»Fighting Climate Change: The Sixth Annual Public Policy Conference (Virtual and Free)

This event was originally presented on April 7, 2021 and featured four panel discussions with industry experts and leaders talking about real action and sustained progress on fighting climate change.

Below are the panel discussions recordings:

Session 1: Conference welcome / What has the state actually accomplished on climate change?
Session 2: What can local governments do to fight climate change?
Session 3: How do we make our governance equal to the task of fighting climate change?
Session 4: What can we learn from other countries and cities about fighting climate change?

There are four unique panel discussions available. Attend one or all.

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Open words from Chapman University President Dr. Daniele Struppa.

While the federal government has pulled back on the fight, California has taken a multitude of actions with the goal of slowing or even reversing climate change—including SB 100 which calls for the state’s energy source to be 100% renewable by 2045. But many of those actions involve setting long-term goals via legislation. To what extent have goals been turned into results? Does the state have the right allies? Is California doing too much on its own, or not enough?

Moderator: Joe Mathews, Zocalo Public Square

Panelists:

Dr. David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley
Jennifer Hernandez, Esq., Holland and Knight
Kip Lipper, California Senate Energy Consultant

Local governments will bear the brunt of rising seas and extreme weather events, but California’s local governments are famously weak. What are local governments doing to fight climate change—and what is reasonable to expect them to do? Does fighting climate change require changes in the very structure of local governance? How can local governments balance California’s desperate need for lower-cost housing with the human impact on climate? What new challenges are emerging at the local level?

Moderator: Dr. Ron Steiner, Chapman University

Panelists:

Rick Cole, Former City Manager, City of Santa Monica, CA
Seimone Jurjis, City of Newport Beach, CA
Jake Thickman, Moffatt & Nichol
Mike Houston, Chief Counsel for Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)

What strategies and tactics work best for reducing greenhouse gas emissions? To what extent can we rely on our governments to respond, and to what extent do we need the private sector to take the lead? How can the power of the market be used to fight climate change? Is it possible to make money and help the environment? And what opportunities does climate change pose for California in terms of economy, energy and governance?

Moderator: Dr. Sandra Alvarez, Chapman University

Panelists:

Josiah Neeley, R Street
Dr. Eric Fournier, University of California, Los Angeles Center for Sustainability
Dr. Zeke Hausfather, Breakthrough Institute
Dr. Robert Lempert, RAND

Countries on every continent are being affected by climate change. Some, such as Sweden and Germany, have adopted ambitious plans. And many cities all over the world have sought to make themselves leaders in climate change policies. What can we learn from the successes and failures of other countries and cities? To what extent have various levels of government in other countries been able to cooperate to fight climate change? How have poor and marginalized communities, cities, and countries addressed climate change?

Moderator: Dr. David Shafie, Chapman University

Panelists:

Dr. Richard Matthew, University of California, Irvine
Dr. Deborah Seligsohn, Villanova University
Dr. Aseem Prakash, University of Washington
Dr. Menas Kafatos, Chapman University
Dr. Mijin Cha, Occidental College

Speaker Profiles
	Sandra Alvarez is an assistant professor of political science at Chapman University and an activist scholar involved in peace and justice movements. She earned her doctorate in politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, with designated emphases in Latin American and Latina/o studies and feminist studies. Her research focuses on critical human rights, sovereignty, feminist methodologies, and transnational advocacy networks, particularly the theory and practice of indigenous social movements across the Americas.
	Mijin Cha is an assistant professor of urban and environmental policy at Occidental College. She is also a fellow at the Worker Institute (Cornell University) and a senior fellow at Data for Progress. Dr. Cha's research explores the intersection of inequality and climate change, particularly labor/climate coalitions. Her current research focus is on just transition: how to transition fossil fuel communities and workers equitably into a low-carbon future. Dr. Cha received her B.S. from Cornell University, J.D. from the University of California, Hastings, and LLM and PhD degrees from the University of London, SOAS.
	Rick Cole is an adjunct professor at Occidental College's Urban and Environmental Policy Institute and serves as Housing and Homelessness Advisor to the San Gabriel Vally Council of Governments. He served as Mayor of Pasadena and Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation in Los Angeles and is the former City Manager of the cities of Azusa, Ventura and Santa Monica. Rick has been recognized as one of “America's Public Officials of the Year” by Governing Magazine and one of the "Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers" by Government Technology Magazine. He has won awards for municipal management excellence from the American Society of Public Administrators and the Municipal Management Association of Southern California.
	Eric Daniel Fournier is the acting research director at the California Center for Sustainable Communities (CCSC) within UCLA’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability. Most recently, Eric functioned as the lead data scientist on a two-year planning project funded by the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) EPIC Research Program. Eric obtained his bachelor’s of science in environmental science at Bucknell University (2008). He also holds a master of environmental science degree from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (2010), a master of arts in geography from the University of California at Santa Barbara (2014), and a doctorate in environmental informatics from UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management (2015).
	Zeke Hausfather is a climate scientist and energy systems analyst whose research focuses on observational temperature records, climate models, and mitigation technologies. He currently serves as the Director of Climate and Energy at the Breakthrough Institute. He previously spent 10 years working as a data scientist and entrepreneur in the cleantech sector, where he was the lead data scientist at Essess, the chief scientist at C3.ai, and the cofounder and chief scientist of Efficiency 2.0. He also worked as a research scientist with Berkeley Earth, was the senior climate analyst at Project Drawdown, and the US analyst for Carbon Brief. He has masters degrees in environmental science from Yale University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a PhD in climate science from the University of California, Berkeley.
	Jennifer Hernandez has practiced land use and environmental law for more than 30 years and leads Holland & Knight's West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group. Ms. Hernandez is the only California lawyer ranked by her clients and peers in Chambers USA in the top tier of both land use/zoning and environmental lawyers. In addition, she was recognized as the top environmental litigator of the year in the San Francisco Bay Area by Best Lawyers and received a California Lawyer of the Year award from the State Bar of California. She also has received numerous civil rights awards for her work on overcoming environmentalist opposition to housing and other projects needed and supported by minority communities.
	Mike Houston is the Chief Counsel of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), a government agency that serves as the metropolitan planning organization for six counties, 191 cities and over 19 million residents. SCAG is the nation’s largest metropolitan planning organization, undertaking a variety of planning and policy initiatives to encourage a more sustainable Southern California. Mr. Houston heads SCAG’s Legal Services Department. Prior to assuming this role, Mr. Houston served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Tejon Ranch Co., the owner of the largest single piece of privately owned property in California. From 2013 to 2016, Mr. Houston served as the City Attorney of Anaheim, California’s 10th largest city. Mr. Houston’s background as the chief legal advisor of a regional government agency, a large city and a private landowner provides a unique perspective to the panel’s discussion.
	Seimone Jurjis was selected as the community development director for the City of Newport Beach in August 2017, having previously served as the city’s chief building official. In his current functions, he oversees the divisions of planning, building, code enforcement, and real property. He oversees a department of 70 dedicated and committed full- and part-time employees with an annual budget of $13 million. His department processes and permits over $1.2 billion annually in real property investments in the city. Mr. Jurjis has spent the last 26 years working in both the private and public sectors holding the positions of chief building official, city engineer, and director of planning. Mr. Jurjis has a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering and is a licensed professional civil engineer, licensed real estate broker, licensed engineering contractor, certified building official, and licensed pilot.
	Menas C. Kafatos is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of computational physics at Chapman University and the director of the Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations (CEESMO). As founding dean of the Schmid College of Science and Technology and vice provost at Chapman, he promoted and established interdisciplinary educational and research projects, and subsequently as Director of CEESMO, he led many science grants. His doctoral thesis advisor was the renowned M.I.T. professor Philip Morrison who studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer. Author, physicist and philosopher, he works in quantum mechanics, cosmology, the environment, climate change, and natural hazards, and extensively on philosophical issues of consciousness, connecting science to metaphysical traditions.
	Robert Lempert is a principal researcher at the RAND Corporation and director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition. His research focuses on risk management and decision-making under conditions of deep uncertainty. Dr. Lempert is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a convening lead author for Working Group II of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, and a professor of policy analysis in the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Dr. Lempert is an author of the book Shaping the Next One Hundred Years: New Methods for Quantitative, Longer-Term Policy Analysis.
	Kip Lipper is chief policy advisor on energy, natural resources, and the environment to the California State Senate President pro Tempore, the Senate’s Majority Leader. Lipper has drafted and analyzed legislation on a broad array of energy, climate, and environmental matters. He drafted and analyzed legislation on energy policy such as the state’s landmark 20%, 33%, and now 100% Clean and Renewable Energy Standard, energy conservation, electric vehicles, public interest energy research, and energy-agency reorganization and reforms. Lipper was the lead Senate staffer on the drafting of AB 32, the Global Warming 2 Solutions Act of 2006 and SB 350, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015. H Lipper was lead staffer in drafting SB 100, California’s 100% clean energy mandate legislation that is now being replicated in other states.
	Joe Mathews is innovation editor and syndicated California columnist at Zócalo Public Square, a Los Angeles-based media nonprofit and Arizona State University affiliate. Joe’s weekly column appears in 30+ newspapers across California. Joe was formerly a reporter at the LA Times, Wall Street Journal and Baltimore Sun, and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He is co-author of California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It and author of The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy. Joe also serves as co-president of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, which will be held in Bern, Switzerland, in September 2020, and in Mexico City in October 2021. He, his wife Anna, and their three sons live in South Pasadena.
	Richard A. Matthew (BA McGill; PhD Princeton) is associate dean for research and international programs; professor of urban planning and public policy; and director of the Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation at UC Irvine. He is also a Senior Fellow at IISD in Geneva, a member of the United Nations Expert Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding, and the Vice-President of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association. His research focuses on understanding and addressing human security and conservation challenges at the intersection of severe environmental stress, extreme poverty and violent conflict. He has done extensive fieldwork in conflict and disaster zones worldwide. He has given four TEDx talks and been a featured storyteller on The Moth twice. He has over 180 publications.
	Michael A. (Mike) Moodian teaches for Chapman University’s integrated educational studies program, codirects Wilkinson College’s Orange County Annual Survey, and serves as an associate professor of social science at Chapman-affiliated Brandman University. Moodian is one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s appointees to the California Commission on Judicial Performance. He is the editor of the textbook Contemporary Leadership and Intercultural Competence (Sage, 2008). Moodian is the former chairman of the World Affairs Council of Orange County.
	Josiah Neeley is a senior fellow in energy policy at the R Street Institute, where he advises the institute’s energy team, which works to advance a well-defined and limited role for government in shaping decisions about infrastructure; wholesale and retail electricity; research and development; fuel choice and diversity; and climate adaptation and mitigation. Josiah's work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, The American Conservative, The Federalist, and the Dallas Morning News. Josiah has a bachelor’s degree in government and philosophy from the University of Texas and a juris doctorate from Notre Dame Law School.
	Aseem Prakash is Professor of Political Science, the Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Founding Director of the Center for Environmental Politics at University of Washington, Seattle. He is a member of National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Board on Environmental Change and Society and International Research Fellow at the Center for Corporate Reputation, University of Oxford. He was elected to the position of the Vice President of the International Studies Association for the period, 2015-2016. His recent awards include the American Political Science Association's 2020 Elinor Ostrom Career Achievement Award in recognition of "lifetime contribution to the study of science, technology, and environmental politics," the International Studies Association's 2019 Distinguished International Political Economy Scholar Award that recognizes "outstanding senior scholars whose influence and path-breaking intellectual work will continue to impact the field for years to come," as well its 2018 James N. Rosenau Award for "scholar who has made the most important contributions to globalization studies" and the European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on Regulatory Governance's 2018 Regulatory Studies Development Award that recognizes a senior scholar who has made notable "contributions to the field of regulatory governance.
	Deborah Seligsohn is assistant professor of political science at Villanova University. Her research focuses on Chinese politics and on energy and environmental politics in China and India. Prior to receiving her PhD in political science and international affairs from UCSD in 2018, she worked in both the NGO and government sectors on energy, climate and the environment. From 2007 to 2012, she was based in Beijing as the principal advisor to the World Resources Institute’s China Energy and Climate Program. She also had over 20 years of experience in the U.S. Department of State, working on energy and environment issues in China, India, Nepal and New Zealand. Her most recent position was as environment, science, technology and health counselor in Beijing.
	David Shafie's research and teaching interests include public policy, environmental politics, and California politics. His most recent books are Presidential Administration and the Environment, published by Routledge, and Eleventh Hour: The Politics of Policy Initiatives in Presidential Transitions (Texas A&M University Press). He is co-author of Rethinking California: Politics and Policy in the Golden State (Longman, 2nd ed.) and he has published articles in American Behavioral Scientist, The Journal of Information Technology and Politics, and The Southeastern Political Review. Dr. Shafie has been a Fulbright Scholar in the Republic of Azerbaijan, where he taught public policy. He is a core faculty member in Chapman’s environmental science and policy program and serves as coordinator of the environmental studies minor.
	Fred Smoller is associate professor of political science at Chapman University, where he has been on the faculty since 1983. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. His major area of interest is American politics, with an emphasis on media and politics, local government, and public administration. Smoller directs Chapman’s annual local government conference and is the author of the 2018 book From Kleptocracy to Democracy: How Citizens Can Take Back Local Government.
	Dr. Ronald Steiner oversees the LL.M. program at Chapman University Fowler School of Law, and his scholarship generally examines the intersections of law and public policy. He earned a B.A. (English) from Lafayette College; an M.A. (Political Science) from University of Delaware; a J.D. (Order of the Coif) from the University of Southern California Law School; and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Steiner served as a clerk for Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and as an extern for Justice Miriam Vogel of the California Court of Appeal. He worked for several years with the major international law firm of Sidley Austin, handling appellate and law-intensive litigation, including telecommunications regulatory proceedings before the FCC and an historic set of proceedings litigating forced labor claims by World War II era POWs against Japanese corporations. In addition, he served in 1999 and 2000 as Deputy Counsel on the California Governor’s Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Hate Groups. On a leave from the School of Law, he served as a temporary Deputy District Attorney for Orange County, California.
	Jake Thickman earned a bachelor of science degree in environmental science from the University of Florida and a master’s of science in marine science from Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, where he served as a senior research analyst for the New York State Resiliency Institute for Storm Emergencies in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Mr. Thickman went on to complete a fellowship through the NOAA Digital Coast program based at the national headquarters of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, focusing on coastal flood risk management and policy. As a coastal scientist for Moffatt & Nichol, Mr. Thickman now applies his background in coastal community hazard resilience and coastal ecosystem health to sea-level rise challenges in coastal areas.
	David Vogel is professor emeritus, Haas School of Business, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of several books on environmental policy and politics in the United States, Europe, and internationally. His most recent book is California Greenin: How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader (2018). In 2017 he received the Elinor Ostrom Career Achievement Award for his lifetime contribution to the study of environmental politics.

This conference is made possible by a generous grant from Fieldstead and Company.

In California, support for fighting climate change is broad and urgent. Wildfires endanger our communities. The rising ocean is beginning to flood our coast. Shifting weather patterns threaten many of the natural wonders that put us on the map, from the sequoias of the Sierra to the snows of Shasta.

But Californians have struggled to translate our desire to stop or mitigate climate change into real action and sustained progress. And we have yet to consider all the ways that pursuing this fight will reshape our communities and regions—in economy, in culture, and especially in governance.

As the 51st anniversary of Earth Day approaches, we gather to examine the details of climate change policy and raise broad questions. How can California and its communities make more progress in the fight, achieving not just reductions in greenhouse gases but profound improvements in how we live? What sort of governance reforms do we need locally, regionally, or statewide for this fight? Is the fight against climate distracting us from other problems—like poverty, housing and education—or can the fight help address other problems? And what could be the unintended consequences and challenges of fighting climate change for our governments?

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"Environmental Justice, Climate Change, and a Low-Carbon Future: A Framework for Just Transition” by J. Mijin Cha
"Climate Change and Local Governments: A Sisyphean Challenge" by Rick Cole
"Roadblocks to Climate Action:The Case of Indian Agriculture" by Nives Dolšak and Aseem Prakash
"The Future Is There: Climate Mitigation, Adaptation, and Desperation" by Richard Matthew
“What Has the State Actually Accomplished on Climate Change?” by Joe Matthews
"Global Climate Change and The Role of Humans: What Can We Learn from The Pandemic & Everday Life Contemplations" by Menas C. Kafatos
"What Role Should Conservatives and Republicans Play in Addressing Climate Change?" by Josiah Neeley
"The Need to Reframe the US-China Climate Relationship" by Deborah Seligsohn
"Are There Urban Policy Solutions For Climate Change?" by David Shafie
"The Challenge for Local Governments in California: Responsibility Without Resources" by Ronald Steiner
“Assessing California’s Efforts to Address the Risk of Climate Change” by David Vogel

Books

Klein, N. (2014). This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Romm, J. (2016). Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Klein, N. (2019). On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal. New York, NY. Penguin Books Limited.
Maslin, M. (2014). Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction (3rd Edition). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Wallace-Wells, D. (2019). The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. New York, Random House LLC US.
Oreskes, N. & Conway E. (2010). Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change. New York, NY. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

Movies and Documentaries

Nash, M.P. (Director). (2010). Climate Refugees [Motion picture]. United States: LA Think Tank.
Gore, A. A. (Writer) & Cohen, B. (Director). (2017). An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.
Robert, K. (Director & Producer). (2014). Merchants of Doubt [Motion picture]. United States: Participant Media
Lewis, A. (Director) & Barnes, J. (Producer). (2015). This Changes Everything [Motion picture]. United States: Klein Lewis Productions
Fisher, S. (Director) & Monroe, M. (Writer). (2016). Before the Flood [Motion picture]. United States: Appian Way Productions

»Fighting Climate Change: The Sixth Annual Public Policy Conference (Virtual and Free)

Below are the panel discussions recordings:

There are four unique panel discussions available. Attend one or all.

Introduction from Chapman President

Panel 1: What Has the State Actually Accomplished on Climate Change?

Panel 2: What Can Local Governments Do to Fight Climate Change?

Panel 3: How Do We Make Our Governance Equal to the Task of Fighting Climate Change?

Panel 4: What Can We Learn From Other Countries and Cities About Fighting Climate Change?

View All Panelist Bios

Frequently Asked Questions

Orange County Annual Survey

White Papers

Elected Officials Videos

Further Reading

Conference PowerPoint Presentations

Past Public Policy Conferences