Annual Community Connections Forum | The Natural Side of South Pasadena

WISPPA is privileged to have a distinguished panel of experts who will discuss things that the city and residents can do to begin to address the consequences of global climate change.

PHOTO: Eric Fabbro | SouthPasadenan.com News | Senior Center in South Pasadena

Action must be taken now to avert the worst possible outcomes. Changes can have many secondary benefits like clearer air, cooler gardens, quieter neighborhoods, more songbirds, and slower, more rewarding and healthier lives. Here are three of the panel members:

Dr. Peter Kalmus is a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California (speaking here on his own behalf). His research interests include low clouds, tornadoes, ecological forecasting, and improving the utility of satellite climate records. He is the recipient of NASA’s Early Career Achievement medal and the author of Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution. Dr. Kalmus lives with his wife and two sons in Los Angeles, on about a tenth the fossil fuel of the average American, and finds this climate-appropriate lifestyle to be both joyful and meaningful.

Barbara Eisenstein is a native plant gardener, horticulturist, writer and blogger. Her recent book, Wild Suburbia – Learning to Garden with Native Plants, guides new and experienced gardeners on a journey toward sustainable, habitat gardening. Barbara is research associate at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, plant sale chair for the San Gabriel Mountains Chapter of CNPS, and founder and organizer of Friends of South Pasadena Nature Park. Her home garden has been featured on the Theodore Payne Garden Tour numerous times.

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William J. Kelly is co-publisher of California Current, a weekly news service on the energy utility industry in California and the West and has written on environmental and energy issues for more than 40 years, including for the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Inside Climate News, LA Weekly, Scientific American, and Alternet. Early in his career, Kelly covered national environmental issues in Washington, D.C., for Bloomberg-BNA. He’s the author of books, including “Home Safe Home” (National Press, Inc., 1989), “Smogtown: The Lung Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles” (Overlook Press, 2008), “The People’s Republic of Chemicals” (Rare Bird Books, 2014), and several volumes published by BNA. He served for 13 years as press spokesperson and communications manager for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the smog control agency for greater Los Angeles. Kelly has won numerous prizes for his work and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Also joining the panel are members of South Pasadena Beautiful and Councilmember Rick Schneider. The panelists’ books will be for sale before and after the event.

Meeting begins at 9:30 a.m.
Come at 9:00 a.m. for conversation and refreshments.

WISPPA Meeting Location:
South Pasadena Senior Center
1102 Oxley Street