Blog
A space for learning.
How my family is getting fossil fuels out of our life — and how you can too
There are now many fantastic solutions that make it possible for individuals and households to ditch fossil fuels. My family was fortunate enough to purchase a small house in 2010, and over the past decade we have reduced our daily fossil fuel use by about 95%. Below you’ll find 10 powerful actions so that you can too!
How COVID-19 Could Help Us Get Through the Climate Crisis
In an interview with the Santa Barbara Independent Sigrid Wright, Executive Director of the Community Environmental Council shares her reflections on the similarities between the coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis, and how the current emergency could help us navigate the even bigger threat to our future.
More BMP Bike Lanes, Please
Santa Barbara community members showed up in force on Thursday, October 29 to express their concerns about a new “watered down” version of the Bicycle Master Plan at a special joint meeting of the City’s Transportation and Circulation Committee and the Planning Commission.
Santa Barbara Bicycle Master Plan Progress
Nearly every seat in the house was taken at the Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday, July 21, 2019 for the Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) hearing. Learn more about the plan, community suggestions, and next steps.
What To Expect at the 2015 Santa Barbara Green Car Show
Now in its 14th year, CEC’s Green Car Show is the largest showcase of efficient, alternative-fueled vehicles between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Tour de Farms
As a clinical nutritionist, registered dietician and cooking instructor, Gerri French knows a few things about food. And as host of the Santa Barbara Food and Farm Adventures Meetup Group, which meets every two weeks at various locations throughout the county, she also knows something about farms.
The Creative Commuter
Last March, Kent Epperson bought a house in Ojai after months of fruitlessly searching for an affordable place in Santa Barbara. With that move, his short bike commute to his office near the intersection of Calle Real and North San Antonio Road in Santa Barbara abruptly changed to an hour and a half drive every day between the two cities.
The Baby Boomer Bikers
Recently, Eva Inbar and her husband, Michael, purchased a set of road bikes. Avid cyclists, the two have been biking for decades, and they don’t have plans to quit anytime soon. No matter that they are in their late 60s.
Raising Confident, Independent Girls By Biking More and Driving Less
Last June, Phoebe Wolfe Lyons decided to participate in the Santa Barbara Triathlon — her first experience with such an event. No matter that she had never swum in the ocean before. No matter that she was only eight.
Using Film and a Brompton Foldable Bike to Preserve the Planet
Most mornings, Beezhan Tulu hops on his bright green bike and rides down Highway 101 from his home on the Gaviota Coast to the most westerly bus stop in Goleta, where he folds up his bike, pays the $1.25 bus fare, and completes the last leg of his 20-mile trek into Santa Barbara. Beezhan, a local filmmaker, purposefully does not own a car, and his Day-Glo bike is his sole means of transportation.
But that hasn’t always been the case.
Another Successful Earth Day! Thank you.
We are proud to report 37,364 people attended Santa Barbara Earth Day this year! It's beyond inspiring to see so many people gather to share information, participate in community building, and celebrate this year’s theme “Local Roots,” which encouraged meaningful actions to help make a global impact. The festival was organized around the CEC’s five initiatives: Drive Less, Choose Electric, Go Solar, Ditch Plastic, and Eat Local.
Ingenuity and Volunteerism at Earth Day
Fourteen-year-old Catalina Russell has grown up with Santa Barbara’s Earth Day Festival. Since before she can remember, her mom has been bringing her to the celebration that strives to inspire the community to protect and preserve the world we live in. Five years ago, when she was just nine years old, Catalina decided she wanted to do more than passively enjoy the festival. She signed up as a volunteer to help the event she had come to love – and she’s kept coming back to volunteer every year since.
Commuting in "Kelleafy"
When Kelly Schmandt Ferguson took a job in Santa Ynez last year, commuting to work by bus was no longer an option for the Santa Barbara resident. Concerns over increased gas expenses and the environmental impacts of fossil fuel emissions as well as the desire to “support a technology that [she] believed in” led Kelly to research leasing an electric vehicle.
Five Ways Colleges Are Coaxing Students Out of Their Cars
Like other schools across the country, the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) has its own program to entice students, faculty, and staff to reduce driving and choose more sustainable modes of transportation. The Transportation Alternatives Program, or TAP, seeks to reduce traffic congestion, traffic emissions, and the demand for parking on campus and serves those who commute to UCSB by foot, skateboard, bicycle, bus, carpool, vanpool, or train.
Bus-Bike Commuting: Not chicken scratch
John Bailey, a Spanish language teacher at Santa Barbara Junior High, takes the Clean Air Express every weekday from Lompoc. The bus driver fits John’s bike underneath in the luggage compartment, and on arrival at State Street and La Cumbre, he pulls it out and John rides over one of the old stagecoach routes, State Street, to teach class at the junior high school. At the end of the day, he hops on his bike and rides back to State and La Cumbre, where he rides the bus back home. During the ride he can sleep, chat, listen to a book or music, read or catch up on work.
Climate Solutions for a Better World: Connecting the dots
On Thursday, February 13th, over 100 business leaders, nonprofit executives and 1% for the Planet members convened at Citrix in Goleta, Ca. for Connect the Dots, a conference that highlighted steps being taken by companies, NGOs and individuals to build resilient communities in an era of unprecedented climate change.
CEC's results in 2013
The Community Environmental Council (CEC) is a small and dedicated non-profit with a very big mission: ending the Santa Barbara region’s dependence on fossil fuels in one generation. It's been a busy year for CEC. After all, moving our region off fossil fuels is no small task.
