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Community Environmental Council Gathers Local Leaders, Stakeholders to Address Local Climate and Fire Resilience
First of series seeks to build collaborative local solutions as wildfires erupt across California
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November 5, 2019, SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Community Environmental Council (CEC) hosted Climate Resilience Roundtable: Wildfire & Smoke on Friday, November 1.
The roundtable brought together 120 community leaders, experts, and practitioners invested in climate and fire resilience efforts in our region. Through keynotes and small table workshops, the event explored the local impacts of fire and smoke on public health, vulnerable populations, working landscapes, natural ecosystems, economy, and infrastructure. It also worked to identify gaps, critical issues, and tensions in need of resolution, before delving into methods for creating a collaborative vision for climate and disaster resilience.
Kevin Taylor, Fire Chief of Montecito Fire Protection District, set the context for the day by speaking to the impacts of climate change on the intensity of local and regional fires. He underscored the need to collaborate as a community to develop resilience in the face of this unique threat. Additional speakers followed, each providing a unique perspective on the challenges presented by wildfire and smoke:
Sigrid Wright, CEO of Community Environmental Council, framed how climate change is expected to play out on the Central Coast through cycles of increased heat, wildfire, and drought punctuated by more intense storms and sea level rise. “As extreme weather catastrophes and other impacts increase, our community must better connect the dots between the ways in which the climate crisis is unfolding.” Emphasizing that no plan would work without broad support and coordination, she continued, “We’re putting all the players in the room to see where we can align efforts. Our window for action is narrowing. To build climate resilience in Santa Barbara County, we have to step up the pace and rapidly build partnerships.”
Noting that “megafires are the disturbing new reality,” Mark von Tillow, retired Division Chief of the U.S. Forest Service in Los Padres National Forest, shared how battling these megafires requires new ways of responding to wildfire and their impacts on California. “Of the three things that contribute to the rate fire spreads – fuel, topography, and weather – fuel is the only thing humans can manipulate. We must collaborate on land use and optimize forest health so we can reduce the amount of fuel available to burn.”
Bruce Riordan, Program Director of the Climate Readiness Institute headquartered at UC Berkeley, focused on health impacts caused by wildfires, now increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. “Doctors across the world are telling us that climate change is the biggest global health threat. To address this threat, we must think and act boldly. We must identify our most vulnerable communities, make tough decisions on land use, build adaptive capacity, and – most importantly – make big cuts in our carbon emissions.”
Ethan Turpin, Director of the Burn Cycle Project, engaged the group with interactive fire and climate modeling to demonstrate how landscapes regenerate over long cycles of fire and how climate changes and personal or policy choices may play out in future landscapes. “Fires have a highly emotional impact, and the policy decision making that happens in the direct aftermath can be blurred by the desire to solve complex problems quickly. Using scientific data sets, gaming technology allows us to view ecological impacts and patterns on a broader scale and proactively make informed choices.”
Mona Miyasato, CEO of the County of Santa Barbara, synthesized the event and underscored the importance of stakeholders collaborating to enhance resilience. Miyasato reflected “Having gone through tragedy upon tragedy over the past 6 years, we have changed as individuals. Even through this change, I don’t believe I’ve ever come across a more cohesive community. It’s that social cohesion – getting to know your neighbors, having conversations – that will allow our community to adapt and recover, and bridge the conflicts we face externally and personally.”
The event is the first of a series organized by CEC to build resilience to climate change in Santa Barbara County, with an eye toward developing a regional plan. Upcoming events will each focus on other identified climate threats to the Central Coast including sea-level rise, heat, drought, reduced water supply and increased storm intensity. Many of the leaders that took part in the November 1 event will continue on to attend all six parts of the series, helping to inform a more overarching strategy for developing climate resilience.
The Climate Resilience Roundtable advisory committee includes a range of nonprofits, community leaders, and government representatives: Mimi Audelo (City of Carpinteria Program Manager), Rachel Couch (California Coastal Conservancy), Aeron Arlin Genet (Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District), Sharyn Main (Environmental Consultant), Abe Powell (Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade), Ashley Watkins (Santa Barbara County Sustainability Division), Sigrid Wright (Community Environmental Council), and Lucas Zucker (Central Coast Alliance for a Sustainable Economy).
Additional supporters of the roundtable series include the Santa Barbara Foundation, James S. Bower Foundation, Santa Barbara County Sustainability Division, California Coastal Conservancy, Sea Forward Fund, and Direct Relief (where this first roundtable was held).
To learn more about the Climate Resilience Roundtable work, visit cecsb.org/climate-resilience-roundtables or contact CEC CEO Sigrid Wright at swright@cecmail.org or (805) 963-0583 Ext. 109.
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About the Community Environmental Council (CEC)
Since 1970, CEC has incubated and innovated real life solutions that directly impact climate change. Our programs lead to clean vehicles, solar energy, resilient food systems and reduction of single-use plastic. We educate and activate the community by producing events like the annual Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival. Find CEC on the web at CECSB.org and on Facebook.com/CECSB, Instagram.com/CEC_SB and Twitter.com/CECSB.
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