What is climate change?

Climate change can't be seen or touched, but every day our families are affected by it. The thick, dirty air and emissions from cars, industries and the generation of electricity harm our environment. The pollution causes heat waves, wildfires and flooding, putting public health at serious risk. Click here or on the image below to read our billingual brochure and learn more about how climate change affects your family and what you can do to can help.

How does it affect your family's health?

Climate change makes it hard to breathe. The air triggers asthma attacks, causing children to miss school and parents to miss work.
Climate change creates longer and more severe heat waves. Hot weather makes it harder to spend time outdoors. Children, seniors and homes without air conditioning are threatening the most by the heat.
Climate change causes drought, reducing our access to fresh water and increasing the risk of wildfires.
Climate change adds to sea-level rise, which threatens out homes and coastal communities with floods.

Take action in your community.
Stand up for clean air and healthy changes in your community, such as:

• Solar panels on our rooftops
• Safe and affordable public transit
• Walkable and bikeable neighborhoods
• Good paying, local jobs
• Reduction of air pollution from industries

Take public transit or ride your bicycle instead of driving a car.

Take action at home.
You can reduce pollution right now by making your home energy efficient:

• Unplug items when you are not using them, including cell phone chargers, TVs and coffee machines
• Turn off the lights when not in use
• Take five–minute showers
• Use curtains to keep your house cool/warm

Together, we can reduce pollution in our community and at home. Contact your healthcare professional for more information. (Back to top)

Each of us is a commuter. We commute to work, to school, to the grocery store and to the homes of our friends and family, making transportation an important issue affecting our everyday lives. It is not why we commute, but how we commute that matters. 

Our transportation choices impact our public health, with cars polluting our air and catalyzing climate change and environmental health hazards. When we take public transit or ride our bicycle, we reduce our risk for pollution and pollution-related illnesses, such as asthma.

Unfortunately, not all communities have the same access to healthy and safe transportation options, such as public transit and biking and walking paths. Increased access to sustainable, safe and affordable transportation options means increased access to well-paying jobs, good schools and affordable housing options. In short, better transportation options mean better quality of life.

These safe, reliable and affordable transportation options are what we call transportation justice. Transportation justice means all neighborhoods have equal access to alternative transportation and no communities are overburdened with the pollution from cars on neighborhood streets or freeways. It means that the risk of being hit by a car is reduced because bike paths and sidewalks are plentiful. It means public transit is affordable, accessible and convenient and families don't have to walk an hour to the grocery store because they can't afford to take the bus. It means a person does not have to travel two hours each way on the bus to get to and from work, when the same trip a car ride would only take 20 minutes.

Goals of the transportation justice movement include:

• Accessibility – Increase transportation options and affordability giving community member's greater access to goods, jobs and services.
• Increased public health and safety - Improve infrastructure that reduces air pollution and pedestrian and bicyclist collisions by cars. 
• Equity in investment and benefits – Prioritize transportation investments for historically underserved communities and there is an equitable distribution of transportation benefits by providing high quality services to all.

In 2014, elected officials from the San Diego region work to determine how to best invest money in transportation and what the future of transportation options should look like. Get involved to make your voice heard and ensure transportation justice for all. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more information or get involved: (619) 474-0220 ext. 130.

Please read the original post by California Environmental Justice Alliance here. 

President Obama recently announced his new plan to address climate change. The plan proposes new rules to cut carbon dioxide emissions from the nation's remaining coal fired power plants. Announced through the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Power Plan by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the President and the EPA propose to cut carbon dioxide pollution from the nation's existing power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

The President's plan includes goals to accelerate clean energy through increased funding for technology and doubling wind and solar electricity generation by 2020. It intends to promote energy efficiency and conservation in homes, businesses, and factories by increasing loans for energy efficiency and conservation and setting targets for cutting energy waste in multi-family homes. 

A climate plan needs bold environmental justice provisions

A successful national climate plan must start with the communities most directly impacted. Communities of color are often left out of the benefit of environmental and energy policies, while struggling with the health and quality of life impacts of fossil fuel use and production on a daily basis. Although President Obama's plan takes a big step forward and includes a section on environmental justice saying the EPA has taken comments from environmental justice communities nationally, it is vague in how it will address impacts on low-income communities of color who already bear the burden of dirty energy and are first in line to feel the impacts of climate change.

Especially as the Environmental Protection Agency just celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Executive Order on Environmental Justice and released a new "strategy" to achieving environmental justice, called "Plan EJ", Obama's plan merely says that "the EPA will consider environmental justice issues." The plan must be more specific and bold as to how it will address environmental justice.

In order for President Obama's Climate Plan to help our country make the transition we desperately need, it must start with the communities who are most highly impacted by our dirty energy economy.

Don't be fooled by natural gas

The President is also solely focused on transitioning off coal power plants using primarily natural gas, a fossil fuel and one form of dirty energy. While coal must be phased out, it is a dangerous and faulty move to replace coal with natural gas. Natural gas power plants are often located in poor communities and are extremely detrimental to our climate and health. Natural gas releases dangerous levels of greenhouse gases, including methane which has 20 times the global warming potential than carbon dioxide. The President and the EPA need to set aggressive targets to transition to 100 percent renewable energy, instead of relying on dirty energy.

By focusing on natural gas a "bridge fuel", the President and the EPA encourage extreme oil and natural gas extraction techniques. In California, communities experience extreme oil and gas extraction in examples such as the Chevron oil refinery in poor Laotian and Black communities in Richmond to fracking in Latino communities in the Central Valley and to the massive build out of dirty gas plants in Southern California. The Presidents' support for natural gas is particularly out of touch with environmental justice communities who have demanded to transition off of fossil fuel for years.

Yes to clean energy, but let's make it local

The California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) and EHC applaud President Obama for his goal of increasing solar and wind in the nation. We also challenge the President to increase local distributed generation (such as rooftop solar), especially in communities most impacted and disadvantaged communities. Low-income communities and communities of color rarely benefit from large scale solar and wind farms, and these projects can have their own negative health impacts. By focusing on local distributed generation, our communities can reap the health and climate benefits, and get the advantage of the local economic and job development.

CEJA and EHC appreciate Obama's plan to increase standards and funding for efficiency and conservation, and urge that the nation follow California's example by creating a clear "hierarchy" of energy saving strategies: prioritize conservation, demand response, energy efficiency and renewable energy, before any natural gas is considered.

CEJA and EHC applaud President Obama for his new climate plan, but encourages the President, the Environmental Protection Agency and Congress to make a clear commitment to two of the most critical elements to any successful climate change plan: ensuring benefits for the communities most directly impacted, and ending all dirty energy, including extreme oil and natural gas extraction. While the current plan takes important steps, only with these elements will we be able to truly save our climate.

The wildfires in San Diego recently have been nothing short of unpredictable and scary. For the past week we have been eyeing our backyards with suspicious caution and watching the news with angst. Our hearts go out to the families and communities that have been affected by these tragic fires.

These wildfires are one example of how much harm climate change is having on our region, and why we are asking San Diego to take immediate action on a strong climate plan that will prepare residents for the effects of climate change and reduce the pollution that causes climate change. 

But these effects are not only a concern to San Diego. On May 6, the White House released its third National Climate Assessment to give the most updated scientific report on how climate change is directly impacting different areas of the country. The report identifies impacts on the Southwest, including:

• Snowpack and streamflow amounts are projected to decline in parts of the Southwest, decreasing surface water supply reliability for cities, agriculture, and ecosystems. (p. 78)
• Increased warming, drought, and insect outbreaks, all caused by or linked to climate change, have increased wildfires and impacts to people and ecosystems in the Southwest. (p. 78)
• Short-term (seasonal or shorter) droughts are expected to intensify in most U.S. regions. Longer-term droughts are expected to intensify in large areas of the Southwest, southern Great Plains, and Southeast. (p. 42)

For a comprehensive list of how drastically climate change is affecting our environment, our communities and our everyday lives, click here. 

Climate change is something that affects us all. These wildfires, the rising temperatures, the drought and much more are making it harder for us to enjoy where we live with the people we care about. Join us in urging the City of San Diego to adopt a plan that wastes no time in reducing the pollution that causes climate change and preparing us for the unavoidable effects of climate change. Click here to learn more and find out how you can do your part to reduce pollution and donate to EHC today to help us ensure our region takes strong and immediate action to combat climate change.

Come to tomorrow night's open house at the Port of San Diego and demand clean air, healthy communities and environmental justice become priorities for the next 50 years in San Diego. The workshop runs from 6-8 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center (140 East 12th St, National City, 91950.) 

Click here for EHC's suggested talking points. 

We have a great opportunity to get involved in shaping the future of our community. The Port is currently developing its guidelines and plan for the next 50 years. While it has taken some actions to address the negative impacts of its pollution on Barrio Logan and Old Town National City -- which experience some of the highest cumulative pollution impacts in the state-- we need it to adopt a clear commitment to clean air, healthy communities and environmental justice in San Diego. Clean air, healthy communities, and environmental justice are not too much to ask.

We want the Port to commit to taking all available action to reduce the cumulative health burdens on its neighbors as it continues to grow and develop.

Please attend on Tuesday, April 22 or Wednesday, April 30 and let the Port know we care about clean air, healthy communities and environmental justice today and for the future of our children. If you are unable to make the workshops, you can still make your voice heard by taking the five minute survey. 

Click here for more information on the open houses.

Did you know the Port of San Diego oversees 5,333 acres of public land? Of that 5,333 acres, 3,520 are water and 1,813 are land along the shore. Yet only eight percent of the 5,333 acres is parks, while 70 percent is currently "leasable land," also known as available space for big, industrial manufacturers or hotels and commercial operations.

Can you imagine how different San Diego would be if more than eight percent of the Port's 5,333 acres included parks, paths, benches, viewpoints and more for community members? 

We have a chance to tell the Port that is what we want. Now, the Port of San Diego is asking for our feedback as it drafts a new plan for land and water use for the next 50 years. Eight environmental organizations came together to recommend guiding principles to include in the Port's vision for the San Diego Bay, and now we must join them and make the community voice heard even louder. 

Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey (also available in Spanish) and let the Port know you want:

• Clean air
• Clean water
• Safe, reliable and accessible public transit
• Protection of natural resources in and along the Bay
• Increased recreational opportunities along the Bay, including access to the waterfront, parks and more

With your help, we can request the Port of San Diego lead the way in environmental justice. The Port has an opportunity to set an excellent example for the city by prioritizing nearby residential communities and pollution reduction, just as they did with the recent start-up of Shorepower on the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal. 

EHC has already prepared its recommendations, now it's your turn to recommend the Port take action by:

• Pursuing immediate action to improve public health by reducing air and environmental pollution
• Ensuring that Port and tenant operations don't continue to negatively effect the health and safety of adjacent residential communities
• Commiting to taking all available action to reduce the cumulative health burdens on Barrio Logan and National City
• Proactively ensuring that ecology of San Diego Bay is enhanced, not degraded, over the next 50 years
• Adopting clean air and clean freight policies that are aggressive and effective
• Implementing the Climate Action Plan and meet local pollution reduction goals and develop a plan to protect areas from sea level rise and other effects of climate change

Join us in specifically asking the Port to make San Diego's next 50 years clean, safe and healthy – a future we all deserve.

Tired of seeing your energy bills go up while your air keeps getting polluted from dirty power plants? Brace yourself; we might be in for more of both. On top of the rate hikes proposed for low-energy users to help out the energy hogs, we're likely to see rake hikes from new gas plants too.

Here's the scoop:

A few weeks ago, the California Public Utilities Commission— the state agency that regulates large energy providers like San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)— voted in San Francisco to approve SDG&E's application for Pio Pico— an unnecessary gas power plant in Otay Mesa. This will cost SDG&E's customers (that's you) $1.6 Billion in rate increases, plus the rising cost of the gas itself, plus the 685,626 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year, or about 130,000 cars-worth of climate change causing pollutants.

Less than a week later, the California Public Utilities Commission announced a draft plan to let SDG&E replace the now-closed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station with 1.6 times more power than we got from the generating station in the first place. What's worse is that they're proposing to allow SDG&E to produce that power with polluting gas. The Commission may vote on this proposal in just a few weeks, again in San Francisco.

So what's the problem?

We shouldn't pay to build more power than we need.
Pio Pico isn't necessary to keep the lights on, neither is the state's proposal to replace the generating station with way more energy than we need. Building more energy than we need—dirty or clean—comes at a cost because we'll be paying for all that infrastructure whether we use the power or not.

We shouldn't approve new gas plants during a gas shortage.
Somewhere in between the state's approval of gas-fired Pio Pico and the unveiling of the plan to let gas plants replace the generating station, SDG&E had to ask customers to reduce their energy use due to a shortage of gas reserves. Seriously.

San Diegans deserve to be heard by our public decision-makers. 
San Diegans and southern Californian's have made clear in polls and local rallies they want to see more clean energy in their neighborhoods, not fossil fuels. But our voices are not making it up to San Francisco, where the California Public Utilities Commission is deciding our energy future. Travelling to San Francisco to influence Commission decisions is business-as-usual for SDG&E and parent company Sempra, as is made clear by their lobbying report; but for the average resident the cost and time of the trek is prohibitive. We asked the Commission for a local hearing on Pio Pico and on the replacement plan for the generating station, but our requests have been denied. Is it fair that the utility and its gas-peddling parent company are the only "locals" who can afford to have their voices heard?

What's the solution? 

We should replace the generating station with clean, renewable energy, when needed.
At a time when Californians— especially low-income communities of color— are increasingly feeling climate change impacts, we can't afford to allow more polluting and expensive gas plants that harm our climate, our health, and our wallets. Gas plant prices are on the rise and they pollute; clean energy costs keep dropping and it doesn't pollute our air. Shouldn't this be an easy choice? Let's make a firm commitment.

We deserve better.
For the sake of our health, our future, our wallets San Diegans deserve for our decision makers to make a firm commitment to clean energy, not leave the door wide open for the utilities to build more gas plants and hike our rates at their discretion.

And for the sake of democracy, local residents deserve to have a say in what kind of energy produced their region and powers their homes and businesses.

We demand better!
Join EHC, the California Environmental Justice Alliance, and communities around the state in demanding a clean energy future! Sign the petition today!

The Port of San Diego is drafting its plan to guide land and water use for the next 50 years, and we must make our voices heard. On Tuesday, February 18 and Wednesday, February 19, community members have the opportunity to provide feedback at the two-night Integrated Planning Workshop.

We need your help to make sure the Port's 50-year plan steers San Diego towards a clean, safe and healthy future.

Join us to request the Port of San Diego lead the way in environmental justice and set an example by prioritizing nearby residential communities and pollution reduction. Together, let's ask the Port of San Diego to:

• Pursue immediate action to address climate change by reducing air and environmental pollution.
• Ensure that its operations don't continue to negatively effect the health and safety of adjacent residential communities.
• Commit to taking all available action to reduce the cumulative health burdens on Barrio Logan and National City.
• Proactively ensure that San Diego Bay is enhanced, not degraded, over the next 50 years.
• Adopt clean air and clean frieght policies that are aggresive and effective.
• Implement the Climate Action Plan and meet local pollution reduction goals.

Please join us!

Tuesday, February 18, 6-8 p.m.
B Street Cruise Ship Terminal
1140 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego 
(Parking is available on the Pier)

Wednesday, February 19, 6-8 p.m.
Norman Park Senior Center
270 F St, Chula Vista 

If you can't make the meeting but would still like to give input for the planning process, submit your comments here. 

Last week, I received an email alert from SDG&E announcing the Reduce Your Use Day and customers were asked to conserve energy. I was surprised  because these days typically occur on San Diego's hottest summer days, when energy-hogging air conditioners are running to maximum capacity. Reducing our energy consumption at those times helps SDG&E avoid the need to turn on additional polluting "peaker" power plants to meet demand and also avoid blackouts.

But it's "winter" now in San Diego and that means we have comparatively low energy consumption; so why did SDG&E call a Reduce Your Use Day?

Because there's a nationwide shortage of natural gas—the fuel that powers most of San Diego's electricity— due to cold weather in other parts of the U.S., leaving SDG&E and other Southern California utilities scrambling for gas reserves.

The particular irony of this gas shortage is that it comes just several days after the California Public Utilities Commission approved SDG&E's 25-year contract for a new gas plant, "Pio Pico", in Otay Mesa. To make matters worse, when they applied for Pio Pico's approval, SDG&E told customers that gas-burning Pio Pico would make our electricity system more reliable, but now they're telling us they don't have a reliable supply of gas.

Which is it?

Last week's gas shortage should make the California Public Utilities Commission and our elected officials give serious consideration as to whether expanding our reliance on gas-fired power plants makes our electricity system more reliable, as the utilities claim, or if these all too common gas market fluctuations actually makes us more vulnerable to price shocks and potential outages.

Instead of rushing to approve more risky gas plants, our state and our utilities should prioritize reliable sources of clean, local energy like energy storage, solar and efficiency.

We still don't think Pio Pico should have been approved. But at the very least, the buck (the $1.6B buck) should stop there. Moving forward, let's use the retirement of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station as an opportunity to reduce dependence on risky gas-fired power and instead shift to reliable, local and modern clean energy technology.

Chula Vista City Councilmember Pamela Bensoussan recently urged the California Public Utilities Commission to deny a fossil fuel power plant proposed for Otay Mesa, an area of existing high pollution levels,  known as Pio Pico. 

Councilmember Bensoussan's letter expresses concern that Pio Pico would further burden the community with additional pollution and "repeats a familiar pattern of concentrating the region's polluting activities in South County." She also cites concern about the project's impact on climate change and on the community's choice to secure clean energy.

Thank you Councilmember Bensoussan for standing up for health and clean energy in our communities!

Here's how you can take a stand and join her:

• Sign this petition to tell our state's energy regulators you don't want the polluting Pio Pico power plant in San Diego.
• Sign this letter to elected officials who represent the South Bay area to ask them to take a stand against Pio Pico.

Learn more about Pio Pico here.