You’re invited to a Climate Engagement Gathering on Jan. 26

Sebastopol's Climate Action Committee wants to find positive (even joyous) ways to address the issues of climate change — and they need your help.

If you’ve been following the actions of the Climate Action Committee through our reporting on the city council, you know they had a busy year last year. In July, the city council passed the Climate Action Framework they developed with the help of their Civic Spark fellow, Phoebe Goulden, and at the Dec. 20 council meeting, they released a draft work plan, which included supporting residential electrification (including replacing gas appliances with electric ones), active transportation (i.e., biking and walking); revitalizing the community garden; encouraging zero waste; and much more. (See the sidebar at the end of this article for a list of all the items on their work plan.)

Part of this work plan includes getting more involvement and engagement from the community, and they’re taking their first step toward that this year with a Climate Engagement Gathering on Jan. 26 to which everyone in Sebastopol is invited.

Here’s the invitation from the committee:

Happy New Beginnings Sebastopol! 
You are invited for Delicious Pizza + Exciting Raffle Prizes 
at Sebastopol’s Climate Engagement Event

Your ideas, creativity and imagination are valued and needed in designing (implementing) the future we will all inherit.

When:  January 26
Where:  Sebastopol Community Center
Time:  6 pm-8pm

We are community members that have been appointed by the Sebastopol City Council. As the Sebastopol Climate Action Committee we are working to find positive, as well as joyous ways to address the issues of climate change in our city and the world! 

We need your brilliance to help create the better world we are dreaming of. Forging our network is an important aspect in doing this work. 

In 2020 our City Council voted to set a goal of net zero emission by 2030! After a 2-year study and community input, in 2022 the council unanimously adopted a Climate Action Framework to help guide Sebastopol to meet our goals. See the framework here.

Key Recommendations Approved by the City Council on December 20, 2022 can be viewed [in the sidebar at the end of this article.]

We look forward to meeting you, sharing more about what we have done and working together on what we have yet to do.

Reserve your spot at the event here.

In Beauty, Love and Appreciation for this Precious Life,
The Sebastopol Climate Action Committee

“This first meeting is an introduction to gauge interest and get some feedback from the community about where they want to go and how they can get plugged in,” said Climate Action Committee member Alex Goodman.

“We're really just trying to build something that can connect the community and neighbors and help people be collaborative and make a platform for that, and obviously, share information.” he said.

The agenda for the event looks like this:

• 15 minutes mingling before pizza!

• Introduction and welcome (6:15)

• Climate Action Committee and Framework overview (6:20)

• Working groups at tables Rotation (Q&A, sign ups, voting) - (6:40)

• Comments/takeaways from group/feedback Q&A - (7:20)

• Voting Results/Next Steps (7:35)

This is just the first event in the committee’s upcoming Climate Engagement Series. Future events will focus on individual topics, such as the zero waste lifestyle, making your home climate ready, and more.

“The idea is it’s not like a lecture, it's not a presentation. We want it to be a conversation,” Goodman said.

Reserve your spot at the first Climate Engagement event on Jan. 26 here.

---

SIDEBAR: Climate Action Committee Draft Work Plan for 2023

1)      Residential electrification and energy efficiency programs: The committee is developing a community electrification survey and a Green Buildings Tour, so people can see firsthand how their neighbors are greening their homes.  The committee would also like to see more information about the importance and the how-to’s of electrification on the city’s website.

2)      Climate engagement series: The committee is planning a series of monthly gatherings on various climate action topics as a way to engage the larger community. The first of these is scheduled for Jan. 26, 6-7:30 pm, at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center. (There will be a raffle and free pizza.)

3)      Active transportation (i.e., biking and walking): The committee wants to encourage the creation of protected bike lanes and shared use paths, as a part of the Sebastopol Bike & Pedestrian Master Plan update. They also hope to improve bike parking around town and mentioned creating a community survey on active transportation.

4)      Daytime EV Charging: The committee is urging people to charge their electric vehicles during the day, when solar energy is plentiful. (Traditionally, people charge their vehicles at night.) Daytime charging could be accomplished by increasing the number of workplace charging stations, among other solutions.

5)      Revitalize the Community Garden: the committee would like to restore the community garden behind the skate park, using regenerative farming methods, to help sequester carbon and increase food resilience.

6)      Zero Waste Strategy: Increase public education regarding what items go in what bin and encourage composting through programs like compost giveaways.

7)      Electric Appliances and Fixtures: Lee mentioned the need for workforce development programs so that more contractors understand how to install and service these appliances. She also suggested dropping permitting fees for installing electric appliances.

8)      The need to increase the committee’s social media presence: The committee needs a social media person to get the word out about the work of the committee and what people can do to help fight climate change.

9)      Stormwater Runoff: Somine introduced the idea of doing a green audit and plan of the city stormwater system, noting this would be a multi-agency, multi-year effort.

10)  Metrics. The committee would like to make the city’s greenhouse gas inventory records more public so that people can see at a glance how Sebastopol is doing in terms of fighting climate change.

This list is reprinted from the Sebastopol Times recap of the Dec. 20 City Council meeting. See the whole article here:

Change was in the air at the Dec. 20 Sebastopol City Council meeting