To our environmental writer friends from around the country — welcome to Sacramento! We are excited to have you in our fair city this week for the Society of Environmental Journalists 26th Annual Conference.
Sacramento is the capital city of the great State of California — the sixth largest economy in the world. Much of our leading, global role in research, health, agriculture, and environment begins right here in Sacramento. Mere miles from the #SEJ2016 conference site is the California State Capitol, where critical public policies are debated and ratified — policies with implications not just here in California, but around the United States and the world.
Sacramento also is situated in the heart of the Central Valley — one of America’s great food baskets and the confluence of California’s many natural wonders. Snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada course through the Central Valley via our majestic rivers, pouring through Sacramento before reaching the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and onward to San Francisco Bay. Equally monumental are our artificial waterways — a testament to the importance of agriculture to California, and the delicate risks and foresight required of natural resource management.
Sacramento itself is a microcosm of the great environmental story of the Golden State. Human communities here have struggled to reconcile themselves with the natural landscape throughout its history, from floods and wildfires to drought and fisheries. We, too, have played witness to the transformation of energy and transportation, from the time of the Pony Express and railroad barons, to today’s promise of high-speed rail and bicycle-friendly commutes.
As you visit the River City this week, you’ll find that our community is finding its identity and sense of place once again. Sacramento is amidst an economic revival, faced with the very real challenges of redevelopment, density, fair housing, homelessness, food access, air quality, and infrastructure. But we also are brimming with excitement and entrepreneurship — with residents and new arrivals alike striving to lead, create, grow, cook, brew, design, paint, and write a new future for Sacramento.
We hope you enjoy this taste and sip of the Capital Region during your stay this week. Welcome to our home.
Sincerely,
The Capital Science Communicators Board of Officers
Ben Young Landis
Executive Chair
Andrea Graffis
Managing Chair
Becky Oskin
Professional Membership Chair
Don Gibson
Student Membership Chair
Candace Spier Bever, PhD
Professional Development Chair
Dharia McGrew, PhD
Capitol Chair
Nick Gray
Public Science Chair
CapSciComm is an association of science writers and communicators serving California’s Capital Region — Sacramento, Davis, and beyond. Join our network to meet fellow professionals and students in journalism, public relations, creative, policy, public science, and research — and together, let’s spice up science!
Learn about our mission and vision at www.capscicomm.org/about. Tweet to us at @CapSciComm.
Capital Science Communicators 