Going Green in SB
A conference on environmental and sustainable growth strategies in the Inland Empire took place today at Cal State San Bernardino.
It was a well-attended event, drawing SB Mayor Pat Morris, Redlands Mayor Jon Harrison and a number of business and academic leaders.
What one gathers from these sorts of symposiums isn't necessarily much new info (granted, I've been to quite a few), but a building sense of how irresistable the green movement has become.
With sky-high energy costs and an unprecedented level of social consciousness and concern with environmental issues, it's clear that both the economics and culture are in place for a major shift in how we live, work and play in the coming decades.
Green is definitely en vogue, and successful movements are often born of broad, sustained enthusiasm like this.
Click below for full report ...
Tips to enhance energy efficiency in your home or apartment:
*Lowering your furnace thermostat 3 to 5 degrees can save 10 to 20 percent on heating costs.
*Install fluorescent light bulbs, which last 10 times as long and use less energy than standard bulbs.
*Replace older appliances with energy efficient models, which can cut power and water usage by 50 percent.
*Have air ducts tested for leaks; they can increase heating and cooling costs by 20 percent.
Source: The Gas Company
By Robert Rogers
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO -- The strategies are generally agreed on. The technology is advancing rapidly. The public is eager. The consequences loom large.
Now is the time for local public and private sector institutions to take the lead on turning our economy green.
Such was the overriding message at Cal State San Bernardino's first-ever energy summit, where leaders in academia, local government and private industry discussed energy efficiency, economic growth and resource conservation.
No one disputed the urgency for local-based action to protect the environment and stimulate the sluggish economy.
"We need to be radical," said Celeste Cantu, general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority.
"We are at the tipping point. Perhaps past the tipping point" of environmental degradation, she said.
The all-day event, titled "Energy Summit: Strategies for Municipalities, School Districts and Government Agencies," drew about 100 local government officials, business owners and academic experts.
Sponsored by San Bernardino county and city, the Inland Empire Green Building Council and local utilities, the program aimed at linking local municipal leaders with with burgeoning green business representatives.
Discussion often centered on incentive programs and long-term economic gains promised by local initiatives like environmentally-friendly construction, "New Urbanism" growth and water-conservation.
"Thank goodness for local government," Redlands Mayor Jon Harrison
Harrison said attracting businesses by committing to green development strategies is crucial today, and that neighboring cities like Redlands, Yucaipa and San Bernardino needed to develop joint strategies.
National trends may bode well for a local emphasis on "greening" development, education and public policy. An oft-cited report commissioned by the American Solar Energy Society concluded the nation has 8.5 million jobs in renewable energy or energy efficient industries, and that "green collar" jobs could continue to offset losses in manufacturing and other sectors.
During an early panel on building energy-efficient communities, Cantu spoke forcefully about dire consequences of inaction and the need for economic incentives and disincentives to prod consumers into radical changes in daily consumption habits.
As water supplies become more strained in arid locales like San Bernardino County, price-tiers in which overconsumption is stiffly punished must be imposed, Cantu said.
"To change behaviors, we have to change the economics" of cheap, flat rate water, she said.
"We have to hard-wire these changes."
Other speakers touched on less drastic energy-saving modifications. Wesley Morgan, a lighting expert from UC Davis, said one-quarter of all energy use in California is expended on lighting.
Technology upgrades and scheduling changes have reduced consumption in many campuses, including CSUSB, by as much as 50 percent, Morgan said.
About 10 green companies were also on hand Thursday, looking to network with the public and private sector leaders at the conference. Green developers, solar panel and electric car companies pitched their products.
New Direction, a promotions and marketing company, exemplified the ripple effect the green movement promised for the economy, said manager Pam Stevens.
New Direction produces eco-friendly bags, T-shirts, key-chains and other promo trinkets for companies whose top selling points are environmental stewardship.
Business is booming.
"This business-strategy has really taken off in the last two to three years," Stevens said. "Everybody wants to go green."
The clarion call, made repeatedly, was that old, wasteful ways had to give way to newer, smarter ones.
"We've spent the last century exerting our dominance over the environment," said Rick Fochtman, a project development manager for an Ontario firm. "We need to spend this century changing that."
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Andrew Edwards. E-mail Andrew here.
It never fails, anytime something needs fixing, the call goes out to the little guy to make the sacrifice. I agree whole heartedly that there needs to be some changes but the trouble I have with the solutions currently being circulated is the consumer is the one taking it in the shorts. When the issue is conservation, we are the ones asked to curb our consumption. When infrastructure upgrades are needed, we foot the bill in the way of increased costs. When the market forces decide to globalize and therefore supply India and China with commodities in which we are in short supply of “allegedly,” again we’re the ones who sacrifice. When increased taxes are proposed the corporations promise this will lead to increased costs which pull us further into the red.
Obviously there are many people involved in the green movement who are genuinely concerned about environmental issues, but there are more than a few free market apologists and lobbyists like Celeste Cantu who are simply peddling propaganda. Her rhetoric is in effect an appeal for deregulation.
Calling “economic incentives or disincentives,” a viable solution to the problems we face is a pitiable attempt to promote a punitive economic model. Price-tiered billing won’t change peoples consumption habits nearly as much as it will open up yet another market to the type of manipulation we’ve witnessed in other deregulated fields. How will eliminating or even modifying “cheap flat water rates,” assist in restoring the dry brush, dying grass and brittle trees which mark this area? Paying more will simply discourage municipalities, home and business owners from watering at all leading to further blight and property value decreases. I agree a hard-wire solution is the answer but the hard wire I’m thinking of is in the form of regulation. I know this mode of thinking is currently considered on a par with communism and atheism, but what alternatives are there to curb a market run wild?
Just as it was determined in the 30s, business cannot be trusted to do what is right and we cannot continue to buy into the idiocy which is peddled by the advocates of the crimes formally known as deregulation and supply side economics. I am firmly against any proposed solution which will lead to the continued transfer of wealth while leaving in place the carnage that is the result of a conscienceless form of capitalism