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25 - Ending the piecemeal approach: Santa Monica's comprehensive plan for sustainability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

Susan Watrous
Affiliation:
Independent
Natasha Fraley
Affiliation:
Independent
Susanne C. Moser
Affiliation:
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder
Lisa Dilling
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Boulder
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Summary

One thing is clear: the fate of cities will determine more and more not only the fate of nations but also of our planet. We can afford to ignore the issue of the sustainable management of our cities only at our own peril.

Elizabeth Dowdeswell (1996), former United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme

One California city has made an unblinking appraisal of its fate, and created a comprehensive plan for sustainability. It's a blueprint that links climate change with other environmental issues, economic development, and social equity – all in the larger context of the community's quality of life. Certainly, the effects of climate change already touch the ocean-front municipality of Santa Monica where sea-level rise sends higher-than-historical winter storm waves surging against the base of the Sustainable City Program office, and these effects will continue to change other aspects of life. Extended heatwave days, for example, could dramatically increase the risks to human health (Hayhoe et al., 2004a, b). Yet rather than just focus on energy use and emissions, Santa Monica has chosen a systems approach, addressing climate change with strategies aimed at its cultural and physical causes.

Surrounded on three sides by Los Angeles County, the pint-sized municipality of Santa Monica – just 8.3 square miles on the map, but with global vision – has consistently been at the leading edge of a movement for sustainable cities.

Type
Chapter
Information
Creating a Climate for Change
Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change
, pp. 399 - 415
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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References

Bishop, K. (2004). A city sustained: Santa Monica celebrates 10 years of being green. Santa Monica Daily Press, September 30, 3, 276, 1–7.Google Scholar
Doppelt, B. (2003). Leading Change Toward Sustainability: A Change Management Guide for Business, Government and Civil Society. Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing.Google Scholar
Dowdeswell, E. (1996). Human settlements. Our Planet, June. Available at http://www.ourplanet.com/imgversn/81/editorial.html; accessed January 19, 2006.Google Scholar
Hayhoe, K.Cayan, D., Field, C. B., et al. (2004a). Emissions pathways, climate change, and impacts on California. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101, 34, 12422–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayhoe, K., Kalkstein, L., Moser, S., et al. (2004b). Rising Heat and Risks to Human Health: Technical Appendix. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists. Available at: http://www.climatechoices.org; accessed January 19, 2006.Google Scholar
McKenzie-Mohr, D. (2000). Fostering sustainable behavior through community-based social marketing. American Psychologist, 55, 5, 531–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Santa Monica (2003). Sustainable City Plan. City of Santa Monica, CA. Available at http://santa-monica.org/epd/scp/pdf/SCP_2003_Adopted_Plan.pdf; accessed January 19, 2006.
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

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