From the Ground Up! Summit

The From the Ground Up! Soil and Water Resiliency for Future Generations Summit was held at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s board room in Los Angeles, CA on August 23, 2023.  If you missed this Special Event crafted around the role of soil health in creating climate-resilient landscapes and nature-based solutions for the benefit of future generations, or you want to revisit the day, join us now in the virtual world.

This event was sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and produced by the Council for Watershed Health and Green Gardens Group (G3), with financial support from Accelerate Resilience LA (ARLA).

Special thanks go to our speakers including:

Keynote, Jane Davidson – #FutureGen: Lessons from a Small Country – Jane Davidson is the author of #futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country, the story of why Wales was the first country in the world to introduce legislation to protect future generations. Jane currently serves as Chair of the Wales Net Zero 2035 and is Pro Vice-Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. From 2000 – 2011, Jane was Minister for Education, then Minister for Environment, Sustainability in the Welsh Government, where she proposed legislation to make sustainability the central organising principle; the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act came into law in 2015.

Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, PhD. – Here Comes the Rain Again: Nurturing Resilience Through Multifunctional Nature-Based Solutions – Dr. Pavao-Zuckerman leads the University of Maryland Urban and Built Environment Sustainability Lab that links ecology, design, policy, and technologies and uses a co-productive research approach to provide solutions to address urban environmental challenges and foster adaptation and resilience to climate change.

Anne LaForti – Soil Health for a Cooler City – Anne LaForti a soil health expert with a Master’s in Biomimicry from Arizona State University. She is a project manager at Biomimicry 3.8, supporting nature-based innovation in the built environment through “Project Positive”. Anne is deeply interested in soil science, microbiomes, mycology, rainwater catchment, urban and regenerative agriculture, and growing nutrient-dense foods.

Brent Bucknum – Interdisciplinary Evidence-based Urban Ecosytem Adaptation – Brent Bucknum is the founder of Hyphae Design Laboratory, an ecological design and civil engineering firm dedicated to bridging the gap between architecture, environmental art and applied biological research. Hyphae has worked on a diverse range of projects from affordable housing water studies, to living roof design, greywater system design, environmental sensor-based public art installations, rural sanitation in developing countries, and ultra-green data centers.