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Region Matters
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November 12, 2013 Vol. 4, Issue 2
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Dear CRC Community,
From the steps of the state Capitol building in Sacramento, to a webinar with UNICEF at their NY headquarters, to an award ceremony in Tokyo, the CRC staff and faculty affiliates have had a busy and exciting last few weeks! We hope you find this week's newsletter inspiring and informative.
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CRC Impact
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CRC presents webinar on Making Data Matter to UNICEF
On November 5, Nancy Erbstein, CRC faculty affiliate (Human Ecology), Jonathan London, CRC director, Estella Geraghty CRC faculty affiliate (Internal Medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine), and Russell Hill, Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) presented a webinar to the UNICEF staff on the CRC resources and promising practices for making data matter and exploring the relevance of these tools and practices to UNICEF. Dr. Susan Bissell, UNICEF's Chief of Child Protection introduced the webinar presentation and spoke to the relevance of the Center for Regional Change initiative.
To learn more about the Making Youth Data Matter project, click here.
Environmental Justice Initiative report released and summit held in Sacramento
On November 7th, 2013, Ubuntu Green and the Sacramento Housing Alliance/Coalition on Regional Equity released "From Wasted Spaces to Healthy Places: Transforming Brownfields and Vacant Spaces in Sacramento."
This report includes environmental justice maps produced by the Center for Regional Change and highlights research, resident-informed data, and input from a campaign dialogue series and concludes with recommendations that will help launch the campaign. Following the press conference on the steps of the State Capitol Building, a summit was held to outline a menu of options of how supporters can continue to be involved as the campaign evolves. Ubuntu Green is directed by CRC Regional Advisory Committee member Charles Mason Jr. and includes Katie Valenzuela (CRD and CRC alumna).
To read the press release and learn more about the Environmental Justice Initiative, click here.
 
Press conference and workshop photos from Nov 7th. Ubuntu Green Director Charles Mason Jr. announces repot.
Jonathan London presents paper at the Landscape and Urban Planning Journal's Symposium at UC Berkeley
CRC director Jonathan London presented a paper, Mapping in and out of "Messes": Applying Cumulative Impacts to Resolving Environmental Justice Conflicts, as part of the Landscape and Urban Planning Journal's Wicked Problems in Socio-Ecological Systems: Symposium and Workshop held at UC Berkeley on October 27th. This paper -- co-authored with Dr. Ganlin Huang of Beijing Normal University, (and former CRC post-doctoral scholar) -- draws on the CRC's work developing and applying Cumulative Environmental Vulnerability Assessment in the San Joaquin Valley and the Coachella Valley.
To view powerpoint presentation presented at conference, please email bybourne@ucdavis.edu .
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Regional Change in the News
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West Fresno residents, health advocates fight city hall over controversial projects
CRC director Jonathan London is quoted in an article about an environmental justice community in West Fresno that is currently grappling with two controversial land use issues and concern for public health impacts. Journalist Rebecca Plevin, formerly of Vida Del Valle and now with Valley  Public Radio (KVPR), reports that according to a new tool from the California EPA, the 93706 zip code - which includes West Fresno - is the community that's most vulnerable to environmental burdens in the state. The first issue is Darling International's odorous rendering plant. It obtained a Fresno County permit about sixty years ago. But the facility was annexed into the city in 1971, and has operated without a conditional use permit since then.
To hear the KVPR news story or read the transcript, click here.
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CRC Faculty Affiliates in the News
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'Environmental Nobel' given to Daniel Sperling in Tokyo
Daniel Sperling, director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and a CRC faculty affiliate, was awarded the 2013 Blue Planet Prize in a ceremony held in Tokyo on Oct. 30. The prize, announced in June by the Asahi Glass Foundation, has been described as the Nobel Prize for the environmental sciences. The award recognizes Sperling for his unique ability to bring  together the top thinkers and strategists in academia, government and industry to develop new vehicle- and fuels-policy approaches that are models for the world.
To read more about Sperling's remarks and prescribed five actions to reach a sustainable transportation future, click here.
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