Lunch with Leaders Applying the Climate & Biodiversity Action Plan: Dive Deep in Key Guides for Decarbonizing the Design Process and Designing for Biodiversity
March 24 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Join us and learn about the updated Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan and discuss two of the accompanying practice and operations guides – Decarbonizing the Design Process: A Phase by Phase Approach for Landscape Architects and the Biodiversity Primer for Landscape Architects: Essential Knowledge to Inform Meaningful Action. These in-depth resources offer valuable guidance for achieving both the Climate and Biodiversity LA2040 goals. The intention of the “lunch and learn” is to share insights and knowledge to apply national guidance and frameworks to regional and local practices.
Facilitator
Mafe Gonzalez, ASLA
Landscape Designer and Botanist, BASE Landscape Architecture
Biodiversity and Climate Action Committee Co-Chair, ASLA Northern California Chapter
Panelists:
Mariana Ricker, ASLA, PLA
Associate Principal, SWA Group
Climate & Biodiversity Action Plan Task Force, Climate Lead
Mariana Ricker was the lead author for the climate goal in ASLA’s recently updated Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan and is now the co-chair for the CBAC’s climate subcommittee. As a member of the subcommittee for several years, she previously co-authored the guide on Decarbonizing the Design Process. Mariana is a landscape architect with SWA Group, where she leads a wide range of projects, from community parks to district-scale urban development and planning around the Bay Area and beyond. She also co-lead the development of SWA’s Climate Action plan and is committed to advancing built environment sustainability within her project work, at a firm-wide level, and professionally.
Betsy Peterson, ASLA
August Design Collaborative
Biodiversity Primer for Landscape Architects: Essential knowledge to inform meaningful action Editor
Betsy led the development of the Biodiversity Primer while serving as the Co-Chair for the CBAC’s Biodiversity Subcommittee in 2024-25. Betsy is a landscape designer based in Scotland, UK. She was awarded an LAF Fellowship in 2023 to research how individuals can help stem global biodiversity decline from home. This research culminated in the Biodiversity Victory Gardens Project . Collaborating on the Biodiversity Primer was a fitting next step that deepened her understanding of the important role landscape architects play in addressing the biodiversity crisis – any time we shape the land, we impact biodiversity.
ASLA Members – No Charge
Non-Members – $15
The zoom link will be sent with your registration confirmation.