Greg Mohr (BA, Environmental Science & Geography, 1976), a part-time lecturer in UCSB’s Environmental Studies Program, made a presentation at the June 2012 conference of the Association for Environmental Studies & Sciences (AESS) held at Santa Clara University. The title was, “What’s So Funny about ‘The Maintenance and Enhancement of Long-Term Productivity’? (with apologies to Elvis Costello).” The topic involves a requirement of the National Environmental Policy Act that federal environmental impact statements discuss “the relationship between local short-term uses of man’s [sic] environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity.” This discussion used to be required for some types of environmental impact reports prepared under the California Environmental Quality Act, but the state legislature deleted this provision in 1994.
Greg chaired the session at which he made this presentation; he is a founding member and the current treasurer of the AESS. The 2013 AESS Conference, with the theme “Linking Rural and Urban Societies and Ecologies,” will be held at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh PA, co-hosted by nearby Chatham University, June 19-22, 2013 (details here).
Greg studied under David Simonett in the UCSB Geography Remote Sensing Unit in the late 1970s, and his own “long-term productivity” includes over 28 years as an Environmental Specialist and Planner with Santa Barbara County. During that period, Greg was a lecturer in the UCSB Environmental Studies Program and was a founding member of the UCSB Environmental Studies Associates. After retiring in 2007, he briefly joined Ryerson, Master & Associates to help prepare and verify carbon emission inventories for clients as large as SoCal Edison, and, in 2008, he began teaching Environmental Science 165B as a part time lecturer at UCSB. If you want it done, give it to a busy person!
