A report card released by UCLA’s Institute of the
Environment gave Southern California’s control of
“smart growth” and marine conservation efforts
B-minuses. However, the same report indicated that the region is
doing poorly in the areas of air quality and controlling invasive
plant species, which received a C- and a D, respectively.
The sixth Southern California Environmental Report Card, which
focuses on four specific environmental issues each year, was
released Wednesday.
“It’s part of the mission of the Institute of the
Environment to reach out to the community and provide the kind of
expertise … that can help people to better understand (these
issues) and help policy makers to respond to them more
effectively,” said IoE Director Richard Turco.
One of the four environmental aspects studied this year was
“smart growth,” which deals with minimizing the harmful
effects of population growth on the environment by focusing on
automobile dependency, land use and city development.
“I think that it’s unlikely that the population
growth is going to slow. Projections show that we will continue to
grow at a substantial rate,” said Arthur Winer, a professor
of environmental health and editor of the report card.
The population growth has raised questions about Southern
California’s ability to provide adequate transportation and
housing. It has also put pressure on the region’s ecosystems
and has contributed to water and air quality problems, Winer
said.
Until 1998, Southern California’s air quality had been
improving for several decades. However, the area still has the
worst ozone pollution in the nation. The report card indicates
there is a danger of air pollution increasing, rather than
decreasing, in the future.
Southern California’s control of invasive plant species is
also not up to par. Plant species that are not native to California
are accidentally introduced to the area and create environmental
problems, such as the loss of water supplies and important plant
species that are native to the region.
Marine conservation has had better success in Southern
California, especially due to successful campaigns to save certain
ocean species ““ like the whale and the golden trout,
California’s state fish ““ and two new laws created to
aid the marine environment.
“(This is important) because we depend upon (ocean life)
for the health of the entire global ecosystem ““ we depend
upon it for food, it is important for tourism, and it has great
spiritual value,” said Gregor Hodgen, a visiting professor at
the IoE’s Coastal Center.
These environmental issues, however, are oftentimes overshadowed
by other pressing social problems such as traffic, the cost of
housing, and unemployment.
“These are all interlocking problems that need to be
studied simultaneously and consistently through a
multi-disciplinary approach, and that’s what we’re
doing,” Turco said.
Winer said that improvement in environmental issues is slow
because many of the problems deal with the carrying capacity of the
region, which refers to the population an area can support.
“The issue then is looking for new technological solutions
and socioeconomic approaches ““ new policies ““ that can
accommodate the growth that’s projected to occur, yet still
remediate our more serious environmental problems,” Winer
said.
The IoE also focuses on educating students about these issues,
which is manifested in courses offered at UCLA and a new minor.
“We feel that education and knowledge about the
environment is going to be absolutely critical to the next
generation in developing the society of the future,” Turco
said.