Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels and I have just finished teaching a class in leadership in water management at the UCLA Institute of the Environment. The class resulted from a generous gift by the Annenberg Foundation to UCLA to honor the memory of Heal the Bay’s founding president, Dorothy Green. I can’t think of a better way to honor Dorothy’s legacy than teaching a class designed to educate and inspire the next generation of environmental activists and professionals. Thanks to the Annenberg Foundation, the class will be taught in the UCLA Institute of the Environment for the next four years.

Paula and I took a pretty unconventional approach to the class. Some 55 students, many majoring in environmental science, hung in there while we lectured on water quality, water supply and even the public trust doctrine. Because the class included a major leadership component, we brought in speakers from environmental groups, cities, EPA, water districts, and state agencies. The speaker list was truly an all-star team of water leaders: Warner Chabot, Felicia Marcus, Steve Fleischli, Rich Nagle, Fran Spivy Weber, Kapua Sproat, Brian Thomas, Jovita Pajarillo, and more. We also had the students give a three-minute testimony on a number of topics.

Like the Gulf oil spill, the true impact of the class won’t be seen for years. Did we inspire the next Dorothy Green? Only time will tell.

To read the full blog entry click here.

Published: Friday, August 20, 2010

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