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On Wednesday June 5, Geoff Hunt took part in the South Coast Collaborative Climate Forum at the University of California, Irvine. Jointly organized by the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability (LARC) and the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative (SDRCC), the day-long event featured presentations by academic researchers, city and county climate planning staff, and climate experts from local environmental and conservation organizations.
Here are Geoff’s takeaways:
- As a relative novice in the climate space, I was struck by the incredible amount of climate-focused work being done at the community, city and county levels. There is a strong connection between local government agencies and the communities they serve. Relying on a much more problem-solving, engineering-based approach than scientists are typically used to, the process involves staff and communities engaging in multiple cycles of proposals and feedback before solutions are ultimately implemented.
- The vast majority of climate strategies discussed focused on adaptation rather than mitigation. Given limited resources and capacity, it appears that local organizations are focused on doing what they can, leaving the big-picture mitigation strategies to national and international players.
- Interestingly, discussion of the role of applied biology was pretty minimal. While the concept of “nature-based solutions” came up repeatedly, it was used as a catch-all to describe any effort that involved earth science or biology (such as using sand to help restore crumbling train tracks or increasing wetlands acreage). Synthetic biology and biotechnology were not explicitly mentioned, and, based on several conversations I had, not on the radar of anyone working in this community.
I’m energized by the breadth of the conversations I had, and excited about the opportunity for those working in the climate biotech space to get involved with local organizations. The big question is, how can academic and industry researchers bridge the gap between the lab and the real world to best engage with communities and groups around their work?
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
