HAIC, Education, Scholarship & Philanthropy Committee Co-Chairs Presenting

HAIC, Education, Scholarship & Philanthropy Committee Co-Chairs Presenting

Sunday December 13, 2015

 

HAIC, Education, Scholarship & Philanthropy Committee Co-Chairs presenting ITEP Executive Director, Amy Grat, with a $1,500 check to help fund the ITEP’s Global Environmental Science Academy (GESA), Catalina Environmental Leadership Program (CELP). Some 70 students and chaperones in the GESA program visit Catalina for a few days to study the plant and animal life of the kelp ecosystem, and learn about its connections to the terrestrial ecosystems, and the important role that the ocean plays in the biosphere. Focus is centered on each student’s role within these systems and the impact of human beings on our environment. Emphasis is placed on the responsible use of limited resources and the development of goals for future sustainable living. During this program the fundamental principles of life are taught, which apply to both nature and humanity while infusing opportunities for social emotional, and academic growth.

News Articles

The Financial Assault, Part 2: RAN is at it again

The activists at the Rainforest Action Network have ramped up their campaign against the banks financing the Dakota Access pipeline. Last month, RAN called on Citigroup to “halt all further loan disbursements for the Dakota Access pipeline and ensure that the project sponsors immediately halt construction, unless all outstanding issues are resolved to the full satisfaction of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.”

RAN cited Citigroup’s involvement with the Equator Principles—a set of rules adopted by financial institutions “for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in project finance”—as they reason they should stop funding DAPL.

When that didn’t get the desired response, RAN and 500 other activist groups—including 350.org, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club—sent an open letter last week to the CEOs of 17 banks that are financing DAPL, demanding an “immediate halt to financing the DAPL.” And once again, they cited the Equator Principles as justification for their actions.

“The undersigned organizations,” they wrote, “are closely watching how the banks providing financial support to the project are acting on the ever worsening situation on the ground, including your bank.” (Emphasis added.)

This recent action is one part of a coordinated, multifaceted effort to pressure financial services companies—including insurance providers, institutional investors and their advisors—into defunding or divesting from oil and natural gas projects. Following the results of the presidential election, environmental activists have shifted their focus away from federal regulatory and legislative battles toward more unconventional fights on the state and local levels, as well as online. Unfortunately, it looks like this campaign against the banks financing DAPL is a harbinger of things to come.

 

READ

Hydraulic fracturing has no “widespread, systemic” impact on US drinking water

An Important Statement by Gov. Brown regarding Goods Movement

Wednesday July 29, 2015

By Kish Rajan
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015
Original Article Here

On Friday, Governor Brown issued Executive Order B-32-15 requiring a balanced, integrated plan to improve the economic competitiveness and the environmental performance of California’s goods movement sector.  This was a welcomed and important statement by the Administration regarding a critical part of the California economy.

Goods movement has long been one of California’s largest and most important economic sectors.   Taken collectively, its components – shipping, port operations, rail, trucking, warehousing, etc. – represent roughly one third of the economic activity and one third of all jobs in California’s massive economy.  By far, more goods flow through California’s ports than any other state in the nation.  Indeed, the United States’ overall trade economy relies upon on California’s success in goods movement.

However, in an ever competitive global supply chain, California is under intensifying pressure to maintain and grow market share.  The massive project widening the Panama Canal will be completed soon enabling goods to bypass California altogether to serve eastern U.S. markets.   This, coupled with additional competition from improved port operations in Canada and Mexico, along with eastern U.S. states eager to poach our business, should give all Californians pause as we consider the long term implications to that one third of our economy mentioned above.

And if that weren’t complicated enough, California’s goods movement sector must operate within the nation’s strictest emissions regulations.  Accordingly, industry has responded to state mandates by modernizing operations in order to meet and exceed emissions targets.  A great example is the technological marvel that is the new Middle Harbor at the Port of Long Beach that will both boost productivity and reduce emissions through automation and low carbon operations.  It represents the kind of major investment and commitment that industry is prepared to make when it is confident that the state is a willing partner.

This is why the Governor’s executive order matters so much.  It sets forth a clear policy that we must achieve a proper balance between economic, environment and infrastructure needs.  It reinforces the critical principle that the term sustainability must mean both environmentally and economically sustainable.

Indeed that policy has been evident thus far in the California Air Resources Board’s approach to the development of a new Sustainable Freight Plan that seeks to move the entire goods movement sector to zero or near zero emissions.   A transformation of that scale can only happen through thoughtful, public and private collaboration and investment.

So as the Administration and Legislature now consider our future transportation funding and priorities, and as they determine how best to reinvest the proceeds of the AB 32 Cap and Trade program, they would do well to advance the policy outlined in the Governor’s Executive Order, and commit to creating the conditions in which California’s preeminence in goods movement can endure for generations to come.

Paramount 21st Century Threat Meets Critical Workforce Demand

$15.4 million – Average cost to a company from a cybercrime

100 million – Number of Cyberattacks directed at Los Angeles City government departments

209,000 – Cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. that are unfilled

FF Cyber Security

On December 14th, the LAEDC will host its seminal series, Future Forum, where Cyber Security will be the issue in focus. In the last five years we have seen a serious uptick in cyber attacks – in all its manifestations – across wide swaths of key industry clusters, from entertainment, defense, government, retail, transportation, and financial and insurance services. Even politics is not off limits to cyber attacks as demonstrated by the Presidential election when news broke that the Democratic National Committee was infiltrated by malware planted by two Russian hacking crews. The impact and consequences of a cyber attack have never been more concerning. For Los Angeles, a region that encompasses many leading industries, universities, businesses, and vital access points for national and international trade, securing these assets and infrastructure has never been more paramount.

But what methodologies and best practices exist to counter the cyber threat? How do public and private sector organizations prepare their workforce for an ever-evolving threat? What is the current state of job growth and employment demand for IT and cyber security professionals?

Research and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to well-respected global information security and management firms such as CISCO and Kaspersky Lab, indicate significant job growth and in-demand positions by both public and private sector employers for this burgeoning field of information technology. The federal government, in its Cybersecurity National Action Plan, budgeted more than $62 million for cyber security personnel and recruitment of the next generation cybersecurity workforce through the following incentives:

  • National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education
  • Expansion of the Scholarship for Service program
  • Establishing a CyberCorps Reserve
  • Development of a Cybersecurity Core Curriculum
  • Increasing and bolstering investment in, participating universities in the National Centers for Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Program
  • Enhancing student loan forgiveness programs for cybersecurity experts joining the Federal workforce

As a region, Southern California is well-positioned to heed the call by federal government employers as our region is home to many leading colleges and universities including four which are accredited as National Centers for Academic Excellence by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency: Cal Poly Pomona, CSU San Bernardino, CSU Dominguez Hills, and UC Irvine. 

Future Forum on Cyber Security, while serious in topic, presents the ideal opportunity to gather key stakeholders, students, and public and private sector professionals from throughout LA County to come together to discuss how best we can combat the cyber threat and be at the cusp of innovative cybersecurity tactics and best practices. 

SCAG Summit includes LAEDC Economic Update for L.A. County

scag-econ-update-coverAn economic update for L.A. County has been published, including updates on growing industries and occupations, providing an objective look at the jobs created since the Great Recession.  The report identifies the importance of fostering job growth in our region’s export-oriented industries where we have regional competitive advantage, such as aerospace, entertainment and digital media, bioscience, advanced teransportation and others.  The report also notes our current trajectory, which includes a high percentage of job growth in low-paying occupations, which is a stark reminder of the importance of focused economic development to create better paying jobs that are critical to raising standards of living for L.A .County.

The report is part of a group of reports published by Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), and SCAG generously commissioned the report as part of it’s Seventh Annual Southern California Economic Summit, which took place on Dec 1st, 2016.

Read the Report HERE. 

Read media coverage HERE.