In downtown Santa Barbara, less than a block from where one of the first Earth Day festivals took place in 1970, we recently gathered environmental and community leaders around a single question: What happens when Washington, D.C. walks away? We were joined by environmental leaders, policymakers, researchers, city officials, youth leaders, and non-profit advocates. Some arrived carrying hope, others exhaustion, most both. All were there because they could feel something shifting — and not for the better.
Santa Barbara is known as the birthplace of the modern environmental movement. The 1969 oil spill ignited a national awakening, inspiring the creation of Earth Day and shaping the country’s environmental laws for generations. But the California Central Coast has also long been a stronghold of the oil industry. Today, 43 oil and gas companies operate in Ventura County and 25 in Santa Barbara County. In Ventura County alone, more than 8,000 residents live within 2,500 feet of an active oil well; roughly 60 percent are Latinx. This paradox – progress and pressure, innovation and extraction – has defined our history.
Now, the region finds itself at another turning point, and we are sounding the alarm — a canary in the coal mine for America’s climate future.
The Moment We’re In
Over the past year, abrupt federal rollbacks, rescinded or paused grants, and political pressure on climate programs have disrupted millions of dollars in local projects. Three of the Community Environmental Council’s federal grants – together worth more than $1.5 million – were terminated, halting progress on regenerative agriculture, clean transportation, and new green jobs for working families…