Environment – This Week @ MIIS

Anonymous Donor Pledges $1.8 Million to Support Center for the Blue Economy

Anne-Marie Steiger asteiger@miis.edu CBE, donors, Environment, Featured, Fellowships, IEP, newsroom July 29, 2014

Trent Hodges.jpg

Student Trent Hodges’ summer 2014 fellowship working on ““surfonomics” with Save the Waves in Mexico was funded by generous supporters of the Center for the Blue Economy, and included the opportunity to participate in a “paddle out” ceremony.

The Monterey Institute has received a $1.8 million challenge gift that aims to both support and inspire the continued growth and expansion of the Institute’s ocean and coastal economics research and education center, the Center for the Blue Economy.

The gift has three components: a $600,000 outright gift in the first year (beginning July 1, 2014), and challenge matching gifts of $600,000 in each of the following two years, with the goal of generating at least $3 million for the center’s operations over the next three years.

“This generous challenge gift will help to ensure the continued vitality and growth of the Center for the Blue Economy over the next several years,” commented MIIS President Sunder Ramaswamy. “It should serve to inspire other individuals, foundations, and grant-makers to meet this donor’s challenge and raise additional major support, including endowed funds, to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Center. I look forward to working with potential supporters worldwide who care about the future of our oceans.”

CBE Director Jason Scorse, a MIIS professor who also chairs the school’s Master of Arts in International Environmental Policy program, said “this new gift and the challenge it kicks off will allow the CBE to build upon the strong momentum generated over the past two years. It will allow us to expand our economic databases and analyses into new and important policy areas where economic data is lacking. We will also launch our new Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics this year, expand our international efforts beyond Asia and Europe, and be able to provide significantly more financial support to students enrolling in the ocean and coastal resource management concentration in our International Environmental Policy program.”

“The CBE is uniquely positioned to make the economic case for ocean conservation and to better inform decision makers with important economic information long absent from policy dialogue,” added Scorse. “We hope to play a key role in helping to shape policies on ocean and coastal issues in the years ahead.”

Recent Alumnus Amer Barghouth: “MIIS Prepared Me Well” for Demanding New Career

Anne-Marie Steiger asteiger@miis.edu Alumni, careers, Environment, Featured, IEP, newsroom June 13, 2014

Recent MIIS graduate Amer Barghouth speaking at the December 2013 Energy Management Conference & Exhibition in Bahrain.

We always love to hear back from recent alumni who have realized their dreams for an exciting new career propelled by the training and education they received at MIIS. Amer Barghouth (MAIPS ’09, MAIEP ’13) received his job offer from the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), less than three weeks after graduating with a master’s degree in International Environmental Policy in 2013. While acknowledging that the job is demanding, he says happily, “I have always felt up to the task. My education at MIIS has prepared me well for this job.”

Amer first heard about the organization through Dr. Tareq Emtairah, executive director of RCREEE, who taught a workshop on sustainable urban transformation at MIIS. RCREEE is a regional nonprofit organization that provides policy advice, as well as technical and institutional support to 13 Arab governments. “My first assignment at RCREEE was to co-author a study commissioned by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the League of Arab States,” says Amer. The findings were presented at the World Future Energy Summit in January, and will guide IRENA’s future interventions in the region. Currently Amer is leading the Private Investment Promotion Program, which aims to identify and scale up profitable business models in sustainable energy in the Arab region. Furthermore, he will be the co-author of the Arab Future Energy Index (AFEX) report, an annual assessment of progress made by Arab countries in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Four people report directly to Amer and he has to manage multiple budgets amounting to a hundred thousand euros. In addition, he spends about one week per month on the road promoting energy efficiency and working with various governments and companies to increase the share of sustainable energy in the region. “Professor Zarsky’s and Shrimali’s classes in particular equipped me with the right mix of policy and business skills,” says Amer. He really enjoys his new career, especially “working with different stakeholders from young entrepreneurs to senior-level policymakers to create the right environment for rapid deployment of sustainable energy technologies and practices.”

City of Monterey Recognizes MIIS Students for Exceptional Contribution to Climate Action Plan

Anne-Marie Steiger asteiger@miis.edu careers, Energy and Climate Change, Environment, Featured, IEP, internships, newsroom May 7, 2014

Matthew Nichols (MAIEP ’14) and Gabriel Kiritz (MAIEP ’14) with members of the Monterey City Council.

Proving yet again that the Monterey Institute prepares students to take on the most pressing issues of our time and “be the solution” in their chosen field, on May 6 the City of Monterey recognized the outstanding contribution of two graduating MIIS students to their Climate Action Plan.

The students, Gabriel Kiritz (MAIEP ’14) and Matthew Nichols (MAIEP ’14), both of the International Environmental Policy program, were specially recognized for their superb analytic and critical thinking skills by their supervisor, Sustainability Coordinator Ted. J. Terrasas. Mayor Chuck Della Sala thanked them on behalf of the City of Monterey, and also recognized MIIS Career and Academic Advisor Edy Rhodes and Director of Outreach and Employer Relations Dayton Hughes for their role in shaping and promoting the internship.

Matthew describes the eight-month internship with the City of Monterey as a “unique and exciting opportunity” to put theory from his academic program into practice at the local level. By working on the Climate Action Plan, Gabriel adds, not only did they gain “invaluable experience in a specific issue” (climate policy), they also had the opportunity to develop their core competencies of policy and data analysis, technical writing, collaboration, and communication.

Matthew goes on to say that the experience of synthesizing hundreds of pages of data and statutes into a series of appropriate policy recommendations was both a great learning experience and a challenge to think outside the box. Both students are happy to add this internship to their resumes, recognizing the value of gaining real-world job experience as part of their degree program.

Matthew and Gabriel will both be honored as “Graduates with Distinction” at Spring Commencement on May 17.

MIIS Professor and Student Win $50,000 Innovator of the Year Award

Anne-Marie Steiger asteiger@miis.edu Business, careers, Community, Environment, Featured, IEP, MBA, newsroom May 6, 2014

Monterey Bay Startup Challenge winners Maeve Murphy (MBA/MAIEP ’15) and Professor Jeff Langholz after the competition.

“A supportive culture of innovation exists at MIIS,” says Professor Jeffrey Langholz of the International Environmental Policy program, who this weekend won the main prize of $50,000 and title of Innovator of the Year at the Monterey Bay Startup Challenge along with graduate student Maeve Murphy (MBA/MAIEP ’15). Their idea is called Water City and it helps make water conservation easy and profitable for the public.

Freshwater issues are a passion for Maeve, who is working on a joint degree in business administration and environmental policy. “This is why I came to MIIS,” she says happily, explaining that she has long been bothered by the inefficiencies in the way we handle freshwater. Professor Langholz is also passionate about water issues, and when his colleague Kent Glenzer founded the recent Monterey Institute Community Innovation Challenge for students with a challenge focused on water issues, Jeff started thinking actively of solutions.

When Maeve made an appointment with Professor Langholz in February to discuss career options, he shared his water ideas and they decided to combine their strengths. For Maeve, the challenge came at a perfect time. “It was a real-world situation in which I could apply my education thus far to an idea that I am passionate about. There were countless times I would be in class and would realize that what we were learning that moment I could apply to the Water City project and would pull open my notes or financial spreadsheet and start adjusting immediately.” Smiling wryly, Langholz says,”MIIS faculty are in the business of making students’ dreams come true.”

When MIIS faculty and students put their heads together, the rest of the world benefits. But these two do not want to take all the credit for their success so far. “This may have looked like a single student and a single professor,” says Langholz, ”but more than 40 people on campus supported the effort – that’s how it works at MIIS!”

Monterey Institute Students Propose Solutions to County Water Crisis

Anne-Marie Steiger asteiger@miis.edu Environment, Featured, IEP, newsroom April 28, 2014

Winners of the Monterey Institute Community Innovation Challenge: Malcolm Johnson (MAIEP ’14), Nereyda Montaño (MAIEP ’14), Nate Maynard (MAIEP ’14), Emily Cluff (MAIEP ’14), and Matthew Nichols (MAIEP ’14).

The Monterey Institute Community Innovation Challenge is the brainchild of Professor Kent Glenzer of the Development, Practice and Policy program. “Complex social problems require interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches,” he says, adding that addressing these so-called “wicked problems” requires expertise from across many disciplines – in the case of MIIS, many degree programs – to tackle them.

Close to 40 students from the Monterey Institute and several from California State University Monterey Bay jumped at the opportunity to participate in the first challenge, “Nor Any Drop to Drink,” focused on finding innovative solutions to Monterey County’s water issues. Channeling Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, the challenge focused on Monterey County specifically, while providing insight into the broader issue of water challenges around the world. The students were invited to sessions with stakeholders from all over the county as well as a diverse group of experts. The final judging took place on Wednesday, April 23 as part of the Institute’s Earth Week celebrations.

The winning team consisted of five Monterey Institute students from the International Environmental Policy degree program: Matthew Nichols (MAIEP ’14), Emily Cluff (MAIEP ’14), Nereyda Montaño (MAIEP ’14), Nate Maynard (MAIEP ’14) and Malcolm Johnson (MAIEP ’14). In their view, Monterey County’s water problem, like most fresh water issues, amounts largely to a problem of communication.

The main goal of the group’s proposal is to achieve communication, collaboration, and coordination via the creation of a community-based organization called the Water Science Trust (WST). “By bringing all the stakeholders together and acting as a clearinghouse for sound science, WST tears down the lettuce curtain to create socially, environmentally, and economically sound projects without added government oversight,” says team member Malcolm Johnson. For more about the proposal, check out their presentation slides.

“I hope to make such ‘wicked challenges’ an annual feature here at MIIS,” says Professor Glenzer, “eventually opening up to participation from student teams from around the globe.”

New MIIS Report on U.S. Coastal Economies Lauded by Congressman Farr

Anne-Marie Steiger asteiger@miis.edu CBE, Citizen Diplomacy, Environment, Featured, newsroom, research March 11, 2014

National Ocean Economics Program Director Dr. Judith Kildow, Congressman Sam Farr, and Center for the Blue Economy Director Dr. Jason Scorse, who also serves as program chair of the Institute‘s International Environmental Policy program.

Presenting the 2014 State of the U.S. Ocean and Coastal Economies report at a press conference in Monterey on Monday, Dr. Judith Kildow, director of the National Ocean Economics Program at the Monterey Institute‘s Center for the Blue Economy, noted the imbalance between the economic importance of coasts and coastal oceans and the federal support for stewardship of these resources. According to the report, coastal states supply over 81 percent of American jobs and contribute $13 trillion to the economy, or 84 percent of GDP.

Dr. Kildow presented the new report by the popular recreation trail along the coast in Monterey while competing with the sounds of a vibrant coastal community: bicycles wooshing by, people laughing, sea gulls cawing, and sea lions barking. Congressman Sam Farr noted that the trail, the most popular tourist attraction in the county, is on public land, just like the most popular tourist attraction in the United States, the beaches in Los Angeles. He warned that he could see “a train wreck coming,” unless there is an increase in federal funding for our coastal areas.

Rep. Farr lauded the NOEP report and said it was a very important contribution to the policy debate because it placed real economic value to our coastal resources. He said he was particularly happy that this important work was being done at the Monterey Institute, where he “went to study Spanish before joining the Peace Corps and going to Colombia.” Farr said there simply was “no place like MIIS anywhere.”

The press conference was covered by leading local news station KSBW and the Monterey County Weekly, and also mentioned in the Monterey Herald. For more on the the State of the U.S. Ocean and Coastal Economies 2014, visit oceaneconomics.org. The report can be downloaded here.

Team of MBA Students Wins Third Prize in International Business Plan Competition

Anne-Marie Steiger asteiger@miis.edu Business, Environment, Featured, IEP, MBA, newsroom January 31, 2014

James Shirreff (MBA/MAIEP ’14), John Foss (MBA ’13), Mary Vargo (MBA ’14) (holding check) and Morgan Rogge (MBA/MAIEP ’14) (next to Mary) with the judging panel and their award at Davos.

Four Monterey Institute MBA students traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January to compete in the final round of the international Business for a Better World competition, sponsored by Corporate Knights and the Schulich School of Business. The MIIS quartet beat out teams from 20 other universities around the world to reach the final three.

Mary Vargo (MBA ’14), Morgan Rogge (MBA/MAIEP ’14), John Foss (MBA ’13), and James Shirreff (MBA/MAIEP ’14) said the experience in Davos was “amazing,” and their presentation was very well received. They were awarded the third place, carrying a $2,000 prize. “The MIIS team was the thought leader in this competition,” says Dean Yuwei Shi of the Institute’s Graduate School of International Policy and Management. “Their work treads convincingly beyond corporate social responsibility and shows an exciting direction to businesses that are looking past the one-, five- or even ten-year horizon. We are very proud of the team’s achievement.”

Vargo and Foss are students in the Institute’s Fisher MBA in International Management program, while Rogge and Shirreff are pursuing the joint degree program combining the MBA with the Master of Arts in International Environmental Policy.

How to Protect Leatherbacks

Malcolm California, Center for the Blue Economy Fellows, Environment, United States October 17, 2013

After a long summer and even longer start to my fall semester, the Pacific Leatherback Sea Turtle Conservation Summit has come and gone. Over the last 3 days, there were 15 delegates from the Tambrauw Regency of Indonesia and about 30 representatives of different marine organizations/agencies (except those from the federal government). Everything went smoothly at the event, despite the concerns over the government shutdown. The big question at the press conference, “what’s next?”

After all the hard work that was put in to planning the Summit, getting the Indonesians to Monterey, and drafting the Memorandum of Agreement, leatherbacks should be even more protected. As Peter Dutton said, “this is just the beginning.” During the breakout sessions there was discussion of ways to continue to have an educational exchange between both countries. Plans to have future fundraisers were put on the table to better fund the partnership to protect leatherbacks. Even the governments discussed a plan to meet again in the future for the second leatherback summit (possibly in Indonesia). I have high hopes for the future of this agreement and for the plight of the Pacific leatherbacks!

Declaration signed to protect Pacific Leatherbacks

To infinity and Bey..Ubud

Justin Wright Center for the Blue Economy Fellows, Environment, Indonesia August 14, 2013

The last week was Indonesia’s biggest holiday, where the last week of Ramadan made many Indonesian’s who live in Bali return home to Java, Sumatra, etc., to be with there families. This past Saturday and Sunday, Ramadan coincided with two special days for the Balinese Hindu calendar as well. Saturday was the Balinese day of consciousness and knowledge, followed by Sunday the day of cleansing and rebirth.

These two overlapping holidays made it a very unique time where there were many processions, and a lot of local workers taking time off to spend time with their families. As we had finalized our survey, and Conservation International’s volunteer Indonesian students were on holiday, I was lucky to get the chance to go to Ubud, and spend time with some family and friends. Oka Kartini, a local hotel owner explained to me the Balinese holidays and on Sunday, her and I dined together trying both of her sons’ versions of the traditional Balinese dish nasi kuning, Indonesian for yellow rice. Sunday, the day of cleansing, is similar to our Thanksgiving, where family gathers and relaxes and eats all day long. Though I was trying to shoot back to Uluwatu to catch Ripcurl’s Padang Padang Cup to meet more stakeholders in the surfing industry, it was hard to leave Oka and the restful harmony that is Ubud.

Leaving the baking heat of the Bukit Peninsula for Ubud was a special change. First of all, Ubud has been developed for much longer than Uluwatu, and Ubud feudal leaders requested to keep Ubud as a protectorate under the Dutch rule. For this reason, the tropical jungle town of Ubud became the literary and art reserve of Bali, attracting writers and painters from around the world. Despite the busyness from the many tourists it attracts, Ubud remains a peaceful, blissful place. One of the reasons is the architecture nearly everywhere consists of long windy complex temples filled with statues, fountains, and pools.

Every hostel and hotel follows this motif (and I know as I walked through nearly all of them trying to find a place, as it was full during the jazz festival which happened to be while I was there), offering nooks with views of tropical jungle and rice paddies that would make anyone in the world want to paint or write or simply be at peace. Coming from a surf culture (or cultureless) place, it was very difficult to leave. I believe that the rapid development from surf tourism made it difficult for a place like Uluwatu to develop within the Balinese architectural style of the rest of the country, and for that reason, it lacks some of the soul that has been created around the rest of Bali.

Ubud also gets its name from the Balinese word Ubad, which means medicine. And yes, it is a very healing place. But leave, I finally did, and caught most of the Ripcurl cup, and have been given a new task that I embark on this upcoming week. I have been given a list of qualitative questions, and I am to interview hoteliers, warung owners, traveling surfers, local surfers, and non-surfing tourists to achieve a qualitative aspect for our research project, that will without doubt shed more light onto the goals we strive to achieve.

Surf’s Up

Nereyda Montano California, Center for the Blue Economy Fellows, Environment August 13, 2013

Time flies! It seems like just yesterday that I walked into the Resource Conservation District office and introduced myself to everyone. Now I only have about a week left here before I start my second and last year at MIIS. Regardless, I plan on keeping in contact with my awesome coworkers.

Birthday card from my coworkers. They already know me so well.

When I’m not in the office I’m out having a good time in beautiful Santa Cruz. For my birthday last week one of my friends got me surfing lessons! I plan on spending some time in Cowell Beach to learn how to surf properly (currently I just splash around and stare at the sea otters).

Today’s weekly staff meeting was a ‘Surf Staff Meeting’ (only in Santa Cruz!) where some of my coworkers surfed in front of Jack O’Neill’s house in Pleasure Point while those of us who woke up too late to get out there watched from afar.

Jack O’Neill’s house

Hopefully I’ll have the proper surfing etiquette down soon so I can ride waves with all of the expert locals.