The Focus the Nation Town Hall Forum

Americans for Informed Democracy is collaborating with Focus the Nation to sponsor a "Nationwide Town Hall Meeting" on climate and energy related issues being discussed in every congressional district in America April 18th. Together with the USC Institute for Genetic Medicine Art Gallery and its March through June exhibit, The Public Statement: Environment, Society, Institutions and the USC Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics, a wide variety of topics will be introduced to connect environmental realities with economic and political issues, identify potential consequences of inaction and options for action, and provide a forum for young leaders to engage with their elected representatives, academic and community leaders.  Our goal: To empower a generation to power the nation.

The daylong retreat will bring together young Americans from across the region to discuss ways of promoting ecosystem resilience and community self-reliance that can be performed in individual communities. Students will be exposed to discussions of the world’s environmental situation and asked to consider carefully the social forms which would mount a sustainable, proactive response to the environmental challenges of the future.  The retreat will consist of guest speakers, focused working groups, leadership workshops and a political forum with local, state and federal politicians.

Event partners include: Green LA,  The Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Ethics; Engineers Without Borders; ShookKelley, Architects & Planners; Holy Nativity Episcopal Church; USC Net Impact (Marshall Business School); Southern California Watershed Alliance; the Desal Response Group; Southern California Permaculture Institute; Water Woman Gardens Eco Wonderland and Westside Permaculture Gathering.

* http://web-app.usc.edu/maps/  click in the left sidebar Locations by name; click Taper Hall, a pin pops on the site.

Click Here to Register

Registration Contact: laura@aidemocracy.org

Envisioned Outcomes
The main anticipated outcome of the conference is to translate these ideas and discussions into carefully reasoned, meaningful action.  Tools will be provided in the form of education, engagement and action guides for students to take the next step.  These action guides will show, for one example, how to develop a community garden. This includes: community compost-building projects, permaculture workshops, educational and publicity undertakings to influence legislators, and provisions of material support to projects that enhance community self-sufficiency and heightened consciousness of environmental issues. How our economic practices can draw us into life-affirmative environmental ethics is a predominant theme. Dialog will inspire solutions to repair our damaged ecosystems that provide us the “stuff of life.” The humanities focus of the forum will awaken consciousness of the history of our current economic system, and the designs of its architecture.

Panels are organized to inspire young people to address the difficult issues of our time and to generate practical solutions for creating change in their communities.

*Bios for Breakout Session:

Greg Akili, Senior Political/Community Organizer at SEIU Local 1000

Ed Belden, Emerging Green Builders, US Green Building Council

Larry Smith, Lecturer, American Indian Studies, CSULB; Co-host/Co-producer of American Indian Airwaves, KPFK-FM

Meredith Leonard, Professor of Environmental Science, Los Angeles Valley College

Marcela Oliva, Professor of Architecture, Los Angeles Trade Tech College

Clint Rosemond, Manager, Community Build, Inc.

Bob Smith, Environmental Board, City of Huntington Beach

John Zinner, Owner/Founder, Zinner Consultants

Panel members:

Titus Levi says about himself that “My work on environmental issues began in earnest when I served as a writing consultant on a series of books for Social Science Academic Press (formerly Publishing House of China's Social Sciences) and Brill (a publishing house in the Netherlands).  The first of these books, The China Environment Yearbook (2005): Crisis and Breakthrough of China's Environment, came out in English in early 2007.  The second book in this series, The China Environment Yearbook, Volume 2: Changes and Struggles, was released in August 2008.  I also worked on The China Economy Yearbook, Volume 1: Analysis and Forecast of China's Economy.  This volume contains a great wealth of information pertaining to environmental conditions and impacts generated by economic activity. Currently I work as an independent consultant and adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication. My areas of expertise include technological diffusion, industrial organization, and public choice.”

Samuel Day Fassbinder is currently self-employed, having taught English and Communication Studies at a number of southern California colleges and universities.  He received his Ph.D. in Communication from The Ohio State University and is currently researching issues in ecological economics in preparation for a multidisciplinary book with the prospective title “From Capitalist Discipline to Ecological Discipline.”

Sean Jennings has been getting his hands into anything Permaculture for almost a decade now.  He has lived and worked on farms in a variety of locations from Hawaii, Bay Area, & Vermont.  Sean now finds himself starting his own CSA farm on over 5 acres of land in Malibu, designing it with permaculture principles in mind. He is also founder of the community group Westside Permaculture, a group working towards building community and creating change in our neighborhoods.

Rick Hazlett received his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Southern California in 1986.  He is currently Associate Professor of Geology at Pomona College.





Conner Everts is the executive director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance and co-chair of the Desal Response Group. He is chair of Public Officials for Water and Environmental Reform (POWER) with its annual water policy conference and on the Board of Water for California, as well as other organizations. Conner was elected to the Casitas Municipal Water District and president of the Ojai Basin Management Ground Water Agency. Mr. Everts was convener of the California Urban Water Conservation Council and on the state task forces on TMDLs, Desalination, and the SWRCB recycled water stakeholder process.  But his most important work is as elder advisor to the Environmental Justice for Water and with the Southern California Steelhead Coalition helping remove dams on the streams where he caught fish as a youth and hopefully others can in the future.

Miriam Torres is the Project Coordinator for the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (EJCW), a statewide organization. The EJCW is a coalition of more than 60 community based and non-profit organizations working to ensure that low-income and communities of color have access to safe, affordable water resources for all beneficial uses.  Miriam joined the coalition over three years ago and now manages EJCW’s Southern California programs.  Miriam works directly with impacted communities to build their capacity to engage in water governance.  She provides technical assistance and advocates for environmental justice at the regional and statewide level.   In December 2006, Miriam completed the Water Education Foundation’s Water Leaders Program.  Miriam received a Bachelors of Science in Conservation and Resources Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Evaggelos Vallianatos has a Ph. D. in History from the University of Wisconsin and is currently a Professor at Department of Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Maryland.  He worked for the EPA until 2004 and has published five books, three on environmental issues and two on history.