Tag: environmentalism

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Marine Wildlife off our Coasts: Studying Sea birds, Marine Mammals and More

with Meredith Elliott M.S. of Point Blue Conservation Science

WHEN?: Wednesday, October 30th, 2024 – TLHS Innovation Hub – 7:30 – 8:30pm

Point Blue Conservation Science

Description: Our oceans are facing many threats, including warming temperatures, ocean acidification, and overfishing (to name a few). At Point Blue Conservation Science, we have over 50 years of experience studying marine wildlife and what they can tell us about the health of our ocean. We work with federal agencies (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to monitor seabirds and marine mammals on the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge (located ~30 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge) and to conduct at-sea surveys in the National Marine Sanctuaries off our coast. Come hear how we are finding ways to protect seabirds from hot weather, using diet data from seabirds and sea lions to help make our fisheries more sustainable, what we are learning about ocean acidification, and what we are doing to save whales from ship strikes.

Bio: Meredith earned a B.S. in Zoology from the University of California, Davis and an M.S. in Marine Biology from San Francisco State University, the latter investigating the diet of the California Least Tern colony at Alameda Point (formerly the Naval Air Station, Alameda). After finishing undergraduate work she was advised to apply for a seabird research assistant position on the Farallon Islands, and she has been hooked on seabirds ever since! She was then hired to help monitor Double-crested Cormorant populations on the Richmond-San Rafael and San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridges. Other Point Blue projects she has worked on include monitoring breeding success and diet of the Alameda Point Least Tern colony and documenting seabird mortality during oil spills as part of the Processing Strike Team within the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.

As a Principal Scientist in Point Blue’s California Current Group, Meredith investigates the diet of marine predators to understand changing forage species communities in coastal California. She is a Program Leader with ACCESS (www.accessoceans.org), a partnership among Point Blue, our two national marine sanctuaries (Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank), and several other entities to conduct ocean research in our region. In addition to overseeing and synthesizing the many datasets related to the ACCESS partnership, Meredith examines the effects of varying oceanographic conditions on various zooplankton taxa in our marine environment. She also supervises the Point Blue marine laboratory, where marine predator diet and zooplankton studies happen with the help of awesome lab research assistants and volunteers!

Links:

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We Love Our Wetlands ! : The Future of the San Francisco Estuary

SF Estuary

with Julie Gonzalez Ph.D. of SFSU’s SF Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

WHEN?: Wednesday, October 9th, 2024 – TLHS Innovation Hub – 7:30 – 8:30pm

SF Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

Description: San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) scientists will talk about their work protecting and restoring the estuary’s vital tidal marsh habitats including China Camp. We’ll explore how these ecosystems help combat sea-level rise and support the diverse wildlife that calls the Bay Area home. Learn about the science and strategies behind our restoration projects and discover how you can play a part in preserving the natural beauty and resilience of our coastal environments.

Bio: Julie serves as the Conservation and Restoration Coordinator for the reserve. Julie has studied and worked in San Francisco Bay since 2014, and brings a wealth of ecological knowledge of the system and the various stakeholders involved in its conservation and restoration. Her research has focused on the impacts of sea-level rise and invasive species in tidal marsh systems, aiming to inform sea-level rise adaptation planning, enhance habitat restoration design, and consider eco-social factors in estuarine monitoring. She is dedicated to leveraging this experience and building collaborations to advance the NERR’s conservation and restoration efforts across the San Francisco Estuary. She actively engages with stakeholders to ensure these efforts inform and align with broader frameworks at the regional, state, and national levels. Julie holds a BSc in Biology from Georgia Tech, a MSc in Marine Science from the Estuary & Ocean Science Center, San Francisco State University, and a PhD in Ecology from the University of California, Davis, where she was a Margaret A. Davidson Fellow working in the NERR’s component site in China Camp State Park.

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Marin Agricultural Land Trust (M.A.L.T.): Stewarding Marin’s Working Lands

Marin Agricultural Land Trust

with Eric Rubenstahl, M.S. , Associate Director of Stewardship, M.A.L.T.

WHEN?: Wednesday, September 18th, 2024 – TLHS Innovation Hub – 7:30 – 8:30pm

Marin Agricultural Land Trust protected lands

Description: Conserving Marin County’s farms and ranches not only means protecting the land through conservation easements, but also ensuring its agricultural viability and helping to steward the health of the land. MALT supports local farmers and ranchers through grants and technical assistance and leveraging partner agencies funding opportunities. MALT stewardship staff Eric Rubenstahl will share the history of MALT, land conservation strategies, and how ongoing stewardship protects and enhances the ecological and agricultural values of Marin’s working lands.

Bio: Associate Director of Stewardship Eric Rubenstahl joined MALT in 2016 to assist in monitoring existing conservation easements, help evaluate future agriculture conservation easements and facilitate best management practices on MALT’s working landscapes. Prior to joining the MALT team, Eric worked with the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department and with the South Yuba River Citizens League in Nevada City, California. Eric holds a master’s degree in conservation leadership from Colorado State University, where his thesis research consisted of creating a management plan for a 22,000-acre protected area in southern Belize.

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Path to the Stars: Exploring BioAstronautics

with Terra Linda High School alum Ben Foehr

Wednesday, February 15, 2023, 7:30-8:30pm on Zoom (fill out contact form or ask your teacher for the link)

A Terra Linda High School alum working in STEM presents about his career path. With Ben Foehr (TLHS 2018, Aerospace Engineering)

“Path to the Stars: Exploring BioAstronautics” with Ben Foehr of Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder CO

Right now, we’re at the dawn of a new space age. As humanity prepares to return to the moon and beyond, one might ask: how can I be a part of this? Join Ben Foehr, BS in Aerospace Engineering and Grad Student studying Human Spaceflight at CU Boulder, for a look into the twists and turns this journey has in store, and, more importantly, how we can reach the stars!

Ben Foehr

Ben Foehr grew up in San Rafael, graduating TL in 2018. As a student he was a sprinter on the track team, a lawyer for TL’s mock trial team, and an intern for the Marin Science Seminar. In 2022 he graduated CU Boulder with a bachelors in Aerospace Engineering, and is currently studying there for his masters in BioAstronautics. He has worked on Cubesats, Sounding Rockets, and proprioceptive function research for astronauts. He currently lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his partner and two cats.

Link: https://lasp.colorado.edu/home/

Wednesday, February 15, 2023, 7:30-8:30pm on Zoom (fill out contact form or ask your teacher for the link)

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Engineering Rivers and Wetlands for Climate Resiliency

Title: “Engineering Rivers and Wetlands for Climate Resiliency” with Rachel Kamman PE of Kamman Hydrology & Engineering

Date: Wed. February 5th, 2020; 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS in San Rafael, Room 207

Kamman Hydrology & Engineering’s mission is to provide hydrologic, engineering and geomorphology support in the restoration, enhancement and protection of watershed, river, wetland and coastal systems. Rachel Kamman will demonstrate and discuss how this can be done to help rivers and wetlands adjust to changes brought on by climate change.

Bio: Rachel Z. Kamman PE is a consulting hydrologist whose work focuses on ecological habitat restoration. Her San Rafael based consulting practice focuses on projects that revolve around sensitive wetland, fishery, and/or riparian habitat issues and problems. Rachel specializes in the fields of hydraulic and hydrodynamic analysis and modeling, focusing on the protection and restoration of estuarine and wetland systems. Typically, Rachel Kamman works on multi-disciplined projects, collaborating closely with biologists/botanists, ecologists, planners, engineers, and/or regulatory and resource agency staff. She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Lafayette College and an M. Eng., in Hydraulics, Coastal Engineering, Hydrology & Geomorphology from UC Berkeley.

Links:

Facebook event: RSVP here

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Geoengineering and Terraforming: the manipulation of climate on Earth and other planets

Title: “Geoengineering and Terraforming: the manipulation of climate on Earth and other planets” with Warren Wiscombe Ph.D. of NASA Goddard

Date: Wed. January 29th, 2020; 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS in San Rafael, Room 207

Warren Wiscombe

In 2010 ‘geoengineering’ entered the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘the modification of the global environment or the climate in order to counter or ameliorate climate change’. Geoengineering must be intentional, not accidental (as in the current global warming). And geoengineering is only a stopgap measure on the way to a renewable energy economy.

The safest and most predictable method of moderating climate change is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, geoengineering may be useful to augment emission reductions. While some methods would incur gargantuan costs, notably the space-based ones, others are a relative bargain and technologically easy, notably putting aerosols into the stratosphere. While there are few technical showstoppers, geoengineering technology is nascent, and there are major uncertainties regarding its effectiveness, cost, and environmental impacts.

Terraforming, a much more radical version of geoengineering, is the technology to make an alien planet more suitable for Earth life forms. Edgar Rice Burroughs hypothesized terraforming in his book “Princess of Mars”. Kim Stanley Robinson fleshed out the idea in his trilogy “Red/Green/Blue Mars”. If humanity is to escape extinction, it will have to learn how to do terraforming. Possible methods will be noted, but the field is barely in its infancy.

Bio: Warren Wiscombe got a BS in Physics from MIT and a PhD in Applied Math from Caltech. Starting in 1971, he spent his career working on radiative transfer aspects of climate, notably the interaction of sunlight with clouds and aerosols. From 1983 till retiring in 2013, he worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. His core background is in e.m. radiation spanning wavelengths from UV to radio.

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Facebook event: RSVP here

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Green Building with Barry Giles of BREEAM – To Be Rescheduled

Title: “Green Building Standards: How to Make Existing Buildings Healthier and Better for the Environment” with Barry Giles of BREEAM

Date, Time, Location: Wednesday, January 16th, TBA – CANCELLED DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER – 2019; 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS in San Rafael, Room 207

Description:  Most of us spend about 90 percent of our time inside buildings of one sort or another –homes, offices, schools, or shopping centers. Despite the best endeavors from those involved in building design, construction and operations, buildings have a mostly negative effect on our health and well-being as the occupiers and on the environment. Climate change will have a major effect on how efficient buildings can be – or if they will even stand up to extreme weather events.

While we could just demolish all the existing buildings and start again, that’s not practical. So what can we do to increase our health and well-being and make buildings more resilient? How can we turn all the ‘ugly ducklings’ into ‘swans’.

Barry Giles, CEO of BRE America
Barry Giles, CEO of BRE America

Barry Giles has worked in virtually every aspect of the building industry —engineer, general contractor, systems operator and facilities supervisor. He helped the US Green Building Council create the LEED Operations and Maintenance rating system for existing buildings in 2003, and from that gained LEED Fellowship and an iconic status in the green building industry. In 2016 he was appointed CEO of BRE America to bring the BREEAM standard to the USA. BREEAM was the original green building rating system and today is the most widely used program worldwide with over 2.2 million registered buildings and over 560,000 certifications.

RSVP on Facebook here.

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