Local environmental guru Andy Lipkis drew a crowd that exceeded the 100 or so seats that had originally been arranged in the USU Grand Salon for Thursday’s teach-in on climate change and sustainability.

Lipkis, the Keynote speaker and the founder of TreePeople, told the assemblage his talk was meant to ‘upset you, rile you up and get you to take action.’

Before he did that, though, he gave a little history of how he became an environmental activist at the tender age of 15.

Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s, Lipkis said, the smog was so bad ‘it hurt to breathe.’ It was only at summer camps in the San Bernardino mountains that he could inhale without pain.

One summer, Lipkis was exposed to a naturalist who told the campers the smog from below was killing the forest.

That led to the most exciting experience of his life, said Lipkis, who could not stand idly by while trees were dying.

‘For three weeks, we sweated and toiled with pickaxes and shovels and tore up an asphalt parking lot and turned it into a meadow,’ he said.

And for the next three years, Lipkis ‘tried and failed and tried and failed and tried again,’ to organize a meaningful and lasting organization to build on that experience and save the forest. Through all that trial and error, Lipkis said, he gained a real education in forestry and environmental science.

So when he learned that the state of California was getting ready to destroy 20,000 tree seedlings because no one had the funds to buy them, he moved heaven and earth to get them planted in his beloved San Bernardino mountains.

With the help of a Los Angeles Times editor who helped get the story out, he was able to raise $4,000 from readers and friends and family and relocate 8,000 trees that escaped the bulldozer. TreePeople was born: Lipkis was just 18 years old.

Since that time, the nonprofit organization which now has its headquarters on Mulholland Drive at the intersection of Coldwater Canyon Avenue, has grown to tackle recycling programs, urban tree plantings, watershed projects and even a South Central L.A. home renovation.

The organization’s mission is ‘Engaging nature and community to protect and heal our cities,’ said Lipkis, ‘but it’s not about ‘woo woo’ spiritual healing: it’s about real damage to our urban environments that need healing.’

He encouraged students to participate in a massive watershed reforestation effort underway in the mountain areas that were burned in last summer’s wildfires.

‘It’s not a question of whether you ‘can’ make a difference,’ said Lipkis passionately. ‘You absolutely do make a difference’hellip;you make a difference with every penny you spend, with every action you take or don’t take.’

Campus Greening Project

The first half of the day-long program concluded with presentations from faculty members who have taken lead roles in a campus greening project.

Ashwani Vasishth, urban studies professor and the newly-named director of the CSUN Sustainability Institute, first introduced management studies professor Nancy Kurland, who outlined campus recycling efforts; geography professor Helen Cox, who discussed the campus’s carbon footprint; and recreation and tourism professor Mechelle Best, who spoke about a combined planning effort between the campus and the Associated Students for Earth Day 2009.

Campus architect Nathaniel Wilson also spoke about the energy-efficient design for the planned Student Recreation Center.

The remainder of the day was given over to panels discussing a variety of sustainability issues.

A table at the entrance to the room was filled with sign-up sheets for a wide variety of environmental interests and all were nearly filled by noon.

Student, Danielle Walker, used the event as an opportunity to create awareness of the CSUN Alliance for a Smoke-Free Campus, founded in January of 2008, and Associated Students Recycling Services also had a table with information on their efforts.

In his opening remarks, CSUN Provost Harry Hellenbrand said the issues discussed this day are philosophical, ethical, moral and personal, adding ‘Americans have been gnawing at this for more than 150 years.’

He quoted from Thomas Jefferson who wrote, ”hellip;the Earth belongs to the living; the dead have neither rights nor power over it.’