Officials finding ways to be environmentally conscience
Environmentally-friendly Santa Monica is in the process of expanding its world-famous sustainability program.
For more than a year the city has been working with residents, businesses and environmentalists in expanding the scope and reach of its programs that concentrate on using environmentally conscience products.
Now the city will take the same principles it used to improve its environment and apply them to economic development and social justice.
“We have evolved from understanding sustainability as an environmental issue to understanding it more broadly, and its links in terms of social responsibility and economic development,” said Mayor Mike Feinstein.
For example, under the new system the city will pursue policies on housing, open space, land use, community education, civic participation and human dignity that will make it less dependent on outside sources and concentrate on renewable, internal resources.
Also, the city hopes to use the new polices to help diversify its economy so that when one industry takes a nose-dive, the whole city’s economic climate isn’t too impacted.
“When one part of the economy goes down, these other parts of the economy keep it going,” said Dean Kubani, a senior economic analyst with the city. “We want to support a diverse economy that can continue to support Santa Monica and its residents.”
In 1991, officials first put into place a sustainable city plan that shaped operations down to the type of recycled paper the city would buy. Environmentalists were hired to inspect the city’s practices, and they found mixed results.
For example, the city was using very harsh chemicals for cleaning public buildings and streets, but it had one of the best recycling programs around at the time.
Government officials, residents and environmentalists then worked together on setting goals and objectives the city and community as a whole would meet when it came to resource management, transportation, pollution prevention public health protection and economic development — Santa Monica began treating run-off water before it emptied into the ocean, it began buying green electricity and buying non-traditional vehicles.
“In many cases, doing the right thing already saves money in the short run,” Feinstein said. “And as long as we plan ahead, it saves us in the long run as well.”
“In many cases, doing the right thing already saves money in the short run.” — — MIKE FEINSTEIN Santa Monica Mayor
The effort drew national attention from communities world-wide, and made Santa Monica well-known as an environmentally conscience city.
However, when officials began revisiting the plan 10 years later, they saw many areas needed improvement, and they began adding the social and economic aspects of being sustainable.
Instead of just looking at the pollution of Santa Monica Bay, the new methods will look at how pollution affects jobs and it will take into account the impacts it could have on the economy as well.
“For the first 10 years, we focused on internal metrics like energy and water use, solid waste and recycling,” said Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown. “I'm encouraging an approach for the next ten year cycle that weighs our City's whole ecological footprint.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 4, 2002. Read the original PDF.