From the Dean's Office:

 

3rd Annual Environmental and Sustainability Expo this week

 

Some of you remember that for many years the Palm Desert Campus hosted Dr. Ballard's JASON Project, and later, his Immersion Presents. These brought thousands of the Valley's middle school students on campus to experience live science via satellite from Dr. Ballard's ocean exploration sites. While the students loved learning about the porpoises, ocean exploration was a topic "far removed from the Valley."

Three years ago we replaced these projects with our new Environmental and Sustainability Expo. Attendance has grown each year. It has been refreshing to see how much our middle school students are concerned about our environment.

Our May 10 Thursday night event is more designed for our community and I'm inviting you to join us at 5 p.m. in the Indian Wells Theater. There will be student DigiCom presentations, lectures on Coachella Valley air quality and on land development in Southern California, and a preview of Friday's event for the students.

On Friday, May 11, hundreds of students will be on campus. The morning's lecture on the cost of being green is "sold out." We're televising it at 9:30 a.m. to an overflow group in the Oliphant auditorium. You're welcome to join us there. From 10:30 on, visit various exhibits on campus - including a 37-foot diameter balloon filled with a ton of CO2. 

We're also engaging high school students in city sustainability planning. This activity is closed to the public, but I'll share more of this with you in the future.

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From the Desert Patch - the day of the event:


Green Expo Today at CSUSB Palm Desert Researchers and students gather to learn more about sustainability and green business practices.

Hundreds of local students are expected to attend Cal State San Bernardino Palm Desert's third annual Environmental and Sustainability Expo today.

The event will feature award-winning science fair and environmental club
projects from students from all three Coachella Valley school districts and
local private schools. Cal State San Bernardino faculty will demonstrate recent
research on environmental science, and representatives from local green
businesses will be available to speak with students about working in related
fields, campus spokesman Mike Singer said.

The expo brings together middle, high school and college students,
university researchers and Coachella Valley green industry leaders to
"celebrate and learn more about environmental science, sustainability and
local and global green projects in a way that emphasizes the importance of
environmental sustainability in the Coachella Valley,'' Singer said.

Students from the Palm Springs Unified School District will screen their
environment-related digital films. At 8 a.m., green consulting company
EcoMotion will place a 37-foot balloon on the grassy area in the middle of
campus to represent what a ton of carbon dioxide looks like. At 11 a.m., Rachel
Kornak, program development manager at the University of Redlands' Redlands
Institute, will give a presentation, "Mapping Your Impact -- The Cost of Being
Green.''

The Environmental and Sustainability Expo is sponsored by the campus's
Palm Springs Institute for Environmental Sustainability.