Piner High School STE(A)M Certificate

United Nations Goal 11: Building Sustainable Communities

Lourdes Sanchez Santana

Presentation Topic: United Nations Goal 11: Building Sustainable Communities

Presenters: Hosted by Pepperwood Preserve,
Date: Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Presentation Summary:

On September 5th, my class went to a presentation to the Piner High School PAC about
Building Sustainable Communities. In this presentation, we learned about Goal 11, what it
means, and why it is important. Goal 11 is about making cities and human settlements inclusive,
safe, resilient, and sustainable. They also talked about the guidelines for the Climate-Safe
California: base it in science, don't forget the fossil fuel workers, and build in climate justice.
Additionally, the four pillars of Climate-Safe California: phase out fossil fuels, remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere, help all communities be resilient, and pay for it. And how do we
get there? We have to talk to everyone about the problems and, most importantly, get good
climate laws passed. They explained how there are more health impacts due to climate change,
like disease becoming more prevalent, and people getting more frequent headaches, dizziness,
nausea and other symptoms. The most important thing we should do is pass the word around!

In this presentation, we also learned about Pepperwood Preserve, which is a 3,117-acre

plot of land owned by the Pepperwood Foundation and located in the Mayacamas Mountains in
the coastal ranges of California near the towns of Santa Rosa and Healdsburg in Sonoma County.
Pepperwood Preserve's mission is to inspire conservation through science, and their project's
main goal is to have a local impact before it spreads throughout the world. They explained how
their primary goal is related to United Nations Goal 11, and they also offered information and a
strategic plan for accomplishing their mission. They intend to accomplish their mission by using
cooperative tactics and science-based solutions. They inspire nature education through talks at
schools and events held at Pepperwood Preserve for people of all ages. They also gave a brief
description of their four initiatives, which are: inspiring connections with nature, restoring native
grasslands, linking landscapes for wildlife, and building climate and fire resilience. Peperwoods's
primary goal is to encourage people to make connections with the natural world. Through
investigation, observation, science, and artistic expression, they seek to encourage a conservation
ethic that lasts a lifetime, and inspire a sense of connection between people and nature. Restoring
native ecology to grasslands is the second initiative. Restoring native ecology to grasslands is the
second initiative. The goal of this project is to promote, illustrate, and disseminate best practices
for land stewardship, and to integrate Indigenous perspectives into our collective understanding
of the history of this land. The third initiative promotes landscape resilience and habitability in
our region and beyond, with the goal of connecting landscapes for wildlife. To collaborate with
locals to make them aware of the value of extending and enhancing habitat corridors that connect
the Pacific to California's Coast Ranges. Like the third initiative, the fourth aims to increase both
habitability and resilience in our region by building climate and fire resilience. To support
real-time hazard warning systems, co-produce and interpret high-resolution climate, hydrology,
forest, and fire data in collaboration with public and private land and water managers.

Reflection:

My experience learning about this was pretty good and there was a lot of interesting
information. At first I thought this was gonna be a pretty boring presentation, but after hearing it,
I found that there was much more to their initiative than what I had initially thought. Learning
about their programs and how many lives they affect was interesting. I was also surprised how
their programs are not only for teenagers, but for all ages and backgrounds. They also offer
bilingual programs, where they offer translators, which is convenient and beneficial for everyone
who wishes to participate in a Pepperwood program. The number of people stepping up and
starting projects to work toward a more resilient and sustainable future impressed me as
significant, and actually made me think of joining a program related to this. But still, I don’t
think this would be a possible career opportunity for me, however everyone should know what is
happening on their Earth because all of what's happening affects us. There was one question that
I was curious about and wasn’t answered: In the future will we be able to lower down Carbon
Dioxide levels in the atmosphere? This is very important because, like I said, it affects all of us.
The effects of high CO2 can produce a variety of health effects.

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