The Brief

According to California Community Colleges chancellor Sonya Christian, this is an urgent time for community colleges to respond to the climate crisis, coinciding with investments at the federal and state level.

Much of the strategy for that response revolves around one community college in particular: West Los Angeles College, in Culver City.

In 2022, the California legislature established the California Center for Climate Change Education at West, providing $5 million to promote climate change education and establish internships and other learning-on-the-job opportunities for its students, among other goals. The federal government kicked in another $1.3 million.

“This is the beginning of the involvement of community colleges,” Christian says about West’s new climate center and existing climate change studies program.

This June, under Christian’s leadership, West hosted the climate action summit for California Community Colleges to organize their climate response.

“President Biden has a very ambitious infrastructure agenda that the administration is investing in and so is the governor [of California],” Christian says. That agenda includes incentivizing private investments in clean energy production, such as wind and solar, and investing in infrastructure, such as electric vehicle charging.

“Community colleges to me are really the vehicles for these leaders to be able to realize their goals,” Christian says. “You’re going to be seeing immediately community colleges playing a much more active and cohesive role in the infrastructure rollout.”

The inaugural climate action summit for California community colleges covered the reduction of carbon emissions from campus facilities and operations, training and educating the workforce for climate careers, supporting local communities, and funding resources for climate work.

“There is a lot of momentum here. Now we’ll stop working in our separate silos and this is the start of collaboration,” says Vered Mirmovitch, an associate professor of the biological sciences at West.

Modeling climate change curriculum

West was already the first community college in California to offer an associate’s degree in climate change studies, beginning in 2018, with coursework on environmental science and statistics, but also philosophy, which challenges the assumptions behind how humans relate to the environment.

From left to right: JB Baum, graduate of WLAC's climate studies program, Marilyn Chavez, student, Vered Mirmovitch, associate professor of biological sciences, and Keon Hendrickson, graduate of WLAC's climate studies program.

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Jackie Orchard

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“It’s just given me an avenue to learn about something that I'm really interested in that I haven't had the opportunity to learn about on an educational level before,” says Keon Hendrickson, a recent graduate of the climate change studies program.

To Hendrickson, the most interesting course in the program was the philosophy class on environmental ethics. Rick Mayock, the instructor, asks why people assume “a certain amount of pollution is acceptable, a certain amount of species will die of extinction because of human ‘progress.’”

Through challenging these assumptions, Mayock says, “that's the way we began to change our thinking about our place in nature and our relationship with the planet and our relationship with ecosystems and other species and so forth."

Through its new climate center, West is developing more climate change curriculum for community colleges in California to adapt to their own campuses.

Eventually, the plan is for West to educate students of all disciplines on climate change, not just what people might expect of those studying environmental science.

For students studying math, they might learn statistics related to climate change; for students studying psychology, they might learn the concept of “climate change anxiety” — the feeling of powerlessness one might experience if overwhelmed by concerns about climate change.

Marilyn Chavez is a student at West learning about climate change while focusing on the health sciences. She took a biological sciences elective in the climate change studies program.

“What I've learned recently here is that despite what career path you take, environmental education is so important because it's something you can apply to every field,” Chavez says. “Sustainability is so important and we can all do our part no matter what field and what path we take in life.”

Originally from Guatemala, Chavez says her Indigenous background shapes how she relates to the environment. For her, she considers humans part of the environment, which is to be shared with other species, not a separate entity for humans to control.

Teaching in the climate change program at West, Mirmovitch sees the value of teaching climate change to students in all disciplines.

“(Climate change is the) major crisis of our time. It’s not something that we can ignore anymore and we need as many people to be on board and to be part of the solution,” Mirmovitch says.

Mirmovitch adds that for change to happen, it is most effective when there’s a critical mass of people involved.

Preparing the climate change workforce

A similar approach of incorporating climate change across disciplines is also taking place at the California State University system.

And other community colleges in California have not sat idle on climate-related education. For example, Long Beach City College has an underwater robotics program which can support monitoring ocean health. Colleges in the Central Valley are developing an Agricultural Technology program for farmers to adapt to climate change and water availability.

At West, president Jim Limbaugh wants to prepare students for high-paying careers in clean energy and climate technology, and not only related to solar energy.

WLAC President Jim Limbaugh outside the West Los Angeles Climate Center.

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Bonnie Ho

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Solar energy has already reached a level of maturity in the state, according to an analysis from the University of California Riverside projecting the future of green jobs in California. That report finds that there is room for other green sectors to grow, including the zero emission vehicles industry, which already has a strong presence in Southern California.

“There's all this interest in electric vehicle charging stations,” Limbaugh says. “There's not enough training out there, not enough people out there to actually install them and work on them.”

Through the center at West, Limbaugh says in October community colleges will meet with industry representatives to determine their training needs. In the Los Angeles region, employers and community colleges have already been identifying emerging climate-related sector needs, such as marine aquaculture for domestic fisheries production.

The center is also to partner with local and regional entities to support training to modernize the electric grid, Limbaugh says. He foresees that students can work in a range of climate-related fields, from conducting research or working as a sustainably-oriented park ranger in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Ethics and ambition

JB Baum just graduated from West’s climate studies program this spring and attended the climate action summit. Baum says the speakers at the summit could have been more ambitious, instead of focusing so much on preparing students to meet industry demands or partnering with certain industries.

“Not all private industry should be treated the same, nor all jobs universally good,” Baum says.

Baum suggests that community colleges be intentional about which companies to link students to, particularly not oil or utility companies that have contributed to the climate problem.

For example, Kern Community College is partnering with industries that employ direct air capture technology to manage carbon emissions, a technology that has been considered controversial in its effectiveness.

When asked about the scalability of air capture technology, Christian said that the approach by community colleges will be dependent on regional attributes and community colleges need to have a seat at the table at the start of technological revolutions before they become commercial.

Can community colleges move quickly enough? 

As recent wildfires in Canada severely reduce the air quality in the Midwest and Northeast; as extreme temperatures have blanketed California; and a heat dome covers regions in the South, it’s uncertain whether community colleges' efforts are moving quickly enough.

“I think some of these solutions (from the summit) aren't really tackling the immediate effects of climate change on students and talking about adjusting the academic schedule to account for the possibility of a heat dome every single September,” Baum says.

“What are we going to do when power doesn't exist on the campus anymore because of rolling blackouts?” he adds.

Santa Rosa Junior College, north of San Francisco, officially installed a microgrid system in 2022 to power priority buildings with solar energy and battery storage, and even support the existing utility grid. A microgrid, however, is a rarity among community colleges.

According to David Liebman, the manager of this project, other community colleges may not be as quick to adopt their own microgrid due to caution about the maturity of the technology, upfront costs, and available campus space.

On the community college level, actions being taken are deliberate, but results won’t be immediate. At West, the new climate center’s director, Jo Tavares, says they’re learning about their campus needs and what other community colleges are doing around climate change.

President Limbaugh expects that the first batch of courses with a climate change curriculum will be approved in the next year. He says 17 West faculty members are working on developing climate-change centered curriculum.

Chancellor Christian envisions “convening educators to come together is going to be something that we can count on on a recurring basis.”

Meanwhile, students from or in the climate program at West are making moves. Baum and Hendrickson are continuing their studies in Geography and Environmental Studies at UCLA. Students at West like Chavez are getting ready to take climate change classes in the fall.

Chavez plans to sign up for the environmental ethics class next. Speaking about her future plans, Chavez says she “would love to take more classes about environmental science” and “you know, just contribute as much as I can to the cause.”

As a parent, Chavez says she is teaching her children to help the environment, such as reducing the number of toys they purchase. “They'll see a toy, they'll want a toy, and we're like, you know, we have so many toys at home, we don't need to buy new toys,” Chavez says.

She hopes her children will learn to be self-reliant and sustainable, and that they pass these practices on.

“I feel like if I can teach them, they'll teach their children, if they plan to have children, or friends or just anybody that they come across.”

Identity: It’s a fuzzy term and can mean different things to different people.

Now: California lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow Jewish people to identify as an ethnic group for state data collection. On a recent episode of AirTalk, LAist 89.3's daily news program, we asked listeners to share how they understand their Jewish identity.

Some things they said:

• Jewish identity isn’t just tied to religion and is mostly cultural. 
• They feel that unfortunate experiences of antisemitism have strengthened bonds with their community.
• Many expressed concern about the government misusing data.
• Some listeners welcomed the bill, saying Jewish people don’t fit into existing boxes.

Listen to the full episode above: to hear more reactions to the proposal.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Several Eastside bands will perform Saturday at a special tribute to Ritchie Valens as part of Grand Performances’ free summer concert series.

The “Ritchie Forever” program at downtown LA’s California Plaza will blend live music, storytelling and archival visuals to celebrate what would have been the Mexican American rock pioneer’s 85th birthday. The event will feature artists from East L.A., El Sereno, Highland Park, Southeast L.A. and more.

Families can bring a picnic from home or grab food from Grand Central Market, and get there early to score a spot on the grass or in the amphitheater. We recommend hopping on the Metro E Line from Mariachi Plaza to the Grand Ave Arts/Bunker Hill station and either walking up the hill or taking Angels Flight up to California Plaza. 

The event will start at 6 p.m. and is open to all ages. RSVP here.

A variety of bands will join the stage Saturday, including these Eastside bands:

Denise Carlos and Hector Flores of Las Cafeteras

From left to right: Jose Cano, Denise Carlos and Hector Flores pose outside the Paramount Theater in Boyle Heights.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Denise Carlos and Hector Flores of the Eastside-born band Las Cafeteras will perform at Grand Performances. The group began playing shows in 2005 while they were music students at Eastside Cafe, a community space in El Sereno that inspired the band’s name.

Las Cafeteras blend son jarocho — a traditional folk music from Veracruz, Mexico — with electronic music, punk, cumbia and hip-hop. Their mostly bilingual songs explore themes of love, identity and social justice. Learn more about the band here.

Bryan Ponce from The Altons

Bryan Ponce, lead guitarist and singer of The Altons.

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Bryan Ponce, lead guitarist and singer of the band The Altons will also join the celebration.

The Altons is a modern soul and retro-indie-soul band from Southeast LA that has captivated local audiences for several years, quickly driving them to become a staple of the scene, according to the band’s website.

Formed in 2016, the group combines vintage Chicano soul, Motown-style harmonies, and Latin rhythms with modern indie sensibilities. Learn more about them here.

Thee Sinseers

Joey Quiñones, lead of Thee Sinseers.

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Straight out of East LA, this band was formed in 2019 and led by multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer-songwriter Joey Quiñones.

Quiñones and his crew have been introducing a new era of modern soul with vibes of traditional ska and dancehall reggae.

Thee Sinseers are currently on tour. Learn more here.

Irene Diaz

Artist Irene Diaz.

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Courtesy of Grand Performances

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Irene Diaz, born and raised in Highland Park, is a singer-songwriter, whose captivating vocals and soulful melodies have garnered critical acclaim.

Diaz blends elements of folk, soul, and Chicanxs influences, creating a sound that is both intimate and expansive, according to her site. You can learn more about her here.

A panel of three judges for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously rejected the federal government’s request to delay improving conditions at the Adelanto Immigration Detention Center, a privately run facility in San Bernardino County.

How we got here

On July 16, a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to immediately improve medical care, disability accommodations and daily conditions, including access to drinkable water, for people held at the facility, which is run by one of the largest private prison companies in the U.S.

The government, under that order, had to submit a plan to address the deficiencies alleged by plaintiffs in the lawsuit. When federal officials filed that plan, they signaled that they planned to appeal and argued that conditions at Adelanto already meet the standards for immigration detention.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs — people held at the detention facility — strongly disagreed and have submitted reports describing routine violations of the July 16 order.

What the 9th Circuit said

In their decision, the three 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges noted that the lower court found that people held at Adelanto are “subject to punitive conditions, including a lack of consistent access to potable water and adequate medical care.”

The judges, who were appointed by presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, considered the government’s argument that it is the GEO Group, the for-profit detention operator paid to run the facility, that ultimately has control over the conditions. In denying the request to stay, the judges found that the government is “ultimately responsible for ensuring that the conditions of confinement are constitutionally acceptable.”

And the judges suggested remedies available to the government, including withholding payment or imposing other financial penalties on the contractor if it fails to meet its obligations. They also said ICE could release or move plaintiffs to avoid constitutional violations.

The appeals court rejected several other arguments from government lawyers, including the government’s claim that enforcing the order will harm its enforcement efforts, and that conditions at Adelanto already meet standards.

“The government also does not meaningfully dispute that the types of conditions the district court found to exist are unconstitutional,” the decision states.

What’s happens next

The government is continuing to appeal the preliminary injunction. Arguments in the full appeal are due to the appeals court on Sept. 17.