Tag: Community Environmental Council (CEC)

Community Environmental Council (CEC)— Santa Barbara County votes to phase out oil drilling

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Thanks to your support, on Tuesday, May 13, the County of Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors voted to direct county staff to develop an oil phaseout ordinance. More than two dozen community members attended in-person or virtually to provide public comment, mostly in support of ending oil drilling and phasing out existing wells. The Community Environmental Council (CEC) partnered with the Sierra Club Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter, the Environmental Defense Center, Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas (CFROG) and more than 50 other organizations on this call to action.

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Announcing Community Environmental Council (CEC)’s 2025 Environmental Heroes

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The Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival will return to Alameda Park on Saturday, April 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 27 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., 2025. Now in its 55th year, the community-organized festival is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations in the country and is one of the largest Earth Day festivals on the West Coast. Presented by the Community Environmental Council (CEC) and produced by longtime festival partner, CarpEvents, the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival continues to serve as a beacon for environmental advocacy and education.

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Bilingual report — Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival takes over Alameda Park April 26 & 27, 2025

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Now in its 55th year, the community-organized festival is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations in the country and is one of the largest Earth Day festivals on the West Coast. Presented by the Community Environmental Council (CEC) and produced by longtime festival partner, CarpEvents, the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival continues to serve as a beacon for environmental advocacy and education.

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Community Environmental Council (CEC) — WE WON’T STOP

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We get it. The daily barrage of bad news punctuated by heartbreaking environmental crises is enough to make anyone want to shut down.

But the Community Environmental Council’s team of 28 Board and Staff members are not tuning out. We are still very much in this — working every day to ensure that the California Central Coast is a tangible, real-world model of what healthy, equitable, climate-safe communities can look like.

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Last Chance! Register now for CEC’s Climate Stewards Course

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Are you ready to lead grassroots climate action?
CEC’s Spring Climate Stewards Course begins April 16.
CEC Climate Stewards are leading a groundswell of Climate Action across California’s central coast. If you are looking for ways to have a positive impact in your community, CEC’s Climate Stewards certification program can equip you with the skills and confidence to take individual and collective action.

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Community Environmental Council (CEC) — Celebrate Earth Month with Us!

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Connect with a community of activists.
Join us on the first Friday of each month, when local climate activists, students, and community members gather to exchange information about regional climate issues and opportunities for action. This month, Santa Barbara organizations will share Earth month actions that the community can take part in, including Sable pipeline advocacy opportunities.
Friday, April 4, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
CEC’s Environmental Hub
1219 State St., Santa Barbara

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Community Environmental Council (CEC) to co-host 55th annual Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival on April 26, 27, more news

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As Federal climate leadership stalls, cities, states, and local organizations are taking action to build climate resilience from the ground up. In this vein, the Community Environmental Council (CEC) remains committed to fostering grassroots climate action along California’s Central Coast.

This month, CEC is proud to co-host the 55th annual Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival, an opportunity to educate, advocate, and mobilize around climate action. The theme for Earth Day 2025 is Our Power, Our Planet, inviting everyone around the globe to unite behind renewable energy, and to triple the global generation of clean electricity by 2030. 

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Community Environmental Council — Community Voices Wanted! New CEC Initiative in North Santa Barbara County

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The Santa Barbara County Regional Climate Collaborative is looking for three community members to join the Guadalupe-Lompoc Climate Action Initiative (GLI) Coordinating Committee. If you don’t live in North County but know someone who does, share this opportunity with them!

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Bilingual Report — Community Environmental Council — Act Now: Save up to $24,000 on an EV

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Central Coast residents can receive up to $12,000 to purchase or lease an electric vehicle (EV) thanks to funding that was just released through the California Driving Clean Assistance Program. Combined with other incentives, participants could save up to $24,000 on an EV. You must be income-eligible to receive funding, and you must pre-qualify online before shopping for an EV.

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Community Environmental Council (CEC) — Last Chance to Register: CEC’s Climate Stewards Course

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When climate disasters strike, knowing how to help impacted communities and habitats can be daunting. CEC’s Climate Stewards certification program equips you with the knowledge to take climate action and connects you with a network of local activists working to promote community recovery and resilience.

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Community Environmental Council — 2025 is the year for climate leadership!

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CEC’s Climate Stewards certification program is designed to foster connection, confidence, and inspiration for grassroots climate action. Gain the tools and support to tackle climate impacts in your life, work, and community. Let’s work together for a sustainable future — the climate movement needs YOU!

Our Climate Stewards program empowers participants to play an active role in their community to advance rapid and equitable solutions to the climate crisis. Together, our community of 200-strong Climate Steward alumni are leading climate justice initiatives and pushing forward thousands of local solutions.

The next cohort starts January 28, 2025. Now is the perfect time to invest in your future, and the future of our planet!

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Community Environmental Council — Climate-resilient communities don’t just happen

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The California Central Coast we love – with its breathtaking vistas and reputation as a lighthouse community for environmental action – exists because people like you saw the need to protect it. Now it’s our turn to ensure our region remains a beacon.

Donate today and DOUBLE the effects of your gift.

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May 29 — Community Environmental Council (CEC) presenting ‘Transforming Communities: A Conversation on Local Environmental Justice’

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View this email in your browser UPCOMING EVENT Environmental Justice Through Grassroots Activism WHEN: Thursday, May 29, 2025 | 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. WHERE: CEC’s Environmental Hub | 1219 State St., Santa Barbara Join us for a community conversation about…

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Community Environmental Council — Let’s do work for tomorrow, today

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When it comes to climate change, I believe it’s up to my generation to come up with new ideas and build momentum for change. We need to collaborate with everyone, and come together to make a positive impact.

The Community Environmental Council has been pivotal in my learning and activism. They’ve inspired me to step up, turn ideas into a reality, and have given me opportunities to make a difference.

We have so many solutions right at hand, including climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, and climate leadership programs just to name a few. These are the types of solutions CEC educates, advocates, and pioneers for every day. This is the web of interconnecting positive solutions that we need now.

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Bilingual report — Community Environmental Council announces get up to $2,000 for an E-Bike

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The California E-Bike Incentive Project is a statewide program making eco-friendly transportation more affordable and accessible. Eligible applicants can receive up to $2,000 toward the purchase of an e-bike. Applications open December 18, 2024 at 6 p.m.

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Community Environmental Council (CEC) — Tis the Season…for Climate Action!

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The CEC Climate Stewards certi?cation program empowers participants to play an active role in their community to advance rapid and equitable solutions to the climate crisis. Together, our community of 200-strong Climate Steward alumni are standing up for climate justice and pushing forward thousands of solutions, one neighborhood at a time.
The next cohort starts Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Don’t miss out!

Find confidence and inspiration to take climate action today.

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Santa Barbara’s Community Environmental Council update — How We’re Building Resilience to Wildfires

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Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and extreme weather events are driving the severity and frequency of wildfires. So far this year, California has had more than 7,000 wildfires — including our region’s recent Lake and Mountain Fire — that have ravaged a million acres, destroying homes and communities, impacting air quality, and releasing massive amounts of pollution into the atmosphere. Every one of these fires represents a setback to carbon reduction efforts.

But we have the collective power to stop this climate chaos.

The Community Environmental Council recognized early on that the California Central Coast provides the perfect climate lab to test solutions that can protect our and other regions from future fires. The good news is our solutions are working.

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Community Environmental Council — What We’re Going To Do Together

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SANTA BARBARA — At times when the world feels unsettled, the Community Environmental Council is the place where you can turn for hope, empowerment, and tangible action. That’s what we’ve been doing for over 50 years, and we’re good at it.

But building strong heart-centered, climate-resilient, environmentally-sound communities isn’t easy. It takes grit and — for real — we need your support. Here’s our plan of action:

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Community Environmental Council Welcomes New Staff

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SANTA BARBARA —The Community Environmental Council (CEC) recently welcomed new staff members as it expands its bold climate action across California’s Central Coast region. 

The Community Environmental Council welcomed two new staff members and transitioned three staff members to new titles in recent months. These individuals bring a wealth of knowledge and local experience, building CEC’s capacity to go all in on halting the climate crisis — rapidly and equitably. 

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Community Environmental Council Welcomes New Staff

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SANTA BARBARA — The Community Environmental Council (CEC)  recently welcomed three new staff members to its growing team, bolstering the organization’s ability to  advance initiatives that respond regionally to the global climate crisis. 

CEC’s newest staff members will play key roles in strengthening the organization’s outreach, fundraising, and project development capacities. 

New staff include:

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Community Environmental Council Launches Campaign to Prepare Central Coast Residents for Extreme Heat Impacts

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“As a Climate leader for California’s Central Coast, we recognize that without community resilience, extreme heat will continue to exacerbate the underlying inequalities within our region,” said CEC Director of Climate Resilience Em Johnson. “Leading a regional coalition of over fifteen government agencies, grassroots organizations and community-based organizations, our vision as an EHRA partner is to reduce our region’s economic and health disparities related to the prevalence of extreme heat.”

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Community Environmental Council Releases Critical Report on Impact of Climate Action

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SANTA BARBARA — This week the Community Environmental Council (CEC) released its 2022 Impact Report, which provides key highlights of how the organization is working to immediately tackle the urgent threat of climate change on California’s Central Coast. The report is accessible at cecsb.org/impact. 

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Bilingual report — Santa Barbara Earth Day Honors Two Outstanding Environmental Justice Activists with 2023 Environmental Hero Award

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The Community Environmental Council (CEC) proudly announces the recipients of its 2023 Santa Barbara Earth Day Environmental Hero Awards. CEC will honor Nalleli Cobo and Cesar Aguirre, who both work tirelessly in their communities to combat the devastating effects of the fossil fuel industry. The awards ceremony will be emceed by past Environmental Hero Award recipient Florencia Ramirez, kitchen activist, podcaster, and author of “How to Eat Less Water.”

Cesar Aguirre
Activists like Cobo and Aguirre have dedicated their lives to making an impact on climate change and set an example for people across California. Their activism lights the way for communities everywhere. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 30 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on the main stage in Alameda Park.Both awardees will be on stage to accept their awards. 

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June 1 — Bilingual report —Experts Share How to Prepare for Upcoming Heat Waves

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entura County is warming faster than any other county in the contiguous U.S., with neighboring Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties not far behind. Higher temperatures put the health and well-being of the most vulnerable—including agricultural workers, youth, and the elderly—in serious jeopardy. 

On Thursday, June 1, the Community Environmental Council (CEC) will bring together local and national experts who are on the frontlines of developing solutions to safeguard community members when temperatures soar. 

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Nov. 17 — Bilingual report — Community Workshop in Guadalupe To Share First-Ever Continuous Air Quality Data For the Region

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SANTA BARBARA — In September, wildfire smoke from as far away as Oregon impacted California’s Central Coast, prompting the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) and Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to issue an Air Quality Alert for Santa Barbara County. An air quality monitoring system established last year in Guadalupe recorded unhealthy levels of particulate matter for sensitive groups and ensured that the data was available to the community for the first time ever via the Guadalupe Community Air Project website.

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