Local Green Economy

The San Francisco Civic Center, in front of City Hall, hosted an event last weekend billed as a kick-off for the San Francisco Clean Energy Act, current legislation that will be put to the voters on November 4th as a ballot initiative allowing for the city to produce it’s own power. Similar measures are moving forward in the East Bay, and Marin and are already in affect in Palo Alto.

My mail box is filling up with brochures touting the waste of money this energy project would create, giving it a price tag at $400M, suggesting these funds should be going to other city priorities. PG& E  would become an infrastructure company if this passes, responsible for power lines and maintenance but not generation and it would surely affect their market valuation. Coupled with San Francisco’s Solar Energy Initiative Program, the majority of the power provided under this initiative is going to be decentralized accelerated by solar prices coming down, so this wave of change could hit heavy, fast.

Also touted at the gathering was a citizen day at the Victory Garden showcase. I toured the garden a week ago. It is really well done both aesthetically and functionally. To bad it is only a demonstration and will be pulled down once Slow Food Nation is over at the end of August. It would be great to see one in every neighborhood, so citizens saw the potential in their daily lives. Additionally, over the weekend I got to see Quesada Gardens for the first time after hearing much about the project in the past. It is a model community garden and community gathering space. I also had a very interesting conversation with Jeff Betcher, who is heavily involved in the project, regarding grass roots organizing at the neighborhood level.

The Sustainable Living Roadshow was also involved in the City Hall event as this is the kickoff to their “Be the Change” Election ‘08 tour. I caught up with them on Sunday night at their fundraiser and will be seeing them in Denver in a couple of days at Hirshorn park. I experienced an awesome set by Jennifer Johns and Friends including SeaSunz (Ash Eldridge) and the crew from Cov Records/Art in Action. It was great to experience the acknowledgement going both ways on stage about the excitement and the relevancy of the environmental movement and the social justice movement coming together, finding common ground.

Honestly, I thought we were already there. Now I realize how little I know and how far we all need to go to recognize the interdependence of these issues. This weekend taking a street car trip down through Southeast Sector of the city, having a conversation with a person about the environment being a rich white persons issue and separate from urban, community of color, social justice issues; made me realize what I had been taking for granted. Intellectually and experientially, I know there are deep issues of relevancy and inclusion in the environmental movement, but after listening to Van Jones address the issues many times and feeling surrounded in “my world” with the three tenants of the Pachamama Alliance - standing for an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling human presence on earth, I was mentally past the disconnect. I recognize now that my evolution as activist, is ready for another level of commitment. My next phase has to include community face to face engagements, listening and dialog. To truly understand the integral nature of the issues of those that I have long recognized have not been included in the conversations, conferences, workshops I have been a part of the last 5 years; youth, elders, communities of color and working class citizens.

Much more to come on this topic of the intersection of social justice and environmental sustainability. I believe they are inextricably linked but we need to open up the dialog. Here is an event we should all be able to rally behind  - Sept. 27^th, Green for All is calling for a national day of positive action as Green Jobs Now. I am advocating for a show of numbers at the California Academy of Sciences opening. Should be a good national press opportunity and they should appreciate the citizen support. The museum features one of the largest living roofs (2.5 acres), there will be a clean tech display area and a stage where we might get our voices heard.

I see connecting all the dots in this post as the basis for a local green economy – green jobs, renewable energy, local food. If we can make this inclusive, get the social justice issues right, I think it can scale quickly and acts as engine for real economic development in cities for all citizens.