Los Angeles chief sustainability officer to discuss green jobs
The Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum at Claremont McKenna College, 385 E. Eighth St., hosts a free 5:30 p.m. lecture on Friday, February 2, “Stepping Stones to Sustainability: The Landscape of Green Jobs,” with Lauren Faber O’Connor, chief sustainability officer for the city of Los Angeles.
Ms. O’Connor will reflect on her experience working at the Environmental Defense Fund, the California EPA and the US Department of Energy State Energy Advisory Board, as well as discuss environmental careers in public and private sectors.
Her talk will detail the current and future landscape of jobs in environment and sustainability. Ms. O’Connor is driving the implementation of LA’s landmark Sustainable City pLAn, released in April 2015, which puts forth an actionable vision for transforming LA’s environment, economy and equity. Working with every city department and outside stakeholders,
Ms. O’Connor focuses on strategic integration of the plan’s pillars in order to achieve the city’s short- and long-term goals, ensure benefits accrue to all communities in LA, and pursue regional and international collaborations, including Climate Mayors, a coalition of nearly 400 US mayors committed to US leadership on climate change.
Prior to joining the Garcetti administration, she served for four years as the west coast political director for the Environmental Defense Fund in San Francisco. At EDF, she worked on building successful strategies and constructive partnerships to win support on innovative approaches to protecting and promoting climate, clean energy, land, water and wildlife.
In 2010, Ms. O’Connor was appointed to assistant secretary for Climate Change Programs at the California Environmental Protection Agency, where she was dedicated to the design and implementation of California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32.
Prior to her work at CalEPA, she served as senior director for Lighthouse Consulting Group in Washington, DC, where she advised on comprehensive national climate change and energy strategies for domestic and international companies, and non-government organizations, and in particular, the US Climate Action Partnership.
From 2005 to 2009, she served at the British Embassy as senior policy advisor for climate change and energy. Ms. O’Connor serves on the Board of the California League of Conservation Voters and the US Department of Energy State Energy Advisory Board. She is a member of the Catto Fellowship for environmental leadership at the Aspen Institute and of the Truman National Security Project.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in earth systems and economics from Stanford University, and a master’s in climate and society from Columbia University.
Ms. O’Connor is the keynote speaker for CMC’s fourth annual Green Careers Conference sponsored by the Roberts Environmental Center.
More information is at cmc.edu/ athenaeum/open-events, (909) 621-8244 or by email at athenaeum@cmc.edu.
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