CONES Archives

Welcome to CONES (California Online Naturalist Event Series) archives. This series is created by and for UC California Naturalists and UC Climate Stewards to connect across the state on topics including natural history, ecology, climate change, and the intersections of pressing human and environmental issues. Each talk is available to the public afterward, pending speaker approval.

We kicked off the UC California Naturalist CONES this fall with a three-part series on climate justice and community resilience (October, November, December 2020).

Environmental Justice as a path to solving the global climate crisis: simple and not-so-simple things we could do differently to make the world a better place.

View the recording here

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Joana Flor Tavares (she/her/hers) is a marine scientist, an educator, and a mom. She is currently completing a PhD at the University of California, Irvine in the Earth System Science Department, where she is investigating the impacts of pollution on marine life with funding from NASA. Joana serves as a board member and community science advisor for local non-profit organizations: the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, and the Newport Bay Conservancy, both in Southern California. Joana is interested in intersectional environmentalism, the nexus between climate change and environmental justice, and the challenges and opportunities to effectively address systemic racism and cultural, social, and economic oppression.

Changing the climate of fear through elemental activism

View the recording here

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

AshEL “Seasunz” Eldridge, MA. Transpersonal Psychology, resides in Oakland, CA. AshEL has worked with the Alliance for Climate Education, been a Green For All Fellow, a Climate Justice, Race, and Activism instructor at San Francisco State University, and taught conflict resolution skills with Soul Shoppe. He is the founder of Soulestial Church, Earth Amplified, and S.O.S (System out of our System) Juice. He is a co-founder of United Roots – Oakland’s Green Youth Arts and Media Center. He serves on the board of Hip Hop is Green, an international organization promoting the 10th Element of hip-hop: Health and Wellness. AshEL's most recent project is EFAM, a collective of community organizers, farmers and gardeners, and healers committed to bring essential food and medicines to all.

How resilient communities respond to climate change

View the recording here

October 27, 2020.

UC California Naturalist panel discussion moderated by Francis Mendoza.

Moderator Francis Mendoza (Salmon Protection And Watershed Network California Naturalist) is a Supervising Naturalist at the East Bay Regional Park District in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area. He has worked for Literacy for Environmental Justice, served on the Steering Committee Chairperson for ChangeScale (an Environmental Education Collaborative in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas), and specializes in working with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and other marginalized communities.

Panelist Brandon Barragan (Point Reyes National Seashore Association CalNat partner) works for the Point Reyes National Seashore Association in the education department where he focuses on a variety of weekend programs for the general public to participate in. After graduating from Saint Mary’s College of California with a degree in Environmental Studies, Brandon has been devoted to improving visitor relationships in Point Reyes National Seashore and working on outreach to expand the opportunities available there for all potential visitors.

Panelist Emily Cobar (UC Santa Cruz Arboretum & Botanic Garden Naturalist) is the Community Program Manager at Los Angeles Audubon Society, a nonprofit organization that focuses on wildlife conservation through research, education, recreation, and habitat restoration. Emily leads many environmental education programs for varying audiences from inner-city elementary school students to high school students to community college students. She enjoys teaching about the natural history of Los Angeles, including topics such as water conservation, plant communities, urban wildlife, geology, and more.

Panelist Jerome Gaw (Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum California Naturalist) is a wildlife photography hobbyist, science communicator, and conservation educator. A mental health practitioner by profession, he is a firsthand witness to the power of nature to promote community involvement and facilitate well-being.

Panelist Brenda Kyle (Pasadena City College California Naturalist) is a Southern California based naturalist who leads environmental programs all over the L.A. area. She rates herself an 11/10 on the, "I love nature scale!" Brenda is deeply connected to the mountains in L.A., and is descended from the Tarahumara and Tepehuan peoples from Mexico.