Promoting Coastal Ocean Safety, Resilience, and Sustainability with Clarissa Anderson of SCCOOS

The Finest City

In this episode of the Knowledge to Action series, host Jen Whitelaw is accompanied by Clarissa Anderson to discuss the topic of coastline and wetlands. Clarissa Anderson is a member of the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS), one of the 11 regions that collaborate with the United States Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). Clarissa talks about SCCOOS’s origin story and their connection with Imperial Beach, what makes their history unique, and how to get involved with their mission and support their advocacy.

Timestamps:

[3:04] SCCOOS aims to produce, integrate, and communicate sustained high-quality science-based information to promote coastal ocean safety, resilience, and sustainability for all members of society.

[4:11] What is SCCOOS’s origin story, and what makes that history unique?

[6:00] How has SCCOOS fostered deeper collaborations with the Coastal Resource Management community?

[6:16] The connection with Imperial Beach is such a hallmark of SCCOOS’s community engagement.

[7:37] What is SCCOOS’s role in addressing a situation like a sewage spill?

[10:22] What is ocean acidification and how does it affect us?

[15:19] Clarissa touches more on California’s Coastal Flood Network and its objectives.

[18:07] Clarissa talks about the many sensor technology networks they rely on and some of the organizations involved in creating this network.

[21:01] What are a few of the tools and resources that SCCOOS provides that may be helpful for architects or land planners?

[23:17] What kind of relationship does SCCOOS have with the people who are crafting legislation that’s going to impact our coast and ocean?

[25:06] How can one get involved more at a political level with their representatives, and how can we become better advocates?

[26:13] How does SCCOOS get the word out to the person on the street about how they can make an impact?

About C-3

In its 60 years of existence, Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C-3) has brought together local thought leaders from planning, design, policy, academia, community development, and more to address our region’s distinctive and pressing land use challenges. In founding C-3 almost 60 years ago, architect Lloyd Ruocco’s vision was to bring together our region’s most creative minds from the arts, sciences, academia, and government to share ideas, learn new perspectives, and build fellowship around the idea of creating livable communities.

Opportunities for Advocacy and Engagement:

C3sandiego.org

SCCOOS

National Ocean Service

NOAA

Coastal Data Information Program

California Ocean Protection Council

Quotes:

• “At SCCOOS, we aim to produce, integrate and communicate sustained high-quality science-based information to promote coastal ocean safety, resilience, and sustainability for all members of society.” — Clarissa [3:40]

• “At schools, we’re trying to ensure that every bit and byte of data is pushed into some kind of useful format, tailored to various users, communities, scientists, and the public.” — Clarrisa [3:59]

• “It really does take a village to make this happen.” — Clarissa [15:55]

• “All of our data is open source and displayed in what I would like to think is a state-of-the-art data portal.” — Clarissa [21:18]

• “We do our best to get out there and really, really educate and hopefully inspire people to get involved.” — Clarissa [27:34]