UCLA Sustainability

Latinos on the Frontlines: Protecting Our Lands, Waters, and Communities
2025-05-01 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
Join the Conservation Team at Hispanic Access to learn how they are moving conservation priorities forward within the context of a new administration while continuing to uplift Latino leaders in environmental work & the valuable contributions our community continues to build in the effort of protecting our natural resources.
This webinar will include updates on annual priorities within Hispanic Access’ conservation programs, resource sharing, calls to action, and ways to engage with programming and advocacy efforts with our network members and general public.
REGISTER HERE

Young Alumni Building Green Futures Panel
2025-05-01 12:15 - 13:15 | 4320A Public Affairs Building, 337 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA, United States
This is the rescheduled date for an event that was previously postponed in light of the ongoing fire emergency in Los Angeles back in January.
Join a dynamic conversation with UCLA Luskin young alumni who will discuss their journeys in the sustainability sector. This event will showcase the ways these alumni tackle environmental challenges from their roles within government, non-profit, consulting, and academic sectors. Hear about their career paths and their impact shaping a more sustainable and equitable future.
Whether you’re exploring a career in sustainability or simply passionate about making a difference, this is a fantastic opportunity to gain inspiration, insights, and guidance from those leading the charge.
Register Here: https://sa.ucla.edu/forms/p/nCcTq
Why Attend?
Get inspired by young alumni who are making a real impact in sustainability.
Learn about career opportunities and strategies in the green sector.
Network with like-minded peers and professionals committed to building a better future.
Moderator and Panelists:
Elena Hernandez MURP ’22 (moderator), Senior Project Manager, UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation
Sharon Sand MURP ’20, Senior Public Grants Program Manager at Trust for Public Land
Sarah Perez BA ‘22 Urban, Planner at Raimi + Associates
Edgar Reyna MURP ’23, Climate Resilience Sr. Analyst at Office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
Lunch will be provided to encourage conversation, but please bring your water bottle to support our sustainability efforts.
We look forward to seeing you there for a thought-provoking discussion and a chance to connect with the next generation of sustainability leaders!

Spring Climatini
2025-05-01 17:00 - 20:00 | Karl Strauss Brewing Company, 600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA, 90017, United States
Get ready top grab a drink and talk climate transition at Spring Climatini 2025 on May 1st!
319Climate, The Climate Registry, and Climate Resolve look forward to seeing you at our Spring ’25 Climatini, a relaxed, fun mixer for SoCal professionals who are driving forward an equitable and resilient climate transition.
Now more than ever, it’s vital that we come together as a community to connect, collaborate, and recharge. So bring your positive energy—and your colleagues and friends working in the climate space! Just make sure everyone RSVPs separately so we can keep track of numbers.
We can’t wait to see you there!
REGISTER HERE
Questions? Please send an email to robert.kay@319climate.com.

Free Food from UCLA Dining Halls!
2025-05-01 21:00 | Conference Room 1 in the Student Activities Center Basement, 220 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Join Bruin Dine for our food recovery events every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 10PM in the SAC Basement! Bring your utensils, containers, and appetite!
Hit the follow button (https://www.instagram.com/uclabruindine/) to see what we’re serving up each week!

Guided Botanical Garden Drop-in Tour – May 3
2025-05-03 10:00 - 11:00 | UCLA Mildred E Mathias Botanical Garden, La Kretz Garden Pavilion, 707 Tiverton Dr, Los Angeles, CA, 90095
Join a Garden Guide for a tour of a living museum featuring collections of plants from around the globe!
You’ll hear the stories of selected plants in the Garden and their relevance to human society. All ages are welcome. Tours meet at the La Kretz Garden Pavilion at the northern end of the Garden and are given a grace period of 5 minutes.
Tours are free.

Gathering at Kuruvungna
2025-05-03 10:00 - 14:00 | Kuruvungna Village Springs, 1439 South Barrington Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90025, United States
Come join us for a special event at Kuruvungna Village Springs! We’ll be gathering together for a day filled with fun, community, and connection. This in-person event is the perfect opportunity to meet new people, enjoy the beautiful surroundings, and learn more about the history of Kuruvungna. Whether you’re a longtime voulenteer or a first-time visitor, everyone is welcome to come together and celebrate at Kuruvungna. Don’t miss out on this unique experience!
Please note: No dogs allowed. Service animals only.
Schedule:
10:00 AM – Gates Open
11:00 AM – Opening Ceremony
2:00 PM – Gates Close
REGISTER HERE

LGBTQ Community Town Hall - The Impact Of The Los Angeles Fires on LGBTQ Communities: Ensuring An Inclusive Recovery
2025-05-07 17:30 - 19:30 | HYBRID: Altadena Main Library and Online
If you are a member of the LGBTQ community — or a parent, family member or ally — please join a community town hall to learn more about how the Los Angeles fires have impacted LGBTQ people and to inform ongoing services and inclusive recovery efforts.
Results from LGBTQ respondents to the LA County Wildfire Needs Assessment will be shared, and attendees will have an opportunity to respond and provide further input.
As part of a UCLA research study, the Williams Institute is holding an LGBTQ+ community listening session to better understand the experiences of LGBTQ+ adults impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles.
Participation is voluntary. There are no direct benefits to you for participating in the listening session, but results will be provided to Los Angeles County to improve ongoing recovery efforts. Results will also inform a report about how future recovery efforts in response to wildfires and other disasters can be inclusive and responsive to the needs of LGBTQ+ adults.
Participants will receive a complimentary dinner and drinks, and the first 100 attendees will receive a free air purifier.
REGISTER FOR IN-PERSON HERE
REGISTER FOR VIRTUAL OPTION HERE
5:30 pm Doors open for dinner
6:00 – 7:30 pm Discussion and community input
If you have questions, please contact:
Brad Sears — Co-Principal Investigator
Distinguished Scholar, the Williams Institute
UCLA School of Law
(310) 794-5279
sears@law.ucla.edu

Fascism or Eco-populism – Our Stark Choice
2025-05-07 19:00 - 21:00 | UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, United States
The UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy is pleased to present author and journalist Naomi Klein, Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, who will deliver the third annual Distinguished Lecture in Ideas and Organizing entitled, Fascism or Eco-Populism – Our Stark Choice. Join us for this in-person program at the historic UCLA Nimoy Theater that will inspire us to think about climate justice in relation to the political economy of global warfare and imperialism.
A discussion moderated by Institute Founding Faculty Director Ananya Roy will follow, with Klein joined by UCLA scholars Hannah Appel and Kian Goh.
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author. She is a columnist with The Guardian. In 2018 she was named the inaugural Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair at Rutgers University and is now Honorary Professor of Media and Climate at Rutgers. In September 2021 she joined the University of British Columbia as UBC Professor of Climate Justice (tenured) and co-director of the Centre for Climate Justice.
REGISTER HERE

Beyond Broligarchy: The Fight for a Better Future
2025-05-08 12:00 - 14:00 | 3312 Murphy Hall, 410 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Is this the future we dreamed of?
Wasn’t technology supposed to serve the many, not enrich the few? Wasn’t AI supposed to bring about a life of collective prosperity and security? Cyberpunk and sci-fi tales were warnings, not blueprints for the future.
Join UCLA Professor Ramesh Srinivasan and acclaimed science fiction author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow for a talk and conversation rooted in technology, urgency and possibility.
Or maybe it’s a strategy session on how to build a sustained, collective movement that channels our dissatisfaction into change and actions we can take toward a pro-planet, pro-people future.
REGISTER HERE
12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Lunch
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Conversation
Location:
UCLA Campus
3312 Murphy Hall
Campus map for location, directions and parking details.
Directions:
1. Enter the building from one of the indicated entrances on the map.
2. Do not take the gray elevator across from Student Accounts.
3. Walk along the long hallway until you reach the doors labeled College of Letters & Science.
4. Take the elevator next to the men’s restroom.
5. Alternatively, you can take the stairs around the corner up to the 3rd floor.
6. UCLA DataX is located on the 3rd floor in Suite 3312.
Here are video instructions on how to reach DataX from various entrances.

Works-in-Progress Session: Saihōji’s Moss Garden
2025-05-09 12:00 - 13:00 | Online
Presented by Sunhui Choi, Ph.D. Student, University of California, Los Angeles
Hosted by the Early Modern Research Group
Online event via Zoom
Saihōji in Kyoto, Japan, is famous for its moss-covered garden and is thus referred to as Kokedera, meaning “the moss temple.” What if, however, the design of the moss garden was not intended when it was originally established? If so, how and why has Saihōji’s garden become the moss garden that it is today? Based on the perspectives of critical plant studies and ecocriticism, this work-in-progress session examines how the often-overlooked presence of moss deterritorializes the boundaries of design and inverts the center and periphery of the landscape, directing it in unpredictable ways during early modern Japan and continuing to do so in the present day.
Sunhui Choi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Art History at UCLA, studying the intersection of art, space, and ecology. In her doctoral research, she examines visualized scientific knowledge and ecological sensibility within built environments, particularly during the Edo period (1603–1868). Her previous works include a thesis on the imagery of birds and flowers as a material transitional trajectory between medieval and early modern East Asia.
REGISTER HERE

Herb Workshop: Rosemary
2025-05-09 16:00 - 17:30 | jane b semel Healthy Campus Initiative Community Garden, Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, 111 Easton Dr, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, United States
Are you wondering what to make with the rosemary bush in your garden, or looking to grow your own? Come to a Rosemary Workshop! In collaboration with the Teaching Kitchen, the jane b semel Healthy Campus Initiative (HCI) Garden will be going over how to propagate rosemary from stems (and help you start a prop to take home!), and giving a demonstration on how to make rosemary flatbread.
REGISTER HERE

Food and Film with Alice Waters: We Are What We Eat
2025-05-09 19:30 - 21:30 | Billy Wilder Theater, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, United States
In this edition of Food and Film, we turn the focus on Alice Waters herself and her globally focused, locally-driven campaign to change the way we farm, eat and educate. This loving documentary looks at Waters’ 2023 trip to Japan to meet with local chefs, farmers and food activists, in conjunction with the first anniversary of the publication of her book We Are What We Eat–A Slow Food Manifesto in Japan.
With its own strong tradition of seasonal cuisine, Japan has been particularly receptive to Waters’ farm-to-table philosophy and the mutual respect between Waters and the chefs and farmers she meets is evident in every exchange. At the heart of this loving documentary, however, is the work of Japanese food activists to bring that philosophy into Japanese classrooms, an effort modeled after Waters’ Edible Schoolyard program.
The film will be followed by a Q&A with chef and restaurateur Alice Waters; Paula Daniels, Executive Director, LA County Office of Food Systems; Anna Nakamura Knight, farmer/partner, Old Grove Orange; Janet Nagamine, Hikari Farms; moderated by Erica Lee, Assistant Director, UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies.
Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.
The screening can be paired with a special dinner at Lulu restaurant at the Hammer Museum, Waters’ latest culinary celebration.

Grow LA Victory Garden Certificate Program: Workshop #3
2025-05-10 10:00 - 11:00 | jane b semel Healthy Campus Initiative Community Garden, Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, 111 Easton Dr, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, United States
Understand common garden pests, beneficial insects, and the natural balance that keeps plants healthy. Learn how to manage weeds, diseases, and insect infestations using eco-friendly methods. Explore the Pest Triangle and how to disrupt pest cycles naturally. Develop an integrated approach to maintaining a productive and pest-resistant garden.
This event is part of a 4-part workshop program with Master Gardner Dr. James Bassett on the basics of urban gardening, from starting plants to tackling pests!
REGISTER HERE

Novel Ecologies: Nature Remade and the Illusions of Tech
2025-05-14 16:00 - 17:30 | Kaplan Hall 193, 415 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Mark your calendars and join a book talk by Professor Allison Carruth.
Novel Ecologies challenges the conviction that climate change and other environmental crises must be met with ever larger-scale forms of technological intervention. Against the new worlds conjured by Google, Meta, Open AI, Amazon, SpaceX, and a host of lesser-known start-ups, Carruth marshals writers and artists who imagine provisionally hopeful environmental futures while refusing to forget the histories that have made the world what it is.
Allison Carruth is a professor in the Program in American Studies and High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University. Her current research interests include environmental narrative and science communication; the role of artists and writers in contemporary American environmental and food justice movements; and evolving relationships in the United States between technology and ecology. For over a decade, she has worked on collaborations that aim to bridge ideas from and re-imagine the boundaries between the arts, humanities, and sciences. She is the author of Global Appetites: American Power and the Literature of Food (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and co-author with Amy L. Tigner of Literature and Food Studies (Routledge, 2018), and Novel Ecologies: Nature Remade and the Illusions of Tech (University of Chicago Press, 2025).

L.A. Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) Community Forum
2025-05-15 08:00 - 13:30 | California Endowment, 1000 N. Alameda Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012, United States
Drawing on LANI’s expertise in building relationships and cultivating conversations among diverse stakeholders, the annual Community Forum brings together neighborhood leaders with professionals from city and county departments and agencies, community-based organizations and nonprofits, and the private sector.
REGISTER HERE

Energy Transitions in Long Modernity (Day 2)
2025-05-16 09:00 - 11:15 | Online
Conference organized by Robert N. Watson (University of California, Los Angeles), Tiffany Jo Werth (University of California, Davis), and Todd Borlik (Purdue University)
Co-sponsored by the UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies and the UC Davis Medieval and Early Modern Studies Program
Online event via Zoom
To register, please visit: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/16-Z8Yv_S0y3k18NdEb-Ew
The recent turn to the ‘energy humanities’ is only beginning to galvanize scholarship on the material and symbolic impact of energy regimes in the long history of modernity. While the 2017 anthology edited by Imre Szeman and Dominic Boyer provides a handy compendium of resources and heralds the field’s arrival, its table of contents consists almost entirely of post-2000 texts and does not include any material written prior to the mid-twentieth century. As this indicates, research in the energy humanities remains focused somewhat myopically on the past seventy-five years, and often appeals to reductive notions of an Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century as the terminus a quo for any investigation into the topic. But the fact remains that humans have excelled at extracting energy from the earth long before the formation of Standard Oil or Watt’s invention of the steam engine. Harnessing the power of ocean currents and winds, to take one example, allowed for the initial voyages that brought Europeans such as Sir Francis Drake to the shores of California, or what he called Nova Albion.
California boasts itself as a hub for transitioning energy from fossil fuels to renewable sources such as wind, water, and solar power. Taking this local, contemporary perspective as its departure point, this conference looks to the past and a deep history of energy transitions (and additions) in order to better understand how to negotiate this switch. We will convene scholars around the topics of “energy,” “extraction,” and “exploitation,” in the period we are calling “long modernity” (16th–21stcentury). Our guiding questions are: What are the cultural narratives that surround moments of energy transitions? Should we speak of energy “transitions” or energy “additions”? How is energy represented in the visual and textual archives of major energy consumers such as North America and England, particularly at moments of colonial ambition and expansion? This conference brings together diverse disciplines to unpack the complex dynamics that accompany energy regime change as expressed by technological development and represented in creative media that span the centuries of long modernity and that connect the local to the global, the past to the present.
The local and global impact of harnessing such energy pathways cannot be overstated. In particular, this conference will highlight the penumbra of energy grids for its effect on indigenous, minority, and vulnerable populations and species. This conference exploration over the long durée of history seeks to understand how an energy transition might conserve, rather than ravage, the environment and species by understanding how energy infrastructures affect earth and its ecosystems.
Speakers
Robert Cudd, University of California, Los Angeles
Eric Daniel Fournier, University of California, Los Angeles
Vin Nardizzi, University of British Columbia
Sebastián Solarte-Caicedo, University of California, Los Angeles
Matthew C. Swanson, University of California, Los Angeles
Program Schedule
9:00 a.m.
Opening Remarks
Robert N. Watson, University of California, Los Angeles, and Tiffany Jo Werth, University of California, Davis
9:15 a.m.
Vin Nardizzi, The University of British Columbia
“Early Modern Airlines”
Graduate Student Lightning Talk
9:45 a.m.
Sebastián Solarte-Caicedo, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles
9:55 a.m.
Q&A
10:10 a.m.
Roundtable with Q&A: Extracting Strategies for Current California Transitions: Decommissioning, Disadvantaged Communities, and New Forms of Energy Policy and Expression
Moderator: Robert N. Watson, University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Cudd, California Center for Sustainable Communities, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles
Eric Daniel Fournier, California Center for Sustainable Communities, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles
Matthew C. Swanson, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Los Angeles
11:10 a.m.
Conclusion

Climate Conversations: Coral Reefs
2025-05-16 09:30 - 10:45 | Online
Join a discussion about how climate change is impacting our coral reefs.
Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, supporting a wide range of marine life and providing essential services to coastal communities. However, rising ocean temperatures, acidification, and extreme weather events are putting increasing pressure on these fragile systems. Around the world, coral reefs are experiencing more frequent and severe bleaching events, threatening both ecological health and local economies. In response, researchers are exploring innovative approaches to help reefs adapt and recover. Maiya May (PBS) will moderate a conversation between Andrew Baker (University of Miami) and Katie Cramer (Arizona State University) about the impacts of climate change on coral reefs and how researchers are working to preserve them for future generations.
REGISTER HERE
Climate Conversations: Pathways to Action is a monthly webinar series from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to convene high-level, cross-cutting, nonpartisan conversations about issues relevant to policy action on climate change.

Information Session: Intro to Ecological Medicine
2025-05-16 15:00 - 15:30 | Online
Please join to learn about an exciting new in-person summer course, Intro to Ecological Medicine, taught at the UCLA Medical School. This upper division course is open to all UCLA (and non-UCLA) undergraduate and graduate students. Course instructors will be on the Zoom call to answer questions about the course.
Zoom for info session below:
https://ucla.zoom.us/j/97818549450?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 978 1854 9450
Passcode: [REDACTED]

BITE BACK at Food Insecurity & Food Waste
2025-05-16 18:30 - 19:45 | Kinsey Pavilion Room 1220B
Join to hear from UC food insecurity researchers, learn about and advocate for food insecurity and food waste at UCLA from Bruin Dine, Zero Waste at UCLA, and Bruin Necessities! Join for fun activities, games and a raffle!
More info at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4Rxl93Z9Ruc3ceVtMsemQUPRU11AlDXKBNdUCG5GOg7-S9A/viewform, on Instagram (@uclabruindine) and below.

Clarkia Festival
2025-05-17 10:00 - 16:00 | UCLA Mildred E Mathias Botanical Garden, La Kretz Garden Pavilion, 707 Tiverton Dr, Los Angeles, CA, 90095
Join the UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden on May 17 and celebrate nature with a day of fun activities connecting you to your community!
REGISTER HERE

UCLA Los Angeles Transportation Downtown Forum | Mega Events, Major Opportunities
2025-05-19 09:00 - 16:00 | California Endowment, 1000 N. Alameda Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012, United States
At the October 2024 UCLA Arrowhead Symposium, participants discussed how to create enduring public benefits from hosting major worldwide events in Los Angeles. The UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Downtown Forum will gather attendees on May 19th to continue the conversation, understanding areas of progress and what else needs to be done in two legacy areas: enhancing LA’s transit system and universal access including fixing the city’s sidewalks. The Forum will conclude with a session on the late Donald Shoup legacy on practice and a social reception.
REGISTER HERE

Data with Purpose: The State of Corporate Sustainability Disclosure
2025-05-20 09:00 - 10:00 | Online
Join the Center for Impact at the UCLA Anderson School of Management as it unveils the findings of the 2025 State of Corporate Sustainability Disclosure report.
This comprehensive analysis examines how S&P 500 companies disclose climate-related information, focusing on four key areas:
-> greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
-> net zero targets,
-> climate risk assessment,
-> transition planning.
Featuring perspectives from sustainability professionals, the session will provide actionable insights, real-world examples, and strategic guidance for anyone involved in shaping or responding to corporate sustainability efforts.
REGISTER HERE

Grow LA Victory Garden Certificate Program: Workshop #4
2025-05-24 10:00 - 11:00 | jane b semel Healthy Campus Initiative Community Garden, Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, 111 Easton Dr, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, United States
Join Master Gardner Dr. James Bassett for a final workshop in the Grow LA Victory Gardener Certificate Program. Learn when and how to harvest your fruits and vegetables for peak flavor and nutrition. Discover best practices for storing fresh produce to extend its shelf life. Explore food safety tips to ensure a healthy and sustainable garden-to-table experience. Enjoy the rewards of your hard work with confidence and care. Dr. Bassett will be doing a deep dive into how to harvest your crops, and we will be celebrating the finale of the program with a certificate award ceremony! Everyone is welcome to attend, including those who are not doing the certificate program.
The garden is located inside the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center at 111 Easton Cir, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Enter through the entrance next to the Spieker Aquatics Center, then walk past the swimming pools up the stairs. The garden is at the top of the amphitheater at the end of the field. The Sunset Canyon Recreation Center front desk staff can also direct you if needed.
REGISTER HERE

Science Research Workshop: Food Studies Resources at the UCLA Library and Beyond
2025-05-27 13:00 - 14:00 | Online
Food studies is a growing interdisciplinary field that examines the cultural, economic, political and environmental dimensions of food. Research resources in food studies are equally broad, and can present a challenge for beginner researchers and experienced researchers alike. This workshop will provide an introductory overview of food studies-related resources at the UCLA Library and beyond. The workshop is intended for those just getting started in food studies research, as well as experienced researchers interested in exploring beyond their academic specialty.
Format: This workshop will be offered via Zoom. If you’re registered, you’ll receive the Zoom invitation information the day of the workshop.
Instructor: Alexandra Solodkaya, Rothman Family Food Studies Librarian
REGISTER HERE

Performing the South in Watts: Black Expression at the Intersection of Food and the Sonic
2025-05-27 15:00 - 16:30 | Black Forum, Room 153 – Haines Hall, 375 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
In collaboration with the Department of African American Studies and the Ralph J. Bunche Center at UCLA, we invite you to join us for a short film screening and conversation titled “Performing the South in Watts: Black Expression at the Intersection of Food, Religion, and the Sonic.” with Dr. Derek Hicks of Wake Forest University. Dr. Hicks will be joined in conversation by UCLA Professor Dr. Terence Keel to reflect on growing up in Watts, CA, through the lens of food, religion, and the Black migration.
Dr. Hicks is an Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity. His teaching and research span African American religion, religion in North America, race, the body, religion and foodways, theory and method in the study of religion, and cultural studies.
Join us for this exciting exploration into food and identity in Black American culture!
REGISTER HERE

Hammer Forum - Fighting Two Battles: Inside California’s Inmate Firefighting Program
2025-05-27 19:30 - 21:30 | Hammer Museum
Among those fighting the L.A. fires earlier this year were incarcerated individuals participating in California’s controversial inmate firefighting program. This forum examines the program from the perspectives of formerly incarcerated firefighters, including issues around compensation and potential program reforms. Moderator Romarilyn Ralston, a black feminist abolitionist who served 23 years in prison and now leads the Justice Education Center for the Claremont Colleges and is the current Activist-in-Residence at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women, will guide a discussion with panelists Cody Ridley, Lead Captain of the Golden Eagles Hotshots at Sycuan Indian Reservation and a former inmate firefighter; and Amika Mota, Executive Director of Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition and former incarcerated firefighter who authored a moving op-ed in Teen Vogue on her experiences.
ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM?
Ticketing: Admission is free. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. Box office opens one hour before the event.

Works-in-Progress Session: Earth and Exchange: Tapia and the Construction of Early Modern Iberia
2025-05-28 11:00 - 12:00 | Online
Presented by Rachel Schloss, Doctoral Candidate, University of California, Los Angeles
Hosted by the Early Modern Research Group
Online event via Zoom
To register, please visit: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/qHytTYlcTiiINu5XzDQiew
Earthen materials have played a critical role in political and social development on the Iberian Peninsula. The unique geology of the Peninsula harbors rich soils, minerals, and clays that have featured in the built environment and material culture of diverse peoples and practices across the region up to the present: Spain and Portugal together are two of the world’s largest exporters of ceramics. Iberian earthen architectural traditions are part of this suite of practices, but their deep importance to cultural and political realities is underexplored.
In this presentation, Rachel Schloss analyzes the social, cultural, and technological history of tapia, a system of rammed-earth building utilized on the Iberian Peninsula from the 11th to 17th centuries CE, from which impressive large-scale structures were built, including the Alhambra in Granada. In particular, Schloss considers how the shifts and changes in the material and construction technology over time were underwritten by political developments and exchange of knowledge as well as shifting relationships with the environment and the earth. As tapia originated in the Near East, Schloss reflects on the question: Is there such a thing as Iberian tapia? Finally, by understanding tapia as a means to sculpt the Iberian built landscape out of earth, Schloss demonstrates how the technology tells a story of the construction of Early Modern Iberian identity into the age of conquest, where Iberians exported earthen practices and values to new places.
Rachel Schloss is a doctoral candidate in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, where she studies early modern Andean and Iberian earthen practices, and their roles in shaping built environments and the construction of Inca history. In her doctoral research, Schloss combines methods from Archaeology, Art and Architectural History, Indigenous Studies, and Geology. Additionally, Schloss co-coordinates the Architecture Lab and Architecture Working Group at UCLA. Her research has been supported by UCLA’s Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies, Latin American Institute, Cotsen Institute, and the Division of Graduate Education, and by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Vernacular Architecture Forum.
Image: View of architecture originally built of tapia at the Alhambra in Granada. Photo by Rachel Schloss.

2025 Coleman Memorial Lecture - "Ecologies of Resistance: Reclaiming African Development Through Democratic Praxis"
2025-05-29 16:30 - 19:00 | Sequoia Room, UCLA University Club, 480 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
In this Coleman Memorial Lecture, Charisma Acey revisits Claude Ake’s foundational concepts of democracy and development, drawing from over two decades of scholarly research and fieldwork across the African continent. Reflecting on firsthand experiences, from Zimbabwe’s structural adjustment crises and humanitarian relief in Angola to urban struggles for water, sanitation, and environmental justice in Nigeria among other sites of scholarly and on-the-ground engagement, Acey critiques the persistence of authoritarian governance and externally driven economic models that obstruct genuine development. She challenges dominant top-down paradigms that favor elite interests and aesthetic modernization over inclusive planning and the lived realities of African communities. Drawing on legacies of resilience and resistance, including urban ecological marronage, the talk advocates for a renewed democratic praxis rooted in African traditions of participatory governance, centering collective agency, environmental justice, and human well-being as central elements for shaping Africa’s developmental futures.
Charisma Acey is an Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning and Arcus Chair in Social Justice and the Built Environment at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research and teaching center on urban sustainability, environmental justice, and democratic governance in cities across Africa and the United States, with a particular focus on equitable access to essential services such as clean water, safe sanitation, and healthy food. Prior to entering academia, she worked in humanitarian relief and international development throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, experiences which continue to inform her critical engagement with questions of state power, informality, and grassroots resilience. Acey is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles on urban governance and the human right to water, with her work appearing in journals such as World Development, Landscape and Urban Planning, The Lancet Global Health, and other leading publications. Her contributions have been recognized with fellowships and awards for community-engaged research and health equity leadership. She is currently developing a book project titled, “Extractive Utopias,” examining how visions of progress in African cities, often built on exploitative relationships to land, labor, and natural resources, are contested and remade by communities through democratic and ecological practices.
The Coleman Memorial Lecture is given in memory and honor of James S. Coleman, founder of the UCLA African Studies Center.
Cost : Free
REGISTER HERE

One Bus, One Cause - Nature Nexus Institute
2025-05-31 08:15 - 12:00 | Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook State Park Visitor Center, 6300 Hetzler Road, Culver City, CA, 90232, United States
Nature Nexus Institute (NNI) is founded on the belief that reciprocity between communities and nature is essential to the survival of both. NNI seeks to provide equitable and intergenerational entry points to cultivating healthy community-nature relationships. To that end, NNI strives to be a nexus for science, culture, art, and research endeavors that result in a new generation of change-makers and storytellers. Nature Nexus Institute staff will lead volunteers in restoring parkland by removing weedy species and planting native coastal sagescrub. This work restores habitat for birds and wildlife found in one of the most scenic parks in urban LA.
Volunteers will help with removing invasive vegetation from the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook and plant California native plants to restore the native habitat for wildlife.
Time: 9am – 12m PST (Please note that volunteers are asked to show up by 8:15am to account for travel time)
Transportation Provided: Yes
Project Capacity: 40
Age Requirement: There is no age requirement for this site, but The Nature Nexus Institute recommends that volunteers be at least 12 years of age.
REGISTER HERE

The City of Glendale's Open Streets Event Let's Go Glendale
2025-05-31 10:00 - 16:00 | S. Glendale Avenue between Lexington and Chevy Chase drives, S Glendale Ave, Glendale, CA, 91205, United States
Mark your calendars for Let’s Go Glendale on Saturday, May 31! Experience the city like never before when a 1.3-mile portion of S. Glendale Avenue is transformed into a car-free public space for the community to explore by foot, bike, scooter, wheelchair or any way that moves you.
This free day is a unique opportunity to discover local businesses, enjoy delicious food, listen to live music by the Hoover Tornadoes Marching Band, Herbert Hoover High Jazz Band, the Lernazang Ensemble, and strolling Mariachi, and connect with the city’s vibrant cultures in the open streets. Walk, roll, shop and stroll through Glendale with a whole new perspective.
MORE INFO HERE
