SAVE THE DATE: SFV Climate Reality Mtg.,Tuesday, Jan., 14th, 7pm |
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SAN FERNANDO VALLEY CHAPTER MEETING |
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| Join our Chapter Meeting Tuesday, January 14th 7pm - 8:30pm Click Here To Register Everyone is welcome! Please spread the word. |
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Reducing Waste Is Time Well Spent Join our Guest Speaker Jennifer Pinkerton, from the Los Angeles Department of Sanitation (LASAN) when she will share updates about what LASAN is doing to support our city's zero waste ordinance, plastic reduction, organics recycling, and food rescue goals. There will be lots to learn and plenty of inspiration to reduce waste in our own lives! Register Here. |
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Jennifer Pinkerton, Environmental Affairs Officer, Los Angeles Department of Sanitation Jennifer Pinkerton has worked in the field of recycling and solid waste for 30 years and is an authority on how cities are currently managing waste. She previously worked with Californians Against Waste and has now been with LA Sanitation for the past decade. During her time at LASAN, Pinkerton wrote the City of LA's plastic pollution policy report and drafted the plastic straws and foodware "accessories upon request" ordinance, expanded the single-use plastic bag ban, enacted the citywide styrofoam ban and is now focused on LA's zero waste ordinance. |
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SFV CHAPTER NEWS & EVENTS |
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Wildlife Crossing Tour: SFVCR members had a great tour of the wildlife crossing construction site at Liberty Canyon in December. Many thanks to our guide, Lauren Gill from the National Wildlife Federation, for answering all our questions! |
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Legislative Training This Month The local Climate Action California (CAC) will provide legislative training co-sponsored by 350 Sacramento, including understanding the oversight committees that have license to change bills significantly as they move through the legislative process. Please register for either or both training sessions below! Part 1: California's legislative process: A tour inside the sausage factory Tuesday, January 7th, 6 pm Register Here. Part 2: Working with representatives in Sacramento and in your district Sunday, January 12th, 3 pm Register Here. Both sessions will be recorded and made available to everyone who signs up. |
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| Environmental Justice and Rights of Nature (EJRoN) Meeting The SFVCR Environmental Justice and Rights of Nature (EJRoN) group welcomes all interested readers to join our efforts. At our next Zoom meeting, we will be discussing the focus of our work for 2025 and possible program topics for a chapter meeting in the spring. Now is the ideal time to join--at the beginning of planning and executing a new effort! Email Judy Glass.
Thursday, January 23rd, 4pm |
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Spread the Word: Join the Youth Climate Action Network! Our partners in the LA chapter have formed the Youth Action Climate Network to give young people a path to participate in the climate movement. If you know anyone ages 14 to 30 who would benefit from climate education and career development for jobs in the environmental space, let them know! This committee plans to offer a mentorship program, career talks, and opportunities to support climate policy. Find out more and sign up here. |
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| Social Forest: Oaks of Tovaangar Join an outdoor celebration to kick off the first day of planting for The Broad’s reforestation project, Social Forest: Oaks of Tovaangar, at Elysian Park. Enjoy a day filled with nature-based workshops and engaging activities designed and led by Indigenous Tongva (Gabrielino) artists and educators, and local environmental groups. Attendees will experience Tongva (Gabrielino) concepts and language, with opportunities to learn about native plants and acorn processing, play games, participate in nature walks, and plant native oak trees. February 8, 2025, 11am-2pm |
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Biodiversity Spotlight Welcome to our first ever Biodiversity Spotlight! Each month we'll feature a different species and how it's being impacted by climate change. Climate change is affecting all life on earth, not just humans. According to the World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report, “nature provides the foundation for human health, a stable climate, the world’s economy, and life on earth.” But the latest WWF report documents a staggering 73% decline in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2022, and we are quickly approaching dangerous tipping points. Our Biodiversity Spotlights will remind us of what else is at stake as our climate changes. |
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Biodiversity Spotlight: Mountain lion (aka cougar, puma or panther), Puma concolor Range: parts of North, Central, and South America Habitat: an adaptable, generalist species able to live in a variety of habitats, from the Yukon to the Rockies to the Amazon rainforest, and even Los Angeles Los Angeles is one of only two megacities in the world (the other is Mumbai) that have big cats living within the city limits Threats: Many populations of mountain lions are in decline due to hunting and habitat loss caused by human encroachment, use of rodenticides, and, increasingly, wildfires. Mountain lions are solitary and require 50-200 square miles for their home range. In Southern California, our mountain lion population is likely within a few generations of extinction due to loss of genetic diversity caused by habitat fragmentation and the lack of connectivity between pockets of suitable habitat. Impacts: As the mountain lion is an apex predator, losing mountain lion populations results in other species becoming over- or under-populated, which quickly cascades into catastrophic problems. |
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| Mountain lions typically eat about one deer per week, in addition to multiple smaller prey. When predators decline, unchecked deer populations can overgraze and destroy crops and native plants, increase car accidents, and allow the spread of tick-borne diseases (all consequences being seen on the East Coast where mountain lions are functionally extinct). Ecosystems losing their apex predators can be overrun by rabbits and small rodents, leading to a host of other problems. |
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Help On The Way: In the Santa Monica mountains, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing currently under construction will not only cut down on wildlife fatalities for many species by providing a safe crossing over the 101 freeway, but will increase the connectivity between different mountain lion ranges. Greater connectivity means all wildlife has more opportunities to roam for needed food and water and to find mates. When finished in 2026, it will be the largest wildlife crossing in the world, and it owes its existence in large part to the legacy of LA’s celebrity mountain lion P-22. CalTrans, which oversees the state’s highway system, employs ecologists to work towards finding ways to lessen the impact of roads and highways on wildlife. Last year, SFVCR supported California's Room to Roam Act (AB 1889) which passed and took effect Jan 1, 2028, requiring local governments to consider and implement measures to protect and improve wildlife connectivity through land-use planning. We will continue to work to support wildlife and biodiversity in the coming year. If you would like to suggest a species or write a biodiversity spotlight please contact Zina Block or Sherrell Cuneo. |
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