The mission of the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge is to harness UCLA’s research, expertise and education to help Los Angeles transform into the world’s most sustainable megacity by 2050. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have made it clear that we cannot achieve this mission without a stronger commitment to social and environmental justice. Without equity and justice for all, there can be no sustainability.
Recognizing that it is not enough to stand in solidarity, the team will develop an equity, diversity and inclusion action plan that will be incorporated into our expanded vision. We invite you to read more about what's next for the initiative as we begin to do our part in dismantling the systemic racism and other injustices that are preventing us from achieving true sustainability.
As always, thank you for your support!
Eric M. V. Hoek, Ph.D., Director, UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge
Cassie Rauser, Ph.D., Executive Director, UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge
|
|
Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Partners on International Mayors' Forum on Climate |
|
On August 17, the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge participated as a strategic partner in the Second Forum of CC35, a climate coalition of mayors from 35 capitals across the Americas. The purpose of the forum—held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic—was to strengthen the role of local environmental authorities in the global climate arena and to discuss and construct a post COVID-19 Green New Deal among the capital cities represented. Read more.
|
|
Q&A with R. Jisung Park
As students head back to school this month in Los Angeles, albeit remotely, its important for us to not only consider the impacts of COVID-19, but also extreme heat on their performance.
We sat down with R. Jisung Park, assistant professor of public policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, to learn more about his research on heat and student performance, as well as the disproportionate impacts on Black and Hispanic students. The takeaway: Whether learning takes place in school or at home, temperature matters. Read more.
|
|
Events and Opportunities
Now Hiring: Assistant Director, Research Development
The UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge is recruiting for an assistant director, research development to play a key role on the team. The primary focus of the position will be to build relationships among faculty and researchers from across disciplines in order to secure new funds from granting agencies for research, education and outreach activities that are aligned with the goal of the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge. Read more.
Climate Adaptation Research Symposium
Monday, September 21 | 9:00 a.m.- 4:45 p.m.
Join the nation’s top climate adaptation researchers at this first-of-its-kind event hosted by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. Learn from the latest social science research about how to measure and reduce the impacts of climate change, particularly on vulnerable populations and communities. Register today.
|
|
Seen and Heard in the News |
-
Dana Cuff, professor of architecture and urban design and founding director of UCLA cityLAB, envisions post-pandemic architecture on KPCC’s AirTalk.
-
Julia Stein, project director at UCLA’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, tells E&E News/Scientific American how L.A.’s transit incentives are fueling gentrification.
-
UCLA adjunct assistant professor Jon Christensen is quoted in the New York Times in a story about the Sierra Club’s recognition of John Muir’s racist legacy.
-
It’s time to try congestion pricing in L.A., writes UCLA urban planning professor Donald Shoup in a Bloomberg CityLab op ed.
|
|
Highlights from Across UCLA |
|
Changing Atmospheric Rivers
California can expect more intense levels of precipitation from atmospheric rivers as the climate changes, a new study partially funded by the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge has found. Read more.
|
|
EV Drivers and Charging
A study published in Nature Sustainability offers new insights into the attitudes of electric vehicle (EV) drivers about the existing charger network. The study was funded in part by the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge. Read more.
|
|
From Carbon to Concrete
A UCLA research team received a two-year, $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance their development of a process that can convert carbon dioxide emissions into construction materials. Read more.
|
|
Challenging Trump on Clean Air
On behalf of 29 Senators and 118 Representatives of the House, UCLA Law’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic filed an amicus brief in a D.C. Circuit case challenging a rule from the Trump Administration that seeks to invalidate California’s clean car standards. Read more.
|
|
Strategies for Cooler Streets
A new grant from the California Strategic Growth Council will fund a UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation analysis of micro-scale, or street-level, interventions to reduce heat for pedestrians and transit riders at bus stops and other streetscapes. Read more.
|
|
Energy Incentives for Wealthy
California’s programs to subsidize rooftop solar and plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles are disproportionately benefiting the wealthiest communities in Los Angeles County, a new study from UCLA’s California Center for Sustainable Communities found. Read more.
|
|
Meet the Pritzker Award Nominees
The UCLA Institute for the Environment and Sustainability announced the candidates for the 4th annual Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award. They are artists, leaders and inventors under the age of 40 fighting for a more sustainable future. Read more.
|
|
Air Pollution + Preterm Births
Two separate studies from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health have linked exposures to air pollutants to higher risks of preterm births. Natural gas "flaring" events in South Texas and jet plane exhaust near Los Angeles were both linked to higher risks of preterm births. Read more.
|
|
About the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge
The UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge is a university-wide initiative aimed at applying UCLA research, expertise and education to help transform Los Angeles into the most sustainable megacity by 2050. Our vision is to create a cleaner, healthier, more livable, equitable and resilient Los Angeles of the future that can serve as a model for megacities across the globe. Make a gift to support cutting-edge sustainability research and to educate the next generation of sustainability leaders.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
