Claremont, Calif. (February 26, 2014)—The Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability at Pitzer College is co-sponsoring Water Scarcity and Solutions: Global and Local, a day-long conference featuring water professionals and environmental experts, including Pitzer professors Brinda Sarathy and Branwen Williams, and alumnus Char Miller ’75. The conference, organized by Claremont-based think-tank The American Institute for Progressive Democracy (TAIPD), will be held 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on March 1 at Scripps College’s Garrison Theater in Claremont.
Taking place during the worst recorded drought in California’s history, the conference will address global, national, state and regional issues related to water scarcity. Peter Gleick— co-founder of the Pacific Institute, co-author of A Twenty-first Century US Water Policy and a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship winner—is the keynote speaker. The event will be broken into four sessions, each followed by a Q&A.
During the first session, Pitzer College Assistant Professor of Biology Branwen Williams will speak on “Implications of the Changing Climate for Future Water Use.” In the third session, Pitzer Assistant Professor of Environmental Analysis Brinda Sarathy will present “An Introduction to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan in the Context of California’s Evolving Water Policy.”
Alumnus Char Miller ’75, Pomona College professor of environmental analysis and director of the 5C environmental analysis program, will be one of five experts to speak during the closing session about solutions for water shortages in Southern California. His talk is titled “Watershed Commonwealths: A Future for Southern California?”
In addition to TAIPD and the Robert Redford Conservancy, the conference is co-sponsored by The Claremont Colleges Environmental Analysis Program, Pomona College, Scripps College President’s Advisory Council on Sustainability and the Three Valleys Municipal Water District. Joseph Eyen ’15, an international political economy major at Pitzer and intern at TAIPD, helped organize the conference.
Admission to Water Scarcity and Solutions is free and open to the public.
