Caltech Hosts Pando Sustainability Awards, Honoring Visionaries and Practical Champions

Caltech will host the Pando Sustainability Awards on Sunday, April 14, honoring the season winners of Pando’s programs for higher education and middle schools. This event showcases project-based work by instructors and students dedicated to sustainability across Southland institutions.

The Pando Sustainability Awards, to be held at Caltech’s Dabney Hall Lounge and Gardens in Pasadena from 2 to 5 p.m., is organized by Pando Populus, founded in the fall of 2014 as a nonprofit educational organization developing civic engagement programs for Los Angeles in pursuit of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ ambitious sustainability plan, OurCounty.

The group’s name is derived from the largest organism on Earth—a giant quaking aspen and one-tree forest named Pando.

The Sustainability Awards ceremony will recognize the ingenuity and dedication of Los Angeles’s most promising sustainability champions, including students and instructors whose innovative projects are driving tangible change in the region.

During the event, new projects from Pando’s esteemed programs will be unveiled, including Pando Days for higher education, Magenta House for middle school initiatives, and Camp Pando for nontraditional learners. These initiatives, developed over the 2023-2024 school year, represent a collaborative effort to address pressing sustainability challenges facing Southland communities.

The awards ceremony will feature 16 sustainability projects from Southland colleges and universities, along with nearly 20 projects from Los Angeles middle schools. Attendees can anticipate not just recognition but also cash prizes, awards, and insights from special guest presentations by influential figures such as Betty Yee, Vice-Chair of the California Democratic Party; Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries; and Rita Kampalath, Los Angeles County’s Chief Sustainability Officer.

Ed Bacon will be the Awards moderator, guiding attendees through an evening that also features networking opportunities and a celebration of Los Angeles’s dedication to sustainability.

The Pando Sustainability Awards, made possible by generous support from organizations like Clean Power Alliance and Calpine Energy Solutions, represent a vital platform for showcasing and advancing sustainability efforts in the region.

Seating for the event is limited. To reserve your seat, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/the-pando-sustainability-awards-tickets-837876269477.

For more information, visit https://pandopopulus.com/pando-awards/.