- Author: Rose Marie Hayden-Smith
The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) 4-H Program is offering a free, virtual, after-school club for youth ages 9-12. The club – Sustainable You! – will focus on sustainability issues, including land, water, energy, food, and air. Youth do not need to be a member of 4-H to join, and again, there is no cost for participating.
A typical meeting will include:
- An introduction to a sustainability topic with an ice breaker;
- A discussion or video on the day's topic;
- A demonstrated activity;
- Games and art; and
- An activity that youth can do on their own.
The program consists of weekly meetings, which will be held on Tuesdays from 3:30-4:30. It runs for 11 weeks, from September 29ththrough December 8th. The virtual after-school club is part of the online educational programs being organized by UCCE Ventura County. Learn more here.
While there is no cost, registration is required. Attendance is limited to no more than 50 youth.
The program is organized by UCCE educators, in partnership with the City of Ventura Environmental Sustainability Division and Ventura Water.
For more information, email Susana Bruzzone Miller.
The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) is part of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources division. UCCE advisors offer research-based information in support of agriculture and natural resources. We also offer community-based educational programs, such Master Gardener and 4-H.
4‑H provides experiences that enable young people to learn by doing. Since 1914, 4‑H has welcomed young people of all beliefs and backgrounds, giving them a voice to express who they are and how they make their lives and communities better.
Through life-changing 4‑H programs, nearly six million kids and teens across the US have taken on critical societal issues, such as addressing community health inequities, engaging in civil discourse and advocating for equity and inclusion for all.
Photo by Guillaume de Germain for Unsplash.
- Posted By: John Stumbos
- Written by: Diane Nelson, denelson@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-1969
“Trees are as important as agriculture to the landscape of California and the world,” says UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences Professor David Neale, a forest geneticist and the driving force behind the new center. “Creation of the center culminates the work of many people over many years to bring a visible presence to forest biology research and education on the UC Davis campus.”
UC Davis is a prime location for forest biology research and education because of its proximity to the Sierra Nevada and coastal mountain forest ecosystems and its extensive faculty expertise in all aspects of forest biology, says UC Davis Plant Ecology Professor Mark Schwartz, director of the John Muir Institute for the Environment (JMIE) where the new center is located.
“The creation of this forest-focused center is both an affirmation of what UC Davis has been doing really well for a long time, and a big step forward in JMIE’s efforts to rally faculty expertise around the central environmental issues facing California and the world”, Schwartz says. “As California joins Europe in adopting carbon standards, developing a better understanding of the role of forests in carbon sequestration has become a priority for environmental organizations.”
The new center will also provide a framework for the cross-disciplinary work so central to forest biology.
“Forest biology draws from many of the core biological sciences such as genetics, ecology, plant pathology, entomology, plant biology, and geography,” Neale explains. “Before this framework was in place, graduate students could study genetics with me, for example, but they couldn’t really go broader into other areas of forest biology. Now when they come to UC Davis to do graduate work in, say, ecology, they will also have access to interdisciplinary work in forest biology.”
The Forest Biology Research Center is working to develop a certificate program in forest biology that can be awarded along with a degree from an existing graduate program.
At the Forest Biology Research Center website, you can learn more about the 24 UC Davis faculty and affiliated members of the US Forest Service who founded the center. They look forward to working with others to help develop forest biology research and education at UC Davis.
In addition to Neale and Schwartz, the executive committee includes UC Davis Plant Pathology Professor Dave Rizzo, UC Davis Plant Biology Professor Alison Berry, and Research Ecologist Malcolm North with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
On the bright side, a companion story said this year's spring and summer weather is also responsible for cleaner air than usual in the Valley.
In the farm story, reporter Robert Rodriguez devoted significant space to the Valley's raisin crop, which must reach specific sugar levels before an army of 25,000 workers clips grape bunches and arranges them on paper trays in the field to dry.
"The pressure is really going to be on because we will have a shorter amount of time to pick," the article quoted raisin farmer Pete Gonzalez. "Everybody is going to want to go at once. And that's not going to be possible."
Processing tomatoes are typically planted in stages so processors aren't inundated with the entire crop at once. However, the cool spring delayed the first planting. That means some tomatoes may become overripe before processing, reducing their value, the article said.
For the part of his story on cotton, Rodriguez spoke to two University of California Cooperative Extension experts. UCCE farm advisor Dan Munk told the reporter that cotton growers are hoping for a warm fall to finish the crop.
"The more we go into November, the more opportunities we will have for days on end of fog, and that means more moisture and wet cotton," Munk was quoted.
UC integrated pest management advisor Pete Goodell said he is advising growers not to wait too long to harvest.
"Our approach is to go for the shortest season you can," Goodell was quoted. "The later a grower goes, the greater the chances of losing everything."
In the article about clean air, Bee staff writer Mark Grossi reported that the cool spring and mild summer, paired with other factors - such as wind - created poor conditions for the formation of ozone.
"If the San Joaquin Valley violated the federal ozone standard every day for the rest of the summer, this still would be the cleanest season on record," Grossi wrote.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A 60-foot tower near the UC Cooperative Extension office on South Mt. Vernon Avenue in Bakersfield has been built to hold instruments aloft for air quality studies in the area, the Bakersfield Californian reported.
Researchers from around the country are conducting the studies to gain a deeper understanding of the environment and to inform air quality regulatory policy.
"You need to measure what's in the air, and then from that you go back and look at crafting regulatory policy," UCCE farm advisor John Karlik was quoted. "But science has to precede policy."
The tower is hosted by the UC Cooperative Extension and funded by the California Air Resources Board.
Bakersfield was chosen as a site for the project, which began in May and runs through the end of June, because of its problems with air quality and its relatively strong sources of atmospheric compounds, the article said.
The participating scientists - representing UC Berkeley, University of Wisconsin and University of Miami - have already begun assessing data.
"It's all about how we put those data into a larger framework," Karlik was quoted. "We think it's of broader public interest."