Environmental center named to UN commission

Santa Barbara’s own Center for the Study of the Environment was recently appointed by the U.S. Department of State to serve on the United States National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The United States re-entered UNESCO just last October, and will hold its first annual conference in Washington, D.C. June 6 and 7, where CSE will join a prestigious group which includes the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, The American Geological Institute, The American Physical Society, National Geographic Society, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Professor Emeritus from UCSB and the former Chair of the University’s Environmental Studies Program, Daniel B. Botkin founded CSE in Santa Barbara in 1991 as a non-profit organization to conduct objective, independent, scientific analyses of complex environmental issues.

Independent research was a key tenet in founding the organization. Otherwise, as noted by Botkin on the CSE website, “You start with a good idea and end up with a bureaucracy.”

“The idea was to set up an organization independent of the other institutions, really to be able to provide good scientific and educational data around the environment, to really give the best possible information free of any particular bias … trying to make it as scientifically independent as possible,” said CSE vice president Mark Marzolla.

The mission of CSE is to “serve all facets of society by providing science-based analysis that identify optimal solutions for environmental concerns.” The objective is to generate options that address the problems at hand without subordinating information or evaluation to the bias of various political viewpoints.

“In this time of increasing world tensions, communications among nations about education, science, and culture can help alleviate misunderstandings of many kinds,” said Botkin, adding “participation in the U. S. Commission fits well with the educational and scientific goals of the Center.”

In making this appointment, Secretary of State, Colin Powell, wrote “I am confident that the Center for the Study of the Environment will contribute significantly to the value of the Commission’s work.”

Additional information about the U S National Commission for UNESCO can be found at www.state.gov/p/io/unesco or at CSE’s website, www.naturestudy.org,

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on March 10, 2005.