2009 Chapter Activities

November 7th -Southern California Division Annual Meeting

GEORGE WILSON HONORED AT ANNUAL SO. CAL DIVISION TRIBUTE LUNCHEON

Dr. George Wilson was selected as the recipient of this year’s Orange County Chapter Ttribute for his long and distinguished service to the UNA-USA. George, his wife Jean, and chapter members Therese Lynn, Virginia and Juan Bernal, Carl Mariz and Rani Aggarwal attended the annual luncheon held on November 7 in Pasadena.

Marilyn Scaff Hempel, Publisher of the Population Press, was the Keynote Speaker and she addressed “Population Impacts On The Millennium Development Goals.”

October 24th -International Day of Climate Change on UN Day

On 24 October, United Nations Day, 20 members of the Orange County UNA-USA participated in a community event with over 300 individuals to take part in the International Day of Climate Action. People in 181 countries. came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis. To view some of the 15,000 photos received, go to www.350.org. The number represents 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere that some scientists say is the safe upper limit. The atmosphere currently reaches about 390 parts per million, according to research by NASA climate scientist James Hanse cited by 350.org.

For 2 weeks, beginning December 7th, 5,000 officials, advisors, diplomats, campaigners and journalists from 191 countries met in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Conference to thrash out a successor to the Kyoto protocol. The talks were the latest in an annual series of UN meetings that trace their origins to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, which aimed at coordinating international action against climate change. Go to http://en.cop15.dk/ to follow the results of these talks.

July 26th - Coffee Talk with Jeff Laurenti

Jeff Laurenti, International security expert and senior advisor to the United Nations Foundation spoke on the topic of American Foreign Policy in the Age of Obama: More Hope Than Change?

In an enjoyable country garden setting on Sunday afternoon, July 20th in Long Beach, Jeff Laurenti, international security expert and senior advisor to the United Nations Foundation, stimulated the thinking of the 20-30 of us in attendance. He reminded us of the unexpected positive and negative foreign policy outcomes during the administrations of both Republican and Democratic presidents during the last 30 years.  Change doesn’t come without hope. We co-sponsored this event with the Long Beach/South Bay Chapter so made some new friends as well.

Listening to Jeff Laurenti

June 17th

Rick Steves, host of the PBS-TV  travel series,  spoke on June 17th about how thoughtful travel expands our world view and shapes how we address the challenges confronting our nation politically.  Steves feels that travel helps us “challenge truths we were raised to think were self-evident and God-given.” He shared how the other 96 percent of humanity sees our nation and explored how his social activism has grown naturally out of his travel experiences (including a TV production trip to Iran). Susan Eaton and Adele Brown are shown here with Steves.

May 2nd - International Fair, Soka University

Board members, Barbara Tye, Deirdre LaPera, and Bri Carlson took a shift staffing the UNA-USA/OC table.

The state of the world's oceans:
Why sharks are in danger
... and why we should care 

Jenny Miller Garmendia
Director, Project AWARE Project AWARE Foundation

Ms. Garmendia spoke on international fishing disputes, marine policy, and international law and aquatic environment issues at international conferences.