ROOTBALL: Yes, there is hope for LA!

Rootball is the newsletter of Pando Populus.

Pando unites the people who care most about the future of Los Angeles. Focuses them on the right things. And motivates them. With passion. To implement LA County’s sustainability plan.

Over the last few months, we’ve ramped up work in higher ed, K-12, and professional development; developed new collaborations at County, City, and community levels; brought new staff on board, and restructured the Pando website to accommodate our growth. And we’ve made it easier than ever for you to get involved!

Here's what's happening:

HOPE FOR LA is our Pando Days ‘21 roll-out campaign.

Pando Days is in full swing again this year, bringing colleges and universities together from across the Southland to create ingenious new ideas and prototypes for implementing LA County’s sustainability plan, OurCounty LA.

We focus art, design, architecture, science, engineering, and the humanities on LA’s most pressing food, water, mobility, shelter, and community challenges.

Participating schools dedicate full courses, studios, or labs to designing and implementing their Pando Days initiative. Twelve schools are in the Pando Days ‘21 lineup with 13 active initiatives spread throughout the County.

And we’re having an effect: forty percent of last year’s Pando Days projects went on to receive outside funding for implementation. Others have been supported by community partners.

Coming up in the Pando Days schedule: all-school project premieres in the first week of December. Then an April ‘22 gala. Stay tuned!

Judith Parker is Pando Days co-executive producer; Shelley Goldstein is producer.

You can get involved by joining a collaborating team, nominating new project ideas, and by making a donation to bring hope to the Southland! Learn more.

Magenta House Accelerator and Expo opens for 7th-12th grade students (and their teachers)!

Ready to imagine a brighter, better future?

The Magenta House Accelerator and Expo are for those who can be inspired. The ones who care. The ones who have hope.

The Magenta House Accelerator offers the opportunity for middle and high school students to create the future they want to inhabit with their own ingenious new solutions for water conservation and power efficiency -- and showcase their ideas at our spring 2022 Expo.

The ambitious program is launched in collaboration with Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz and the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP).

The good news: Students who present their ideas at the Expo receive recognition, awards, and the chance to share in $5,000 prize money for their organizations or schools.

The best news: In prep for the Expo, students may enroll free-of-charge in the Magenta House Accelerator and use its professional-level process and tools to shepherd their projects from conception through development and presentation to create their most competitive submissions.

The Expo is a first-of-its kind science fair-like opportunity for sustainability that’s coupled with a full-range project accelerator that helps students conceive, implement and present their boldest innovations. And it’s all oriented toward implementing the LA Basin’s water and power sustainability goals.

Amy Goldberg continues as Magenta House producer and Betsy Hunter as partnership coordinator.

Volunteers are needed to serve as project mentors and for specialist support. Help is also needed for the spring ‘22 Expo. We’d love to hear from you. Let us know what you’d like to do!

CSO Taskforce: Heidrun Mumper-Drumm assumes the chair

Heidrun Mumper-Drumm has become the new chair of the CSO (Chief Sustainability Officer) Strategic Taskforce. A founding Taskforce member, Heidrun is Professor and Director of Sustainability Initiatives for ArtCenter School of Design in Pasadena.

Heidrun describes her professional focus as being on sustainability and connectedness and says of herself:

I teach classes about our climate futures, product/service life cycles, and the role of the creative professional. I also act as a sort of hub for sustainability learning, experimentation, and action to engage artists and value-driven designers.

Heidrun replaces founding chair John Onderdonk, Caltech CSO and Interim Associate Vice President for Facilities, who sits on her Taskforce advisory council. Additional Council members include Robyn Eason (City of West Hollywood); Maribeth Larkin (Sisters of Social Service); Pablo La Roche (Cal Poly Pomona); Luis Navarro (Langan Engineering); Marcela Oliva (LA Trade Tech College); Eugene Shirley (Pando); Andy Shrader (City of Los Angeles); and Mark Spears (Disney, ret.).

Welcome Heidrun!

Pando team news…

Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Judith Parker has taken on a co-executive producer position for Pando Days ‘21. Judith also serves as narrative coach for college and university projects under development. Read Eugene Shirley’s interview with Judith on her role.

Climate activist and middle school teacher Cecilie Stuart is heading curriculum development and school presentations for Magenta House. Keep an eye out for her on the upcoming CBS reality series, “The Activist.”

Alexi Caracotsios is back with us on Magenta House, this time as author of the project management system for teachers and students. He’s tailoring the system now for Pando Days. Project management for religious communities is next!

Pando Blog Highlights

Pando’s Rich Binell reached out to Southland educators to interview them about Pando-related courses they’ve been teaching, including but not limited to those from Pando Days. Learn more about what they’re teaching and doing that matters to them, to Pando, to Los Angeles, and the world.

Prof. Marcela Oliva (right), architecture professor at LA Trade Tech, with architecture student and green space collaborator, Dru Farnham.

Marcela Oliva, professor of architecture at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, describes the project she designed for Pando Days 2019/20 to make-over South LA’s alleyways into places for community, recreation, and health.

Pando Days Update: Marcela Oliva, LA Trade Tech

Berenika Boberska at Hinterland exhibit.

Berenika Boberska, architecture professor at Woodbury University and head of the Hinterland Institute, updates us on the Pando Days 2019/20 project she designed that uses encroaching sea water to create gardens of saline-friendly plants and forests.

Pando Days Update: Berenika Boberska, Woodbury

Gina Valona, Professor of Art and Design at Otis College.

Gina Valona, professor at Otis College of Art and Design, takes us for a behind-the-scenes look and update for her Pando Days 2019/20 project -- an initiative to make interacting with LA in a green way both easy and fun.

Pando Days Update: Gina Valona, Otis

UCLA students from Alison Lipman's class creating a rain garden at Pando at Maryknoll, Monrovia, 2019.

Alison Lipman, Lecturer in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, has led a half dozen Pando-themed courses and helped implement a range of related projects.

Pando Professor: Alison Lipman, UCLA

Announcements

Sabbatical: FromSoil2Soul: a virtual 7-month Guided Wellness Journey & Kitchen Garden Apprenticeship begins October 13th.

Join Pandomaniac Dev Brous for an immersive program that offers experiential teachings in the garden from planning through harvest.

“With a focus on tangible skills as healthy lifestyle tools for regenerative growth, learn to grow your own food and medicine,” says Dev, a regenerative urban farmer in Los Angeles and long-time member of the Pando community. “You’ll learn tools to create a climate resilient, spiritually connective garden ecosystem that feeds you and your people in harmony.”

Go here for more information and to register.

Let’s talk about you

Because we can’t do any of this without you.

There is no other place where you’ll find results like this.

No one else is connecting our most ingenious talent and knowledgeable partners in the ways we are.

Collaborate and volunteer. Nominate a project you’d like to see move forward. Donate to the work you’re passionate about.

Join us!

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