Fred Switzer and southern CA Fellows

Fred Emmet Switzer, brother to Bob Switzer and inspirational leader in the early years of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation, passed away in March 2017 surrounded by his family of loving daughters.  Fred was a proud 94 at the time of his passing.  He is missed dearly by many.

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Rachel Morello-Frosch

At our annual Board meeting in May, we welcomed Fellow Rachel Morello-Frosch to our Board of Trustees.  Rachel is a professor at UC Berkeley whose work focuses on race and class determinants of environmental health.  We look forward to having her perspective on our programs and grant-making.  At our May meeting, we also bid a fond farewell to outgoing Board Chair Jen Sokolove, who has advised and supported us for eight years during her tenure on the board.  (Thank you, Jen!)  We are pleased to announce that Carol Tucker is our new Board Chair. 

Fellow Jason Grumet, President of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC, appeared on a PBS News Hour segment that dug into President Trump's reasons why he thought the Paris climate accord was a bad idea.

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As a foundation committed to environmental leadership, we see the signs of positive climate leadership that have been here all along, despite the president's actions on the Paris agreement.

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Ayana Johnson

Read a profile of our Fellow Ayana Johnson, who became one of the driving forces behind the March for Science in Washington, DC - the first march she's ever organized - because she thinks her profession is "at risk" under President Donald Trump.

Ayana was also profiled in Scientific American in an article titled, "I Never Thought I'd be Marching for Science", about why she was marching.  

Shaye Wolf, Climate Science Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote an op-ed for The Mercury News leading up to the March for Science about why she was marching.  She wrote, "Science has intensely personal consequences for our health, our families, and our world, no matter what political party we belong to.  We all need it - and now we have to fight for it."  

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Many Fellows also participated in marches around the country for the People's Climate Movement one week later, on April 29th.  View our Google photo albums with pictures submitted by Fellows from events around the country and read Lissa's recent blog post, "Science in the Streets."

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What's next for the March for Science?

The March for Science has come and gone, but the team that sparked the movement still hasn't taken a breather.  "I thought that after the march I would get back to my day job but that's not what happened", said Ayana Johnson, co-director of partnerships for the event.

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The California Institute for Rural Studies received two years of Switzer Leadership Grant funding to launch and support Ildi Carlisle-Cummins in her role as Director of the Cal Ag Roots program.  Read about how Cal Ag Roots tells the story of California's agricultural system in a novel way, and how it engages activists and citizens in finding important leverage points on the way to creating a more sustainable and equitable farming system.

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Fellow Mike Wilson, a former professional firefighter, paramedic and EMT, writes about the updated safety requirements for high-hazard industries - and says the Republican decision to strike them down and delay updates for two more years is misguided.

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Reducing the complexity of research on ocean ecosystems does not mean dumbing down your science, it means delivering science in a series of short chapters.  If you can get the readers hooked, and don't confuse them, you can tell a complex story.  But that takes work and training that many scientists don't have, writes Fellow Linwood Pendleton.
 

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We have recently been made aware of an online resource of experts, all female, called SheSource, which may be of interest to the women in our Network.  This network is designed for journalists, producers, and others who need experts to speak with on television or for quoting in print media.  Check it out!