BEACH & BAY

COMMENTARY

A greener tomorrow

Community event sparks ideas for Coronado as model in sustainability

By AMY STEWARD

The Nautilus Room at the Coronado Community Center hummed with innovative energy.

Emerald Keepers’ Coronado Community Convening, held Oct. 14, brought together representatives from all sectors of the city. The all-day event was a conference to educate and provide leadership to re-imagine our city as a thriving model of environmental sustainability.

That future would include: • A healthy community with clean energy in homes, vehicles and in city buildings. • A coastal community with sea-levelrise mitigation in place and fully prepared for natural disasters. • Green mobility with walkers, bikers, electric cart drivers and free microtransit opportunities and select traffic-free streets and zones. • Coordinated, viable and efficient public transit traffic solutions for Navy commuters improving traffic, air quality and safety. • Solar-powered, filtered, climate-controlled air, cooling and heating in classrooms throughout the school district. • A zero-waste community with drought-tolerant, native plants.

Can you imagine a Coronado with clean air, litter-free parks, streets, water and beaches?

The Coronado Community Convening did more than just imagine.

The interdisciplinary approach to prob-

ELIZABETH WILDER

Tim Gallaudet, an oceanographer and former acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, speaks at the Coronado Community Convening on Oct. 14.

lem solving yielded exciting and practical solutions for a sustainable Coronado. Problems were not dealt with individually, but rather from the perspective of impact on our ecosystem, where every element in the system impacts and is impacted by every other element. Thus, solutions must be holistic.

To inspire thinking, expert speakers educated participants on climate impacts. The day’s speakers included Tim Gallaudet, an oceanographer, retired rear admiral and former acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Mark Merrifield, director of the Center for Climate Impacts and Adaptations at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

The collective willingness to collaborate to improve Coronado by examining climate change, pollution, waste, clean energy, water and drought was inspiring.

So where do we go from here?

Emerald Keepers has documented ideas and solutions from the event, which are available on the website. The results will also be formally submitted to the Coronado City Council to complement and — if suggestions are accepted — provide teeth to the city’s climate action plan.

Mobilizing grassroots civic participation is critical for changes to be implemented. Concerned citizens should contact council members and attend council meetings to let leaders know they want Coronado to be proactive in the face of climate change. Persistence, courage, engagement and resolve are required to move to a greener Coronado.

By becoming a model city of sustainability, we can preserve the uniqueness of Coronado for generations to come. To do that, the City Council must be proactive and lead from the front. Multidisciplinary innovation, community-based ideas and action will ensure the best solutions are developed.

Albert Einstein once said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Becoming a model city is within our collective reach, but it will take a village. ■

Amy Steward is president and founder of Emerald Keepers

WHAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT

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