October 25 @ 11 -5 PM | UC Davis Conference Center and Online
Join Us
The UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center Annual Retreat brings together researchers, advocates, and policy-makers committed to reducing inequities and improving environmental health outcomes in rural and overburdened California communities. Our goal is to promote impactful collaborations across disciplines, institutions, and sectors and to thereby incubate, catalyze, and foster new environmental health research, advocacy, and policy endeavors.
Join us to learn about pressing environmental health issues on October 25th at 11 AM PT.
Please register to attend either in-person (at the UC Davis Conference Center) or virtually (on Zoom).
We invite poster presentations. Please submit using the registration link above by October 15th.
If you have any questions, please reach out to ruwilliams@ucdavis.edu.
Agenda
- 11:00am: Registration
- 11:15am: Welcome
- 11:30-1:00 pm: Panel 1: Environmental Justice and Health Among California Tribes
- 1:00-3:00 pm: Lunch and Poster Presentations
- 3:00-4:45 pm: Panel 2: Adapting to Extreme Heat
Panel 1: Environmental Justice and Health Among California Tribes
This panel, chaired by Jonathan London, will explore the intersections of Tribal environmental justice efforts, university and Tribal research, and culturally relevant and health-protective water policy.
This panel will explore the intersections of Tribal environmental justice efforts, university and Tribal research, and culturally relevant and health-protective water policy. Our first panelist is Atta Stevenson, an elder from the Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria, in Mendocino County, and the President of the California Indian Water Commission (CIWC). CIWC works with tribes across the state "to preserve the water and traditional cultural landscapes and to prevent its existing and future degradation." Atta has played a leadership role in a wide range of water justice and research initiatives and brings holistic, culturally-grounded knowledge of tribal environmental health issues. We will also hear from Laurel Firestone, the State Water Board member on state efforts to create water regulations around Tribal Beneficial Uses (TUB), including Tribal Tradition and Culture (CUL) and Tribal Subsistence Fishing (T-SUB). Laurel was also an original co-founder and co-director of the Community Water Center. Two additional panelists are recipients of EHSC pilot awards collaborating with Tribal research partners. Beth Rose Middleton will share her work on measuring cumulative exposures associated with cultural practices, which emerged from her long-term collaboration with the Yurok Tribe Environmental Department. Wilson Rumbeiha will be sharing a project on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), which was developed and is being conducted in collaboration with the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians' Environmental Protection Department (directed by Sarah Ryan), which runs a cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin monitoring program in and around Clearlake and Oliver Fiehn, Director of West Coast Metabolomics Center, UC Davis.
Panelists:
- Atta Stevenson, President, California Indian Water Commission
- Laurel Firestone, Member, California State Water Resources Control Board
- Beth Rose Middleton, Professor and Designated Emphasis Chair, UC Davis College of Letters & Science, Department of Native American Studies
- Wilson Rumbeiha, Professor of One Environmental Health Toxicology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
- Chair: Jonathan London, Professor, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Department of Human Ecology
Panel 2: Adapting to Extreme Heat: A Conversation
Heat is responsible for the most weather-related deaths in the US. Given continually rising levels of heat, it is imperative to understand heat adaptation across biological and social systems. We will begin by discussing heat adaptation on the molecular and physiological level – with Rachael Bay discussing her research on higher temperatures and DNA methylation in corals, and Lisa Miller hypothesizing about non-human primates’ responses to heat stress. We will continue by focusing on populations particularly vulnerable to heat exposure and discussing community, regulatory, and state efforts to increase heat resilience. Heather Riden will discuss recent regulatory attempts to address extreme heat exposures among California’s farmworkers. Perfecto Muñoz will outline community-based efforts to respond to heat in San Joaquin Valley, including urban greening and public awareness campaigns. Dan Woo will discuss the California Department of Public Health’s heat resilience programming.
- Rachael Bay, Associate Professor, UC Davis College of Biological Sciences, Department of Evolution and Ecology
- Lisa Miller, Professor, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Cell Biology
- Heather Riden, Program Director of the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety
- Perfecto Muñoz, the Executive Director of West Modesto Community Collaborative
- Dan Woo, the Team Lead for Climate Change and Health Equity at the California Department of Public Health
- Chair: Janine LaSalle, Professor, UC Davis School of Medicine, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology