At age 25, Cal State Long Beach student Yassir Eddebbar has published a 98-page report on climate change incentive programs for Laguna Beach, for which he won the 2007 Undergraduate Summer Research Provost Award.
Laguna Beach’s Environmental Committee needed advice concerning effective environmental programs. Eddebbar was recruited to conduct research in which he compiled data from 15 cities with similar characteristics – like population density, climate and size – to Laguna Beach. He then examined the programs the various cities had implemented, and was able to present a host of programs to offer to the Laguna Beach City Council for approval.
Over what Eddebbar claims were many sleepless nights and stressful days, the complete research project took about a month to finish.
Eddebbar, a senior environmental science and public policy major, said his interest in the environment began when he started spending time in the murky waters of California’s Pacific.
“Having a steady relationship with nature by surfing, hiking and other outdoor activities leads you to really want to make a change,” Eddebbar said. “When you’re disconnected from the world around you, it’s just not clear how bad some of the problems are.”
Eddebarr added that “it’s not that everyone is negligent – they just don’t know about it. Most people are well intentioned. They just need to know about the problems.”
Knowledge of the problems is the second reason Eddebbar got into environmental studies. The interdisciplinary aspect – being able to learn a lot about science while also learning about public policy – was a central motivator for him.
For Eddebbar, his report was a rare and fortunate chance to apply his knowledge while still studying it.
The report was presented to the Laguna Beach Environmental Committee in August 2007. It was used as the main reference guide to the final brief report that was submitted by the committee before the city council.
Within the coming months, the city council will vote on the programs offered. Among the programs most likely to be approved are the conversion of municipal vehicles to hybrid, biodiesel and natural gas vehicles, and the retrofitting of lights and appliances to make them more energy efficient, Eddebbar said.
The Laguna Beach City Council members aren’t the only ones who will be using Eddebbar’s report. Next week he will be traveling to Hayward in the Bay Area for a research conference, where academics and representatives from the industry will review it.
Eddebbar said that over the next few years, surrounding cities such as Newport Beach, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente may also reference his report to implement their own programs.
“The science was the easy part,” Eddebbar said. “It’s the politics that’s difficult.”
