Ashley Chin

Environmental Planning is an industry that is always changing—especially in California. When a project is proposed, CEQA  requires that impacts to the environment are assessed for their severity.

There is a common misconception that the environmental movement is entirely nature-centered, which ignores a tragic reality of the environmental crisis: environmental harm is human harm, and environmental harm affects some people more than others. This is the premise for the Environmental Justice movement.

In the recent webinar, City Resiliency and Why it Matters, FCS International's own Mary Bean joined a conversation with SCI and GCEOA to discuss cities, resiliency, and the UN SDGs. 

Business as usual is no longer the norm yet operations must continue and adapt to a new reality. How do you achieve resiliency and sustainable operations while navigating through an unprecedented global pandemic and addressing complex disruptions? 

The Governor of Califonia issued EO N-54-20 this past March, which temporarily suspended certain posting, filing, and notice requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for 60 days. As of September 23, the Governor issued EO N-80-20 which extends the provisions of the prior Executive Order. 

California altered the lens for assessing transportation impacts on the environment for new developments subject to CEQA review with the passing of Senate Bill 743 (SB 743). As of July 1, 2020, agencies that are analyzing the transportation impacts of new projects must now look at a metric known as vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

Home costs are rising across the United States, reflecting a shortage of housing in places where people want to live and businesses want to operate. This is particularly evident in California and the Bay Area specifically, where homes prices and apartment rental rates are among the highest in the nation.

During the summer, I started an internship with FirstCarbon Solutions (FCS). I pursued an internship at FCS because I thought it would be a great experience and give me insight into the inner workings and operations of an Environmental Consulting company.

FCS is committed to prioritizing the health and safety of our staff and clients, while maintaining project progress and business continuity. Our staff biologists provide their perspectives on conducting fieldwork during the pandemic and share their insights on the lessons they learned.

In this webinar, we bring together Kansas City business leaders to share their experiences, successes, and challenges addressing ESG from different industries in an ever-changing landscape.

In response to COVID-19’s impact on the California legal system, the Judicial Council of California adopted emergency regulations that significantly extend the time individuals have to file lawsuits challenging the approval of development projects.

As counties have begun to reopen and there are new updates every day, California local and statewide COVID-19 response measures are changing the way businesses and communities engage in regulatory and environmental compliance.

In this webinar, we present ESG in the context of private investing for local governments, what ESG factors and risks are used by bond raters, and climate resiliency during the current pandemic. 

Do you have a project moving through the discretionary approval process that requires noise impact analysis? As many project proponents are finding out, the economic disruption caused by COVID-19 has fundamentally altered ambient noise conditions. 

Many people have suddenly found themselves in the world of working remotely. In measures to protect employees, countless companies have implemented travel restrictions and remote work arrangements indefinitely. 

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have become key considerations in the private sector when investors and companies are evaluating, disclosing, and mitigating risk. In the public sector, local governments face similar risks and many of the same ESG criteria are used by bond rating agencies to evaluate municipal credit ratings.

The Governor of California has issued a new Executive Order which suspends certain posting, filing, and notice requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) until June 21st. 

Every day, organizations around the world take steps to reduce their environmental impact and ensure that their operations are sustainable. In 2019, the team at FirstCarbon Solutions (FCS) felt it was about time to pursue a Green Business Certification from the California Green Business Network (CGBN). 

With the rise of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and globally, we at FirstCarbon Solutions (FCS) are working hard to ensure the health and safety of our staff and clients, and remain committed to helping mitigate the risk and spread of COVID-19 in the communities in which we live and work.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has driven businesses, government agencies, and other organizations to rapidly develop plans to ensure the health and safety of workers while mitigating financial risk and continuing to conduct essential operations.

As more COVID-19 cases are confirmed in the U.S. and globally, we at FirstCarbon Solutions are taking extra precautions to ensure the health and safety of our staff.

Sunscreens are amazing. They shield us from harmful UV rays, keep us from getting sunburned, and help prevent skin cancer. So why, in summer of last year, did the state of Hawaii ban more than 3,500 sunscreens from even entering the islands?

Mangrove forests play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems both locally and globally, and they are coming more and more into the international spotlight. Threatened by climate change, pollution, overfishing, and human expansion, mangroves need our protection to survive. But why are these forests under threat, and why are so many organizations now prioritizing their preservation?

The Blue Economy was first introduced by Prof. Gunter Pauli in 2004 when he published his book, The Blue Economy, which featured a plan on how to connect seemingly disparate environmental concerns to turn “scarcity to abundance.”

As a member of a sorority at UC Berkeley, I notice that institutional barriers cause inaction across several issues that pervade the Greek* system, including the issue of sustainability. In an effort to disrupt this stagnation and attack issues of waste generation, food security, lack of sustainability education, etc., I revamped a long lost club called “Greening the Greeks.” Our mission is to make sweeping cultural, infrastructural, and educational change within fraternities and sororities at UC Berkeley in ways that improve our treatment of the environment.