The Pando Story isn’t really about Pando.

It’s about LA.

It’s about Angelenos.

It’s about our better angels.


Actually.

It’s about how the bravest of our better angels are working to muster and inspire people who are imagining the unimaginable:

A brighter and better future for Los Angeles.

The people behind Pando

We’re a group of educators, philosophers, entrepreneurs, writers, producers, artists, architects, designers, civil servants, politicians, policymakers, human rights activists, clergy, ecologists, business people, lawyers, engineers, gardeners, nuns and sisters, and even gangsters. 

Eugene Shirley
Founding President

Lyn Goldfarb
Creative Producer of Pando Days

Robyn Eason
Strategic Sustainability Advisor

John B. Cobb, Jr.
Founding Board Chair

What we do

Pando is a non-profit educational organization developing civic engagement programs that make us better equipped to take our biggest challenges on.

The challenges we address are regional, set by the LA County Board of Supervisors in its ambitious sustainability plan.

We aim to meet them through collaborations across the institutions of civil society: K-12, higher education, professional groups, and faith communities.

We create program success by nurturing community partner and public agency involvement at every level of program development and roll-out.

The impact we deliver is especially high for youth and young people, women and first generation leaders, racial and ethnic minorities, and economically disadvantaged groups.

No one innovates civic engagement like Pando.

We are official partners with the Chief Sustainability Office of the County of Los Angeles.

CSO Taskforce

The CSO (Chief Sustainability Officer) Taskforce is a network of LA County’s sustainability professionals. Taskforce meetings are typically held three times a year and give members the opportunity to focus on regional sustainability matters outside of their own siloed interests. The Taskforce also provides its members the environment for qualified service opportunities in collaboration with project-centered courses/studios/labs in higher ed.

The CSO Strategic Taskforce includes Chief Sustainability Officers from government, business, and institutions of civil society across LA County and launched as a collaborative initiative with former Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz.

More about Pando

Pando Populus is a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in the fall of 2014.

The big ideas that motivate us relate to the interconnectedness of things. We take our name from the largest organism on Earth, a giant quaking aspen and one-tree forest named Pando.

Our inaugural conference was held on the campus of Pomona College in Claremont, CA in June of 2015 for some 1,600 people. The event, titled “Seizing an Alternative,” explored more than eighty different tracks in the sciences and humanities focused on vitalizing human and natural systems. John B. Cobb, Jr., member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was the intellectual architect of the conference and is Pando’s founding chair.

We collaborate with some 70 Southland organizations and dozens of funders to catalyze for regional resiliency.

Like to connect? We’d love to hear from you! Email: info@pandopopulus.com. Or reach us off-line: 8023 Beverly Blvd. Suite 1, #460, Los Angeles, CA 90048. Phone: 310-428-6406.