Rootball keeps you up to date on all things Pando Populus. Here’s the latest.
PILGRIMAGE TO PANDO is bringing contemplatives of every stripe together at Fishlake, Utah, Sept. 6–9
Fishlake, UT, September 2017.
This September, we’re following in the footsteps of last year’s ROADTRIP TO PANDO, only in a more reflective, contemplative way. We’re calling our new adventure, PILGRIMAGE TO PANDO. Our destination remains the 106-acre one-tree forest that is home to our namesake in remote Utah, with the trip spanning four days (Sept. 6-9). Limited seats are available.
The Rev. Ed Bacon, Episcopal priest and author, the Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Buddhist priest and founder of the Center for Transformative Change, and Jihad Turk, imam and founder of the Bayan Claremont Islamic Graduate School, are our PILGRIMAGE TO PANDO guides.
Maria Shriver serves as a member of the Host Committee. Special guests include philosophical theologian John Cobb, designer John Bielenberg, Pando chief scientist Paul Rogers, and Tami Borchardt-Slayton, chair of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah. Other hosts and guests will be announced.
PILGRIMAGE TO PANDO, says Ed Bacon, “is about diverse people discovering that they belong to one another.”
Like to attend? Please let us know by sending an email to info@pandopopulus.com between now and July 20. Note that if we have more applicants than availability, we will award tickets based on diversity of both background and perspective. For this reason, please let us know a bit about yourself when you request a seat. Ticket price: $1,500 all-inclusive (departing from and returning to Las Vegas). Scholarships are available.
And if you’ve not yet ordered your book on ROADTRIP TO PANDO 2017 (whether or not you went on the trip), do so now -- it’s coming off the press next week.
Essays, photos, and a recap document 2017’s "Roadtrip to Pando" in a new book, designed by Michael Braley.
CITY BLITZ inaugural event launched in Claremont
More than thirty sustainability professionals came together on June 7 for the inaugural event of CITY BLITZ, offering peer-to-peer executive-level education in best practices on sustainability. Hosted by Sustainable Claremont in the City of Claremont, participating municipalities included the cities of Santa Monica, Pasadena, Pomona, Carson, and Los Angeles.
The theme of the CITY BLITZ launch event was the challenge of community engagement, with topics ranging from urban composting and tree canopy nurture to storm water capture and the design challenges of urban transportation.
CITY BLITZ Claremont combined talks and discussions with on-location field trips to key sites. Sustainable Claremont Exec. Dir. Steve Sabicer (right) and Chris Veirs, Claremont City Planner, (left, gesturing) lead a CITY BLITZ field trip at Pitzer and Harvey Mudd Colleges in Claremont.
Steve Sabicer, Executive Director of Sustainable Claremont, framed the theme and related topics with key contributions from local specialists. Mike Wallace of ERM BrownFlynn spoke (via remote) about sustainability, standardization, and measurement. Dean Kubani, Chief Sustainability Officer of the City of Santa Monica, tied sustainability challenges in the eastern part of Los Angeles County to the challenges he faces on its western edge. Mervis Reissig produced.
We hope that CITY BLITZ Claremont is but the first in a series of CITY BLITZ events across the southland, with subsequent events launched over the next twelve months, testing a variety of implementation models.
JUNK BATTLE! sizzler sizzles
JUNK BATTLE! sizzle reel was produced by Makewild Films, Venice, CA.
Eager to see for yourself what all the JUNK BATTLE! hype is about? Watch the sizzle reel from the April event and immerse yourself in LA trash – for only two minutes. You’ll be glad you did!
The video captures JUNK BATTLE! highlights from participating teams and gives you a sense of the incredibly inventive ways that five design and architecture programs from across Los Angeles County took on the waste stream.
A JUNK BATTLE! book and web-based support is soon to come -- in preparation for next year’s event.
Western Aspen Alliance director Paul Rogers (right) with Pando Populus Secretary/Treasurer Rebecca Schmitt at the Pando Clone in September 2017, Fishlake, Utah.
Chief scientist for the Pando clone Paul Rogers puts it bluntly: "Pando is dying," he says. "We’re in an emergency situation in terms of the next five to ten years."
Rogers, who is head of the Western Aspen Alliance (WAA), has been studying Utah’s endangered Pando aspen clone for more than two decades, and counts on base-funding grants from the federal government to support his efforts. This year, new federal policies will not only delay renewal of WAA funding, but might completely eliminate it.
Please consider a donation to help save Pando and further our knowledge of aspen ecosystems worldwide.
Never forget – we’re counting on you!
Interested in making a world of difference? Write Betsy Hunter, head of partnership development, at 2betsyh@gmail.com.
