Perennial: The Undergraduate Environmental Journal of Berkeley - Issue 7

PERENNIAL

THE UNDERGRADUATE ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNAL OF BERKELEY

DEAR READER,

We are proud to present the seventh issue of Perennial. We welcomed teams this semester, and we are, as always, both impressed and grateful we want to extend our thanks for envisioning and executing a unique requires both creativity and dedication, and our writers excel on both gratitude for framing our seventh issue with thought-provoking visuals engaging multi-media experience.

This particular issue highlights recent progress in the environmental environmental problems in our society are blooming. We continue to and involve all facets of global society from music to technology, incarceration, economy. The scope of groups that interact with these topics range from and individual peoples—and for that reason, we hope our publication diligently report on the science at the core of environmental issues facing

Alongside our featured articles, we are happy to present several opinion crafted thoughtful responses to timely environmental issues. As a journal, to publishing recent research from undergraduate students, and our seventh both UC Berkeley and UCLA students.

We strive in our publication to showcase and encourage collaboration institutions, and the multitude of sectors working towards greater knowledge communal effort necessary to tackle environmental issues.

Finally, thank you to our readers for your time and attention. We hope Perennial both academically stimulating and personally motivating.

SINCERELEY, Claire Sauter, Jacqueline The Editorial Team

welcomed plenty of fresh faces to both our editorial and design grateful with the output from our members. To our staff writers, batch of stories—environmental journalism is a task that fronts. To our design team, we want to express our thought-provokingvisuals that feed life into the articles and accumulate into an environmental movement at a time when conversations around to explore a variety of environmental issues that affect incarceration, gender, literature, politics, and the from governments to corporations to local communities publication will resonate with wide audiences. Our writers facing the modern era, while maintaining a strong

opinion pieces from our staff writers, who journal, we are also proud of our commitment seventh issue includes contributions from collaboration between research fields, academic knowledge and justice, emphasizing the hope you find this new issue of

Jacqueline Cox, & Thuy-Tien Bui Team

Table

Editorials

8)Hip-Hop and Climate Justice by

11)The Road to a Sustainable Forest

14)Conflict, Confusion, and Coexistence: by Cole Haddock

22)The Harvest Hereafter: Extraterrestrial

25)Barriers to Prescribed Burns

27)The Dual Nature of Hawaii’s by Sosie Casteel

30)Big Tech’s Enviornmental

32)Reimagining ‘Silent

37)How Data Science can Op-Eds

42)Climate Change Complex by Stella Singer

46)Climate Change by Mona Holmer

48)The Ethics

Exploitation?

53)Raising Research

58)Understanding Socio-Ecology: Comuna Jack Daley, 70)Traditional Controversies, Mutsun

75)Balancing Riparian

by Zora Uyeda-Hale

Forest Bioeconomy by Sia Agarwal

Coexistence: Fighting for Control on 8th & Harrison

Extraterrestrial Solar Power by Abby Wilber

Burns in California by Jessica Chan

Hawaii’s Tourism: Thriving Industry or Destructive Force?

Enviornmental Responsibility by Megan Mehta

Spring’ in the Twenty-First Century by Ben Bartlett can Further Marine Conservation Efforts by Paige Thionett

Change Behind Bars: Climate Change & The Prison Industrial Change in a Gendering Society: The Price Women Pay Holmer

Ethics of Animal Experimentation: Resourcefulness or Exploitation? by Elena Hsieh

the Alarm for the Willow Project by Ben Bartlett

Papers

Understanding Ecological Impacts of Land Use Through Local Socio-Ecology: Proposal for Sustainable Land Management in the of Pucon by Emma Klessig, Myla Kahn, Henry Mahnke, Daley, Grace Boyd

Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Indigenous Burning Controversies, and Bringing Back ‘Good Fire’ by the Amah

Mutsun Tribal Band by Thuy-Tien Bui

Balancing Community Flood Security and Free-Flowing Riparian Ecosystems by Ben Witeck

Editorials

Editorials

designed by TIFFANY HO

Hip Hop and Climate Justice

by ZORA UYEDA-HALE

Listening to the radio, you bob your head as Drake’s “God’s Plan” booms from your speakers. Then suddenly, a new track starts playing. Instead of rapping about “Mahbed and my momma,” they’re talking about fossil fuel infrastructures and planted seeds. This genre is eco hip-hop.

From its inception, hip-hop music has represented the variety of lived experiences of Black and Brown people. Artists have created tracks about the prison-industrial complex, capitalism, and poverty. Today, they rap about the climate crisis.

Hip-hop has evolved dramatically since its inception in the 1970s. The music has merged with different genres, become commercialized, and spread all over the world. However, hip-hop music maintains a few common threads: a rhythmic beat, vocals or rapping, and percussive breaks.

Eco hip-hop is no different. It incorporates these recognizable musical elements but speaks on topics of consumerism, climate change, and pollution. In particular, music connects communities of color together around these difficultsubjects, opening avenues to discuss radical change.

Although eco hip-hop is a fairly new genre, young people are already definig themselves within it.

From its inception in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City, young people have been at the forefront of hip-hop culture. In the 1970s, Black, Latinx, and Caribbean youth converged to create what would become one of the most popular music genres in the world. Hence, hip-hop has a big role in modern Black culture.

The Hip Hop Caucus, a nonprofitfocused on connecting the hip-hop community to the political

process, honors Black resistance in their work. Whether it’s around voting rights or climate justice, Hip Hop Caucus empowers young people, who resonate with hip-hop culture, to take action. Russell Armstrong is the Policy Director for Climate and Environment at the Hip Hop Caucus.

Based on hip hop’s origin story, he commented on music’s strong influenceand function in Black history. “Music is already a part of [our] own identity,” Armstrong explains. “As Black Americans coming from the slavery days onwards, [music] was a way for people to come together, to organize, to socialize.”

Therefore, for Black youth in particular, hiphop creates belonging and familiarity. In the Bay Area, Youth vs Apocalypse (YVA) is a group of primarily young, Oakland-based climate activists. They use hiphop to organize, change the narrative, and push for policy. The Hip Hop and Climate Justice committee is led by Aniya Butler, an Oakland high schooler and longtime organizer with YVA.

Since the committee’s formation at the start of the pandemic, Butler has led many youth workshops on topics like rapid songwriting, creative writing, and spoken word. Reflecting onthe impact of these events, she notes, “Having a space like Hip-Hop and Climate Justice allows that sense of this is something I’m familiar [with],” Butler recalled, “This is something I can connect with [as a young person of color].”

Creating these spaces in the environmental movement is of the utmost importance. Many young Black and Brown activists face the brunt of pollution and climate change. This racial inequity is due to environmental racism.

Jim Crow,the Anti-Black system of segregation, discrimination, and violence, supposedly ended after the Civil Rights Movement. However, sixty

years later, some activists are labeling environmental racism as the New Jim Crow.

Dr. Robert Bullard, known as the father of environmental justice, is recognized as one of the firstpeople to defineenvironmental racism. In his book, Dumping in Dixie, Bullard states that environmental racism is “any policy, practice or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (where intended or unintended) individuals, groups or communities based on race.”

This inequity can be, and is often, intentionally structured. For example, the EPA has found that 71% of Black Americans live in counties that are in violation of federal air pollution standards, as compared to 58% of non-Hispanic whites. Consequently, Black Americans have a staggering 36% asthma rate.

In terms of natural disasters, only 50% of Black Americans own their homes, making them susceptible to permanent displacement. This urgent issue was a part of the reason why the Hip Hop Caucus began environmental political mobilization. Their “Think 100%” campaign was a direct product of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Fyütch, a Grammy-nominated hip-hop educator, reflectedon his awareness of environmental racism. “The older I’ve gotten, [I] start[ed] realizing things like cleanliness, food availability, green spaces, and neighborhood functions are hit hardest [in Black communities].”

“Now you realize everything is affecting [us] down to what we eat, how we eat, what’s being promoted to us, [and] how much things have changed since we were younger,” He continues.

Voices like Fyütch’s, who currently lives in the Bronx, New York, are usually overshadowed by larger, predominantly white, environmental organizations. These socially dominant institutions

“Eco hip-hop puts the power of storytelling back into the control of those most impacted. The ability to tell your own story is liberating.”

are only beginning to acknowledge these statistics and realities. Eco hip-hop puts the power of storytelling back into the control of those most impacted. The ability to tell your own story is liberating.

Butler affirmsthis sentiment. “Hip hop is an art form of resistance,” Butler said. “Resisting the systems that have been built to deprive us.” It’s more than music. It’s a form of protest and can create tangible change.

When Covid hit, big protests and marches were impossible. However, Youth vs Apocalypse recognized the continued urgency of the climate crisis. “This is not an issue that we’re forgetting about,” Butler said. “The climate crisis is here.”

So, they had to shift their tactics. Their firstmusic video, “No One is Disposable”, was created to bring awareness to the ways that corporations were still prioritizing profitsover people, even during a global pandemic. The video features people of all ages, but primarily young people, rapping, dancing, and holding signs of solidarity.

Three years later, YVA has released several music videos and an EP and led countless community events around hip-hop climate justice. “Youth are taking back our future,” Butler says. “[We] are advocating for a future where we have sustainability and these systems are dismantled.”

Hip-hop culture is often boiled down to music, but at its core, it’s social commentary. Fyütch explains, “Hip hop in its nature, always comments on society, it comments on neighborhoods, it comments on conditions.”

This commentary can be musical but also can be represented in visual art or other types of performance. The Hip Hop Caucus decided to channel this core element of hip-hop into a docuseries.

“Big Oil’s Last Lifeline” interviews frontline communities in Louisiana, Texas, and West Virginia, epicenters of the petrochemical industry. Armstrong explains, “I think that’s the whole purpose of [hip-hop] culture, being that it arises from many folks, many people engaging with it.” When more voices are elevated, the culture expands.

One last application of eco hip-hop is in the classroom. Fyütch has been a musician and spoken

word artist for his whole life. After interning for a school arts program during college, he realized these passions were very similar. “Spoken Word is very related to that same energy of hip hop,” Fyütch recalled. “It was more of an untapped lane.”

From there he never looked back, using hip-hop to educate on Black history, empathy, and sustainability. “[Hip-hop] meets kids where they’re at,” Fyutch says, “I’m meeting them with the energy that they understand. So in that way, it’s a perfect bridge to talk about anything.”

On top of self-expression, the work of Youth vs Apocalypse, Hip Hop Caucus, and Fyütch, demonstrate avenues for tangible policy change. Getting an individual to watch a music video, attend a workshop, or watch a docuseries may not seem impactful. However, systemic change starts with individual action.

As Fyütch points out, “the future CEOs of these corporations are in the classrooms right now.”

In urban settings, the city is the environment. Young Black people face everyday environmental racism in the form of food apartheid, air pollution, and contaminated soil and drinking water. Eco hip-hop gives a platform, vocabulary, and community to express lived experiences and dreams for a better future.

The Road to a Sustainable Forest Bioeconomy

by SIA AGARWAL

The paint on a building. A new sweater from the mall. The wheels of a car whizzing by on the street. There is one common thread: petrochemicals, chemicals derived from natural gas or crude oil.

The life cycle of petrochemicals is linear: Fossil fuels are extracted from the Earth, transformed into new materials and eventually emit carbon compounds. Currently, most products we consume operate on this model, a linear economy where resources are extracted, transformed into products, transported, consumed, then discarded.

The environmental impact of this economic model, where

resources are nonrenewable, is severe: Petrochemicals and their derivatives, including petrol gas, account for 46% of total United States carbon emissions.

Environmentalists are exploring the idea of the circular economy in which renewable resources, as opposed to finite, play a central role. Sage Lenier, the founder of the non-profit Sustainable and Just Future advocates for a circular economy in which resources experience multiple life cycles.

“My major tenets for the circular economy would be: an economy that is based in ser-

edge rather than goods, one in which resources are cycling, and an inherently low carbon, low resource extraction economy,” said Lenier.

One type of circular economy is the bioeconomy, “the production of renewable biological resources and their conversion into food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy” (European Commission).

Forestry plays a central role in the bioeconomy due to its applications in almost every sector of human needs—such as construction, carbon capture and soil health. However, the path to a sustainable forest bioeconomy has pitfalls, such as overexploitation of forests and the net-zero environmental

benefitof replacing petroleum products with bio-based materials.

One pathway in the forestry bioeconomy is utilizing forest products in construction. Current construction contributes 40% to yearly global carbon emissions; 11% of these emissions are due to construction materials and processes. Emissions from the construction sector are on track to increase as 2 out of 3 people in the world are expected to be living in cities by 2050.

“The construction of our cities is predominantly done with concrete, steel, and glass. The extraction and produc tion of these raw materials are very energy intensive,” said Dr. Galina Churkina, a researcher with the Pots dam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Ger many (PIK). “This ener gy is currently produced from burning fossil fuels because this is the cheap est source of energy.”

Since wood is a carbon-se questering material, woodbased construction provides an alternative to carbon-in tensive building materials. One five-storybuilding could store up to 180 kilograms of carbon if made from timber. In fact, a singular cubic meter of wood holds about one ton of carbon which corresponds with 350 liters of gasoline.

If enough buildings were made of wood, a city could potentially function as a man-made carbon sink. The idea of cities as a carbon sink hinges on the idea of embedded carbon, “the stor-

age of carbon for long periods of time” (Think Wood).

“When we build a building, we transfer carbon that was absorbed sequestered by trees by forest into the city,” Dr. Churkina said. Her research posits four scenarios of timber in construction over the next 30 years. Across the four possibilities, at least 10 million tons of carbon per year could be stored in buildings; at most, it could be around 700 million tons.

At the end of a wood

application is as a soil amendment: When sprinkled across a forest floor,biochar improves forest soil quality and reduces nutrient runoff.

By creating biochar from biomass, carbon is sequestered in a more stable form, staying put for thousands of years in soils. Applying biochar to agricultural land can also reduce the plot’s methane and nitrous oxide emissions, two dangerous greenhouse gasses.

A sustainable bioeconomy would need to strike a balance between extracting sufficient resources from forests and making sure forests remain viable ecosystems. Therefore, in order for wooden construction or biochar implementation to be successful, there would need to be guardrails on the bioeconomy.

building’s life cycle, wood-recovery is the most sustainable option, according to Dr. Churkina’s research. Wood from a demolished building can be directly reused for other purposes such as insulation or interior finising.

Alternatively, wood waste could be converted to biochar, the result of thermal breakdown of biomass. Its primary

Dr. Brian Palik (the Science Leader for Applied Forest Ecology at the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station) researches ecological silviculture. He definesan ecological approach as “managing a forest as an ecosystem as opposed to a collection of trees that are important to timber purposes.” He also indicates that as opposed to timber-focused management, an ecological approach to forestry could maintain healthy forests and a robust bioeconomy.

One example of ecological silviculture is the retention of biological legacy, a technique that is relatively well-accepted across the U.S.. Organisms and structures—such as giant sequoias, coastal redwoods and

down logs—left behind after a natural disturbance are biological legacies. Biological legacies provide habitat for many wildlife, promote structural diversity and supply a space for seed germination. Dr. Palik explains that in an ecological approach, foresters “will do a harvest to regenerate a forest… but it looks a lot closer to that natural model after a natural disturbance than typical timber silviculture”.

“[Another] example is to let forests develop for longer periods of time before there is a harvest,” explained Dr. Palik. “When [trees] stop growing at their optimal rate…that’s typically what defineswhen the trees are harvested. In the ecological approach, it’s based on ecological cues when you would harvest and that tends to be longer than timber-focused silviculture”.

This second technique is more controversial according to Dr. Palik “as it starts to affect the economic return of a forestry approach.”

Risks of over-harvesting forests include poor soil health and impacted biodiversity.

“If you are trying to optimize… fast growth of trees, there are definitemeasurable negative impacts to habitat, diversity, and sustainability,” Dr. Palik asserts. Aiming for accelerated growth of forests for economic purposes resembles an agricultural system rather than cultivating our forests to be economically viable and healthy.

Ecological silviculture is just one management strategy for

the tradeoffs between a profitable bioeconomy and healthy forests. Dr. Tobias Heimann, lead researcher on the project ‘BioSDG’ at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, evaluates the possible pathways to a bioeconomy and examines trade offs between ecosystems, food security, land-use, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

“We couple global CG models with economic models, with a biophysical model from our partners in Munich, and with a forest sector market model from our partners in Hamburg. We can model trade offs and global effects in land use change, but also in carbon emissions when climate policy or bioeconomy policies are implemented in certain regions,” explained Dr. Heimann.

Although the bioeconomy taps into a circular system, it can easily be a system with no net environmental benefit.Destruction of forest ecosystems, land grabbing and displacement are just some of the risks that a mismanaged bioeconomy system poses.

Already, the biomass production industry competes for land space, endangering local communities. In the Southeast of the United States, wood pellet mills — which are 50% more likely to be near POC communities — emit toxic air pollutants, and unsustainable logging weakens these regions’ resilience against storms.

The IPCC suggests that largescale biomass production for bioenergy purposes could be grown on degraded lands, but this strategy depends on if af-

forestation is done with natural or plantation forests. Cooperative production systems could be developed where natural forests are grown with some crops dedicated for biomass production. However, the success of these systems are hard to quantify.

“There is no model that is able to simultaneously include all the different aspects that are affected by the bio economy,” said Dr. Heimann. “For example, with biofuel policies, which are very common, many different SDGs are affected simultaneously, making it difficlt to evaluate all.”

According to Lenier, “Ideally, in a circular economy, we’d be building principles so that any extraction has to be fair trade. The benefitof having a system in which resources are circling is we naturally have less of a need to cut down more forests.”

The bioeconomy in forestry represents a new way of interacting with goods and services that could maintain balance between human needs and the integrity of global ecosystems. If properly bounded by sustainable forestry practices, forest products could meet the world’s growing construction and carbon capture needs in an environmentally, socially-conscious way.

Conflict, Confusion, and Coexistence: Fighting for Control on 8th and Harrison

by COLE HADDOCK

On August 19th, 2023, Jennifer Gerlach died behind a dumpster in Berkeley, CA. She died across the street from a Tesla warehouse, an urban farm, and a tea shop. She died after her condition was noted by several outreach workers. She died from maggot infested wounds and diarrhea, a ten minutes drive away from a hospital. She died on 8th and Harrison in the Gilman District, one of the most contested blocks in Berkeley, CA. For years, the City of Berkeley has been trying to manage the unhoused

community there, with outreach teams, sweeps, and law enforcement. As many surrounding encampments have been swept and shut down, the number of people living in the Gilman District has remained high. It is crowded and chaotic. On August 19th, 2023, in one of the richest areas of the country, Jennifer Gerlach died behind a dumpster. How was that allowed to happen?

CHAPTER 1- 8TH AND HARRISON

Ms. Alice Barbee walked out in a dress and blazer, put a rug down, and sat on the curb to wait for her interview. She took the microphone like she knew what she was doing and introduced herself with the type of contagious, passionate grin that would make you either fall in love or vote for her. It makes sense that she’s running for mayor.

Ms. Barbee came to 8th St. fleeingdomestic abuse. She had been in Berkeley for ten years, isolated from friends by

designed by TIFFANY HO

a possessive partner and 500 miles away from her family in LA. But, “the morning that I thought for sure that [my partner] was going to kill me and my dog, I left and never looked back.” She’s been living in Gilman since March 2022, and she’s a landmark on 8th St., with a well-built tent and a koi fishflagthat announces when she’s home. Her dog’s still with her, “sweet if she loves you, loud if she doesn’t.” She’s always wearing a good outfit. If you ask her about the food, she might gloat a bit, saying, “It’s amazing the food that actually comes out of this place. Mackey makes really, really great salmon.” Ms. Barbee describes, “a great support group out here. We build eachother up…Even if it isn’t exactly home, it still gives you a sense of it.”

While she spoke, dozens of cars sped by, going to work and staring. The public anonymity of 8th St. bothers Ms. Barbee. A speeding car honked for someone to get out of the way, and she sighed. In an interview with Mark Morrisette, owner of the Berkeley Rep building across the street, he couldn’t name a single person he’d worked next to for years.

“You know, the stigma that comes with homelessness is ridiculous. We might as well all be pit bulls. And nobody likes pit bulls. Like my dog is a pitbull, right? She’s a big old bark dog. And people will cross the street to get away from the side of the street where I’m walking down. And they just don’t realize that she’s the sweetest. She is, you know? If anybody took the time to realize or take the time to notice or even talk to

any one of anybody out here, they’d be like, Wow, right?”

The firstthing most people notice about 8th & Harrison is how much stuff there is. There are tents, shopping carts, beds, clothes, bikes, and RVS. There are boxes and dogs and trash and collected recycling. It’s people’s lives, all laid out on the sidewalk.

The city receives a lot of complaints about the appearance of 8th and Harrison. Business owners say the encampment is a deterrent to their customers. Nearby residents say it’s unsafe, and the stewards of the creek at the end of the road complain of environmental degradation.

In response, the City of Berkeley tried to negotiate with the camp residents. They agreed to an unofficialset of rules for the residents, including keeping their tents to one side of the streets and out of the creek. In return, the city put it in a dumpster for the dozens of people living there to throw away their trash.

But fundamentally, when people don’t have anywhere to go, neither does their stuff. The dumpster didn’t solve that problem.

There’s conflictingreports on how much notice the residents of 8th St were given, but in October, the Environmental Management Division, the Public Works Division, and the Homeless Outreach Team decided that the conditions had deteriorated unacceptably at 8th and Harrison. Citing rodent harborage conditions, they declared

the whole neighborhood an environmental health hazard.

The City of Berkeley issued a nuisance abatement to the residents of the Gilman District. If they didn’t clean up their own belongings, the City would.

For the health and safety of these residents and the entire Berkeley community, the Homeless Response Team respectfully recommends that you order immediate abatement of the public nuisance conditions in this area (specifically, Harrison St from Tenth St to Sixth St, and Eighth St from the creek to Gilman St), including destruction of any property constituting such a nuisance if the nuisance cannot be abated otherwise, pursuant to BMC 11.36.050 and 11.40.130 through 11.40.120.

CHAPTER 2- THE SWEEP

“So a sweep is one of the most miserable things I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The city will arrive where people are sleeping, usually around seven in the morning. And they will wake them up by washing their high beams or shaking the tents. Usually, the first people that arrive are the police and homeless outreach team. So the homeless outreach team will go around and talk to people and say, you know, do you want to go inside today, but they don’t actually have any resources to offer. Public works will be pressuring people to move, and throwing things away. Sometimes it’s trash, sometimes it’s people’s belongings, they rarely stop to ask. And then by 8:30 , most people are gone. I mean, they’ve taken their belongings with them across the street, or they’ve had them thrown in a dump truck.”

Interview with Director Ian James,

Coalition on Homelessness

At 6:40 am, on October 4, 2022, residents of 8th St & Harrison were woken to police cars and flashinglights. Over the next twelve hours, police officers and outreach cleaned the streets. Medicine, food, toiletries, recycling, and bedding were thrown away. They bargained with residents to leave, and threatened arrest. They offered small replacement tents and hygiene items.

It was all documented by Yesica Prado, a resident of 8th and Harrison, advocate, and journalist. Her documentation, and the testimonies of advocates and residents, describe a profoundly traumatizing event. In police records, they describe calling the ambulance for a heart-related medical emergency.

Ms. Barbee had just been diagnosed by the mobile medical unit with congestive heart failure. The day of the sweep she described, “they literally took everything that everybody had. All of it. I mean like anything that there was– any heirlooms, all of the medication that I’ve been taking. They said if you want to keep anything, get it across the street. So we got it across the street. And as soon as all that was done, they came back and they took all that stuff too. I literally was almost gonna have a heart attack. They had to have the paramedics come out and check me out to make sure I wasn’t going to just die.”

Prado’s report documents mental health crises not disclosed in the public police records. At 10:11 am, “Shawna

Garcia is asking for help. She feels threatened, and fears being pushed back to Second Street, where the city was allowing people to live in tents and makeshift structures — but that was also where her abusive ex-boyfriend was living…. Shawman is clearly in distress. After city employees take her tent, she scrounges in the roadway trying to save whatever food she can gather. “

12:01 pm: Rufus, who was hit by a car and cannot move easily, was left on the sidewalk without proper clothing for hours. His belongings were thrown away.

1:11 pm: Jeff asks for reasonable time to move his stuff out of the area. His wife, Eren, is breaking down in tears inside their tent with her dog. She is unresponsive and shut down from the stress, her mind scattered on what to do next. ‘My wife is losing it,’ Jeff says. ‘They are just breaking her down more.’”

Months later, all of the residents remember the sweep. Chloe Madison, an RV resident, remembered that, “They had the bulldozer and a bunch of garbage trucks and they were just tearing shit apart apart. It was nightmarish. Honestly, it was quite just disgusting to watch other humans tear down the living quarters of other humans. I think we all got through it. Everybody’s still alive. But it’s really fucked up shit.”

By the next week, conditions had pretty much returned to the way they were, according to a complaint email from a

neighbor. This time, the city claimed they could not do anything about it. As Beth Gerstein from the City of Berkeley explained, “We need housing solutions for the 20 plus individuals that have been sleeping on the street down there which is not something we currently have. We need addiction treatment resources and supportive housing for seriously mentally ill people. We don’t have those either. This should be more readily available within the county and state, but it is not, and Berkeley, like all cities, is the firstline of defense and we just aren’t able to keep up.” The city admitted that it wouldn’t do anything serious again unless the conditions deteriorated to warrant another sweep.

Today, 8th and Harrison is more crowded than ever. As unhoused people get pushed out of almost every other place in Berkeley, this is the only place to go. There’s almost double the tents as there were a few months ago. It’s crowded, and chaotic. The City apologized for their treatment of unhoused people, and promised reform.

On August 19th, 2023, resident Jennifer Gerlach died behind the dumpster on 8th & Harrison.

How did we get here?

CHAPTER 3 - DAN THE BLACKSMITH

There’s a whirlpool in Dan’s yard. The whirlpool is fast and strong, and pulls all of the flood water underneath tenth street and out of his backyard. Dan built this concrete diverter with his friend when he first

moved into the house thirty years ago. See, he can’t allow it to flood. His house is only ten feet away from the creek– if it got out of control, his entire house could be gone.

On 10th St in the Gilman District, Dan’s also constantly fightingto defend his property from unhoused people that live nearby. He gestures at the fence that lines his property. “One day, I came home, and on my front steps, two people were fucking. I don’t know if it was consensual, I don’t know,” He trails off. “But I yelled them off, and then I put this fence up. I had to keep that out.” The fence isn’t that tall, or officiallooking. It would be easy to jump. 8th and Harrison is surrounded by barbed wire and cameras. The businesses around the encampment want to stay safe. The fence in Dan’s yard does its job—this land is not public. It is fenced; it is his private property. Stay off.

From the inside of his living room, Dan looks out at Codornices Creek through an iron barred window. He shows pictures of the squirrel that he has been feeding, as well as some birds that he’s watched hunting on his property. He points out the willow trees that he’s trimmed every year. They’re native willow trees, grown from sticks into a massive canopy, and he’s very proud of them. He talks about the rainbow trout that swim up the creek.

As much as he documents the beauty in his yard, he also carefully documents how unhoused people affect it. Showing a massive fileof photos he had

taken of the encampment that had taken up residence across the street , he says, “Look at how much trash is there. It’s a dumpster; it’s so dirty.”

Dan Dole has lived in the East Bay for a long time, and this is not how it used to be. He says the unhoused population has increased significantly,the city doesn’t care, and the neighborhood has completely changed.

Dan doesn’t think they’re necessarily terrible people, but they need serious help. He says, “They know where I live. I have to protect myself.” He shows me pictures of a man that had accosted him once outside the front of his house as an example of how dangerous it’s been sometimes.

His neighbors have similar sentiments- the owner of the plumbing company next door said that the unhoused population is hurting his business. He’s been in Berkeley for decades, and now his customers refuse to come down here. He got robbed not that long ago. He says, “Those people need serious help. They’re dirty, and the university and the city won’t do anything about it.”

The Gilman District is supposed to be a light industrial neighborhood, known historically for being worker’s’ and artist’s’ housing. But a 1-bed, 1-bath apartment in the Gilman District rents out for $1,725. One of the newer neighbors on Harrison St is a Tesla service center. It is hard enough not to be pushed out of the neighborhood, without unhoused people making property values lower, and scaring customers away.

Dole says the City of Berkeley doesn’t care about small business owners– if they did, they would protect the people and businesses down here.

CHAPTER 4- ENVIRONMENTALISM

Susan Schwartz sympathizes with businesses. “People don’t want to come to their premises- It’s creepy.” From her view, nobody wants to visit Codornices Creek, either. She’s spent the last twenty years trying to maintain this creek, and has watched as unhoused people have camped, started fires,and trampled plants on the creek. “I mean, we’ve had our work destroyed repeatedly. It’s heartbreaking. We didn’t get paid to do any of this. We’re trying to make something beautiful.”

In her own words, Susan Schwartz has been a writer, a mother, a sleuth, an environmental janitor, a failure, a leader, and a needle pusher. If you ask her directly, though, she says, “My name is Susan Schwartz. I am an old lady.”

Schwartz has been co-running the neighborhood group Friends of Five Creeks for twenty-fiveyears. The collective of citizens, students, and nonprofitsworks to “control erosion, remove trash and harmful invasives, and plant natives, creating varied and welcoming urban oases for people and animals” (2021 Annual Report). One of their biggest projects has been at Codornices Creek, which runs right next to the encampment on 8th St.

After being infilled,trenched, and polluted by West Berkeley’s early industrial land use, Codornices Creek was put in a concrete pipe. When a creek goes underground, the ecosystems and species they

support cease to exist. In 1995, activists pushed to bring Codornices Creek back to the surface.

In two major efforts, the first in 1994 and the second in 2003, Codornices Creek was unearthed. A trench was dug, willow trees were planted, and today it flowsfreely between Sixth and Ninth Streets in the Gilman District.

After the unearthing, however, Codornices Creek quickly fell into major disrepair. As Schwartz described it, “[Cornodices Creek] went to hell. And was completely overgrown with an invasive that essentially just blanketed everything.“ In 2018, volunteers discovered about “half million dollars in escrow for maintenance of restorations [at Codornices Creek], and that escrow was going to expire in a couple of years.” The discovery of these funds refueled the efforts of Friends of Five Creeks, who removed trash, cleared invasives, and taught a lot more people to love Codornices Creek.

Today, Codornices Creek stands as a testament to urban greenspaces, with informative signs, paths, and birds everywhere. Rufus, a resident of 8th St., loves the creek. It’s quiet, beautiful, and green. Rufus moves slowly, going ten feet a minute from old injuries in an old wheelchair. The quietest part of the creek, across the street from Dan Dole’s house, is a couple of blocks and maybe a couple hours walk from his tent. It’s next to the baseball field,and on good days, he can eat his doughnuts and breathe the air while sitting next to the

creek.

He’s not the only unhoused person that loves Codornices Creek. Across the Bay, unhoused people have less access to water than meets the international WASH standards for refugees. Without access to water, or restrooms, people often end up near creeks. When people get swept off the streets and out of the public eye, they often end up in natural spaces. In places like Codornices Creek, there is water, seclusion, and less police harassment.

Susan Schwartz, Dan Dole, and Rufus all love the same creek. But for Schwartz and Dole, their fightfor survival isn’t about findingfood, struggling to maintain sanitation, or desperately needing clean and quiet time. It is about property ownership, protecting their neighborhood, and long-term accountability. When asked if it was possible for the 8th St. community to reconcile under shared goals and understandings, Schwartz said, explicitly, “If we take it that the unhoused people are part of the community, no.”

CHAPTER 5– THE FRUSTRATION

Schwartz is well-known for her emails. Every officialinterviewed for this article had been on the receiving end of one. She is an educated and connected activist. She sends emails documenting people stomping over native vegetation, pulling up flags,setting fires,and releasing sewage into the creek. Her organization doesn’t host as many events at the creek as they used to for safety fears.

She expressed sympathy for “society’s failures of these people” and their “impossible situations”,” but using language that is common amongst housed people in the community., sShe describes the unhoused (and RV) community as “addicts “ and”deeply insane people” overwhelming the neighborhood. To her, it is obvious that “as long as there is Berkeley’s outdoor insane asylum on Eighth St.,” Codornices Creek will be continually destroyed.

Across the Bay Area, this is common. There is public support for sympathetic policies, more housing, and a network of nonprofitsand housed people trying to assist unhoused people. But there is also a growing sense of frustration with a perceived lack of community responsibility on the part of unhoused people.

A map of San Francisco went viral after documenting reported human feces sites across the city. Another NBC investigative map went viral after documenting sightings of feces and needles in downtown San Francisco. Both maps were trying to alert pedestrians of where not to walk, and also bring light to the issue of homelessness. Or at least, the dirtiness of unhoused people.

When discussion of homelessness focuses on “filthiness,” and the degradation of the natural environment, a sense of injustice all over the Bay Area begins to build. Someone took out a full page ad claiming that San Francisco had let the “tax-paying” citizens down by “catering to the lowest com-

mon denominator.”

Nationally, East Bay and San Francisco have made headlines about being filthy,and overrun by homelessness. Notably, in 2019, President Donald Trump tried to get the EPA to cite the city of San Francisco, saying, “They’re in serious violation. This is environmental, there are needles and feces flowing into the ocean…. and they have to clean it up. We can’t have our cities going to hell…We can’t lose our great cities like this.”

Mayor Breed of San Francisco expressed frustration with unhoused residents, saying, “I work hard to make sure [housing and homelessness] programs are funded for the purposes of trying to get these individuals help, and what I am asking you to do is work with your clients and ask them to at least have respect for the community — at least, clean up after themselves and show respect to one another and people in the neighborhood.”

Keith Lichten, from the San Francisco Water Quality Control Board said as an environmental regulator, “Of course, we’re concerned about water quality, specificallyabout discharges of human waste of sewage, and trash associated with homelessness. But we also have an eye on longer term solutions, jobs, housing, supportive services. And recognizing the limits of resources that are available.” The ideal of long-term and underfunded solutions doesn’t solve the onthe-ground realities of places like the Gilman District.

On August 8, 2022, Susan

Schwartz sent an email to the city of Berkeley, also CC’ing the State Waterboard. In it, she describes the “death of Codornices Creek.” She cited sewage discharges into the creek and describes “Camps overflowing with trash and belongings now occupy the entire sidewalk and spill into the street, with conditions worse than any I recall from the slums of Africa.” Her finalcomplaint was that, “Much of the creek below Eighth Street is more attractive than everbefore…[but] the public cannot enjoy or feel safe in the creekside trails (now tent occupied).”

The State Waterboard has the power to review the City of Berkeley’s natural water quality, and if it deems that the City has violated sewage regulations, can enforce the codes with stricter regulation and fines.After this email, the Waterboard followed-up with their concerns and scheduled meetings with the City of Berkeley to voice their concerns for the creek and conduct a walk-by test. Between the date that Susan Schwartz sent her provocative email and the Waterboard came to visit, the City of Berkeley held the October encampment sweep referenced above.

This email, and the dozens of other continuous complaints about the filthof 8th & Harrison, hits a nerve within the City of Berkeley. Peter Radu, Assistant to the City Manager for the City of Berkeley and often the one deciding how the city will manage its unsheltered population, expressed his frustrations.

“I think I mean, yes, I think I

would be lying if I told you that the city wasn’t feeling frustrated about the situation down there,” He said. “Mostly because we’ve tried to do everything possible to just maintain cleaner and better conditions.” He acknowledges that the people at 8th & Harrison need housing, but refers the responsibility of that to Alameda County.

It’s up to Alameda County to house people long-term, not the City of Berkeley. All they can provide are small numbers of temporary shelter beds and motel room vouchers, which many people refuse because they’re often temporary, crowded, and controlling. Without the ability to solve the problem completely, the City of Berkeley “really did a lot to try to maintain as safe conditions as possible for that encampment over the course of several months.” They provided a dumpster, showers, and a port-apotty. Yesica Prado would counter this, say that it took months for the city to deliver on those promises, and that they were insufficient.

But, Radu says, the residents just didn’t maintain their side of the deal. He says that, “The conditions were so bad that the environmental health inspectors were very concerned about what they saw–the unmitigated human and animal waste, the rodent harbourage conditions, the loose and scattered syringes, what appeared to be raw sewage in buckets, like it was really, really bad conditions. So bad that they had to be declared an imminent health hazard.”

Radu talked about the importance of keeping public space open to the public, “to the university village students going to work and class”’ and the nearby business

owners. When asked about the traumatic nature of the sweeps, he didn’t respond, saying, “I’m going to counter your question with a question. At what point, acknowledging that encampments are the new normal for the foreseeable future, at what point do we have to enforce some semblance of a social norm?”

CHAPTER 6 - CONSIDER THE HOMELESS

Cars don’t stop coming on Harrison St. Over and over, cars screeched around RJ’s wheelchair. One man even slowed to yell, “HEY! You could get hit.” RJ shook his head, and kept moving. The reason he was in this wheelchair, the reason he was pulling himself down the middle of the street, was because he had already been hit the year before.

Rufus was hit near the 580 in South Berkeley, which was one of the biggest encampments in Berkeley before it got swept out. Many of the unhoused people living in the Gilman District have already been kicked out of a lot of places- Adeline St, Albany Bulb, the Berkeley Marina, and the Aquatic Park. Amber Whitson, a well-known inhabitant of Albany Bulb, a previous dumpsite where many unhoused people set up camp, said, “They’re just running people around. It’s the leaf blower effect. Blow your problems onto somebody else’s sidewalk. I don’t think they understand physics too well. Everybody’s got to be somewhere.”

Rufus is in a wheelchair and findsit difficultto get off the ground and out of the tent. He

pulls himself along by his toes, going astronomically slowly towards the McDonald’s or the donut shop a few blocks away. He is missing an eye and a figer, and looks a lot older than he is. Asking Okeya Vance why he wasn’t on the top of the list to get housed, she said he needed a nurse and assistance, and there aren’t the resources for that. He also wasn’t that compliant with them. So instead of anything, he would stay on the street.

Rufus lives right next to a dirt street planter, right next to the rat holes documented in the city’s public health report. He glared at them, and said that the rats were evil. He said the pavement was hard on his back, and every time we speak, he has a new plan to get an RV or an apartment.

Lady J and Alejandro’s problem is that people think they’re mean. I asked them what brought them together, and they both said, “we don’t take shit from no one.” They’d both been to prison. They’d done hard time in hard places, and they learned the kind of walls you put up to survive in those sorts of worlds.

Lady J had grown up institutionalized. “No. I don’t have family to help support me. I have to do everything on my own. And that’s hard. Especially being a female. I grew up in and out of foster care and group homes since I was three. I started running away from home at the age of I think 10. I was bounced from foster home to foster home from group home to foster home from foster home to group home. And

finally,when I was 16, they’re like, ‘we’re locking you up until you’re 18.’” She said she lost everything in prison. Lady J doesn’t trust anyone, anymore, except her dogs.

“I’m not like most girls. I’m very different. I look like a girl but I can handle my own. I’m not really afraid of anything. Except the dark. Don’t tell nobody. (Everyone busted up laughing).” Lady J recycles for a living. It’s hard work- she collects pounds and pounds of metal to drag to the recycling center everyday. She’s on the waiting list for housing, but won’t go into temporary shelter for fear of losing her dogs.

Walking up to Alejandro, Ms. Barbee was cheering him on as he spun rings. He got shy in front of us though, and asked if we just wanted to talk instead. He said growing up in Richmond, he never used to get shy, but “Just going back and forth to the penitentiary. It gave me to the point where I felt like I can’t be in public. Like, you know, I got post traumatic. I can’t be in big stores, you know. It’s anxiety attacks now.”

He was deeply skeptical of law enforcement, and talked about getting dragged to jail and about starving while incarcerated. He’d been harassed by police officers,and rejected job offers. He talked about a judge asking him where he was gonna end up. “Oh, well, are you going to the shelter? Are you going back to the penitentiary? It’s clear you’re trying to just make me a statistic.”

Alejandro talked about not

being able to go into a Target. “I used to like that type of environment. I mean, I played football, for crying out loud. I played baseball and you know, you smack a homerun at the end, your whole team waiting for you right there. I can’t do that no more. I can’t be around people like that no more. They ruined me a little. That was why people like to be around me, because I was a people’s person. I’m not a people person anymore. And that’s, that’s making me bitter.”

Asking Lady J and Alejandro why they hadn’t gotten housed yet, they both said it was because they weren’t nice enough for the workers. Lady J said, “I just don’t like them putting their noses up to us because we were them. You know what I mean? They can lose what they have at any moment– they could hit somebody in a crosswalk and go to prison and lose everything. For vehicular homicide. You know what I mean? And it’s not their fault. But still, they still got their noses turned up to us. I don’t like it. I don’t like stuck up people.”

There’s dozens of stories on Gilman St. There’s Stan, who wears bright pink glasses and lost his arm in a corn picker in rural Minnesota. There’s Felix, who accompanied every answer with an improv guitar solo. There’s Alice Barbee, Chloe Madison, Keith, Sissy, and Hassan. There are formerly incarcerated people, Black and brown and white people, trans people, mothers, fathers, and dogs. There are musicians, artists, and chefs. There is every type of person that can fall through the cracks.

Between 2011 and 2017, the Bay Area created 531,400 new jobs but approved only 123,801 new housing units, a ratio of 4.3 jobs for every unit of housing. In 1955, there were 558,239 severely mentally ill patients in the nation’s public psychiatric hospitals. In 1994, this number had been reduced to 71,619. Gavin Newsom is emptying the prisons. Hard and addictive drugs are readily available at 8th & Harrison.

There are endless ways to end up on the streets. There are endless ways to end up broke, struggling, and tired. There aren’t endless things needed to get off the streets, though. People need mental health care. People need housing. People need patience, and follow-ups. People need time, effort, and care, and there just aren’t enough resources available.

Yesica Prado is an East Bay investigative reporter whose work has been referenced above. Prado explained that as a graduate student at the U.C . Berkeley School of Journalism, “I basically ended up having to give up my apartment. I couldn’t pay rent anymore. And then that’s how I ended up getting the vehicle. I had no idea what to expect. I just think it was like, I’m just gonna do this, because I’m gonna try to get to school.”

At sweeps, city council meetings, and in solving everyday conflicts,Prado has been appointed as the advocate for 8th & Harrison. She’s spent years showing up, and telling real stories about the people at 8th & Harrison. And nothing much

has changed.

“You pour your heart out to them. And you tell them like, this is how it really is. And at the end of the day, they’re not just gonna do whatever they were gonna do anyways, you know? Yeah, so it almost feels like yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know.”

The Harvest Hereafter: Extraterrestrial Solar Power

by ABBY WILBER

Maybe offworld colonization is the only way for humanity to outrun the damage of anthropogenic climate change, or maybe space-based solar power will be a lifeline.

A climate-healthy future may yet be prolonged, owing to Earth’s firstsource of energy: one bestowed rather than demanded, one inherent with photosynthesis and the routine of each new day from an Earthen perspective. Solar radiation as renewable energy is not a revelation, but what if it came straight from the source—making the sun an ever-resonating provider of the planet?

Sometimes, dreaming and pondering faraway worlds yields innovation to confound humanity’s relationship with the cosmos. Space-based solar has become an increasingly non-fictionpiece of Sci-Fi since 1968, when an aerospace engineer took it from a fantasy to a plausibility. Space-

based solar power is energy from the sun collected by a satellite in Earth’s orbit.

Though set apart from all existing energy-generating methods by its distance from Earth, this method relies on the already well-established use of photovoltaic panels that can convert sunlight into energy—in essence, the same cells that are already scattered across many rooftops here on Earth.

With terrestrial solar panels, we wait for the morning to bask in rays as the polarized charges of an electric fieldmade by photovoltaic panels remove electrons from atoms and turn them to usable energy. If solar energy could be captured every hour, the sun would become a ceaseless, omnipresent power bank, unencumbered by nightfall. Satellite solar panels could collect light in its most powerful form of blue waves, which

designed by TIFFANY HO

dilute and scatter when they hit Earth’s atmosphere.

How it Works

A UC Berkeley professor in environmental policy and nuclear engineering, Daniel “Dan” Kammen is the James and Katherine Lao Distinguished Professor of Sustainability, former science envoy in the Obama and Biden administration and former Senior Advisor for energy and innovation at the U.S. agency for International development.

Initially inspired by offworld stories and technologies, the self-proclaimed Star Trek quoter Dr. Kammen worked in a team of three just last year to devise a design and plan for the firstsatellite solar power station. This proposal was elaborated into a budget report with the help of a few Berkeley undergraduates, and later approved by scientists at NASA’s Glenn Laboratory. The estimated cost of the assembly and launch of a trial satellite the size of the one designed by Kammen and his original team would be around $25 million. By comparison, NASA’s current mission, Artemis, is projected to cost $13.1 billion total and over $4 billion per launch.

Kammen describes the vision of solar-harvesting in space reflectedin his work: a large network of photovoltaic cells, protected by a polymer film.Witha plastic protective layer, the cells would be able to prevent potential destruction from small meteorites and other threats in the extreme environmental factors of space.

For solar energy to be transmitted down to Earth, the conversion of electrical energy into microwaves would result from the use of a klystron—a device that manipulates electron speed and thus wavelength. A large receiver on Earth, a “stationary satellite” such as a satellite dish, would capture this microwave energy, already in a ready-touse manner similar to any terrestrially generated

solar energy.

With the extraterestrialization of energy harvesting, energy’s mobility suddenly becomes a serious consideration: Solar energy is made a traveler through the cosmos. Relative to the distance between the sun and Earth, its current capture and dissemination seem local.

In early designs of solar space satellites, lasers were proposed as the mode of transporting solar energy down to Earth. However, as these plans were brought out of the realm of science fiction and into the very real sphere of contemporary politics, it became clear that, though less high energy, unobtrusive microwave beams would be much less concerning to the public than lasers from space.

A New Grid

If the launch of a solar satellite is funded and successfully deployed, the technology could have the potential to singlehandedly power a new global energy grid. With 24/7 energy capture, there would no longer be a need for energy storage. Typical solar energy harvesting methods must account for the fluctuationsof the sun’s availability on Earth, requiring the use of batteries that can store the energy to be used when the sun isn’t momentarily available.

All solar energy generated is stored in centralized batteries that connect back to power grids; the “grid model” of energy has in this way allowed solar energy to become much more reliable and widely used. However, these batteries themselves play a part in counteracting the alternative to natural resource use and lessened emissions achieved by solar energy.

Lithium ion batteries in particular, known for their fast charging time and longevity, are rising in popularity and becoming a global market for the storage of many forms of renewable energy. The harvesting of lithium entails either open pit

“If solar energy could be captured every hour, the sun would become a ceaseless, omnipresent power bank, unencumbered by nightfall.”

mining or brine extraction, both of which disrupt their ecosystems by producing toxic chemicals, causing health risk and pollution. (source)

Receiving energy from a space solar satellite in large dishes or radio telescopes would allow large areas to access solar energy in real time both day and night— without the need for costly and environmentally damaging batteries. Making this method even more efficientis the fact that the amount of solar energy available to be captured and put to use in space is 13,172 watts per square meter.

On Earth, in the prime location for solar energy harvesting (which is in the Atacama Desert of Chile), 850 to 900 watts per square meter is the most you can hope for, even on a day of maximum sun exposure.

Caltech & JAXA

Engineers at Caltech, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and UC Berkeley are all contributing to the development of space-based solar in different ways, with their collaboration possessing the potential for synergy and coherence in one technological breakthrough to make space-based solar possible on a large scale.

At Caltech, the Space Solar Power Project is spearheading the design of every aspect necessary to make space-based solar a reality, in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). They are advancing photovoltaic technology beyond the typical model of rooftop solar by investigating new materials, taking the conditions of space for the design challenge that they pose.

By using novel photonic structures, materials can better manipulate and utilize the specificwavelengths of light emitted by the sun. Caltech’s Space Solar lab has also worked intensively on developing wireless power transfer systems, working to answer the questions of how energy can effectively be transferred from a space satellite, received, and redistributed as energy usable in everyday life.

Caltech, JAXA, and Kammen’s lab at Berkeley each take a holistic approach to developing space-based solar systems, but each has their particular area of strength. Caltech’s progress towards mobilizing space-harvested solar energy, JAXA’s work involv-

ing launch logistics and Berkeley’s innovative solar panel design, optimized for launch and self-assembly, each fita piece in the puzzle. According to Dr. Kammen, their harmony sets the precedent of a possible collaborative effort between the three.

Money—Not the Dealbreaker You’d Expect

Keeping space-based satellites from roaming the sky is in large part the perceived costliness of the construction and deployment of the technology. However, Dr. Kammen’s insight informs that the price of solar energy-harvesting mechanisms have dropped by 90% in the past decade. He notes that with regard to the costliness of renewable energy, the greatest upheaval in cost lies within the batteries that store harvested energy.

With the hypothesized storage methods of spacebased solar power, Dr. Kamen states that energy storage by way of expensive lithium ion batteries and other typical storage methods would become unnecessary with the direct channeling of solar energy from space to where it is needed. Kammen mentions that in addition to dropping prices within the solar industry, private space launch prices are decreasing due to the industry’s global growth.

Space-based solar power was dreamt up decades ago, and as so many works of fictiondo, it aged well in order to meet the present state of the world. In conjecture with the increasing affordability and technological advance of its components. Dr. Kammen sums up the exciting and miraculous plausibility of the technology: “If solar hadn’t become cheap, and if launch costs hadn’t gone down, we wouldn’t be thinking about it. But both have happened.” And so we can look to the sky as we consider the next steps in transitioning to renewable energy.

Barriers to Prescribed Burns in California

In March 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force issued a Strategic Plan for Expanding the Use of Beneficial Fire. The plan set a target of expanding the use of “beneficial fire,” which includes prescribed fire and cultural burning, to 400,000 acres annually by 2025. The shift towards using prescribed fire in forest management was a major change of tune

for California, as prior to the 1960s, state agencies believed that all wildland fires should be extinguished as quickly as possible.

This fire suppression approach has dramatically altered Califnoria’s ecosystems by removing an important abiotic factor in fire. Scientists have shown that California’s native plants and animals benefit from periodic fires and that the fire suppression policy has created unnaturally high abundances of biomass, resulting in conditions that are actually more prone to severe wildfires. Research has shown that prescribed fires help mitigate these issues by reducing fuel load and creating conditions that fire dependent species need to reproduce.

Scientists, gov -

ernment officials, and CAL Fire have all acknowledged the need and importance of prescribed fires, along with the imperative to rapidly scale up California’s prescribed burning efforts. However, despite the consensus, the historical rejection of fire in any form has created a number of legislative hurdles and an infrastructural deficit that make it difficult to perform prescribed burning.

One barrier to increasing the amount of prescribed burns in California is the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act allows the Environmental Protection Agency to set legal limits for how much pollution districts are allowed to emit and includes a host of emitters such as agriculture, automobiles,

electric utilities, and pre-

scribed fire.

However, while prescribed fire must adhere to the pollution limits, wildfires are not held to the same standard. Lenya Quinn-Davidson, fire advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension, explains how the differing approaches to air pollution creates a bias towards destructive wildfires, rather than controlled and prescribed burns.

“ Prescribed Fires create smoke with the intention of preventing more distructive levels later on. ”

“

Scientists have shown that California’s native plants and animals benefit from periodic fires.”

Designed by Olivia Rounsaville

Perscribed Burns

“The inherent problem with that is that we’re basically selecting for the worst kinds of fires, because we are saying those ones are off the hook and they can burn as much as they want. Whatever happens, happens,” she said. “But if we are trying to do good work we are going to account and regulate it heavily and actually prevent it from even happening in the first place.”

Fire scientist Molly Hunter supports this point of view, explaining that prescribed fires create smoke with the fundamental intention of preventing even more destructive levels of potential wildfire smoke later on.

In addition to political challenges, finding enough skilled workers to perform prescribed fires has given California great difficulty. The shortage stems from the sharing of skilled personnel that fight wildfires and perform prescribed burns, the temporary nature of these positions, and a century-long pause during which prescribed fire knowledge was not actively utilized.

Quinn-Davidson states that California is undergoing a “workforce crisis” because the state’s fire suppression policy has disrupted the “cultural continuity” for prescribed burning in indigenous

“there’s so much fire work to be done and there just aren’t that many people who have those skills.”

Moreover, according to Hunter, prescribed burning positions being temporary contradicts the fact that prescribed burns can happen year round in California. She believes that it’s important to have a “workforce available to do prescribed burning when they do have those windows open up.” This approach maximizes the opportunities to take advantage of favorable weather conditions for prescribed burning.

There are also liability issues that have resulted in unequal protections for burn bosses burning on public lands through state and government agencies compared to those performing burns on private lands. In California, current policies place the sole liability of the prescribed

lands is absorbed by the government.

The differences in liability exemplifies how federal and state employees have major protections compared to private individuals or indigenous peoples performing prescribed burns.

For example, Quinn-Davidson looks to a 2022 federal prescribed fire in New Mexico that got out of control: “The person in charge of that burn was a federal burn boss who worked for the forest service… he is protected in his position because he works for the federal agency and he was operating within the scope of duty of his job.”

“If I were burning on private land and had that kind of situation happen. I would be personally liable,” said Quinn-Davidson.

In an effort to address this gap, recent steps like California’s Senate Bill 332, passed in the fall of 2021, have been put into place. The bill applies to individuals burning on private lands and changed the liability standard in California from simple negligence to gross negligence for an individual to be held personally liable for paying fire suppression costs — making it more difficult for prescribed burners to be found responsible when unforeseen conditions take the fire beyond its set boundaries.

nia’s legal requirements for fire ignition on public and private land. Prescribed burns that occur on private property have fewer legal requirements, as they don’t have to comply with larger governmental regulations or processes like the California Environmental Quality Act or the National Environmental Policy Act. Fulfilling these regulations and processes is a time-intensive process and can result in long processing periods and bureaucratic hurdles for burns.

According to Quinn-Davidson, policies required for prescribed burns on federal or state land or done with federal or state money results in longer planning processes “that could take several years to document and demonstrate that your project is not going to have negative impacts on important resources.”

Even as the state tries to change its attitude toward burning, legislative frameworks from the state’s past of fire suppression are in the way of California achieving its prescribed burning goals. As a result, many scientists argue that the work isn’t being done fast enough to reduce wildfire risk.

communities, where prescribed burning expertise is greatest. Now, she says

burn on private land owners, while liability of a prescribed burn on public

However, these legal asymmetries have not been resolved in Califor-

Now, California’s approach to tackling the legislative and liability frameworks, the workforce shortage and the knowledge gap to meet Newsom’s prescribed burning goals is still unclear.

The Dual Nature of Hawai’i’s Tourism: Thriving Industry or Destructive Force?

by SOSIE CASTEEL

America’s beloved volcanic archipelago, Hawai’i, checks every box for the perfect island getaway: gorgeous beaches, crystal-clear ocean waves, and delicious food. Formed by an active volcanic hotspot, this series of islands has recently become another type of hot spot — one for tourists. Tourism on the beautiful Hawai’ian islands continues to increase yearly, especially in the age of vacation rental platforms such as AirBnB and Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO). Even during the pandemic, millions of people chose Hawai’i as their destination.

Annually, the Aloha State attracts nearly 10 million visitors who bring in over 15 billion dollars

for the local economy. However, excessive travel has created a myriad of issues for Hawai’ian natives and the islands themselves. Besides the annoyance of obnoxious mainlanders stampeding across the lush forests and once-pristine beaches, the constant stream of visitors pushes natives into a housing crisis, contributes to habitat fragmentation and prostitutes Hawai’ian culture.

To understand the complex relationship of Hawai’i with the mainland, it is necessary to understand the imperialist background of the United States’ control of the islands. Americans have influencedthe Hawaiian islands since just after the arrival of European explorers in the late 18th

designed by TIFFANY HO

century. For centuries, the island chain prospered as a kingdom, relying on agricultural exports to sustain its economy. As a result of diseases spread through contact with Europeans, the population of Native Hawaiians on the island declined by hundreds of thousands until stabilizing in the mid 20th century.

In 1891, Queen Liliuokalani took the throne amidst financialturmoil in Hawai’i. Although she tried to preserve the power of the monarchy, Liliuokalani was deposed two years later by Americans and Hawaiian citizens of American descent who sought to hand the islands over to the United States. Hawai’i became a Republic and was soon annexed by the United States. In 1959 it became the 50th state, an event which set the stage for the modern influx of mainland tourists

Erin Carroll is a Environmental Science, Policy, and Management PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley who grew up in O’ahu. “I definitely do not feel that people who visit Hawaii are respectful of the land, its people, or the culture,” she said. “That isn’t necessarily their fault, and I believe most people come with an open heart and positive intentions. It’s just a lack of educational resources and an absolute tsunami of negative ones.”

Hawai’i is the most isolated archipelago on the face of the Earth, sitting thousands of miles away from any continental mainland. Underwater volcanic eruptions created the chain of islands, beginning around 70 million years ago. This is a process that continues today, with islands still being created due to gradual tectonic plate movement.

As an archipelago that is classifiedas a subtropical forest, Hawai’i is home to a great variety of unique species due to its distinct location. Its geographic isolation results in a lack of species immigration, and therefore extinction rates are far more detrimental to the overall biodiversity of the islands. More recently, Hawai’ian residents and climatologists have emphasized both the fragility of the ecosystems, as well as the relative scarcity of the islands’ natural resources.

Coral reefs in Hawai’i have experienced the most significantlosses due to excessive tourism. Hudson Slay, an EPA biologist in the PacificSouthwest Water Division, describes coral reefs as key

to the islands:hey provide habitats for local fiseries, protect the shores from heavy wave action and storm surges, and allow for offshore activities such as snorkeling.

While the EPA recognizes global threats to coral reefs, Slay’s department is dedicated to locating and mitigating local nonpoint sources of pollution that harm corals. “What happens is the coral gets stressed either by water temperature, excessive sediment, or some other stressor,” says Slay. “Then those zooxanthellae may be expelled from the coral skeleton and when that gets to a certain point the coral looks like it was dipped in bleach.” According to Slay, the threats to the reefs were prevalent before extensive travel to the islandsowever, the development of roads has increased runoff, a major source of nonpoint pollution to coral reefs.

Tourism, like any other industry, depends on natural resources. Hotels, which tend to be placed near water lines, demand a significantamount of freshwater for guests, golf courses and manufactured green spaces. Extreme water use has caused island-wide droughts and inflationin the price of freshwater for locals. Tourism, above all, takes up space. Land is scarce in Hawai’i, and tourists and corporations continue to push locals out of their homes and drive up the cost of housing for natives. The median cost of a one-family house in Hawai’i is over $1 million, one of the highest of any U.S. state.

The development of this limited land has a number of negative ecosystemic effects. Habitat fragmentation is the cause of most modern extinction in Hawai’i. For instance, the draining of ponds to make room for hotels and other infrastructure has left many migratory birds without a place to land and reproduce. The arrival of humans has induced more extinctions and threatened multiple plant and animal species on the islands. Endemic birds, spiders, flowers,marine animals, and many insects struggle to thrive in highly toured parts of the islands.

Hawai’i also sits right in the middle of swirling ocean currents close to an oceanic trash pile called the “Great PacificGarbage Patch.” Trash that was not even created by Hawai’i washes up on the shores of Hawaiian beaches. Fifteen to twenty tons of marine debris wash up on the relatively inac-

cessible Kamilo Beach every year.

In addition to littering the beaches, waste, mainly single-use plastics, litters fresh waterways and other places throughout the islands. Waste removal in Hawaii is complicated and expensive because trash has to be carried out of the islands by large boats to go to mainland landfills.Tourism exacerbates this crisis, as according to a study conducted by the Kohala Center, the average Hawaiian visitor generates over seven pounds of waste a day. With thousands of travelers staying on each island, the waste piles up and often ends up in natural spaces due to littering or wind.

Hawaiian natives have expressed their concern for decades, but many of the most crucial issues for the islands aren’t easily reversible or have complicated solutions. For instance, a decline in the industry that is responsible for so much environmental destruction would also cause many natives to suffer as it is an integral part to the island economy.

This is proven historically: The dip in travel after the attacks on September 11 left busy hotels and restaurants struggling to stay afloat.Tourism quickly picked back up after the period of mourning and incentive discounts on popular attractions. However, the post-9/11 circumstances demonstrated the potential negative effects of limitations on visitors.

Tourism, nevertheless, remains limited by geographical and environmental considerations. “Tourism is a huge part of the local economy, but the land is not infiniteand the tourism value will be better sustained in the long term if its capacity isn’t disregarded,” Carroll said.

Taking smaller, more specificsteps could slow the negative impacts of tourism without damaging the Hawaiian economy. Incentivizing limited water and energy usage in hotels or protecting green spaces, coupled with education about Hawai’i on the mainland may make tourism less harmful. In an interview with Spotlight Hawai’i, Hawai’i Lodging & Tourism Association President & CEO Mufi Hannemann described the industry as “open for business and trying to promote the fact that we are looking for respectful tourists.”

According to Slay, the Hawai’i Tourism Authority

provides potential travelers with tips to limit their impacts on both the natural aspects of the islands as well as the culture of the natives. Additionally, many airlines play informational videos or hand out pamphlets to their passengers in an effort to prevent common mistakes travelers may make during their island vacations. “If you don’t understand something, ask. Ask a lifeguard if you’re not sure if you should be somewhere,” Slay said.

Hawai’i represents both a challenge and an opportunity for conservation because of its diverse habitats that must be protected despite the swarms of curious travelers. This Pacificparadise can continue to thrive with more emphasis on careful traveler tactics and widespread education on the preservation of island environments.

Addressing tourism in Hawai’i reflectssome of the most pressing challenges in conservation: dealing with an industry that is simultaneously the lifeblood of a local economy and also the source of a large share of environmental degradation. With climate change on the horizon, Hawai’i’s success will depend on its ability to mitigate the drawbacks of its tourism industry without damaging it.

Big Tech’s Environmental Responsibilities

by Megan Mehta

Conversations regarding big tech’s (Meta/Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Google, Amazon; also known as MANGA) responsibility to maintain data security, privacy, and ethics are necessary but often overshadow the energy consumption and environmental damage these corporations also cause. Although many of them pledge to be carbon negative or carbon neutral in the next few decades, MANGA’s current energy consumption and harm towards the environment is unparalleled.

Major tech companies are some of the most profitable businesses in the world; thus, have more resources to reverse climate change. As one of the biggest “big-tech pipeline” and environmentally alert universities in the world, many Berkeley students will work for MANGA companies and are simultaneously conscious about how their employers contribute to climate change.

All MANGA companies have massive data centers — a large building with thousands of servers for remote data processing, storage, distribution, etc. These centers are not environmentally friendly, because each server uses lots of energy, and requires a lot of resources to prevent overheating. Professor David Sedlak, Director of the Berkeley Water Resource Center, notes that “data centers use about 100 million liters of water per day in the United States… it’s not a lot of water when averaged across the entire country, but if a big data center is built in a small town, it can consume a substantial fraction of the local water supply.” The water usage and water rights to keep data centers cool disproportionately affect low-income communities. Many of these data centers and their associated greatest impact “are probably those located on the edges of cities, where land is less expensive but where data centers

Image via Italia Online

will still be close to their users”, Sedlak continues. In fact, all data centers in the world use “over 200 terraWatt hours (TWh)year,” and only 22 countries use more energy. MANGA’s combined power requirement is 45 TWh/year, which is more than Hong Kong.

The amount of data per user and number of users is projected to increase, as well as the computing power for advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms. As such, MANGA will build more data centers, further expanding its carbon footprint. There is intense pressure on MANGA to significantly reduce or eliminate its carbon footprint. Microsoft initiated a $1 billion fund towards sustainability and promised carbon negativity to reverse all previous carbon emissions. Google has been carbon neutral since 2007 and hopes to be carbon free by 2030. One of the easiest and most effective ways we can reduce the tech industry’s energy consumption is by switching to renewable energy. The technology sector is already one of the biggest corporate renewable power purchase agreement (PPA) contractors, a method to buy low-cost renewable energy often with other financial benefits. However, there is immense potential with incorporating modular nuclear reactors, creatively reusing water to cool servers, building the data centers with materials that absorb heat from servers, and using natural gas instead of coal or fossil fuels wherever possible. Another method is simply creating better algorithms. “Any way in which computing can be done with less energy consumption, for example, by using more efficient algorithms, might lower energy consumption, which in turn means less cooling water use,” however, it is equally important for consumers to recognize the role we play as “watching videos, gaming, playing with chatbots, and surfing the web all have an environmental impact,” Sedlak adds. MANGA also participates in aluminum and digital device recycle systems that helps reduce toxic waste,

most notably with proper disposing of lithium ion batteries. Big Tech’s offices, particularly its headquarters, provide three meals per day for its thousands of employees; MANGA companies often work with the city they’re locating in to establish industrial composting systems for food waste and recycling. Although MANGA’s efforts towards renewable energy and digital/food waste are commendable, they aren’t enough to significantly reduce or reverse the growing demand for energy, especially as we approach the “2050 Climate Change Deadline.” Given MANGA’s unmatched resources and finances, many believe they have an obligation to fund energy startups, set up climate change grants/funds, and work closely with the government to reduce carbon impacts wherever possible. In fact, many argue that Big Tech’s climate promises do not match actual policy or actions.

Only 6% of MANGA’s $65 million policy lobbying fund was for climate policy, and there is growing lack of engagement around climate action. Although we don’t know MANGA’s progress towards sustainability goals, it hasn’t made meaningful efforts towards improving climate policy and promoting sustainability outside of the corporate structure of their company. This could be signs of greenwashing—“expressions of environmentalist concerns especially as a cover for products, policies, or activities” often used to convince the consumer that their product is better for the environment than it actually is. As such, we must continue to scrutinize MANGA’s commitment towards social welfare, which historically is really low.

“One of the easiest and most effective ways we can reduce the tech industry’s energy consumption is by switching to renewable energy.”

by BEN BARTLETT

What is silence? Some people may associate it with images, such as a tranquil lake, a state of deep meditation and reverie, or the bough of a tree rustling in the wind. Silence refers to the absence of the cacophony that is life, an escape from our problems and worries.

However, a world without noise is a dangerous place and, as Rachel Carson predicted, too much of this idealism can ruin our reality. In Silent Spring, Carson imagined a future in which anthropogenic interference, through the excessive usage of pesticides, hushed the natural world. The unmitigated spread of pesticides would cause the eventual degradation of wildlife and human health.

The publication of Silent Spring in 1962 was a watershed moment for the perception of pesticides as it brought awareness to the general US public about how these conventional agricultural tools were poisoning the environment and human health. Carson meticulously detailed in her book how pesticides caused genetic damages and cancer by entering into the tissues of animals and humans, along with contaminating the water and food supply through urban runoff and diluted rainwater.

Through her proposal, Carson sparked a global environmental movement which led to policy changes, such as the US 1972 ban on DDT use, which was considered one of the most effective, yet dangerous, pest-killers. People praised Carson for her ingenuity and ability to stand up for her beliefs, despite many other sci-

entists and chemical companies pushing back against her claims. For example, Velsicol Chemical Corporation, a company specialized in chemical intermediates, threatened a lawsuit to Carson’s publisher.

Despite these pushbacks against Carson’s endeavors, there seemed to be exciting momentum towards catalyzing advocacy for environmental conservation, the mitigation of synthetic chemicals, and using alternative methods for agriculture that ensured sustainability and progress.

However, in the decades following Silent Spring, the public has become disengaged from the pesticide movement. The misinformation on contemporary pesticides and their consequences and lack of media coverage, combined with pesticide industry lobbies, has contributed to multifactorial disengagement.

Mackenzie Feldman, a Rachel Carson Fellow and founder of Re:Wild Your Campus, expanded upon this idea. She stated that despite general advocacy from constituents and business sectors to be more environmentally-conscientious, there has been a lack of proper initiatives being taken in order to combat harmful chemical usage. To learn more about what such initiatives could look like, I asked Feldman about policies that prioritize sustainability, potential solutions towards harmful pesticide usage, and strategies for implementing ecologically-friendly strategies.

What role do you think that policymakers and government agencies should play in regulating the use of herbicides and pesticides?

In Europe, they follow the precautionary principle, where these chemicals aren’t allowed to be sold unless they’re proven safe. In America, we do the opposite. [However,], we realize that years later, after people have died and gotten really sick. [Then,] we pull them off the market.”

How can we ensure that those regulations are effective in protecting public health and agriculture?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should better regulate these chemicals and only let chemicals on the market that are safe. Glyphosate, which has been proven to be labeled a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO), can still be purchased in the form of Roundup at Home Depot.

Mackenzie Feldman, Rachel Carson Fellow

It is important to acknowledge that although many positive changes have been made to strengthen the aversive consequences of pesticides since Carson’s book, there is always room for improvement, including the revision of negligent policies and the advancement of technologies. Some society’s biggest innovations still continue to face challenges. For example, electric cars have been limited by the lack of efficientbatteries, contempo-

rary medicine has been slowed down by extensive resources and regulatory hurdles, and renewable energy usage has been obstructed by the fossil fuel industry.

We have come to the conclusion that pesticides are inherently harmful, but are we neglecting other aspects of this movement? Some critics may argue that demonizing pesticides could reduce their potential for providing benefits

to society, such as eliminating pests that threaten crops and human health.

Dr. Eskenazi, who is the director for the UC Berkeley Center of Environmental Research and Children’s Health, agreed with that perspective and stated that pesticide usage is not always negative, but instead offered that it is more complex than one may initially think.

Rachel Carson testifying before the Senate Government Operations subcommittee, Image Source: New York Times

In what ways do you think environmental exposures such as pesticides and air pollution have changed since Silent Spring was published and what new challenges have emerged?

I was in Africa doing study on DDT. In that location, pyrethroids (a mosquito-killing chemical) were not working as well as DDT. There were so many kids sick with malaria. We couldn’t control it, and the kids were dying. I told them to spray the DDT despite the negative implications. You have to balance human health. It’s not just a black-white situation, and people were dying of malaria. Hopefully, in the future, there will be [new innovations] developed to combat malaria. Then we won’t have to use DDT.

Dr. Eskenazi balanced a delicate situation between two evils, where DDT was established as a destructive chemical but also was the most effective tool in preventing the spread of malaria through mosquito vectors. Rachel Carson’s message in Silent Spring was not to completely ban all pesticides and deny their usefulness but rather equip the readers with recognizing their potential to harm.

Pesticides can be a tool for preventing the spread of pathogens, reducing production costs, agricultural development and yields, and diminishing the reliance on difficultmanual labor. American actress, Mae West, had an excellent quote to sum the complexities of pesticide use: “if little is good, a lot more will be better.” There are many benefits;however, a lack of regulation and overutilization of pesticides could be viewed as highly problematic.

Rachel Carson sheds light on the chemical industry and its potential negative impact on future generations. General awareness, public action, and policy change is needed to address the irresponsible use of pesticides that continues today.

A balance must be struck between how we view our pesticide usage without degrading the environment and human health but also acknowledging the usefulness of it for maintaining agriculture and food productivity. In the twenty-firstcentury, the objective can be hopefully to harness new advancements: such as alternatives to pesticides, pest

management systems, agricultural reeducation programs, and monitoring governmental regulations.

For instance, the EPA is currently working on a pioneering technology called nanopesticide, which essentially combines nanotechnology and plant protection. It uses nanoparticles of agrochemicals in order to improve and protect crops and exemplifieshow people can continue to devise positive environmental solutions for the future.

The ideal future for Carson would be one with dissonance and controversy, where nature is not silenced, but rather amplified. By generating conversation and new approaches to tackle this issue, people can follow Carson’s legacy and create a more sustainable future.

Dr. Eskenazi balanced a delicate situation between two evils, where DDT was established as a destructive chemical but also was the most effective tool in preventing the spread of malaria through mosquito vectors. Rachel Carson’s message in Silent Spring was not to completely ban all pesticides and deny their usefulness but rather equip the readers with recognizing their potential to harm.

Pesticides can be a tool for preventing the spread of pathogens, reducing production costs, agricultural development and yields, and diminishing the reliance on difficultmanual labor. American actress, Mae West, had an excellent quote to sum the complexities of pesticide use: “if little is good, a lot more will be better.” There are many benefits;however, a lack of regulation and overutilization of pesticides could be viewed as highly problematic.

Dr. Brenda Eskenazi, UC Berkeley, CERCH

Rachel Carson sheds light on the chemical industry and its potential negative impact on future generations. General awareness, public action, and policy change is needed to address the irresponsible use of pesticides that continues today.

A balance must be struck between how we view our pesticide usage without degrading the environment and human health but also acknowledging the usefulness of it for maintaining agriculture and food

productivity. In the twenty-firstcentury, the objective can be hopefully to harness new advancements: such as alternatives to pesticides, pest management systems, agricultural reeducation programs, and monitoring governmental regulations.

For instance, the EPA is currently working on a pioneering technology called nanopesticide, which essentially combines nanotechnology and plant protection. It uses nanoparticles of agrochemicals in order to improve and pro-

tect crops and exemplifis how people can continue to devise positive environmental solutions for the future.

The ideal future for Carson would be one with dissonance and controversy, where nature is not silenced, but rather amplified. By generating conversation and new approaches to tackle this issue, people can follow Carson’s legacy and create a more sustainable future.

A field being sprayed with pecticides by a truck, Image Source: The Graphine Council

How Data Science Can Further Marine Conservation Efforts

by PAIGE THIONNET

The term “data scientist” was coined less than 20 years ago. Since then, the data science fieldhas catalyzed significant progress in almost every domain, forming a unique and growing group of experts. A 2012 article from The Harvard Business Review named data science the “sexiest job of the 21st century.”

With diverse applications, data science has been mobilized from a wide array of perspectives to address a critical issue: ocean conservation.

From academic research to business ventures, marine conservation is closely tied to the still-developing data science field— a nexus that offers opportunity for political change, technical education, and environmental progress in a world where human activity is taking an increasing toll on ocean health.

Last year, UC Berkeley announced the creation of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science and Environment (DSE). A collaboration between the environmental and data science departments on campus, the DSE’s goals include developing “scalable solutions” to environmental threats and fostering environmental leadership.

Douglas McCauley, DSE faculty director and professor at UC Santa Barbara, has dedicated his career to exploring this intersection. His research endeavors reveal how valuable technology can be in marine conservation efforts.

McCauley has proven that

data science can be an asset to ocean conservation, largely through his work as director at the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory, where experts develop solutions to environmental challenges. In the past, Benioff’s staff have addressed issues such as whale strikes in shipping lanes and plastic pollution in rivers.

Most of McCauley’s research explores the intersection between ocean science and technology, and one project in particular illustrates how marine data research can ultimately lead to political change.

In 2006, Presidential Proclamation 8031 designated a protected area in northwest Hawai’i, later named Papahānaumokuākea.

“It has a huge amount of biodiversity value,” said McCauley about Papahānaumokuākea. In addition to being a sea turtle nesting region, the marine protected area serves as habitat for “a lot of predators that have gone locally extinct.”

Among these threatened predators are sharks—specifically the gray reef species. After Papahānaumokuākea was created, McCauley’s team spent time researching shark behavioral patterns in the region. The resulting data revealed that the gray reef shark habitat range was inadequately covered by the existing protected region.

“We found that [the sharks] were actually ranging much further than we ever knew from the reefs themselves.” McCauley said. “Some of these smaller, reef-centric marine

protected areas were not providing adequate protection.”

Eventually, the data collected by McCauley and his colleagues proved instrumental in Papahānaumokuākea’s expansion in 2016. Now, it’s one of the largest marine protected areas in the world.

McCauley describes how marine researchers with a variety of specializations and the native Hawaiian community collaborated in making their case to the government—the shark data being an important piece in the political puzzle.

Researchers’ impact on Papahānaumokuākea illustrates how data collection and analysis can contribute directly to marine conservation on a policy level. Still, McCauley recognizes that there are challenges. In particular, he acknowledges that many environmental scientists lack fluency in politics.

“We’re good at natural ecosystems,” he said. “But this human political system where a lot of our data can finda home we aren’t necessarily trained in.”

McCauley adds that it’s not about scientists becoming experts in policy themselves, but rather being “good learners and good collaborators” who are able to work effectively alongside those who are more versed in politics.

While McCauley and his crew are one instance of how data and marine science can intersect, they certainly aren’t the only. While marine data science is most established in academia, it’s beginning to expand

in the private sector as well.

Elizabeth Fergusen, founder of Ocean Science Analytics (OSA)—a company doing a variety of specialized marine technical work—has built a career on combining data and marine conservation in a business context.

After spending her early career in marine mammal ecology at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, her transition to the private sector began at BioWaves, Incorporated—a small bioacoustics company. In 2018, she founded her own firm, Ocean Science Analytics, specializing in marine data projects and “pairing research services with technical training.”

While marine data science conducted in the public and private sectors may have some inherent differences, they share one important commonality: the challenge of scientificeducation.

OSA aims to further education in their fieldby offering an online technical training program (which has reached over 13 countries) and collaborating with the San Diego Workforce Partnership on an “apprenticeship program” where analysts have the opportunity to work on a technical marine project.

According to Fergusen, OSA is a rare example of a small business doing marine science work.

“Oftentimes, for any type of ocean science research, you’ll findpositions in academia, or

at some of the larger companies,” said Fergusen. “There are not a whole lot of small business ventures out there.”

However, Fergusen is noticing a shift. The computing technology required to start a business like OSA is becoming less

the fact that they have access to affordable technology.”

When asked about the future of the field,Fergusen was optimistic. Information is more widely available to be studied and processed as collection improves, with one of the newer challenges being the logistics of synthesizing it.

“Cloud computing has come really far,” Fergusen said. “But there’s still a bit of a struggle to get to that cloud-based processing and overarching method of visualizing it all.”

Ultimately, there is still much to be explored. While describing why the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory leans toward data solutions, Doug McCauley emphasized the opportunity for new discovery. “These are extremely powerful tools that are under leveraged, under utilized in the environmental problem solving domain.”

From the federal government to small business, data science is taking on an increasingly prominent role in how we do marine conservation. These business ventures and academic pursuits have increased our ability to make breakthroughs in analyzing our climate-changing world.

expensive and more accessible, permitting new firmsto enter the market.

“It’s easier to purchase a really powerful computer that can do a lot of work that enables that small business growth to occur,” Fergusen said. “There are quite a few people I now communicate with who have started small businesses because of

a nexus that offers opportunity for political change, technical education, and environmental progress in a world where human activity is taking an increasing toll on ocean health.

OP-EDS

OP-EDS

by STELLA SINGER

Climate Change Behind Bars: Climate Change & The Prison Industrial Complex

Imposing buildings, sparsely dotted with narrow windows, loom over the landscape. The air is thick and hot as the temperature soars to 80, 90, then 100 degrees. The patrolled and fenced yards are desolate. Inside the towering walls, a crowded battle against the heat unfolds.

Jesse Vasquez, director of Friends of San Quentin News, describes the scene “you have 2000 individuals per yard at times, the institution can have 8,000 to 10,000 people. That’s a lot of body heat, plus 115 degree weather in the desert. It’s a cocktail for riots.” Beyond the direct conflictbetween incarcerated individuals due to rising temperatures, prison conditions cultivate another type of violence in the form of poor health and safety.

Vasquez’s anecdote is one of many and is not isolated to his personal experience as an incarcerated individual in California. The United States has one of the largest prison populations globally, and California, the second largest US prison population Across the country and state, incarcerated people are at the forefront of environmental impacts and experience some of the most consequential effects of climate change.

From extreme heat to sordid air quality and wildfires,prison populations face environmental challenges on a daily basis. Prisons, and the industrial framework they function in, are an environmental and social catastrophe that are responsible for a ruthless feedback loop of greenhouse gas emissions and inhumane conditions for those behind prison walls.

A cohort of factors are culpable for the disproportionate climate change impact on incarcerated people, all of which are a result of and a catalyst for the prison-industrial complex. The prison-industrial complex includes interlocking systems of governmental and private shareholders that profitfrom the mass incarceration of individuals. It predates on the most vulnerable, turning a profit while upholding deep rooted American social systems.

The prison industrial complex disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, with 80% of prisoners being low-income and 67% people from minority groups. Individuals in these groups are targeted by law enforcement and the broader criminal justice system, resulting in high rates

of incarceration. The impact of the prison industrial complex on these communities extends far beyond incarceration, with far-reaching social, economic and environmental consequences.

California’s state prison system is one of the largest in the country, with over 100,000 individuals behind bars. As a whole, the U.S imprisons more people than any other country. This sprawling network, which includes private prisons, government run penitentiaries and corporations that provide goods and services to these facilities, consumes a massive amount of energy.

As research in the journal Social Currents postulates, the prison population (2.3 million people—around 0.7% of the U.S population) produces proportionally high amounts of emissions. Viju Mathew of Critical Resistance Oakland points out, “the systems of imprisonment, policing and surveillance are so vast, and so just by nature of how all these things exist, they are polluting. They are taking us towards climate disaster.” This is no fault of the people behind bars—they actually have some of the lowest per-capita emissions in the country.

The culprit? New prison construction and older facility maintenance, the production of goods and materials used in prisons, and state economic growth driven by prison labor. The output goods and services that prisons provide further fuel demand for more goods and services that require fossil fuels in production, promoting a vicious cycle.

This system, by its industrial and capitalistic nature, is bound to come with a large greenhouse gas footprint. As Mathew notes, “even if the labor in prisons was changed around, it would still be a huge polluter.”

By now, many are well aware that the threat of climate change has a foot in the door, and the impacts of rising temperatures and extreme weather are already being felt. What most do not recognize, however, is that these impacts are felt especially hard behind prison walls.

Jesse Vasquez has been in over a dozen of the 35 California institutions during his carceral stay, and he agrees that climate change pervades everyday life. He recalls that, “when we talk about

climate change inside, there’s only two things that pop up: heat and cold. That’s how people think about climate change. Either extreme heat or extreme cold.”

According to the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, California prisons are not comprehensively air conditioned. The systems they do have are usually fans or swamp coolers, which are ill-equipped to provide any relief in soaring temperatures. Exposure to extreme heat, especially for folks with pre-existing health conditions, is a matter of life and death. A recent study on heat related mortality in the U.S. prison system found that “warm temperatures are associated with increased mortality in prisons, yet this vulnerable population’s risk has largely been overlooked.”

The question of whether or not heat will play a divisive role in a correctional institution’s conditions is greatly determined by its location. Laurie Levenson, a law professor at LMU and author of a paper on climate change and prisons, believes that location is the most important factor in determining the safety of a facility. She said, “you should not be building prisons where the average summer temperature is over 100 degrees, it makes no sense.”

Many prison facilities are located in undesirable locations. The Intercept’s “Climate and Punishment” mapped data captures the high temperatures associated with those locations. This is not an accident. During California’s prison construction boom of the 1980’s, the state identified“surplus” land and communities that had suffered disinvestment as prime locations for prisons. That land is primarily located in the Central Valley, a region known for harsh conditions and high temperatures. Inmates in Valley facilities are already suffering, and as climate change brings greater

temperature extremes, the situation across the state will only compound.

Along with high temperatures, wildfiresaugmented by climate change pose a rising threat to incarcerated individuals.

The Intercept mapped climate risks for 6,500 detention facilities and found that California facilities are at the highest risk in the U.S. for wildfire. Vasquez recalls the scene inside San Quentin prison amidst the firesthat swept through northern California in 2017, “you have this behemoth of a fireand all the ashes, soot, and smoke were blowing into this place with a poor air filtering system… a lot of people got sick, with headaches and vomiting, especially those with asthma.” As wildfiresreturn, year after year, inmates’ health and safety will be threatened. Prisons don’t have a plan, not even for evacuation.

Beneath the surface of issues like high temperatures and wildfireslies a factor that makes this story more dire: underlying health conditions. People in prison report high rates of chronic medical conditions, with the most prevalent being high blood pressure. Many of them also experience comorbid conditions.

These conditions, and the prescription medications required for treatment, make people in prison especially vulnerable to high temperatures. Vasquez recalls people he encountered while incarcerated, “people come into the prison system with conditions and then it just gets aggravated from there. Ultimately, this is a concoction for disaster. It’s one problem compounded by another problem. It takes decades to develop, but when you’re incarcerated for decades, it’s easy to see the connection.”

“With prison closure, comes an opportunity to reallocate huge amounts of capital to community climate change education and adaptation.”

Along with extreme heat, wildfires,and health conditions, inmates face another daunting challenge: recognition and justice. Recalling her personal experience as a lawyer in the criminal justice system, Levenson expresses concern about the treatment of inmates, especially those in the Central Valley, as disposable people.

In the face of unlivable conditions caused by climate change inside prison walls, little is being done by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to help people and facilities adapt. When it comes to staging some form of change, be that in state legislature or public perception, Vasquez said that incarcerated people “definitelydon’t have no vote. We don’t have any say in what gets legislated”.

Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) coalition is an exception to the general disinterest in state prison systems. CURB is a collection of over 80 grassroots organizations with goals of “reducing the number of incarcerated people in California; reducing the number of prisons and jails in the state; and shifting wasteful spending away from incarceration and toward healthy community investments.’’

CURB recently released a roadmap for prison closure in California, within its pages lies detailed plans for facility selection, population reduction, support for impacted communities, and prison repurposing. Critical Resistance (CR) Oakland, and other California chapters, are working closely with CURB to close ten prisons within the next five years.

CURB and CR Oakland aren’t just built on a basis of environmental consciousness, as Mathew emphasizes, they’re “dedicated to fightingagainst imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and replacing that with what actually keeps communities and people safe. That is, housing, health care, education, etc, to ensure people can have their basic needs met.”

A large basis of the argument CR makes is the socio-economic and environmental impacts prisons have on neighboring and affiliatedcommunities. Prisons suck resources away from their neighbors, allocating to incarceration what could have been meaningful investments into sustainable economies. With prison closure, comes an opportunity

to reallocate huge amounts of capital to community climate change education and adaptation.

However, not everyone agrees with this approach. Levenson sees prisons as unavoidable and states, “we can have theoretical arguments about whether there are advantages to that, but it’s not happening. I findit unlikely that we will ever operate in a penal system without custodial sentences.”

Nevertheless, groups like CURB and CR Oakland have produced tangible evidence of successfully closing prisons, and plans for future closure. Prison closure is no longer theoretical. But what about people behind bars now, at this very moment? Are there efforts to help them? Educate them? In the institutions Vasquez spent time in, he saw “small pockets of individuals interested in environmentalism, [but that the majority of people] tend to be more interested in going home.”

He says that many people pay attention to policies that will get them home sooner, not make the conditions healthier. He said, “they think it isn’t that big of a deal for them, because they can’t make any difference.”

An exception to this is San Quentin’s Green Life program, which educates members of the San Quentin community on sustainability and climate change. The program does what is clearly lacking inside the carceral system—it educates people and provides opportunities for incarcerated people to contribute tangible change.

As we work to address climate change and its impacts in prisons, it is imperative that the systemic injustices that lead to mass incarceration and exploitative labor practices within prisons are addressed. Education programs like Green Life do work on local scales to empower people who are incarcerated to learn about environmental justice. Scaling up, coalitions like CURB and Critical Resistance work to prioritize investment in alternative forms of rehabilitation and divestment from the prison industrial complex.

Any fightin the sphere of climate change is a fight for justice and equity. It must include the voices and experiences of those who are most impacted by the intersections of these issues, which can’t leave people behind prison walls behind.

Climate Change in a Gendering Society: The Price Women Pay

by MONA HOLMER

U.S administrations’ responses to environmental issues and women’s rights are, simply put, aggravatingly nonchalant. Promises of transformative environmental policy remain unfulfilledor broken, a prominent example including President Biden’s approval of the Willow oil project. Threats to women’s reproductive rights continue as many states limit abortion rights and are now devising an attack on abortion pills. Both require solutions that are presently nonexistent, and without coordinated government action, these issues promise only to deteriorate.

As environmental crises worsen, women’s issues worsen too; the existence of one allows the other to fester and new problems emerge. In general, women are more finacially vulnerable, more likely to experience domestic and sexual violence, and less likely to hold higher level jobs or positions of power. According to research published by the Financial Health Network, women are less financiallyhealthy than men. The core aspects of developing financiallivelihood include the ability to save, spend, and plan financesin ways that assist growth and stability. However, women face a wide range of disparities within these aspects, including lower household incomes, higher rates of unmanageable debt, and less retirement savings.

After a climate crisis, women are more vulnerable

to the severe impacts of the crisis due to their economic disadvantages. A 2016 study published by The Journal of Poverty and Public Policy found that women have lower emergency savings rates and less access to liquid assets. Lower financial stability means that women often lack the means to effectively prepare or recover in emergencies. Whether that includes less access to evacuation vehicles or a more difficultrecovery process for women-owned businesses, women’s financial vulnerability sets them further back, overall weakening their ability to properly react to environmental crises.

The dangers of environmental crises do not just impact finacial livelihoods. Women, especially women of color, are more likely to experience worsening physical health following natural disasters, with as many as one in four women reporting disabilities. Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression increase for women as well—once again, most strongly affecting women of color—and rates of domestic and sexual violence skyrocket.

Because women are more likely to lack emergency preparations and response programs lack gender-specificsolutions, environmental crises displace women into spaces ill-equipped to recognize and target the difficultieswomen face.

One study on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in trailer parks documented a tripled rate of violence against women within displaced populations. Programs profusely lack solutions to issues like sexual violence that tend to disproportionately affect women amidst environmental crises. When sexual violence occurs, there are often no resources for people to seek protection nor organized report centers for those crimes, so they persist.

Environmentally harmful industries also directly hurt women. Projects like oil extractions bring workers to Indigenous communities. Workers in these industries are predominantly male, and with their arrival comes a significantincrease of gender-based violence and sex-traffickingtowards Indigenous women. Were the government to prohibit these industries, situations such as these would likely cease or, at the very least, decrease. But there is nothing preventing these practices, so the environment and the Indigenous women in them continue to suffer.

Despite the gender-specific consequences of environmental issues, one study by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College revealed that 54% of people believe gender equality has reached an acceptable threshold of equity in their countries. Forty-eight percent of individuals even argued that so much progress has been made that men face discrimination as a result. Women’s rights have certainly seen improvements with reducing gender gaps in professions, wages, and gendered misconceptions. Undeniably, societal perception and freedom for women has improved drastically over the last several decades.

However, the existence of issues disproportionately affecting women persist, regardless of whether people recognize these disparities. Seemingly non-discriminatory problems like environmental disasters with gender-specificconsequences prove that within at least one societal facet, women face gender inequality. Without gender-specificenvironmental solutions, underlying gender biases reveal themselves to be ever-present.

In times of environmental crisis, women are often burdened with gendered responsibilities of caretaking and other household-related tasks. Research published by John Hopkins University Press on parenting after Hurricane Katrina found

that these additional tasks were typically deferred to women on top of their normal responsibilities, many women stating that they were overwhelmed by the additional caretaking tasks. The influence of gender norms isn’t something that will simply heal itself, it requires constant pushback and correction; complacency in combating it only serves to perpetuate it further as stated above.

Environmental crises and gender inequality exist hand in hand. Without acknowledging this relationship, environmental solutions won’t be effective in solving widespread issues impacting women. The same applies for other marginalized populations. Response programs applying the same response to everyone neglects problems specificto certain groups. Sheltering displaced women in trailer parks alleviates their housing issues, but if their temporary housing lacks structured response to sexual violence, their new housing can become a terrifying situation. The utter lack of intersectional, focused solutions, or even applied solutions at all, demonstrates the United States administrations’ woeful inadequacy in achieving their climate goals.

Leaders and board members of environmental fieldsare overwhelmingly male and white, occupying 63% and 95% of board positions respectively. Boards composed of predominantly white men contribute only their lived experiences in creating solutions, thoroughly lacking the perspectives from women of color–women who have the knowledge and capability to solve issues relevant to their differing lived experiences others might not have recognized in the firstplace. Without the perspectives of marginalized individuals, these problems are destined to go unsolved and unnoticed.

Climate catastrophe plans depend on informed leaders; women need a place at the table. As of now, those in power aren’t feeling the full weight of issues specificallyaffecting women. They aren’t considering how to prevent someone from being sexually assaulted or how oil extractions will affect the women in a community while brainstorming solutions. It is imperative women help create solutions so they may be effectively implemented. We cannot accept complacency anymore; these issues will only worsen without realized solutions. And, if those solutions do not include gender-specificones, gender inequality and worsening climate change will only persist.

ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION: RESOURCEFULNESS OR EXPLOITATION?

by ELENA HSIEH

Some might say it is because of our opposable thumbs. Others might think it is our bipedalism. And others might contest that it is our 1-to-50 brain-toweight ratio. Regardless of the physiological reasoning, we humans have often touted ourselves as the superior species in comparison to other life forms. For centuries, we have been the ones who discovered fire, invented the printing press, ignited the industrial revolution, and manipulated the technological landscape. Despite all of our societal progressions and technological advancements, we must step back from these notions of superiority and humble ourselves: Are humans the quintessential mortal? Do we, as a species with ample flawsthat mark the cultural, social, and ecological blemishes of our civilization, deserve to assume dominance over all other forms of life on the face of a world that is far from perfect?

Domestication has long been embedded within the lifeblood of civilization, engendering a dynamic that perpetuates humans as the superior species

with the capability of transforming a wild animal into a tame one.

This conception innately divides living beings into two separate entities: humans, and their uncivilized counterpart, animals. However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists “any living creature” as the first definitionof ‘animal,’ evidently purporting that humans fall into this category. It is not until the second definitionthat the dictionary definesthe more common conception of ‘animals’ as “any living organism, other than a human being”. This decisive reversal in pri oritizing the scientific connotation seeks to challenge the cul turally-accepted interpretation of the animal kingdom. If humans are indeed consid ered animals, do we have the moral right to interfere with other fellow crea tures for the sake of our personal gain? In

this sense, it is necessary to reflecton the ethics of using animals in the biomedical, food, fashion and entertainment industry. Of these, the manipulation of animals for scientific research purposes poses a critical field of debate

The usage of animals in the biomedical fielddates back as early as 384 BC, championed by Aristotle. In a multitude of texts including “The History of Animals” and “Parts of Animals”, the acclaimed philosopher praised the dissection and anatomy of living organisms for its acceleration in sci-

ments. Using animals as study subjects was maintained as a common practice, growing from 300 experiments on animals in the 1880s to 19,084 within the following twenty years.

However, the ‘Brown Dog Affair’ in 1903 raised the call to ethics. In this historical event, physiologists William Bayliss and Ernest Starling conducted vivisection on a brown mixedbreed dog found on the streets in front of 60 medical students. The scientists cut open the dog’s pancreatic duct and attached electrodes to the lingual nodes of the salivary glands, all while the dog appeared conscious from a questionable amount of sedative morphine. As a result, progressive associations like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the American Humane Association emerged as antivivisectionist advocates, launching the humane movement. In 1970, the Animal Welfare Act improved the landscape of animal experimentation and other welfare issues in the US. Subsequent amendments over the next four decades gradually improved the status of animals under human subjugation, including the Protection of Pets Act (1990) which required shelters to hold pets for at least 5 days with detailed records, Title X Subtitle D of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (2002) which placed restrictions on the shipment of animals across state lines for sports, and the Food Conservation and Energy Act (2008) that included provisions for strengthening prohibitions and penalties for dog fighting. Despite minor legal advancements for animal welfare, cases

of cruel research studies in the name of science have continued in the background of educational institutions. For example, Johns Hopkins University has come under immense scrutiny after a prolificten-second advertisement of owls screeching in agony was plastered before YouTube videos played around the nation. It exposed how an experiment studying neural inhibition for stimulus section by Shreesh Mysore has been cutting open the skulls of barn owls, screwing metal devices into their brains and restraining them while they were

ments applicable to humans because animal studies fail to translate to humans 90 to 95% of the time.

While Roe acknowledged the lab’s adherence to the Animal Welfare Act, she stressed that it only requires basic levels of care. “The Animal Welfare Act is basically the barest minimum that you can provide animals because it doesn’t cover mice, rats, or birds. It’s not taken into consideration at the grant review level. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) will make sure that any given experimenters are following those guidelines, and if they’re not, that they justify it somehow, but the people who reviewed the grant have no idea what the animals are going through.”

bombarded with noise and lights in 12-hour cycles.

In the midst of a moral quagmire, it was also revealed that Mysore has illegally received over $1.9 million in taxpayer money from the National Institutes of Health to fund his research studies because he did not obtain mandatory permits to carry out his experiments.

Katherine Roe, a neuroscientist and laboratory investigator, expressed her concerns that the owls in the Mysore lab were suffering unnecessarily. As a result, skepticism arose as to whether Mysore’s research could truly lead to advance-

As a leading research institution, it is no surprise that the University of California, Berkeley also takes part in testing animals for biomedical research. Overseeing the usage of rats, monkeys, bats, and more, the Officeof Laboratory Animal Care (OLAC) is an organization on the Berkeley campus that follows the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care to promote high standards in the regulatory compliance of animal welfare as test subjects. OLAC ensures cages are clean, animals are being fed and watered daily, and reports any noncompliance to the IACUC. However, a myriad of negligent cases have surfaced, with three citations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the last four years for violating the Animal Welfare Act.

For instance, in March, a listless and dehydrated macaque was found with “sunken eyes

The usage of animals in the biomedical field dates back as early as 384 BC, championed by Aristotle

“ ”

and dry crumbling stool”. These monkeys were being used in a study that kept them constantly thirsty in order to coerce them to cooperate with researchers in exchange for a sip of water. Less than two months later, two more macaques were found “recumbent and not eating,” and one monkey was found with a collar so tight that skin lesions formed which required anesthetic treatment.

Dr. Gregory Lawson, a clinical veterinarian with ten years of experience in anatomical pathology concedes that a primate did pass away due to an issue that no one could foresee, but highlights that the OLAC team emphasizes proper risk assessment and preventive action. Lawson attests that the whole point of doing research is practicing new methods to discover new findings,making it difficlt to predict “every little thing.”

With this in consideration, Lawson and the OLAC team believe that the media is amplifying their mishaps out of proportion in a negative light, thereby misrepresenting them as well as the university. However, these incidents are not the only cases of mistreatment in UC Berkeley labs.

Over 20 lab animals have died and 67 have been abused from 2015 to 2017 because of errors made by UC Berkeley researchers. A wide array of past inhumane violations have been noted on the university’s record, including dead bats left inside a transport enclosure, fivedehydrated rodent voles, and suffocated monkeys who were administered expired painkillers when subjected to brain surgery.

With such high levels of backlash that they believe is an unfair characterization, the Officefor Animal Care and Use (OLAC) at Berkeley commented that they do implement moral practices that are reinforced by the IACUC. Firstly, in terms of

animals (such as mRNA substitution, computerized models, and other virtual reality-like videos), and reduction uses the appropriate minimum number of animals for the study to yield statistically sound data. Given these practices, the OLAC lab staff and researchers feel as if the story has been one-sided for too long, and the media is dominated by extremist views when things are taken out of context.

sourcing lab subjects, clinical vet Jennifer Frohlich confirmed that all primates and most rodents are bred for research. Fishes, however, are an exception as they were originally sourced from the wild, but bred in-house thereafter so there is no influxof wild animals entering the Berkeley labs.

Holly Turner, a research staff trainer who specializes in the oversight and regulation of rats and mice, adds that animals used for training purposes are often “leftovers and excess” from other research processes. The OLAC team prides itself on upholding the principle of the 3 R’s of animal testing: refinement,replacement, and reduction. Refinementseeks to minimize stress and pain to animals, replacement utilizes viable alternatives to the use of

Despite these statements, students from the Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy raised concerns about the ways that animal experimentation was being carried out on campus, commenting that a lot of it does happen behind closed doors. When asked on the topic of UC Berkeley’s use of animals in the research laboratories, sophomore Kevin Korevaar commented that while the university is progressively improving, compared to the national baseline, the UC institution is simply not doing enough. Korevaar does not approve of the way animals are being experimented on in labs as he is familiar with the animal cruelty citations noted on the record.

The University of California, Davis, has also come under the limelight for violating the Animal Welfare Act through its partnership with Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk. In February earlier this year, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine submitted a complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture against UC Davis for implanting electrodes in the brains of primates, removing parts of their skulls, and forcing unapproved substances on them without suffi-

Over 20 lab animals have died and 67 have been abused from 2015 to 2017 because of errors made by UC Berkeley researchers

cient veterinary care.

In response to these reports, junior Cho Rae Adolfo articulates, “Animals aren’t a resource. Period.” Adolfo explains that the fact humans consider them as a resource is feeding into the false reality that our survival depends on their oppression. Adolfo comments that “compassion has been decently addressed, but the gray area of anti-cruelty has never been valued. We have compassion for these animals, yet we are still cruel to them in the agricultural and biomedical industries”.

After intensive consideration of the biomedical benefis and ethical drawbacks of animal testing, we are left at a crossroads. Supporters of animal testing believe it provides a net benefitnot only to humans, but to animals that are domesticated under human care like pets and conservation subjects. There is a lot of fieldworkdone at Berkeley, including on geckos, seals, and even whales, but animals can be studied without being disturbed.

In alignment with more recent events, animal testing played a crucial role in understanding and responding to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Syrian hamsters played an important role in the development of the coronavirus vaccine, immunotherapies and antiviral drugs because they resemble the disease in humans. Similarly, primates also provided substantial advantages for clinical translation: They respond similarly in innate immune responses and in B and T-cell repertoire, rendering similar replication sites and recapitulation of the covid-19 disease. Because of their essential role to research,

animal studies will be contin ued as new coronavirus vari ants emerge and higher trans mission rates occur.

On the flipside, dissenters of animal experimentation raise the fact that the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of test animals are sufficienly different from humans. Extensive data indicate that 90% of substances found to be effective and safe when used with lab animals fail in similar trials with hu mans. Furthermore, the stress that animals experience when exposed to research proce dures may further invalidate results.

Doris Lin, an animal rights attorney who holds a BS in applied biological sciences from MIT and a JD from USC, contends, “Medical advanc es would continue without vivisection, using methods like tissue cultures, cell cultures, epidemiological studies, com puter models and consenting human subjects. In the past, the cause and cure for scurvy, the vaccine for smallpox, and penicillin were all discovered without animal research.”

Moral reasoning, too, rests at the foundation of the an ti-vivisectionists’ case. They believe that no animal should be subjected to procedures that cause extreme pain and suffering that produce debilitating physical consequences, so there can be no justifiabe reasoning for the usage of animal subjects in the development of cosmetics, household products, or other substances that do not contribute to the health and wellbeing

humans. Companies may claim that no animals were harmed during animal experimentation, but there exists a shadow of a doubt. Testing potentially includes the jabbing of needles, storage in cramped spaces, and lack of nutrition. Test subjects may die over the course of the experiment or be killed after their use, and others may lose their limbs, eyesight, hearing, muscle coordination, and so on.

In some cases, many of the substances tested may never even see approval for public consumption and use; thus, these animals may have undergone such treatment in vain, seeing that no direct benefitto humans occurred. Animal lives have intrinsic value that may be equal to that of a human, but in any case, it is worthy of consideration.

While it is unlikely for animal testing to be eradicated completely, recent legislative progress has nudged us toward a more humane society. For instance, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that starting in 2023 under the New York Cruelty-Free Cosmetic Act, the Big Apple will become the tenth state to ban the sale and manufacturing of cosmetics tested on animals. Furthermore, EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler announced plans to reduce the number of studies that involve mammal testing by 30 percent by 2025 and to eliminate the studies entirely by 2035, though some may still be approved on a case-by-case basis. The agency said it would also invest $4.25 million in projects at four universities and a medical center that are developing alternate ways of testing chemicals that do not involve animals.

Bruce Wagner, a UC Berkeley professor and practicing attorney of animal law, reinforces that “attitudes about most animals are changing, very much for the companion animals, biomedical research animals, and agricultural animals”. Wagner cites a myriad of organiza-

society continues to push for medical advances.

As an individual studying the interactions between humans and the natural world, I value relishing in the selfless,forgiving nature of Mother Earth and all of its tranquil constituents without subscribing to the cultural notion of humanity’s superiority over nature.

It is puzzling how humans, as humane as we make ourselves out to sound, would capitalize on our intelligence by manipulating beings that we deem inferior. Experimentation appropriates our fellow beings from their intrinsic right to identity and bodily autonomy. Since they cannot volunteer themselves for testing nor voice their opinions, there is a lack of consent which is an innate right of human test subjects.

tions that are actively pursuing greater animal welfare, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Society of the US, and local nonprofit animal shelters like the San Diego Humane Society. Similarly, UC Berkeley neuroscience professor John Ngai, whose lab performs animal testing, said this type of testing is an “inescapable fact of life” as long as

While looking at animal welfare through a moral lens may be ideal, it is realistically not feasible to prioritize ethics in a world caught in the spokes of technological progress and endlessly carted towards futuristic advancements. Instead, we must live by the principle of a reduction of suffering; in other words, we must make choices that would reduce the most amount of suffering for the greatest number of lives. Animal testing highlights the fine line between ethics and practicality, and decisions made to better education and scientific discoveries must delicately balance both sides with a purposeful intention to mitigate the suffering of fellow inhabitants on our shared planet.

...dissenters of animal experimentation raise the fact that the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of test animals are sufficiently different from humans.

Extensive data indicates that 90% of substances found to be effective and safe when used with lab animals fail in similar trials with humans.

Raising the Alarm for the Willow Project

by BEN BARLETT

Is it a necessary development for the future economy, or a hindrance to the fightfor a sustainable future?

The Willow Project, a drilling venture by ConocoPhillips, has recently received approval from the Biden administration for oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s North Slope. This approval will lead to 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution released into the environment, causing harm to both nearby residents and the delicate Alaskan ecosystem.

The drilling is projected to be the largest United States proposal ever, with 576 million barrels of oil being used within the span of 30 years. As an effect, this project will approximately burgeon over 260 million tons of greenhouse emissions. It is necessary to stop this project from going into

effect to prevent the rapid environmental degradation that will soon follow.

Pushed forward by the Trump administration in 2020, the initial construction of these drill pads raised the alarm for many environmentalists, who lobbied to delay it from happening. However, since the Biden administration’s seal of approval, this project has gained further momentum in its implementation. While Alaska policymakers assert that this project is a necessary step towards solidifying the state’s struggling economic development, many others are against it.

One of the main reasons that the Alaskan oil and gas drilling was approved by the Biden administration was the stimulation of economic benefits towards the national and local economies. There is a potential for jobs and national energy secu-

designed by TIFFANY HO

rity, along with a decrease in reliance on international oil and gas trade alliances. As an effect, the revenue gained from extraction can further support infrastructure developmental projects and public services. There is a potential for 110,000 jobs and $6 billion in public and private sector wages.

However, there are various points to note regarding proponents of Alaskan oil and gas drilling. The assertion that the Willow Project will create more jobs is more of a projection rather than a promise. For instance, the Keystone XL Pipeline was a proposed project that was meant to transport oil from Canada to the United States under the notion that it would create thousands more job opportunities, but according to the State Department analysis, approximately 50 permanent positions were actually created. Additionally, the Marcellus Shale gas pipeline was touted as a source of job revenue, but studies found only short-term job retention.

It is also imperative to recognize that oil and gas drilling is an uneven and volatile process. Economic prosperity will not be completely fulfilled through the Willow Project, due to drilling only providing short-term benefits. This project is a classic example of a boom-and-bust paradigm, displaying how communities may have temporary economic boosts from the extraction process, but later will face rapid decline as limited resources are exhausted.

Furthermore, revenue from extraction is not community-based, but rather funneled back to the companies involved. Therefore, the culture of the Willow Project is centered around corporation-based investment that prioritizes profitrather than sustainable practices. If there is a continuous withdrawal of nonrenewable energy sources for the sake of company profits,the broader consequences of climate change are overlooked. National energy security needs to pivot towards cleaner energy alternatives that can minimize environmental degradation.

The process also disregards the delicate and intricate Alaskan ecosystems that host a variety of vulnerable species. The Arctic tundra is thronged with apex predators, boreal forests, caribou herds, nesting seabirds, salmon, and diverse marine mammal populations. The Willow Project supports habitat destruction and release of con-

taminants in the water and air, which is a threat to these fragile ecosystems.

Holistically, the Willow Project directly threatens the whole North Slope, which approximately accounts for 50% of the total carbon storage for the entirety of the United States. A major threat to North Slope carbon storage is the thawing of permafrost, a carbon-sequestering rock containing ice, which is caused by fossil fuel reliance and the subsequent decomposition of organic matter. This thawing process contributes to significantcarbon dioxide and methane being released, exacerbating global warming and therefore having a self-perpetuating feedback loop.

Young activists in particular have rallied to block this proposition. For instance, Ayisha Siddiqa, founder of Polluters Out, states that the Biden administration is being ignorant regarding the immediate consequences of this project, as it particularly affects marginalized and low-income communities.

Representing the affected communities, many indigenous organizations have protested against the Willow Project. Some of the vulnerable residents of Nuiqsut tribe, an Inupiaq community, have stated that they have already been inundated with the presence of oil and gas sites, which has been harmful to their livelihood. Alaskan indigenous communities possess a connection with natural resources—exemplifiedby traditions such as caribou hunting—and environmental conservation is necessary to ensure their own sustainability for the future.

There is a potential for this project to release a deleterious climate impact that will eradicate the ability to participate in traditional land practices, such as hunting, fishig, and harvesting. With Alaska already being one of the most polluted states in the United States, the oil and gas projects encourage a vested interest in exploitation to replace the social structures of indigenous communities.

The Willow Project manifests itself as a modern form of neocolonialism, where there is an aim for capitalistic subjugation and cultural assimilation. The extraction process occurs on ancestrally-recognized lands and there is an unfair power dynamic, where infrastructure expansion disrupts the presence of cultural sites.

It is important to note that the indigenous perspective on the Willow Project is a multifaceted one. Many tribes advocate for the venture as a way to get more economic influx and job opportunities, due to a current economic slump. Many Alaska natives see that there can be a subsistence way of life while co-developing the project sustainably. As an effect, there is a rift between a multitude of Alaskan indigenous people’s perspec-tives, as it is a decision-making process that swirls with complexities.

While some indigenous communities will benefit from the Willow Project independently, the external actors involved within this project are the primary issue. The Biden administration, ConocoPhillips, Alaska legislators, and more, who are spearheading this colonial project, are continuing to benefit from their ancestral lands, while leaving the negative risks for the indigenous communities to shoulder. Short-term gains from the Willow Project negate the self-determination and long-withstanding cultural values of the indigenous peoples, with an unequal distribution of benefits.

Moreover, the extraction process forces economic dependency from the indigenous communities, so that these communities are solely reliant on the project’s future outcomes. Rather than maintaining support through dependency (as the current system does),a decision-making process that acknowledges the systemic imbalance in power and indigenous sovereignty, with meaningful collaboration that prioritizes equity and environmental protection, would better assure that development follows sustainable practices and mutualistic benefits.

Ultimately, the approval for the Willow Project displays how policymakers consistently ignore the need to have a paradigm shift in economic policy to reduce climate change. Instead, we are forced once again to watch as Arctic wildlife and vulnera-ble people who need equitable access to resources are being put on the backburner.

As constituents, it is our responsibility to spread the word to others about this issue, lobby local officials, and volunteer resources to environmentalist and indigenous groups vocal against this project. Some organizations–SILA, Alaska Wilder-

ness League, Environment America, and the Sierra Club–are already filinga lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management to attempt to block the project.

While trying to stop the Willow Project seems like a daunting task, we can be advocates for a better and more sustainable future.

Research

Research

Understanding Ecological Impacts of Land Use Through Local Socio-Ecology: Proposal for Sustainable Land Management in the Comuna of Pucón

AUTHOR: Emma Klessiga, Myla Kahna, Henry Mahnkeb, Jack Daleyb, Grace Boyda

a University of California, Berkeley

b University of California, Los Angeles

REPORT INFORMATION:

Date: 14 December 2022

Course: Planning for Local Sustainability

Instructors: Francisca Javiera Santana Acevedo and Gonzalo Eduardo Salazar Preece

Affiliation: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Villarri

ABSTRACT: La Araucanía region of Chile has one of the fastest-growing populations in Chile at a rate of 1.24% (Gerald, n.d.). Specifically, within the comuna of Pucón, this increase is motivated by post-pandemic tourism and a new wave of migration from urban to rural areas. As a result of the population growth, there have been a variety of unique socio-ecological consequences in the region including deforestation, industrialization of agricultural practices, land parceling, and intensive grazing. To examine these demographic changes and ecological impacts, we question if there is a correlation between an actor’s human-land connection and their corresponding land management within a temporal and spatial context. To accomplish this, our research team conducted 13 interviews with unique actors throughout the comuna of Pucón. Then, we categorized the actors’ relationships with their land on a human-centric and land-centric scale. Additionally, we analyzed spatial data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify ecological impacts and connect these to human-land relationships, generating maps and charts to visualize distributions. Ultimately, we use our findings to spatially inform comunity transitions toward sustainable practice in the Pucón Comuna.

INTRODUCTION

The comuna of Pucón is located in the Southeastern part of La Araucanía region of Southern Chile in the province of Cautín (Municipality, Chile, n.d.). The comuna is home to approximately 30,290 full-time residents, as well as many seasonal tourists (Municipality, Chile. n.d.). The area contains a municipal center, many small towns, lakes, rivers, native forest areas, nonnative forest plantations, private protected areas, cattle grazing land, and an active volcano (Gerald, n.d.).

The Araucanía region has faced serious land use and demographic changes since the early 19th century. Historically, the region has been the home of Mapuche communities: indigenous peoples of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. However, in 1885, the Chilean and Argentinian armies defeated the Mapuche resistance and began dismantling their communities (Crow & Stebbins, 2013). One method

employed by the Chilean government was to steal and disproportionately redistribute Mapuche land in favor of foreigners. The state allocated approximately 40-50 hectares of land per European foreigner, compared to the one to four hectares of land available to indigenous people (Crow & Stebbins, 2013). This inequality was further exacerbated throughout the Pinochet dictatorship from 1973-1991. Pinochet’s regime “encouraged the division and privatization of indigenous communal lands” in order to create land available for timber plantations (Crow & Stebbins, 2013). By 2007, the preference toward large logging conglomerates resulted in 224,716 hectares, 43% of south-central Chile, to be transformed into timber monocultures (Environmental Paper Network, 2022).

These historical events in the greater Araucanía region have directly affected the present comuna of Pucón. However, in more recent years, the comuna has also faced additional land use and demographic changes as a result of growing tourism, rising population, and seasonal migration. Additionally, there has been an increase in

the number of private protected areas, conservation efforts, and ecotourism interests. The Pucón region is one of the most popular tourism hotspots in all of Chile and has one of the fastest growing populations in the Araucanía region with a growth rate of 1.24% (Gerald, n.d.).

Despite tourism dominating both the public and private sectors in the comuna of Pucón (Riquelme et al., 2012), the pandemic has transformed its presence. Though the pandemic has increased the appeal of and need for tourism, factors such as disease prevention, economic constraints, and social preferences have made the landscape of tourism wildly different compared to its pre-pandemic operation. Miao et al. relate post-traumatic behaviors with post-pandemic tourism behavior; as a psychological response to the damage of the pandemic, new and distinct travel patterns are rising. The paper distinguishes three dichotomous pairs of travel habits: rebound and retreat, connectedness and estrangement, and self-transcendence and self-diminishment (Miao et al., 2022). Evidently, tourism motivations and preferences have been widely impacted by the psychological changes that transpired throughout the pandemic. Another factor widely prevalent in recent tourism is sustainability and environmental concerns. Not only is there a global reckoning of climate change with the rise of social media platforms, but a growing number of individuals are also considering their own personal consumptive impact and choosing to make their travel choices reflectthis (Koščak & O’Rourke, 2021). Taking these psychological and environmental factors into consideration, highly touristic hotspots such as the comuna of Pucón are currently presented with new challenges and opportunities for community growth and transformation.

On top of changing tourism patterns, there has also been a rise of new migrants in the comuna of Pucón. In Latin America, a specificchange has been observed and is referred to as “new rurality.” This is explained as “rural-urban links, the rise of nonagricultural rural employment, the provision of environmental services, agro-environmental certifications,the active role of communities and social organizations, and cultural-environmental diversity as heritage” (Santiago, 2017). Taking the concept of new rurality into account, the values migrants hold when settling in this region are variable and have direct correlations with how they shape and manage their land. In order to perceive this phenomenon in a hyperlocal scope, Zunino and Hidalgo examine the interactions between long-term residents and recent migrants in the Villarrica and Pucón municipalities from 2000-2010 in their paper, “Negocio inmobiliario y Migración por Estilos de Vida en La Araucanía Lacustre.” Ultimately, they discover that migration and

variable land uses must be viewed in a holistic manner, without using historic, capitalistic, or economic lenses. As a result of the growing population in the comuna de Pucón, there has been an increasing demand for modern development; causing a plethora of socio-cultural consequences. These interactions are driven by forces such as investment, tourism, and agriculture, and have manifested in a variety of unique manners. The new wave of migration from the city to the countryside has brought urban ideologies and consumption patterns to rural areas — displacing local economies and values. Those who spearhead this migration are “green amenity migrants” who are challenging consumerist culture predominantly through symbolic appropriation (Zunino & Hidalgo, 2010). The consequences of this new wave include deforestation, industrialization of agricultural practices, intensive cattle grazing, and land parceling. Ultimately, these documented and projected increases in the comuna of Pucón’s population must be paired with sustainable practices. We definesustainability as the pursuit of a healthy world through a holistic understanding of the interconnections of scales and systems. A healthy world meets the needs of all life forms, enhancing their physical, social, and mental well-being. It enables individual reciprocal capacities for participation in socio-ecological communities and systems. Therefore, the following research aims to understand how human-land connections can describe land management decisions. To accomplish this, our project implements a bottom-up approach, examining individual actors’ relationships with their land and their corresponding land management decisions. Additionally, spatial analysis and remote sensing are utilized to understand land distributions and historical change. As a result, connections between these actors and historical data can be drawn to ultimately produce a larger-scale result. Through this relationship, the scope of this project expands beyond individual actors in order to produce community transitions towards sustainability.

RESEARCH QUESTION

How can an understanding of human-land connections describe land management decisions and inform community transitions towards sustainability?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

1.To describe spatio-temporal land use designations and corresponding ecological consequences

2.To analyze key actors’ relationships with their land

3.To inform community transitions towards sustainability

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Considering the most important concepts at play in the comuna of Pucón, our framework consists of land use

management, ecological impact, and human relationships to nature. We examine these in congruence because we hypothesize that they are all interconnected. The conceptual framework of this project is organized to sequentially address our research objectives. The sequence of this research process is vital because our research objectives are interdependent and greatly influence each other.

2.1 Land Use Management

First, we attempt to situate current land management practices in a historical context in order to understand socio-cultural and environmental factors which have influencedland management decisions in the past. We aim to see how these decisions have changed throughout time, resulting in the contemporary distribution of land use varieties. This is particularly significant because of dramatic shifts in attitudes towards land management throughout history. During the 1930s, forests were seen as “useless areas for the productive development of domestic economic activity,” and later in the 20th century as an economic resource for locals (Mansilla et al., 2020). In recent times, there has been emigration of rural people and migration of tourists who desire direct interaction with nature; motivating larger preservation and conservation projects. While forests were previously perceived strictly as an economic resource, the influxof migrants and tourists coupled with the growth of ecotourism and conservation efforts in the region illustrate the shift in attitude.

2.2 Ecological Impact

Understanding what influeced land management in the past is crucial in the description of current land use designations, as various land uses have been shown to result in different ecological impacts. For example, regenerative farming practices are proven to minimally impact local ecology and create resilient food systems; conversely, the fragmentation caused by increasing demand for land for intensive agricultural practices in the area has detrimental effects (Petitpas et al., 2016). A demographic shift towards more unsustainable land uses has also increased demand for residential land, with estimates that residential area increased by 670% between 1983 and 2007 (Petitpas et al., 2016). This demand for residential areas is spurring land division, which has detrimental impacts biodiversity. Land management practices are inextricably linked to ecological impacts, illustrating the importance of understanding human-land connections in relation to management decisions.

2.3 Human Relationships to Nature

To understand local human relationships to nature and their subsequent ecological impacts, we consider relevant demographic changes in the study area. Analyzing how the population has increased illus-

trates a variation in how people connect to the land, based on residency status and land use intentionality. According to McIntyre, the concept of lifestyle migration and personal values is definedas “the movements of people, capital, information and objects associated with the process of voluntary relation to places that are perceived as providing an enhanced, or at least different, lifestyle” (McIntyre, 2009). In turn, these migrants are redefiningrural communities by modifying “the concept of nature: their arrival implies ‘substantial social and ecological transformations for received landscapes’” (Santiago, 2017). Overall, we wish to understand the different relationships to and goals with the land of different key local actors in the study area, comparing recent migrants and long-term residents.

Research Methodology

3.1 Objective 1 Methodology: Satellite and Geospatial Data

To address our firstobjective, we used geospatial technology and remotely sensed imagery to observe current distributions and changes in land use. First, we selected Landsat 5 and 8 images from the years 1985 to 2022 from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Explorer. Both of the images were captured in the early fall (March 5th and March 8th) to limit external variables in our data collection, such as seasonal growth changes and snowfall. These years correspond with a key timeline our group examines, which is the period from the end of the Pinochet Regime to the modern day (1990-2022); in which pronounced change has occurred in the land. To begin our ecological effects analysis, we used individual band data to calculate the Normalized Difference of Vegetation Index (NDVI). This was done by using raster calculations in QGIS to subtract the red band from the near-infrared band and divide this result by the red band plus the near-infrared band. These results gave us NDVI maps for 1985 and 2022. NDVI values range from 1 (denoting the absolute healthiest vegetation) to -1 (complete reflectanceof clouds or water), with 0 in the middle being no vegetation. We chose to clip out the water areas to avoid negative values skewing NDVI values and proceeded to calculate the difference between the two rasters. This denoted an NDVI change value raster between 1985 and 2022.

With this analysis, we then turned to vector data obtained from Infraestructura de Datos Geoespaciales (IDE), Instituto Nacional de Estadísticos (INE), and La Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF) geodatabases to analyze spatial statistics overlaid with the NDVI change. We firstexamined land uses and NDVI statistics by querying land use types and extracting the mean of NDVI change from these queries. We then studied the attribute of primary tree species present, queried these areas, and calculated the NDVI change for these areas to denote ecological changes amongst certain species of flora.Finally, we assessed the statistics and visualized

the spatial distribution of rural houses in our study area. To do this, we conducted several fieldcalculations using our “viviendas” point layer (depicting rural houses and a few rural businesses only) to find the number of hectares per rural house. Then, we observed this with our land use layer to findwhich land use types host the highest concentrations of houses. We calculated statistics and produced maps to depict this, which are included in the Results section of this paper.

3.2 Objective 2 Methodology: Interviews

To achieve our second objective, we concluded that interviews were the most effective and satisfactory method because they provided a meaningful and accurate way to understand the relationships between different actors and their land. The firststep in the interview process was creating a questionnaire to guide our conversations in a semi-formal format. We left room for interviewee interpretation because it provided additional insight into the actors’ relationships with the environment and their land. Next, we defined the types of actors we wanted to interview. We generated broad, though accurate, categories of residents such as recent migrants, long-term residents, indigenous peoples, business owners, and foreigners. Then we relied on previously established relationships between the Universidad de Catolica faculty and local actors to fulfillas many unique categories as possible. Due to this dependency on our professors’ connections, there was a slight bias in our sampling pool; not all types of actors were available or willing to speak with us. We were unable to interview individuals such as recent migrants, which ultimately impacts the patterns and connections we are able to draw.

The interviews were conducted during a fieldresearch week in the Huife Watershed. We organized 13 conversations with unique actors throughout the span of three days; November 8th-10th. To successfully collect our data in this short period of time, our group applied the same methodology across all individuals. We separated our two most fluentSpanish-speaking individuals to assure every interview was conducted without a language barrier. The remaining group members were in charge of transcribing the conservation in English. Because of this approach, our notetaking was visible to all actors, creating a semi-formal interview process. However, the conservation remained fluidas we allowed the actor to steer the conversation for a holistic understanding of their relationship with the land. The post-interview analysis included a discussion of the information obtained, wherein we not only reviewed information but also attempted to draw conclusions and make connections between the actors.

3.3 Objective 2 Methodology: Development of Actor Categorization Scale

After preliminary analysis of the data we gathered during the interviews, we devised a system to categorize the actors and compare their human-land relationships. We extrapolated our qualitative information into four primary categories: pathways to residency in the region, the context and impact of historical events, relationships with neighbors and community, and goals with the land. Within these four factors, we ranked actors along a spectrum from land-centric relationships to human-centric relationships. A land-centric relationship indicates that the person’s relationship to the land is definedby the land itself: Usually, the person has inherited the land and the land directly provides the person with basic needs such as food, water, and shelter. A human-centric relationship indicates that the person’s relationship to the land is definedby the person’s desire to live in the region: Usually, the person has moved into the region seeking a type of lifestyle the land is able to provide and has found work opportunities utilizing the land. For each actor, we assigned an individual ranking for each factor on a scale of 1 to 5; with 1 assigned to the most land-centric relationships and 5 assigned to the most human-centric relationships. We averaged the ranking of these factors as well.

For each category, the rankings of 1, 3, and 5 are specificallydefind. If an actor falls in the middle of two rankings, they receive either a 2 or a 4. This methodology is chosen because it is in line with mathematical forms of accuracy. Since we are only defining three different values on our ranking scale, we can only say that a value meets definedcriteria or it falls in between two criteria.

The firstcategory is the path to residency. We analyzed how the person came to live in the region, assigning a score of 1 to a person who was born in the region and a score of 5 to someone who had moved to the area in the past year. We set a neutral score of 3 in the year 1990, marking the end of the Pinochet dictatorship; a major influenceon demographics and land use change in the area. This means that anyone who moved to the region before 1990 received a score of 2, and anyone who moved to the region after 1990 received a score of 4. Someone who was born into the area has an inherently land-centric relationship to the region, because they did not make a decision to live there. We have also observed that the majority of people born in the area still rely on the land directly for food, water, and shelter. A recent migrant to the area has a more human-centric relationship because they are interacting with the area out of their own desire, seeking enjoyment, fulfilment, and/or work opportunities from it.

For the second category, analyzing the impact of historical events in the region on people’s lives, a score of 1 was given if historical events in the region have completely altered a person’s way of life in the area, their community in the area, and/or have forced them to relocate. A score of 3 was given if historical events have had no impact on their life since moving to the area, and they have not significantlyimpacted other people’s lives. A score of 5 was given if they have created historically significantimpacts that have affected other peoples’ ways of life in the area. More land-centric relationships exist for people who have had their lives augmented by historical events, because it shows that their lives are rooted in political or socio-political events affecting the land. People who have caused significant events that greatly affect other people’s lives have more human-centric relations to the land, because these types of actions show human will and decision-making as the principal factor for determining land use.

The third category is interactions with neighbors, ranging from completely interdependent lives with neighbors (1), to no relationships with neighbors (5). A neutral score of 3 indicates the person has had strong, interconnected relationships with neighbors in the past but no longer has these relationships. It could also indicate that they have neutral relationships with their neighbors. A strong intertwined relationship with neighbors could be shown through amedias, where neighbors combine resources to produce a common need; trading systems, where neighbors trade crops or goods with each other when they are unable to obtain it themselves; and reciprocal systems, where neighbors do favors for each other trusting that it will be repaid in the future. These types of neighbor relationships are inherently land-centric, because the relationship is definedby the land. The land provides a space for the community to build resiliency. People that do not have relationships with their neighbors have human-centric relationships, because their community is not based on the proximity of the people to them but on who they seek out. The land is not used as a means to interact with the community.

The finalcategory used to categorize our actors’ relationships with the land was their goals with their land. A score of 1 was given to actors with the primary goal to pass their land, knowledge, and cultural and familial history down to their children. A score of 5 was given to those with the goal of profitingoff of the land. A score of 3 indicates a combination of these two goals. The intent to pass down generational wisdom and the land itself shows a land-centric relationship, because the land provides a place for the traditions and wisdom to be actuated and prevail. It shows the familial-cultural importance of the land

itself. A goal to profitoff the land shows a human-centric relationship, because it shows that the human connection is based on financial incentives

Objective 1 and Objective 2 combine to provide a multidimensional perspective on the Huife Watershed: land use changes in the comuna of Pucón, ecological consequences of such land changes, and personal connections to the land. With these methods implemented, our discussion will be utilized to inform future transitions toward sustainability.

3.4 Objective 3 Methodology - Sustainable Development Advisory Map

Following this ecological analysis, we used ArcGIS Pro to create a sustainable development advisory map in the form of a suitability modeler. For this model, we took into account three important layers of data and assigned values of 1 (least suitable) to 10 (most suitable) to value ranges of a single attribute. For our land use layer, we classifiedthe suitabilities of the raster in accordance with our project goals. We assigned a score of 1 to forests, bodies of water, wetlands, snow & glaciers, and agricultural terrain, to preserve agricultural opportunities for local inhabitants. We assigned values of 10 to meadows and prairies, urban areas, and areas without vegetation. We also took into account our erosion risk layer, assigning values of 10, 8, 5, 4, and 1 respectively to 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; increasing with more risk. Next, we used data from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) to create a slope layer and assigned values in accordance with increasing slope; hence, lower suitability scores are associated with higher slopes. We then clipped our finalsuitability map to exclude protected areas such as reserves and parks, thus eliminating these from the possible development suggestion. Finally, we produced a map to visualize the distribution of suitable land according to our model.

Results

4.1 Results for Objective 1 – To describe temporal land use designations and corresponding ecological consequences

Our geospatial analysis provided us with valuable insight into the common themes of our project. First, we identifiedcertain areas of interest in our NDVI change analysis map (see Figure 1). Although the majority of NDVI values are between -0.05 and 0.1, denoting low change, certain swathes show high positive or negative values. We examined one area on a hillside east of Caburgua, dominated by Roble Forest, where the change in NDVI values is quite stark (see Figure 2 View C). This suggests that moderate deforestation or forest degradation has occurred in this location over the past 30 years. We can also see more drastic changes, both positive and negative, occurring close to highways in the Comuna of Pucón, in contrast to much more moderate changes seen in remote forested areas. In an area we defineas the ‘Rio Pucón- Caburgua Corridor’ lining

highway S-905, high fluctuationsof NDVI are observed (see Figure 2 View A). The same occurs in Pichare around highway S-907 (View B). On the other hand, in Reserva Villarrica, NDVI changes are much less defined (View D).

sible transformations of land for grazing. Non-vegetated areas, agricultural terrain, and urban areas have far fewer counts and thus are not nearly as relevant to NDVI change.

NDVI Change Statistics per Land Use in Comuna of

Continuing with this ecological NDVI analysis, we used our land use layer to calculate statistics of NDVI change in different areas. For one of these, we examined land use sectors. This included a count, how many polygons of this land use type there were a minimum, to show the greatest negative impact of NDVI change of this land use type; a maximum, to show the greatest positive impact of NDVI; and a mean, to show overall ecological change of the land use. We created tables denoting these changes. Our firsttable calculated shows NDVI change per land use (see Table 1). We can see that forests show a slight increase in NDVI. This is likely due to reforestation practices in places such as private sanctuaries and eco-tourist properties, as well as ecological succession. Prairies and meadows show a much higher NDVI increase. This could be skewed by significantlylarge swathes of NDVI increase in a large meadow west of Villa San Pedro (showing possible actions of ecologist-minded residents) and corridors of meadows lining rivers. We observed many other meadows trending towards NDVI decrease, hinting at pos-

Additionally, we analyzed important tree species in the face of NDVI change (see Table 2). In areas where Nothofagus obliqua and Nothofagus dombeyi dominated, NDVI values were identifiedas slightly increasing. The NDVI health of Araucaria araucana was found to be increasing even more. However, Nothofagus pumilio–Lenga–health was identifiedas decreasing, with a mean of -0.035. In addition, the absolute values of the minimum values of every tree species are larger than the absolute values of maximum values, suggesting that certain areas depict a significantdecline of all of these species, whether that be by ecological disasters or human-caused degradation.

In terms of our results for rural houses in certain land uses, we found intriguing statistics and spatial analysis. First, examining Figure 3, we see that forests, prairies, and meadows host the most number of rural houses in the Comuna of Pucón by large percentages. Figure 4 shows that agricultural terrain, non-vegetated areas, and urban areas hold far fewer rural houses (these points only depict rural houses, not urban houses), to the point where they are nearly irrelevant.

Figure 1: NDVI Change Case Studies in the Comuna of Pucón

Figure 2: NDVI Change Case Studies in the Comuna of Pucón

Table 1

Pucón

Table 2

NDVI Change Statistics of Key Tree Species in Comuna of Pucón

As shown in Figure 3, the mean number of hectares per rural house is approximately equal (16.0 and 16.4) between forests and meadows/prairies. This suggests that these two land uses contain approximately the same density in housing. However, it is important to note the stark difference in standard deviation between the two (Forests = 34.5, Meadows/Prairies = 82.2). This suggests that perhaps a broad array of land users inhabit forests (resulting in high contrasts in land plot size), in contrast to a narrow array of land users in meadows/prairies (seen in similar land plot sizes amongst all). Visualizing the concept of housing density, Figure 5 shows a high density of rural houses in the Rio Pucón-Caburgua Corridor. Lower densities are seen in surrounding areas of the Comuna.

4.2 Results for Objective 2 – To analyze key actors’ relationships with their land Our interviews allowed us to gain a holistic image of the Huife Watershed through understanding the interconnectedness of the local actors, their relationships with the land, and the socio-ecological factors that impact the landscape.

Through our interviews, we identifiedmany prominent historical events in the Comuna of Pucón. Many of the most impactful policies and events were interconnected as well. Throughout the Pinochet dictatorship, laws forced the privatization of Mapuche land, which caused resource strain and land parceling (Ley 19253 Art. 13). This in turn caused cultural fragmentation and changes in community dynamics. Additionally, this heavily impacted the land physically, increasing intensive agricultural and forestry land use. We were introduced to another major contributor to land fragmentation, Chile’s inheritance law, through our interviews as well. This law mandates the parceling of land into equal plots to offspring after the owner’s death.

Historical records point to a boom in population and tourism in the 1970s when roads opened connecting popular natural areas like Lican Ray, Caburgua, and Huife, which altered both urban and rural areas to prioritize business growth and commodificationof natural areas (Welcome Chile, 2007). Our interviews suggest that the Huife Watershed experienced increases in tourism in the 2000s as well, an ecotourism location we interviewed opened in the 1990s. Furthermore, local actors emphasized how technology has increased awareness and social perception of the area, further growing tourism. With this growth of ecotourism and changing land use, the region has experienced a shift in agricultural practices and a budding conservation movement (Zunino & Hidalgo, 2010).

In recent years, there has been an evolution of culture and community with the rise of technology, the 2020 pandemic, and climate change; presenting new challenges and opportunities for actors’ interactions with their land (Otero et al., 2017). We found that four of the 13 actors we interviewed were heavily impacted by historical events. These four had lived in the area before and during the Pinochet dictatorship. This correlation played a significan role in understanding how an actor’s relationship to the land can be affected by historical events.

We made further conclusions about the human-land relationships of different actors by analyzing their relationships with their neighbors. We observed relationships with neighbors that were transactional, social, cultural, occupational, familial, negative, or nonexistent. Transactional relationships occur when goods and services are shared, including crops, labor, and other

Figure 3: Statistics of Rural Houses per Land Use Type in Comuna of Pucón

Figure 4: Sums of Rural Houses in Certain Land Uses

Figure 5: Map Depicting the Concentration of Rural Houses in the Comuna of Pucón

forms of support. Transactional relationships were frequently observed among long-term residents who relied on their community to support their ways of life. We found that social relationships, when activities and free time are spent together, increased actors’ connections to their community as well. Cultural relationships were also highly important; when customs and rituals are completed together, there exists a large sense of belonging and togetherness. Some actors had occupational relationships, hiring their neighbors for their businesses or providing a discount to ecotourism spaces. Familial and multigenerational relationships were also very important among actors in the study region. Many actors lived close to or on the same land as their extended family or shared spaces with those who were much older or younger than them. Poor or nonexistent relationships with neighbors were observed from actors who were new to the watershed and lived in the area primarily to grow their businesses. Additionally, demographic shifts in the area have greatly affected some long-term resident actors’ relationships with neighbors (Espinosa 2016; Actor 1, 2022; Actor 3, 2022). There are many diverse ways an actor can hold relationships with their neighbors. We found that 10 out of 13 could be identifiedas having a strong and positive relationship with their neighbors, while three had fluctuatig relationships with their neighbors or nonexistent or negative relationships with their neighbors.

We asked all of the interviewees to describe their primary goals with the land and we received a large variety of answers. Although actors could have multiple goals, they often fell into similar themes. The goal of some actors was expanding their business or enterprise; such as farms, hot springs, natural sanctuaries, or agritourism spaces. Another common goal was to educate the community on environmental conservation, conduct scientificresearch, regenerative and bio-intensive farming practices, and pass on ways of life to younger generations. A finalgoal was to exist on the land and continue existing for years to come; an intention that prevailed in many actors who had lived in the area for their entire lives and had a strong connection to the land. All who expressed this goal also expressed the hope to pass their land, wisdom, and traditions onto their children or the children of the community as well.

After graphing the 13 actors’ human-land relationships in Figures 6 and 7, clear patterns presented themselves. First, we can see that the majority of actors we interviewed showed more land-centric relationships with their land. 11 out of 13 actors averaged a score of 3 or less between their rankings in the four different categories on the land-centric to human-centric relationship scale. This shows that the majority of actors we interviewed had relationships with the land definedby the land itself. When we asked three different actors who were born and lived their entire lives in the region how they would describe their connection to the land, they replied “the land is my life,” (Actor 1 & Actor 2, personal communication, November 2022). This demonstrates the most land-centric relationship possible; the actors’ lives are so intertwined with their land that they are indistinguishable from one another. We found that actors with more land-centric relationships used their land as regenerative farms, places for horizontal and vertical knowledge transfer, places to produce necessities for life such as food and water, and places for environmental and/or biocultural conservation.

By following the mapping of the different actors in Figure 6, we can see that all actors born in the region, shown by scoring a 1 on the Path to Residency axis, scored a 3 or less in all other categories. This correlation reveals that all actors born in the region have very land-centric relationships with their land. One woman

Figure 6: Graph Categorizing Each Local Actor as Having Land-Centric or Human-Centric Relationships with the Land

Figure 7: Graph of the Trends in Local Actors’ Relationships with the Land

interviewed expressed the sentiment that we are all connected on this planet, all brothers in this world, and the world is for everyone (Actor 1, personal communication, November 2022). This reveals another manner of expressing land-centric relationships and additional facets to their significance.This message that land-centric relationships emphasize the interconnections between humans and the environment as well as the interconnections between humans. By viewing humanity as a global community, the value of interpersonal relationships stretches from local to global scales.

Even though we clearly identifiedthe correlation between actors born in the region and land-centric relationships, there was not a clear indication that recent migrants had human-centric relationships with the land. Based on our data collection, the majority of migrants hold neutral or land-centric relationships. They achieved this ranking by using their land for goals such as conservation and education, building close communities with their neighbors, and/ or being conscious to not take actions that augment the ways of life and well-being of others.

We found, looking at the trends of actors’ human-land relationships in Figure 7, there is an extremely strong correlation that actors with land-centric relationships with their neighbors hold very land-centric goals with their land. Actors that have very close relationships with their neighbors, potentially relying on exchange networks for food, transferring knowledge, and/or support, also have goals with their land such as living off of the products of the land, passing the land down to children, and educating children and/or the community on their way of life. This connection highlights the importance of community in building land-centric relationships. Another woman we interviewed expressed the importance of her community: She relies almost entirely on the products of her land to support her life. When she is unable to produce something or a crop fails, she firstgoes to her neighbors, offering a trade for what she needs. If her neighbors also do not have what she needs, she then outsources it from a store. Additionally, if she has any issues with her crops or animals, she relies on the knowledge of her community to findsolutions. The web of resource exchange and knowledge transfer within her community supports her to be able to live in the region and live primarily off the products of her land. She also discussed that land parcels and privatization have forced her neighbors to move, fragmenting her community and making it much more difficult for her and her neighbors to continue their way of life (Actor 3, personal communication, November 2022). Deterioration of community resiliency directly impacts peoples’ ways of life.

Finally, by following the mapping of the different actors in Figure 6, we can see that all actors that had moved to the region in adulthood scored a 3 or higher on the Impact of Historical Events axis. This shows that all migrants to the region had either created impacts on other people’s way of life, had not been affected by historical events, or created significantimpacts. This concludes they had more human-centric impacts on historical events. One actor who had moved to the region in 1983 from Britain brought the firsttractors to the region, which he rented out, in addition to selling the firstsynthetic fertilizers. This greatly changed the agriculture in the region. People sold their oxen in exchange for tractors and transitioned from organic, manure-based fertilizers to synthetic ones. The actor described his impact as exploring his interests in the farming industry and creating economic opportunities for himself (Actor 10, personal communication, November 2022). His impact on historical events was human-centric because his actions drastically changed the land use practices of others. Additionally, his intention stemmed from self-benefitand authority over the land. This highlights a key difference we discovered between actors born in the region and migrants: Migrants show more ownership over the land, taking actions that affect the land use of others, while actors born in the region have shown to be more subject to their land — their life is intertwined and in balance with the land.

Discussion

5.1 Connections Between Objectives

Analyzing our data in its entirety, we found clear connections between our interview data and spatial analysis. While examining the number of hectares per rural house, we discovered highly concentrated areas of housing represent more human-centric residents such as, owners of cabins, restaurants, and hot springs. Areas of low concentration contain more of our land-centric individuals, such as those from Llancalil and Menetue. This suggests that recent migrants with human-centric viewpoints only purchase the minimum amount of land needed to develop their business, whereas longterm residents occupy enough land to live sustainably, often with huertas, rucas, and/or other elements. This correlation also suggests that agglomeration may be occurring as the population increases, with more human-centric people migrating to concentrated areas. Following this, we identifieda confounding relationship between rural house density and relationships with neighbors. Our interviewees located in higher-density areas discussed having few relationships with their neighbors, whereas our interviewees located in lower-density areas relayed having much stronger relationships. This inverse sociological relationship suggests that with a larger quantity of land and a greater connection with it, one may feel more involved and

associated with the community around them. We also drew spatial connections between the historical impacts of our interviewees. Those who inhabited land near highways held more human-centric relationships, thus affecting others around them; whereas those inhabiting areas farther from highways held more land-centric relationships, thus being affected by others. This connection suggests that a rippling effect is taking place, where people are migrating to places along highways and affecting the lands outward from there. As stated by one interviewee, this phenomenon could be explained by the influxof cars or the development of modern technology in the region. However, these require further studies to generate concrete causation.

5.2 Informing Transitions Toward Sustainability

We hypothesize that the comuna of Pucón has a carrying capacity for the human population. This is validated by our observations of NDVI data, showing that vegetation cover has starkly changed in areas of the comuna with a large growth of human settlements; and through our interviews, showing that new migrants are creating impacts on other people’s lives and land use in the area. As previously stated, it is predicted the population of the comuna will continue to grow in the coming years. To support socio-ecologically sustainable population growth, we performed a suitability analysis of the region (Figure 8). This analysis suggests areas of the region most and least suitable to house new human settlements.

current distributions of ecologically and culturally significantareas is vital. The suitability model implemented in this project amplifiesthese considerations to facilitate community transitions towards sustainability. Community actors expressed that their lands serve as means of existence physically and culturally, demonstrating the importance of land as a medium for the transmission of intergenerational knowledge. The land offers a space to feed their families with personally grown food and ancestral teachings, inseparable from the land itself. The land is a catalyst for the education of younger generations and recent migrants alike. Consequently, our model preserves these areas of biocultural significance,so they are not disturbed by future development. Additionally, NDVI analysis demonstrates that vegetation cover has significantly changed in some areas congruent with human settlements. This findinglargely informed our suitability model, demanding the exclusion of ecologically significant areas from development such as national parks, natural reserves, and arable land.

Preserving these areas protects the interests of both humans and non-human species. This preservation also reinforces Pucón’s identity as an ecological hotspot, ensuring the vitality of growing ecotourism and those whose livelihoods are associated with it. In this model, sensitive ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and glaciers are classifiedwith the lowest level of suitability in an effort to protect these areas from development. Conversely, open grass fieldsand prairies were classifiedas suitable, as well as urban centers. In addition to protecting ecological interests, this classificationalso caters to migrants, directing them to already open land as opposed to land that needs clearing. The model also aims to locate migrants on soil with low erosion risk to ensure minimal terrestrial impact, as well as investment security and personal safety. This classification is intended to create environmental protection which benefitsrecent migrants and historical residents. The model includes a half-hectare buffer around existing rural settlements. This guarantees that space occupied by existing residents will not be encroached upon while also seeking to evenly distribute the human population in the region. Extreme slope values are also considered to minimize the costs of building on steep terrain while protecting mountain ecosystems in the region.

The diversity of actors’ interests and relationships has inherent spatial implications informed by numerous socio-ecological factors. The site suitability analysis we conducted directly addresses these spatial implications by equally weighing the interests of long-term residents with those of recent and future migrants. Population growth must occur in harmony with the existing socio-ecological landscape. As demographics shift in the region, consideration of

Ultimately, this site suitability analysis considers the diverse interests of the many actors and non-human species which compose Pucón’s socio-ecological community. Despite numerous land restrictions, a large proportion of the comuna remains suitable for new migrants. Conversely, there is also a substantial area that is classifiedas unsuitable based on ecological and biocultural criteria. This model illustrates that coexistence amongst the diverse actors of the comuna and their interests is a tangible reality. Accounting for the

Figure 8: Suitability Map of continued Development in the Comuna of Pucón

values of Pucón’s diverse inhabitants, a framework is created for a sustainable future marked by cohesion. However, the reliability and availability of the data implemented in this model partially restricts its implementation. In some instances, the data is more than 10 years old and contains minor inaccuracies. Notwithstanding this process of evaluating and processing the needs of a community are crucial in its transition to sustainability. This model offers a framework for transitions to sustainability, but more importantly it illustrates the possibility of holistically evaluating and planning for the diverse needs of a community.

Conclusion

This paper is guided by the desire to understand how one’s relationship to the land may impact their land management choices, ultimately informing communities on how to transition towards sustainability. To accomplish this, the project focuses on the Comuna of Pucón and uses two main mechanisms of data collection: geospatial analysis and interviews of local actors.

GIS is utilized to provide geospatial analysis of the comuna by means of past land use change and anthropogenic impacts on the land. By gathering spatial statistics and visuals through the overlay of various data layers, we identifid where stark ecological impacts are occurring and what kinds of land uses are present in these areas. While these NDVI changes are clear in many areas, our analysis concludes that the majority of important tree species over the entire comuna are increasing in health. In addition, we conclude that areas such as the Rio Pucón-Caburgua Corridor and Pichares have faced significantdevelopment over the past decades. The NDVI in these regions shows drastic increases and decreases in vegetation health while rural houses are clustered and concentrated.

To complement the geospatial analysis, we conducted interviews throughout the Huife Watershed, a southern portion of the greater Pucón region. In these interviews, we gained valuable insight into correlations between actors’ relationship with the land and their corresponding intentions and actions. Overall, we have three main conclusions based on the actors’ land-centric or human-centric characteristics. First, most of our actors have land-centric relationships, meaning their lives are intertwined with their environment by interacting with it in forms such as regenerative farming or knowledge transferring. However, it is important to note there is no clear association between recent migrants and human-centric relationships. Next, the actors who hold strong connections with their neighbors have

a corresponding land goal centered on education and/ or living from the products on their land. Lastly, all recent migrants have a strong correlation with impacts on the lives of others in the region.

These patterns, along with the geospatial information, allow us to conclude that a robust and diverse Pucón, both in biodiversity and human interests, requires an equally multidimensional approach to community transitions. Though historical land use changes have prioritized development and economic growth, it is clear that long-term residents and their corresponding land-centric relationships must be honored and acknowledged when approaching future land management plans. This may be accomplished through full and complete actor representation in decision-making processes, decentralizing access to historical accounts of land use allowing for community education and awareness, and requiring certain conditions be met to engage in future sustainable land management. A mixture of these and other intersectional community involvements in local land use change is needed to transition to sustainability. Despite future decisions that the Comuna of Pucón may make regarding land management, one thing is certain: Every actor deserves a voice, and every stakeholder plays a part in the future of our world.

Our project promotes sustainability and a healthy world by striving to understand the interconnectivity of Pucón’s diverse inhabitants: humans and all other living beings. The model proposed in this project accounts for the needs of these diverse inhabitants in an attempt to ensure their well-being. The preservation of these interests will hopefully strengthen and empower this rich community. This project integrates Pucón’s human society with its ecological landscape, enacting a harmonious painting of the socio-ecological landscape and showing that a transition to a sustainable community is possible.

Acknowledgements

We thank our professors at the Universidad Católica de Chile–including Gonzalo Eduardo Salazar Preece, Francisca Javiera Santana Acevedo, Nicolás Cristian Gálvez Robinson, and José Tomás Ibarra Eliessetch–for their guidance, patience, and connections to local actors; without which this project would not have been possible. We thank and are deeply indebted to all the actors throughout the Comuna of Pucón for their willingness to collaborate with us and share their stories; their cooperation and desire to share their knowledge and experience made this project feasible and meaningful beyond just an educational scope. We thank our program members for supporting this project every step of the way by engaging in open communication and information exchange. This project was supported by the

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University of California Education Abroad Program, giving us the opportunity to study in Chile and conduct meaningful research in the field

Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Indigenous Burning Controversies, and Bringing Back “Good Fire” by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band

AUTHOR: Thuy-Tien Bui

Over hundreds or thousands of years, Indigenous peoples have accumulated diverse knowledges of ethnobotany, ecology and many branches of the natural sciences through direct contact with the environment, learned experiences, and thoughtful studies passed down by generations. This traditional ecological knowledge, or TEK, is the guiding source for many cultural and land stewardship practices that have significantlyaltered the landscapes of today. In her book, “Tending the Wild,” Kat Anderson describes how Native knowledge has been used to manage California’s natural resources for millennia. These practices, such as cultural burning, were interrupted due to the oppression of Indigenous peoples during and following settler colonization. However, growing awareness is pushing for the revitalization of TEK and the use of Indigenous stewardship practices to manage resources and the environment in the face of anthropogenic climate change. In particular, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is leading initiatives to restore and maintain resilient ecosystems in Northern California by bringing back “good fire” informed by TEK.

California’s plant life is notably diverse in species numbers and vegetation forms due to the state’s variety of climates, soils, and topographies. The Native people of California depended on plant resources for their livelihood and used this biodiversity to their advantage. “In aboriginal California, women were the ethnobotanists, testing, selecting, and tending much of the plant world,” Anderson explains (41). Vascular plants also accounted for more than half of the diet in most regions. From the consistent incorporation of plants into their daily lives and culture, Native people developed detailed knowledge of ethnobotany and plant biology. For example, the Luiseño harvested blackened seeds of wild cucumber for an oily ingredient used in paints (Anderson 50). Native people were also closely attuned with the cycles and optimal conditions for plants. They timed harvesting to obtain maximum benefitsand knew in which conditions, such as soil types, they could find

higher quality resources.

In addition to taking advantage of natural resources through collective experiences and studies, Native people employed diverse resource management techniques to “help nature along,” such as burning, pruning, tilling, sowing, irrigating, and weeding. To initiate burns, Indigenous peoples used methods called “drilling” and “percussion.” Drilling refers to “the rotating of a slender wooden shaft in a hole in a stationary board called the hearth,” while percussion was “striking two objects together, such as two stones, to create sparks” (Anderson 136). Historian Pam Mendelsohn recorded that “indigenous fireshad traditionally been set in bear-grass patches after the first heavy rain in October or November” (Anderson 313). This controlled burning of underbrush was vital to the fitness of bear-grass and generated stronger, thinner, and more flexibleleaves that were beneficialfor basket-making. For the Mono, the ancient practice of burning deergrass increases the plant’s flowerstalk production and removes the accumulation of thatch that can inhibit plant growth (Anderson 314).

Indigenous people practiced controlled burning for a variety of reasons in addition to enhancing the quantity and quality of plant resources. Deliberate burning “enhanced feed for wildlife; controlled the insects and diseases that could damage wild foods,” and cleared landscapes for facilitated travel, increased visibility for game hunting and caring for children (Anderson 136). It has been shown that pruning and burning vegetation increases the value of forage for wildlife, resulting in higher numbers of large game animals post-fire.Fire also encourages the reproduction of young, tender shoots which are more edible and nutritious for deer and other vegetation-browsing wildlife. By clearing view-obstructing shrubs, Native peoples created better visibility to hunt game and watch for their small children.

Indigenous knowledge of firealso stemmed beyond how firebenefittedplant physiology to how fireinteracts with variables in the environment for purposeful results. It is thought that frequent, low-grade burning by Indigenous

communities drove vegetation scale changes, often homogenizing the landscape and maintaining plant species, such as oak groves, that are highly beneficial in Indigenous culture. This frequent burning “sustained a park-like landscape with grass and scattered oak trees, and chaparral has invaded these areas since burning was suppressed after Spanish colonization in the 19th century” (Timbrook et. al 1982). Vegetation type-conversion from dense woody shrubland to lower fuel volume grassland also reduced firehazards near settlements. Native people also understood that removing shrubs and ladder fuels could protect mature pinyon trees from fire.“They also pruned back low-lying branches that could catch fireand removed dead and fallen limbs” (Anderson 316). In fact, this strategy of fuels reduction is widely used as a forest management practice to prevent the risk of wildfires today.

However, the efficacyof cultural burning as a form of land stewardship has a long history of misunderstanding, debate, and criticism. The “pristine myth” perpetuated the white man’s romanticized view of wilderness as pristine, undisturbed land that fostered an overabundance of natural resources and was free of human presence (Warren 229). This view erased the presence and culture of Indigenous peoples, by expelling them from the land to create a desired humanless wilderness and by ignoring the complexities and existence of their cultural practices that have, in fact, altered the so-called “pristine” environment. When Indigenous impacts on the land were realized, settler-colonial values and the pristine myth gave rise to views that Indigenous land practices were uncivilized, haphazard, and not rooted in science.

As a result of the view that firewas destructive to valuable commercial forest resources, the United States established the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 and began to embrace firesuppression policies by 1910. Ron Goode, Tribal Chairman of the North Fork Mono Tribe, describes this as Euro-American settlers bringing their “philosophical beliefs and their fear of fire (Goode 25). The Great Fire of 1910, which burned over 3 million acres in Montana, Washington, and Idaho in just two days, had a profound impact on new national firepolicies (National WildfireCoordinating Group). A policy of complete firesuppression was instituted to prevent firesand suppress active firesas quickly as possible. Subsequent, more strict policies became known as the “10 a.m. policies” because they mandated that all firesmust be put out by 10 a.m. the next day. As other land management agencies followed suit with this campaign, firebecame practically eliminated from the landscape.

In an essay on Indigenous burning, Geography and Planning professor, Don Hankins, notes that by 1910,

“California Indian populations were at an all-time low. Indigenous burning traditions became increasingly scarce, and in some areas the knowledge of fire was maintained only through older generations sharing accounts of their family’s and community’s use of fire”(Hankin 31). Although firesuppression was at an all-time high, some ranchers, farmers, and timbermen “continued to apply firein more remote areas or on private lands” (Hankin 31). Families of sheepherders, cattlemen, and timbermen learned how to burn from Indigenous practitioners and saw how firebenefitted their range and forest lands. They lit firesto “open meadows and keep down brush in the forest understories. These firesincreased the numbers of palatable grasses and forbs for grazing animals” (Anderson 119). This sparked controversy among “light burning” advocates like ranchers and “no burning” advocates like government officialswho had pushed for firesuppression and eventually prevailed.

More recently, attitudes have shifted from denying to acknowledging the functionality of Indigenous burning, but questions have been raised about the degree to which controlled burning has altered landscapes. “A myth of human manipulation everywhere in pre-Columbus America is replacing the equally enormous myth of a totally pristine wilderness” (Barrett et al. 2005). A review by Barrett et al. speculatively argues that historical fireswere primarily caused by lightning ignition and not by deliberate Indigenous burning. The authors contend that assertions of Indigenous peoples creating extensive ecological impacts through purposeful fireis based on a scant historical record and is largely overstated. “Most oral history and biological evidence of fireuse has been irretrievably lost with the passage of time,” and since early travelers did not recognize lightning as a major cause of firesin the West, “many Euro-Americans might have therefore erroneously attributed fire to Indians” (Barrett et al. 2005). Geography scholar Thomas Vale also posits the same argument. He insists that the contemporary emphasis on a “humanized” landscape by Native peoples is overstated, and that “large parts of the United States, particularly in the American West, may have been essentially natural, their landscapes characterized by processes of nature rather than people” (Vale 1998). Both parties assert that, based on physical records, lightning ignited fireswere well capable of maintaining most fire regimes of much of the UnitedStates and that Indigenous burning is not as frequent as other scholars make it out to be.

However, experts such as Kat Anderson, John Keeley, Rob Cuthrell, Stephen Pyne, and others, argue differently. The arguments by Barret, Vale, and others fail to acknowledge landscape scale vegetation changes along the coast, where there is a low incidence of lightning firesdue to the moist climate and topography. Analy-

ses by Anderson support that the burning regime was very frequent in many areas in order to obtain a continuous supply of quality plant resources (Anderson and Morrato 1996). This suggests that the frequent firesalong the coast were not caused by lightning and are attributed to anthropogenic burning instead. The Coastal Ranges of California also had high population densities of Native Americans, and Keeley explains that, “Natural firefrequencies are not high enough to maintain these landscapes in habitable mixtures of shrublands and grasslands but such landscape mosaics are readily produced with additional human subsidy of ignitions” (Keeley 2002).

Paleoethnobotanist Rob Cuthrell explains that based on archaeobotanical evidence of Indigenous burning practices, it is expected for coastal terraces to be dominated by woody vegetation types under a lightning fireregime, but that was not observed. This indicated that the observed vegetation cover in his study was an outcome of anthropogenic burning (Cuthrell 2013). Environmental historian Stephen Pyne also maintains that “the modificationof the American continent by fireat the hands of [Native Americans] was the result of repeated, controlled surface burns on a cycle of one to three years” (Pyne 1982). It is important to note that, although many burns were controlled, “Burning also resulted from malice, play, war, accident, escapes, and sheer fire littering” (Pyne 2001)

Furthermore, it is widely accepted today that fireis a necessary disturbance in many ecosystems. “Not only do many California species survive fires,but some require firein order to complete their life cycle or to remain vigorous” (Gutierrez and Orsi 1998). Fire has been reasoned to help shape approximately three-fourths of California’s vegetation. Many different ecosystems, such as chaparral and lower montane forests, are adapted to fireas a disturbance. Plenty of chaparral species germinate after a firestimulates the growth of heat resistant seeds and recycles nutrients in the soil. Some pine and oak species are adapted to light fire,and species with serotinous cones require the heat from higher severity fires for seed dispersal As a consequence of decades of firesuppression, significantamounts of dead biomass have accumulated on the grounds of forest, woodland, and grassland ecosystems. This has predisposed fire-proneecosystems to more severe and out-of-control firessince there is excess fuel that can readily burn. Many forest ecosystems in California are adapted to frequent low-severity fires,which naturally helps maintain fuel loads and cycle nutrients for encouraged growth. However, with fireexcluded from the landscape, “more natural fire cycles were missed” resulting in altered fireregimes, dramatic increases in forest tree density, and the suppression of saplings in the understory (Keeley 2008). This accumulation of mature trees poses dangerous

threats of catastrophic firessince firecan more easily climb up ladder fuels and into the canopies of closeknit trees, creating the high-severity crown firesthat headline the news today (Stephens and Ruth 2005).

Cultural burning by Native Americans was affected by U.S. firesuppression policies both directly and indirectly. During the period of firesuppression mandates, Indigenous burning and religious ceremonies were strictly prohibited, causing a loss of knowledge through lack of the practice. Indirectly, firesuppression policies also created dangerous conditions to perform cultural burning in the present because of the potential of fires to grow out-of-control in dense vegetation. “The vitally important traditional management practice of regular burning is no longer possible in many areas because of government prohibitions and the buildup of fuels from fire suppression” (Anderson 318)

The effects of full firesuppression are now realized, and there is an imperative to adopt management strategies that will help correct the effects of decades of misguided policy. With the goal of re-establishing historical fire regimes and reducing fuel loads to minimize the risk of intense fires,federal and private land managers are looking to prescribed burning and Indigenous knowledge. In response to its growing wildfireproblem, California passed a law in 2021 that affirmedIndigenous rights to cultural burns. The bills give protection to controlled burn practitioners by removing liability and covering suppression costs if a burn should get out-ofcontrol (Smith 2021). Still, prescribed firesare carefully thought through and performed only under favorable conditions — cool temperatures, high humidity, and low wind speeds.

This was good news for the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and their goal to reinstate tribal stewardship of their lands surrounding Quiroste Valley. Today, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is composed of “approximately 600 people who are direct descendants of several Mutsun-speaking tribal groups dispersed to the San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz missions” (Hannibal 2016). Because the Amah Mutsun have been separated from their ancestral lands for a long period of time and their treaty with the federal government was never ratified, they are not recognized as a sovereign tribe by the United States. However, they are recognized by the state of California as a Tribal Government (Hannibal 2016).

In Quiroste Valley, woody vegetation such as Douglas firand coyote brush have encroached on grassland species that are culturally significantfor the Amah Mutsun. Ancestors of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band regularly practiced cultural burning to encourage grassland species as well as the growth of understory species in conifer forests, such as hazelnut — a rare and ethnobotanically important species in Quiroste Valley today.

Fire as a stewardship tool remains greatly respected by the Amah Mutsun. “Fire is sacred and used as a prayer. A spiritual fireis placed in the middle during ceremonial dances, and carries our prayers up to Creator. Fire is used as a light, and used as a land management tool,” explains Tribal Chairman Valentin Lopez. Lopez also expresses how fireis connected to spirituality, culture, and the environment: “A special ceremony is held when cultural burning in oak woodlands. Smoke helps purify the trees. Smoke chokes out pests in trees, and therefore aids in production of acorns.”

The Amah Mutsun Land Trust (AMLT) is an initiative that was established to access, protect, and steward lands that are integral to Amah Mutsun culture and identity. With this goal in mind, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is working in collaboration with academic researchers and state agency professionals to revitalize TEK and bring “good fire”back to the landscape. A hope is that firecan be managed more effectively if “Indigenous stewardship and cultural knowledge around fireis more widely accepted and implemented by land managers” (Atencio 2020). AMLT is engaged in an Inter-Tribal Fire Network to foster better relationships with federal and state land management agencies as well as with other California tribes.

Native Stewardship Corps is utilizing TEK in their adaptive management strategies to restore the resiliency and sustainability of natural systems. Native stewards are gaining experience with prescribed burns as Type-II Wildland Firefightersand participate in Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges that are hosted by the Kuruk and Yurok tribes. “These trainings emphasize the stewardship of cultural resources and build key working relationships and coordination with many land management organizations” (Atencio 2020). For performing prescribed burns, “A section of land is segmented into burn units and planned to burn when conditions provide for a low-intensity burn. Cultural burns generally occurred in the late fall and or early spring. Up to ten sections each, varying in size from a few acres to a whole mountain side, composed a cultural burn management area,” explained Lawrence Atencio, a Native Stewardship Corps field manager (Atencio 2020).

The long-term plan at Quiroste Valley is to revive the practice of burning the landscape and restore a diverse array of culturally significantplants, including hazelnut, red maids, California lilac, white root sedge, purple needlegrass, California oatgrass, blue wild rye, and native barley (Hannibal 2016). The work at Quiroste Valley Cultural Preserve served as the catalyst for creating a range of partnerships including Pinnacles National Park, University of California at Santa Cruz Arboretum, and the nonprofitPie Ranch

in Pescadero.

Climate change is increasing the frequency of destructive wildfires,impacting Native communities by way of erosion, landslides, and loss of cultural resources. For Indigenous people, cultural resources are not only tangible resources, but every aspect of the environment — the air, the mountains, those buried beneath, and those who inhabit it. Revitalizing TEK and supporting tribes through partnerships and collaboration, while also ensuring that they are the ones leading the way, is a necessary step forward for Indigenous sovereignty and ecological restoration. Tribes are seeing severe declines in natural resources firsthand,and these consequences are challenging Indigenous ways of life. However, by acting now and forging strong partnerships, there is still hope for a more sustainable future. “It took generations for this land to come unraveled and it will take seven generations to heal it. We don’t expect to get this done immediately but we must fulfillour obligation to Creator,” said Chairman Lopez.

Indigenous peoples have faced countless challenges throughout their history: colonization, racism, exclusion, genocide, and firesuppression to name a few. They have persisted throughout time, and so has their appreciation for and intimate relationship with the natural world. California is currently being threatened by more frequent and severe wildfires that threaten the vitality of people, resources, animals, and the environment. “Wildland fireknows no boundary and taking care of Mother Earth requires a coordinated effort, and as Honorable Chairman Valentin Lopez says, “Indigenous stewardship must lead the way” (Atencio 2020).

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15. Pyne, S. J. (2001). Fire: A Brief History. Seattle, Wash.: University Of Washington Press.

16. Smith, H. (2021, October 7). Newsom signs “monumental” law paving way for more prescribed burns. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-10-07/newsom-signs-fire-law-paing-way-for-more-prescribed-burns

17. Stephens, S. L., & Ruth, L. W. (2005). Federal Forest-Fire Policy in the United States. Ecological Applications, 15(2), 532–542. https://www. jstor.org/stable/4543372

18. The Great Fires of 1910 (The Big Blowup). (2022, September). National WildfireCoordinating Group. https://www.nwcg.gov/committee/6mfs/the-big-blowup

19. Vale, T. R. (1998). The Myth of the Humanized Landscape: An Example from Yosemite National Park. Natural Areas Journal, 18(3), 231–236. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43911767

20. Timbrook, J., Johnson, J. R., & Earle, D. D. (1982). Vegetation Burning by the Chumash. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 4(2), 163–186. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27825120

Balancing Community Flood Security and Free-Flowing Riparian Ecosystem

AUTHOR: Ben Witeck

Part 1: Safety and Ecological Health at a Crossroads on the San Francisquito Creek

San Francisquito Creek, splitting the counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara, is facing two major conflicts: one against ecological decay, and another about flood control. In respect to its ecological integrity, some of the region’s largest landowners have maintained long-outdated policies that threaten the creek’s historic status as one of the few viable steelhead trout spawning sites in the Greater Bay Area. On the side of floodrisks, city and county governments have made significantprogress in improving community resilience for periods of extremely high precipitation, yet these actions would be for nothing without coordination between the several agencies that govern the watershed. To address these issues, Stanford University must collaborate with the San Francisquito Joint Powers Authority, a mainstay of the Searsville Watershed Restoration Project, to meet the ecological and safety needs of nearby communities.

Before delving into the intricacies of the compounding issues facing the San Francisquito Creek, it is important to have some useful background information on the creek’s ecology and history. The creek’s watershed follows a generally northwestern pattern down the western side of the southern San Francisco Peninsula, covering an area of 45 square miles in total, which includes several tributaries and some human-made lakes (Myung 2007). This watershed has historically provided vital spawning habitat for a variety of locally threatened species of native fish, most notably steelhead trout and potentially coho salmon (American Rivers). The creek was a site of incredible importance to the indigenous Ohlone population, having served as a reliable source of nutrition for centuries before Spanish conquistador Gaspar de Portolà’s christening of the creek in 1769. In the modern day, the San Francisquito flowsthrough communities varying in income and on widely different ends of the urban-rural gradient, including Portola Valley, Atherton, Woodside, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and Menlo Park. As noted previously, the creek largely serves as the border between San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties; in American Rivers’ profileon the stream, the organization claims that, due to conflictsbetween the two counties over creek manage-

ment responsibilities, the creek remains “as one of the only San Francisco Bay streams that is not confinedto a concrete channel,” (American Rivers). While this alone is certainly an ecological win, a deeper look into the harm human development has wrought upon the creek will demonstrate that it is far from a state of equilibrium.

Despite the San Francisquito’s rare fortune of traveling a path largely the same as before Euro-American colonization, the once powerful stream has long been curtailed by Stanford University’s Searsville Dam. For context, as the San Francisco Bay Area was coming upon about a century of Western settlement, hastily growing communities began to put great strain on already limited freshwater resources in the region. Private water companies secured large areas of land upstream from settlements, diverting or damming streams to create their own reservoirs (KQED). One such reservoir was purchased in 1919 by railroad magnate and former governor Leland Stanford Sr. to provide water to his newly-established university in Palo Alto. However, the original purpose of the dam was invalidated quickly after the purchase of Searsville Reservoir, as high levels of silt rendered the water non potable. Currently, the water stored in the reservoir has been recorded to provide up to “20 percent of [Stanford University’s] water for golf course, landscaping and athletic fieldirrigation and for backup fireprotection.” This percentage has decreased as sediment has built up in the reservoir, a process that denies suitable habitat for species that may have come to dwell in the artificiallake, as well as downstream ecological communities of vital nutrients that would otherwise freely flowthrough the lower watercourses (Heppner and Loague 2008). The USGS predicted in 2005 that the reservoir had “15 to 40 years” until completely fillingwith sediment, and though Stanford University and Jasper Ridge are aware of this looming threat, there have been no direct alterations to the dam since this prediction (Rofougaran and Karl 2005). Searsville Dam’s already minute benefitscontinue to decrease at the expense of a decaying ecosystem.

Given the aforementioned status of the creek as one of the few spawning sites for many threatened or endangered fishspecies, Stanford has slowly made some alterations to the dam and related structures; yet, these past efforts have yielded minimal positive results, prompting pressure from nonprofitsand government agencies for the eventual removal of the dam. In the 1950’s, an era

when Searsville Lake was open to the public as one of the very few swimmable lakes in the Bay Area, the university took its firststeps to improve fishmigration past the dam with a fishladder. Regardless of its original functionality, the aging fishladder has been criticized as ineffective in many officialreports, one of the most recent from the National Marine Fisheries Service decrying the ladder over “debris jams that caused the steelhead difficultynavigating through the structure,” (The Almanac). The report largely focuses on the status of the San Francisquito, as a constituent stream of the broader Central California Coast (CCC) distinct population segment of steelhead trout, which was firstcharacterized as endangered in 1997, and continues to be to this day (National Marine Fisheries Service, KQED). Still, Stanford’s attempts to renovate the fishladder have been minor, despite the repeated recognition of the stream’s potential as one of the only remnant breeding sites for steelhead and other native species. Even if migrating fishare able to navigate the ladder, they face an increasingly sedimented lake, which may be completely impassable in the near future. Like the water of Searsville, so too has Stanford University become stagnant on this issue.

This predicament is only further complicated by the increasing risks of severe floodingalong the creek bed; unlike with Searsville, a considerable amount of work has been done to alleviate these issues, owing to the direct damages extreme weather events have had on nearby communities in the past century. The urgency for floodinfrastructure is due almost entirely to the February 1998 flood,the largest flowof the creek ever recorded, “affecting approximately 1,700 residential, commercial, and public structures and causing tens of millions of dollars in property damages” (San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority). According to the US Army Corps of Engineers, the water levels seen during the 1998 flood were characteristic of a “70-year flood,”as opposed to the dreaded “100-year flood,”which the state of California is long overdue for (SFCJPA). This imminent floodevent could potentially damage over 8,400 structures in the cities of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and Menlo Park, threatening some of the Bay Area’s most fiancially productive communities — yet some of its most vulnerable as well.

In response to this historic flood,city and county officialswere quick to action. Within a year, elected leaders from the Cities of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, the County of San Mateo, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District established the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority with the primary purpose of mitigating floodrisk along the dynamic creek. According to Rofougaran and Karl, this is not the firstattempt by local authorities to

take some responsibility for floodprevention along the creek, yet due to a lack of funds and/or community support, all prior attempts quickly fizzledout (Rofougaran and Karl 2005).

The push for dam removal and downstream floodresiliency in San Francisquito Creek watershed cannot be treated as unrelated topics, as they have been for too long. Whichever steps Stanford decides to take with the Searsville Dam and related water controls will impact the flowof sediment and water downstream, further altering ecological, recreational, and developmental opportunities past the reservoir. As will be elaborated upon in the second part of this paper, neither Stanford University nor the SFCJPA have produced an officialreport or publication addressing the implications of each other’s creek-related projects on their own initiatives. The burden of this upstream-downstream dynamic falls not only on the SFCJPA to challenge Stanford’s jurisdiction, but the communities that stand behind the Joint Powers Authority. The exact consequences of a fully-sedimented Searsville Reservoir on downstream floodingand ecology are unknown, yet the effects of current conditions have been established to promote inhospitality both in the reservoir and downstream. The point stands that both issues are part of a much larger, natural complex that necessitates a coordinated effort, from the headwaters of its tributaries to its outlet on the Bay.

Part 2: Amendments to the Searsville Watershed Restoration Project

Having established the need for a coordinated effort between Stanford University and the San Francisco Joint Powers Authority, imagining how this manifests is a challenge that has yet to be assessed by either organization. Therefore, doing so externally requires a thorough examination of past projects and current internal proposals from both parties, and highlighting any areas for potential overlap in the process to pinpoint mutual concerns.

Stanford University’s plan to address environmental issues along its portion of the San Francisquito watershed, known as the Searsville Watershed Restoration Project, is currently (as of March 2023) undergoing initial environmental impact assessments and a related public comment period. According to the University’s application for a Environmental Impact Report from the US Army Corps of Engineers, the project is comprised of the six following core components:

1.Constructing a gated tunnel through Searsville Dam to allow controlled flushingof a substantial amount of trapped sediment, restore natural sediment transport, reestablish fih passage conditions, and improve ecosystem function.

2.Restoring a confluencevalley supporting a variety of habitats above Searsville Dam

3. Constructing channel improvements to facilitate fishpassage conditions below Searsville Dam, through the proposed tunnel, and in restored creek channels upstream of the dam.

4.Constructing sediment trapping, habitat improvement, and bank stabilization features on Corte Madera and San Francisquito Creeks between Searsville Dam and I-280.

5.Relocating the existing point of diversion at Searsville Reservoir to the San Francisquito Creek Pump Station site and modifying the Pump Station to accommodate increased diversions to Felt Reservoir.

6.Constructing a new dam at Felt Reservoir north of the existing dam in order to expand the reservoir’s capacity from approximately 900 acre-feet to a total of 1,800 acre-feet.

From this broader overview, one can already see that ecological concerns are not the sole drivers of this plan. While the initiative seems to largely consider migratory fishwelfare, sediment dispersal, and other factors that could promote ecological health, there is also a clear effort to maintain the drainage of the San Francisquito watershed as a means for supporting Stanford’s irrigation system. Though the possible outcomes of shifting the burden of irrigation from the San Francisquito Creek to its tributary, Los Trancos (which passes through Felt Lake, an artificialreservoir constructed in a similar manner to Searsville Lake), are not directly assessed, on its face this component appears to only divert the negative consequences of dam implementation and maintenance to another area. The Notice of Intent for the Army Corps of Engineers does give a small nod to the necessity of working with the SFCJPA on the project, but it is under the pretense that the University is seeking the approval of the Joint Powers Authority as Stanford would be operating within the agency’s jurisdiction.

Further insight on Stanford’s planning process can be seen in the recommendations of the Searsville Alternatives Study Steering Committee, which were relatively much more ambitious and placed community collaboration as a mainstay of any future program to alter the Searsville/San Francisquito Watershed (Stanford University). Between 2011 and 2015, the Steering Committee, internally composed of 12 Stanford faculty members and administrators, and advised by members of local agencies related to environmental planning (including SFCJPA), proposed and subsequently assessed potential solutions to the cascading controversies within the watershed. Between the three com-

ponents of the overarching framework that the Study developed to guide Searsville Dam alterations, two of them directly recommend the SFCJPA as the primary partner to achieve them, specificallyas it relates to considerations regarding flooding,fishpassage, and sediment deposition in downstream reaches of the creek. This is especially true in regards to sediment; the internal Steering Committee recognized releasing the substantial amount of sediment that has built up behind the dam would require the provision that, “In order to avoid an increase in the risk of downstream floodingwhen the Reservoir is no longer trapping sediment, additional coordination with the resources agencies and the JPA will be necessary to address, among other things, downstream creek channel constrictions and periodic downstream sediment removal.” This acknowledgement of the negative impacts alterations to the dam could have to JPA projects — past and present — is facially lacking in any of the published scoping documents or notices produced by Stanford University’s administration. However, it is important to note that the University has received this internal guidance from the Steering Committee, and perhaps by the time official Environmental Impact Assessments are published in the coming months, there will be clearer markers of collaboration with the JPA.

Drawing from the above,, I present two additional components for formal inclusion in the Searsville Watershed Restoration Project: 1) the establishment of drainage basins on Stanford property, and 2) a provision for dam-related construction and sediment releases to occur in temporal conjunction with the JPA’s floodinfrastructure plan.

In addressing the firstproposed amendment, fortunately the discourse regarding drainage basins between Stanford and the JPA has been documented. The Almanac (a newspaper serving the communities along the creek) recently published an article highlighting the JPA’s push for Stanford to allow for their construction as “all of the potential locations for such basins are on property owned by Stanford University, including portions of the Webb Ranch U-pick fieldand parking lot and the former site of the Boething plant nursery,” (Bradshaw). These sites are, in fact referenced in one of the documents that the University submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers, as seen in Figure 1, yet it is unclear whether or not they are designated as areas where natural water pooling may occur during wet periods or if they are to be considered as alternative or additional measures as part of the larger floodcontrol aspect of the project.

In the same article, a representative of the JPA criticized Stanford’s doubt of the impact these upstream efforts could have on flood-relatedinitiatives downstream, with the university’s infrastructure administration seeming wholly unwilling to make changes to these basins, at least changes that the JPA is pushing for, so long as they are Stanford property. Regardless of the university’s unwillingness to alter these areas to reduce downstream flooding,if drainage basins are not constructed ahead of the impending 100-year flood,it’s quite possible that the Authority’s infrastructure projects will not be enough to provide for the safety of residents past the Searsville Dam. A recent Environmental Impact Report published by the San Francisquito Creek JPA doubled down on this point, further highlighting the need for SFCJPA and Stanford projects to be coordinated, from the firstday of planning to the last day of construction (SFCJPA).

This coordination of timing will additionally be crucial to the operation of Searsville Dam’s gated tunnel, if it is ultimately constructed. The precise conditions under which the gate would be either opened or closed have not been clarifiedby Stanford, and thus this provides another potential area for Stanford to recognize the powerful position it holds relative to its downstream potential associate. The 2.7 million cubic yards of sediment that have been accumulating behind Searsville Dam since 1892 will have to be released under guidelines of simultaneous caution and haste to return the watershed back to historic levels (Stanford University). Any sediment releases made will inherently impact the ability of the JPA to construct or maintain flood infastructure further downstream, either as a benefit or a detriment.

Stanford University and the San Francisquito Joint Powers Authority both project uncertain futures along their “shares” of the San Francisquito Watershed. This critical riparian ecosystem, a system that has stayed resilient for so long in a region where many other streams have simply been culverted or channelized, sits at the crossroads of two agencies with competing motivations. Their disagreements, no matter how trivial some aspects may seem, reject the reality that they are entrusted with the stewardship

of the same watershed, even if they are responsible for different segments. Now that both organizations are making active efforts to assess issues of safety and ecology that have long been ignored, their coordination is as crucial as ever. Stanford’s Searsville Watershed Restoration Project may soon accept some of the JPA’s additional considerations as the relevant public comment period and environmental impact reports are conducted. Though the degree of harm that will be done without decisive steps being taken to support the health and sustainability of the San Francisquito Creek is currently unknown, neither organization negates the fact that conditions in and around the creek would only get worse. As the migratory fishpopulations dwindle and the 100-year floodpotentially approaches, one can only hope that these issues are dealt with swiftly and cohesively.

WORKS CITED

1. Rofougaran, Nicolas L., and Herman A. Karl. San Francisquito Creek : the Problem of Science in Environmental Disputes : Joint Fact Finding as a Transdisciplinary Approach Toward Environmental Policy Making. Reston, Va: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 2005. Print.

2. Sung-Jun Myung (2007) Toward Sustainable Watershed Management: A Case Study of San Francisquito Creek Watershed, International Review of Public Administration, 12:1, 149-158, DOI: 10.1080/12294659.2007.10805098

3. Heppner, C.S. and Loague, K. (2008), A dam problem: simulated upstream impacts for a Searsville-like watershed. Ecohydrol., 1: 408424. https://doi-org.libproxy.berkeley.edu/10.1002/eco.34

4. Romero/KQED, Ezra David. “After January Storms, Some California Communities Look for Long-Term Flood Solutions.” KPBS Public Media, 11 Feb. 2023, https://www.kpbs.org/news/environment/2023/02/10/after-january-storms-some-california-communities-look-for-long-term-flood-solutions

5. “San Francisquito Creek: Urban Oasis.” American Rivers, https:// www.americanrivers.org/river/san-francisquito-creek/.

6. Bradshaw, Kate. “Today: Creek JPA Board Set to Vote on Flood Protection Project.” The Almanac, Embarcadero Media, 26 Sept. 2019, https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2019/09/26/today-sfcjpaboard-set-to-vote-on-flood-protection-project

7. Myrow, Rachael. “The Real History behind the Myths and Mystery of Stanford’s Searsville Lake.” KQED, 20 May 2021, https://www.kqed. org/news/11871565/the-real-history-behind-the-myths-and-mystery-of-stanfords-searsville-lake.

8. “Reach 2 - Upstream Project.” San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, https://www.sfcjpa.org/reach-2-upstream-project.

9. “SPN-2013-00048 Searsville Watershed Restoration Project.” US Army Corps of Engineers, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.spn.usace. army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/Public-Notices/Article/3293230/ spn-2013-00048-searsville-watershed-restoration-project/.

10. Searsville Watershed Restoration Project. Stanford University, 2015, https://searsville.stanford.edu/sites/g/fils/sbiybj20581/fils/media/file/SWRP%20Factsheet%20-%20May%2013%202020%5B1%5D. pdf.

Figure 1

SPRING 2023 STAFF

Editors in Chief:

Jaqueline Cox

Claire Sauter

Senior Editors:

Khaled Alqahtani

Thuy-Tien Bui

Colin Mequet

Dennis Song

Staff Writers:

Sia Agarwal

Ben Bartlett

Sosie Casteel

Cole Haddock

Mona Holmer

Elena Hsieh

Megan Mehta

Stella Singer

Paige Thionnet

Zora Uyeda-Hale

Abby Wilber

Design Directors:

Tiffany Ho

Andre Zendejas

Designers:

Olivia Rounsaville

Eric Xie

Krista Villegas

Hennessy Jones

Internal Affairs:

Sia Agarwal

Rebecca Ding

Social Media Director:

Laura Zhou

Website Director:

Lauren Bae

APPENDIX

Editorial Articles

Hip Hop and Climate Justice

by Zora Uyeda-Hale

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/hip-hop-guide

https://atmos.earth/black-musicians-protest-music-soul-funk-hip-hop-climate-justice/ https://www.youthvsapocalypse.org/hip-hop-climate-justice

https://hiphopcaucus.org/about-us/

https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-hip-hop-can-bring-green-issues-to-communities-of-color

https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/hip-hop/hip-hop-a-culture-of-vision-and-voice/

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/marvin-gaye-mercy-mercy-me/ http://news.unm.edu/news/the-complicated-history-of-environmental-racism

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-10/documents/post_2_-_environmental_justice_climate_ change.pdf

https://weshallbreathe.com/films/

The Road to a Sustainable Forest Bioeconomy

By Sia Agarwal

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/urban-threats#:~:text=The%20promise%20 of%20jobs%20and,to%20live%20in%20urban%20areas.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0462-4?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_ junction&utm_campaign=CONR_PF018_ECOM_GL_PHSS_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100041175&CJEVENT=5621e4dcc38911ed8022d9c90a1eba24 https://architecture2030.org/why-the-building-sector/ https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13705-021-00281-w

Filth and Forgotten: Dysfunction on Harrison St

By Cole Haddock

https://www.sfpublicpress.org/everything-is-gone-and-you-become-more-lost-12-hours-of-chaos-asberkeley-clears-encampment/ http://www.danieldole.com/home/index.php

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S01fOViZjYDP3ZB9PiYKuE5Q1AIVj20c/view?usp=sharing https://www.visitberkeley.com/maps-neighborhoods/gilman-district/ https://www.zillow.com/b/1427-ninth-street-berkeley-ca-5ZDghz/ http://www.fivecreeks.org/newsletters/2021newsletter.pdf

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=b6fab720912642b6aedafdb02a76d2a4

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/diseased-streets/166605/

https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-woman-homeless-crisis-full-page-ad-2018-7

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/01/634626538/san-francisco-squalor-city-streets-strewn-with-trash-needlesand-human-feces

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-san-francisco-so-dirty-2018-2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/15xvPz0OZ5kIFja81FIZTttFgyuE19ff8/view?usp=sharing

https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/about_us/performance_report_0809/what_we_do.shtml#:~:text=To%20 protect%20our%20water%20resources,enforce%20compliance%20with%20regulatory%20requirements.

https://www.waterworld.com/drinking-water/potable-water-quality/article/16205161/san-diego-waterboard-fines-city-46m-for-violations-at-construction-sites

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2021/09/02/berkeleys-biggest-homeless-camps-were-closed-where-arethe-residents-now

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2023/02/02/here-there-homeless-encampment-berkeley-first-they-camefor-the-homeless

https://thestreetspirit.org/2013/07/26/how-green-was-my-peninsula-homeless-people-face-mass-expulsion-from-albany-bulb/

https://abc7news.com/berkeley-marina-rv-people-living-in-rvs-at/3733916/

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2021/06/03/berkeleys-aquatic-park-will-soon-be-home-to-a-major-research-and-development-center

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2014/06/25/albany-last-camper-offers-look-at-bulb-2/ https://www.sfpublicpress.org/author/yesica-prado/

The Harvest Hereafter: Extraterrestrial Solar Power

By Abby Wilber

https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/S009457652200248X

https://www.space.com/nasa-sls-megarocket-cost-delays-report https://www.britannica.com/technology/klystron

https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/S0265964621000436

https://energy.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/MITEI-WP-2018-04.pdf

https://energy.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/MITEI-WP-2018-04.pdf

https://www.spacesolar.caltech.edu/photovoltaics#

https://whatiscl.info/applications/nanophotonics/photonic-structures#:~:text=Photonic%20crystals%2C%20 also%20known%20as,inkless%20printing%2C%20and%20reflective%20displays.

Barriers to Prescribed Burning in California

By Jessica Chan

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/30/governors-task-force-launches-strategic-plan-to-ramp-up-wildfiremitigation-with-prescribed-fire-efforts/#:~:text=Based%20on%20a%20collaborative%20effort,acres%20annually%20in%20California%20by

http://www.150.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27488#:~:text=The%20first%20park%20prescribed%20burn,Park%20 during%20the%20late%201970s.

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Science-Institute/Wildfire-Impacts

https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/prescribed-fire https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-air-act https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/21/us/new-mexico-wildfire-forest-service.html https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20212022/SB332/

The Dual Nature of Hawai’i’s Tourism: Thriving Industry or Destructive Force?

By Sosie Casteel

https://www.irreview.org/articles/hawaii-tourism-opposite-of-a-paradise-for-locals https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/hawaii

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/06/native-hawaiian-population/ https://www.weather.gov/hfo/climate_summary

https://alohachallenge.hawaii.gov/pages/natural-resource-management https://www.locationshawaii.com/learn/market-reports/oahu-real-estate-report/ https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/americans-overthrow-hawaiian-monarchy https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/10/kamilo-beach-plastic-hawaii-pollution https://kohalacenter.org/archive/pdf/Research_BI_ResourceUseWasteGenerationTourism.pdf

https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/visitor/econ-impact/uhero1.pdf

Big Tech’s Environmental Responsibility

By Megan Mehta

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2021/05/24/big-tech-companies-look-to-clean-energy-to-slaketheir-enormous-thirst/?sh=2c50647c5615

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/sustainability/climate-innovation-fund?activetab=pivot1:primaryr6

https://sustainability.google/

https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/federal-site-renewable-power-purchase-agreements

https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/22395/20190605/2050-is-the-deadline-for-humanity-saysclimate-change-experts.htm

https://www.who.int/news/item/15-06-2021-soaring-e-waste-affects-the-health-of-millions-of-childrenwho-warns

https://www.engadget.com/is-big-tech-greenwashing-its-environmental-responsibilities-ahead-of-cop-26-170038455.html

https://www.stopwaste.org/at-home/household-hazardous-waste/common-hazardous-materials/electronics-and-small-appliances#:~:text=In%20California%2C%20it%20is%20illegal,free%2C%20or%20at%20participating%20stores

https://www.ft.com/content/0c69d4a4-2626-418d-813c-7337b8d5110d

https://time.com/5814276/google-data-centers-water/ https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/lbnl-1005775_v2.pdf

https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/9/22925436/big-tech-climate-change-goals-weak-report https://www.pcmag.com/news/cleaning-up-the-e-waste-mess-big-tech-needs-to-do-more

Reimagining ‘Silent Spring’ in the Twenty-First Century

By Ben Bartlett

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/story-silent-spring

https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/rachel-carson-silent-spring.html

https://sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/loud-and-clear/ https://www.rewild.org/team/mackenzie-feldman https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/people/brenda-eskenazi/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984095/

https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/advancing-epas-understanding-next-generation-pesticides

Everything that Data Science can offer Marine Conservation

By Paige Thionnet

https://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century https://dse.berkeley.edu/ https://labs.eemb.ucsb.edu/mccauley/doug/index.html

https://boi.ucsb.edu/ https://boi.ucsb.edu/active_projects/whale-strikes https://boi.ucsb.edu/active_projects/river-plastics-pollution https://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/pdf/proclamation_8031.pdf

https://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/ https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/aug16/president-announced-expansion-of-papahanaumokuakea-marine-national-monument.html

https://www.oceanscienceanalytics.com/liz-ferguson https://www.oceanscienceanalytics.com/

Opinion

The Intersection of The Prison Industrial Complex and Climate Change

By Stella Singer

https://www.friendsofsanquentinnews.org/ https://lawjournalforsocialjustice.com/2021/03/29/the-poverty-to-prison-pipeline/ https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-prison-population/ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2329496520974006#_i10 https://criticalresistance.org/projects/close-ca-prisons/ https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281389 https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/elj/vol33/iss2/1/ https://theintercept.com/series/climate-and-punishment/ https://www.davisvanguard.org/2022/03/neglect-wildfires-and-poor-infrastructure-threaten-california-inmates/ https://curbprisonspending.org/about/ https://curbprisonspending.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/FILE_7463.pdf https://www.thegreenlifeproject.org/events/

Climate Change in a Gendering Society: The Price Women Pay

By Mona Holmer

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/climate/biden-willow-arctic-drilling-restrictions.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/briefing/abortion-pills.html#:~:text=The%20most%20effective%20 and%20safest,regimen%20in%202000%2C%20the%20F.D.A https://finhealthnetwork.org/research/gender-gap-in-financial-health/ https://journals.scholarsportal.info/details/19442858/v08i0001/56_apotbaresaff.xml&sub=all https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305078119_The_Demand_for_Post-Katrina_Disaster_Aid_SBA_ Disaster_Loans_and_Small_Businesses_in_Mississippi https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/S0277953612008258

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17226081/

https://www-cambridge-org.libproxy.berkeley.edu/core/journals/disaster-medicine-and-public-health-preparedness/article/increased-genderbased-violence-among-women-internally-displaced-in-mississippi-2-years-posthurricane-katrina/D576CBEB73639E69823A1391B5BF160B

The Ethics of Animals Experimentation: Resourcefulness or Exploitation?

By Elena Hsieh

Newton, David E. Animal Experimentation Debate: A Reference Handbook. 2013. Waldau, Paul. Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press, 2020. Ojeda, Auriana. The Rights of Animals. Greenhaven Press, 2004.

Marder, Lisa. “Important Features That Separate Humans from Other Species.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 14 July 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/what-makes-us-human-4150529.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/18/us/new-york-state-bans-cosmetics-animal-testing/index.html

Dehydrated Monkeys With ‘Sunken Eyes’ Found Suffering at UC Berkeley Lab Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC)

Letter exposes 22 lab animal deaths at UC Berkeley from 2015 to 2017

‘It’s shameful’: USDA cites UC Berkeley laboratories for dehydration of monkeys

Stop animal mistreatment in UC Berkeley labs

Animal Rights Groups Invades UC Berkeley Cal Dining Hall in March Against Factory Farming

Berkeley Office of Laboratory Animal Care

Failed Tests: Campus Cruelty Report

PETA Uncovers Strangulation of Young Monkey at UC-Berkeley

BERKELEY / Activists denounce research on animals / Cops stop shovel protest above UC’s underground labs

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/climate/epa-animal-testing.html

https://theaggie.org/2022/03/03/uc-davis-primate-lab-sued-to-release-documentation-of-neuralink-experiments/

Berkeley’s Culture of Non-Compliance: Animal Welfare Act

https://olaw.nih.gov/education/educational-resources/webinar-2021-12-09.htm

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247%2818%2931598-5

https://www.vintag.es/2014/11/concentration-camps-for-dogs-1966.html

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/212610/ spanimals12.pdf

https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/UC-Berkeley-researchers-errors-resulted-in-12920603. php

https://www.research.uky.edu/division-laboratory-animal-resources/reduction-refinement-replacement-and-responsibility-animal

https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/role-animal-research-mrna-covid-19-vaccine-development

Raising the Alarm for the Willow Project

By Ben Bartlett

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/13/politics/willow-project-alaska-oil-biden-approval-climate/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/03/alaska-lawmakers-up-pressure-biden-approvemassive-oil-project/

https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/nepa/109410/20017967/250023962/2020_04_27_SmithD_ Willow_SDEIS-1-500092473_508.pdf

https://www.newsweek.com/state-department-keystone-xl-pipeline-would-only-create-35-permanentjobs-228898

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6914251/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rcarson/2022/09/20/what-does-a-boom-and-bust-cycle-mean-for-yourpersonal-and-business-planning/?sh=67972e75f695

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30112017/alaska-global-warming-archaeology-permafrost-history-artifacts-sea-ice-hunting-whaling-traditions/?gclid=CjwKCAjw67ajBhAVEiwA2g_ jEL0cVf3-QWu5N9iRkqiBTWP1Wk8mRU8Yv2FILARHF1QJf8dIh16waxoCK00QAvD_BwE https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2021.701277/full https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/03/22/exp-climate-activist-ayisha-siddiqa-on-driving-out-fossil-fuels-fst-032209aseg1-cnni-world.cnn

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/565291dee4b06ed63ea669d4/t/63d8287ab74e196371bdcf1f/1675110527125/City+of+Nuiqsut+and+NVN+letter+re+Willow.pdf

https://www.newschoolfreepress.com/2023/04/05/what-you-dont-know-about-the-willow-project-thenative-perspective/#:~:text=As%20a%20response%20to%20the,oil%20industry%20and%20its%20supporters https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/alaska_oil_and_the_natives/?utm_ source=google&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=tfd_dsa&gclid=CjwKCAjwrJ-hBhB7EiwAuyBVXbdzk7oVFdiktU2bz81SmI4Z8r-zNxkEzdQkBBtdGR7nz31lHcYa1RoC9wMQAvD_BwE

https://apnews.com/article/oil-drilling-willow-alaska-natives-biden-41a725010e9500628318cd9c56e0d700 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/environmental-and-indigenous-groups-sue-over-willow-oil-drilling-project/

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