Mayor hopes to promote national environmentalism
By TRAVIS PURSER Special to the Daily Press
Santa Monica Mayor Michael Feinstein said he will attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, this summer along with Councilwoman Pam O’Connor.
Feinstein said the trip will be an opportunity for him and O’Connor to showcase the Santa Monica Sustainable City Program, which encourages economic development in a way that protects the environment and human well-being. The city’s alternative fuel vehicles and recycling are two results of the program.
Local and national leaders from around the world are expected to attend the event. The United Nations is organizing it as a follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
“We’re going to find out things we didn’t expect” about how other communities are complying with recommendations that came out of the 1992 summit, Feinstein said. But also, the Green Party member hopes the new event will be an opportunity for cities to join forces to influence national governments to pay more attention to sustainability. “Our federal government could set sustainability targets as (Santa Monica) did.”
Feinstein expects such “cross-pollination” to occur not only among governments in the United States, but among governments around the world.
On an international level, Feinstein said he is concerned that measures set up by the World Trade Organization could undermine local governments’ ability to enforce ordinances meant to protect human rights and the environment. For example, the WTO could override Santa Monica’s proposed living wage ordinance, which would set the minimum wage for some workers at $10.50 per hour, plus health benefits. Feinstein expects the summit to influence the WTO agenda, and he wants to be there to address that.
The summit takes place Aug. 26-Sept. 4, but Feinstein, citing concerns about his personal security, declined to say exactly how long he would be gone. He said he and O’Connor would personally pay for the trip, except for a $200 registration fee to attend a local government session sponsored by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives Aug. 27-29. The city of Santa Monica is a member of the council and will pay the fee, he said.
Santa Monica allots $6,700 in travel expenses annually for each elected official.
O’Connor, a Democrat, said she and Feinstein might be asked to speak at the summit because Santa Monica is widely known as having an advanced sustainability program.
Last Saturday a town hall meeting to prepare environmentalists for the summit drew hundreds of people, including the mayor, to the Crossroads School in Santa Monica. O’Connor hopes the local government session will produce a formal position paper to be presented to national governments at the summit.
Environmentalists say they have seen environmental issues take a back seat to security after Sept. 11. And they are waiting to see how that will effect government leaders in Johannesburg.
Feinstein said he would convey a message that environmentally sound practices help protect communities from terrorists. For example, communities that produce their own electricity, either through solar methods or otherwise, are not susceptible to the threat of terrorists cutting power lines hundreds of miles away.
Governments and organizations are making a flurry of last-minute preparations for the summit.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 4, 2002. Read the original PDF.