The Daily Bruin highlighted the work of the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLA GC) and its executive director, Cassie Rauser, in an article about various sustainability organizations and initiatives housed at UCLA.
SLA GC aims to make Los Angeles the most sustainable megacity in the world by 2050 and brings together various departments to research renewable energy, local water management and ecosystem health. Recently, the SLA GC team worked with the L.A. County Chief Sustainability Office, Buro Happold and Liberty Hill Foundation to create OurCounty, the county’s first official sustainability plan. Its three primary goals are to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, source 80% of water locally by 2045 and make nature and wildfire more accessible.
To help monitor progress, SLA GC has been releasing topic-specific sustainability report cards. The latest, which tackles ecosystem health, was released in July.
Having been an environmentalist for 28 years, Rauser is a notable sustainability leader both within and beyond UCLA. As executive director of the SLA GC, she is in charge of creating detailed plans to achieve initiative’s goals and oversees all staff. In the article she shares her gratitude for the opportunity to bring together her various skills and experiences to successfully lead SLA GC. “I feel so fortunate every single day that I don’t feel like I’m going to work, and that I do a job that I think really makes a difference.”
Read more at the Daily Bruin.
