the work that we do and show your support for research that produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity-in California, nationally, and internationally. We've set a goal to reach 500 "Likes" and Followers by the end of the month. Tell your friends about Pacific Institute, and invite them to check us out!

In Brief

- Governor Signs Salton Sea Legislation
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill by Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny (D) to create a new council to oversee the restoration of Salton Sea. The bill to create the Salton Sea Restoration Council passed the Assembly 51-25 on Aug. 31, the last day of the legislative session. It then passed the Senate 26-4 on September 27. The Pacific Institute, in conjunction with other organizations representing environmental, hunting, and fishing interests, sent the Governor a letter urging him to sign SB 51 which would establish a governance structure for Salton Sea restoration and revitalize the state's moribund efforts, a move the Pacific Institute has long advocated. The council will create a dedicated forum for developing a restoration plan for the Salton Sea, bringing transparency and collaboration to a process that has stalled in Sacramento. Read more about the Salton Sea.

- Institute Hosts International Visitors
On September 27, Pacific Institute staff hosted a group of 25 international visitors participating in the U.S. State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program. Guests and staff engaged in a lively exchange, and the Institute presented its latest research on the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, and efforts to reform California and Western water policy.

- Lucy Allen, research associate, participated in a panel on water and climate change at the Climate Corps Bay Area training on September 9. The training prepared 30 AmeriCorps members for internships with local governments, agencies, and nonprofit organizations to work on projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Bay Area.  Lucy gave a presentation entitled, "Water-Energy-Climate: Critical Links."

- Heather Cooley, co-director of the Water Program, attended the California Urban Water Conservation Council plenary meeting on September 15 in West Sacramento, CA. The following week, she participated in the Climate Leadership Academy in Boston, MA to learn what other U.S. cities are doing to advance climate change adaptation within their communities. Cooley was a member of Team Oakland, which consisted of staff from the City of Oakland. Teams from eleven other cities from across the nation attended. She also led a workshop on strategies for evaluating climate impacts on vulnerable communities.

- Matthew Heberger, research associate, gave a presentation to the San Francisco Chapter of the Construction Specification Institute on September 8 entitled, "California Water: Crisis or Crossroads." Later that month, he participated in a panel for the American Institute of Architects San Francisco Chapter event, Rising Coastlines -- What the Building Community Needs to Know. The panel addressed the impacts of climate change on the Bay Area's coastline and discussed proposed actions to mitigate the detrimental effects. 

- Catalina Garzón and Eli Moore, co-directors of the Community Strategies Program, were guest trainers at the DataCenter's Environmental Justice Research Camp on September 12. Garzón and Moore provided participants with an overview of photo-voice and community mapping as tools for conducting community-based research.

- Jason Morrison, director of the Globalization Program, and Institute President Peter Gleick attended World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden from September 5-10. Morrison led the convening of meetings of the CEO Water Mandate (see "Globalization Program Convenes CEO Water Mandate Meetings at World Water Week," above). Dr. Gleick gave two presentations including one on "Water and the Media" and another titled, "Peak Water: Where Water Quality and Quantity Meet".

- Peter Gleick also participated in The Water Symposium sponsored by San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council on September 28. On September 30, he gave a lecture on his book, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, at the California Academy of Science's "Nightlife H20."

Upcoming Events

- The Atlantic's Green Intelligence Forum in Washington, D.C.
Pacific Institute President Peter Gleick will be a panel speaker at The Atlantic's Green Intelligence Forum in Washington D.C. on October 27. The panel will be leading a discussion on The Future of Fresh Water: H2O in Crisis -- Rising Demand, Falling Supply and What To Do About It. The Atlantic's third annual Green Intelligence Forum features the world's leading authorities on energy and environmental issues coming together for two days of exchange on the shifting landscape of energy markets, conservation efforts, and alternatives to fossil fuels. The forum includes a unique mix of keynote speakers and panel discussions. Keynote Speakers include Bill Ritter, Governor of Colorado, and John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Admission to the event is free, but all attendees must register on the website prior to event.

Date/Time: October 26, 2010, 8:30am - 3:30pm and October 27, 2010, 9:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington, D.C.
For more information and a full list of speakers, please visit: http://www.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Custom.aspx?cid=17&e=cb99e13f-33e0-4cb0-a2a3-723d6a7e7b40

- Forum on Agricultural Water Use in California
Senior Research Associate Juliet Christian-Smith will be participating on a panel hosted by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael's Earth Charter Implementation Committee on October 24. The panel will be discussing water issues regarding agriculture in the state of California. This forum is a culmination of the committee's studies on water with an opportunity for interaction with the panelists. Other panelists include California farmers Sandy Denn, Paul Newton, and John Diener. The event is free.
Event: Forum on Agricultural Water Use in California
Date/ Time: Sunday, October 24, 2010, 3:00 - 5:00 pm
Location: Dominican Sisters of San Rafael Gathering Space, 1520 Grand Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901


- Pacific Institute Co-Sponsors Symposium on Environmental Justice Research at UC Berkeley
The Pacific Institute is co-sponsoring a symposium on "Empowered Partnerships: Participatory Action Research for Environmental Justice" on Friday October 15 at the UC Berkeley School of Law in Boalt Hall. The event is open to the public and free to attend.

"Empowered Partnerships: Participatory Action Research for Environmental Justice" is the first of a series of symposia on participatory action research (PAR). This inaugural conference will focus on the partnerships between communities seeking to promote environmental justice and participatory action researchers at academic institutions and nonprofit organizations. The gathering will highlight several Environmental Justice/PAR collaborative efforts and will lay the foundation for constructing new models that meld the expertise, perspectives, and needs of community groups and researchers. By providing scholarship, strategies, and practical tools for building these partnerships, the symposium seeks to provide opportunities for academics to learn how such partnerships can strengthen and enrich their research and for environmental justice activists to understand how PAR can inform and advance their work.

For the symposium schedule and more information please go to http://www.law.berkeley.edu/9318.htm.

Pacific Institute in the News

- Heather Cooley and Juliet Christian-Smith co-authored an opinion-editorial featured in the Sunday Sacramento Bee on September 12. In the article, the Pacific Institute researchers urge California policymakers to create a more effective water bond to put before voters in 2012, and in the meantime continue the focus on tackling California's persistent water problems. Read the article here.

 Cooley and Christian-Smith were also featured in Capital Press - Agriculture News discussing the important role of water conservation and efficiency in enhancing water security and providing a range of co-benefits including water savings and crop improvements. Read the Capital Press article here.

- The Pacific Institute's Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice Program, member of the Healthy Richmond Steering Committee, participated in a Richmond community meeting on September 25. As part of the Richmond Reentry Project, the Institute hired a group of formerly incarcerated residents to collect data which was analyzed and used in the discussion of Richmond's $1.3 million budget allocated by the California Endowment. Read the full Bay Citizen article here.

- Peter Gleick spoke to Cy Musiker on KQED Radio on September 23 to discuss the issues and complaints that the California Resources Agency has been holding secret meetings on plans about Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Listen to the full interview here.

CNBC Host Michelle Caruso-Cabrera interviewed Peter Gleick for CNBC's original production, Liquid Assets: The Big Business of Water. During the interview, he discussed the misconceptions of bottled water perpetuated by bottled water marketers. Watch a clip of the interview here.

Peter Gleick also spoke to CBS News on the 10 most shocking facts the water bottle industry doesn't want consumers to know. Read them here.