Pavley puts the emphasis where it’s needed

Pavley puts the emphasis where it’s needed

Congratulations to Fran Pavley on the adoption of AB-1548. I have been a resident in the Santa Monica Mountains for 26 years and raised my daughters here, one of which is now an environmentalist with the Marine Sanctuaries.

My exposure to this remarkable collection of biomes has led me to become involved with the state’s premier environmental education organization, the Yosemite National Institutes (YNI). This 30-year-old organization delivers both environmental education and basic science in a residential setting to almost 40,000 kids every year.

My vision is to expand the reach and someday have a Santa Monica Mountains Institute in our backyard. Currently nearly 40 percent of our attendees come from Southern California. The work that YNI does has been assessed through a relationship with Stanford University, which has reinforced the long-lasting impact on not only middle-schoolers but on teachers through our teacher-training program and upon the parent chaperones that attend with the kids.

Fran Pavley has managed to legislate what we at YNI have been proponents of for 30 years. I applaud her efforts and agree wholeheartedly with the National Geographic quote that "environmental education is critical to empower future generations."

Paul Culberg

Agoura