Sustainability

by Jeannette Figg and Jill Jaffe

We met the first day of our Urban Environments class, Environmental Studies 116. During the break, we both made our way up to the front of the class to speak with our professor, Robert Wilkinson, about the possibility of doing an honors contract. One of us had never done an honors contract, while the other had completed several, giving us each different perspectives and expectations for the coming quarter. He asked us both what we were interested in and our responses were the same: environmental law. He gave us the flexibility to choose what our projects would be, so one of us chose water conservation and one of us chose climate change mitigation. We determined that our projects would focus on the policy issues affecting our chosen subjects.

Throughout the course of the quarter, we both gained many valuable research skills because Professor Wilkinson encouraged us to put ourselves out there. We not only surfed the web and read government publications; we also made phone calls to different agencies and officials to enrich our research. In November when arrived for our weekly meeting in Professor Wilkinson’s office, he told us about The California Water Policy Conference 17 entitled “Climate of Change: From Sizzle to Substance.” Professor Wilkinson was bringing all of his graduate students to the conference, which happened to be held for the next two days in Los Angeles. Two of the students decided not to go, so he asked us if we would want to attend the conference in their place. On an impulse we said yes, and we left for Los Angeles at 5:30 the next morning.

Neither of us had ever been to a conference with professionals, so the next two days were filled with many new experiences. After surviving the drive through downtown Los Angeles, we were both pleasantly surprised by our king suite in the Downtown Sheraton. After enjoying the free breakfast and mingling with a few important people that our professor introduced us to, we took our seats for the keynote presentation of the conference. To our surprise, our professor took the stage and gave an inspiring speech about the impacts climate change will have on water resource management. During the speech we both realized what a significant resource our professor really was. By getting to know him, we gained access to all of his expertise and personal experiences with policy making. The next day the conference wound down and we left with the business cards of environmental professionals, inundated with new real world information.

Professor Robert Wilkinson, Jill Jaffe and Jeannette Figg in front of Yosemite lodge.

At the end of the quarter, as we were wrapping up our projects, Professor Wilkinson made us another offer we did not expect. He told us about an annual climate conference held every March in Yosemite. He asked us if we would extend our research into a 199 class this winter to help him with a project. Our new research topic would be to help him formulate a set of principles for local governments to help them mitigate and adapt to climate change.

This winter we have been working on several variations of the project, with our most recent research involving preparing an annotated bibliography of climate change mitigation sources. By the time this is published, we will have attended our second conference and shared some of the information we learned with planning professionals. Last fall neither of us had any idea that we would be working closely with a professor, attending conferences and doing our own research. The opportunities that arose from the honors program were so great and unexpected; they greatly enriched our educational experience at UCSB.

"It is a special pleasure to work with students in UCSB's honors program. The extra effort these students put in to their education often leads to interesting and important opportunities. Just last week I sponsored two honors students to attend in a meeting in Yosemite where they participated with state and local government leaders in crafting a set of principles on climate change and land-use planning. The group was so impressed with the students that they were invited to join a task force on the project. One never knows where a little extra effort and enthusiasm will lead."

-Professor Robert Wilkinson, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, Adjunct Assistant Professor, teaches courses on water policy, climate change, and environmental policy issues.

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