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A festive crowd of environmental activists dressed “green and gorgeous” in support of the Community Environmental Council’s Green Gala and 40th anniversary gathered for a second consecutive year at the popular Funk Zone restaurant, The Lark.
“CEC is a solutions-based organization,” CEC president and CEO Dave Davis said. “The CEC is currently focused on moving the Santa Barbara region away from fossil fuels and energy-intensive products, an audacious goal to provide a clean energy future and address the challenges of climate change.”
Attendees stepped into a stunning setting with décor from the award winning Merryl Brown Events, a longtime CEC partner and creative consultant, after being greeted at the doors by supporters and volunteers dressed in festive garb.
Cocktails, silent auction, “eco-portraits” in a photo booth, and a three-course dinner by The Lark’s chefs provided guests with a magical evening in support of CEC.
The mission of the CEC is to identify, advocate, raise awareness and develop effective programs to solve the most pressing environmental issues that affect the Santa Barbara region. For more than 40 years, the organization has been at the forefront of environmental sustainability, change and progression in the area. From promoting locally farmed organic foods, creating zero-net energy buildings and solar-powered homes and installing electric vehicle charging stations to implementing community-based recycling programs, the CEC is dedicated to reversing the degradation of Santa Barbara’s natural environment.
CEC’s five core initiatives include drive less, choose electric, eat local, go solar and ditch plastic as methods to lessen human impact on the planet through a dedication to more renewable and less wasteful resources.
“The CEC has been at the center of so many wins for the future of our county,” CEC board member Laura Capps told Noozhawk. “Recent successes that the CEC has been a part of include the county’s approval of our first solar farm.”
The CEC’s “Solarize Santa Barbara” program assists homeowners with free solar education through community workshops, and these programs resulted in 240 new solar homes in 2013-2014 adding 1.2 megawatts of solar energy in Santa Barbra and San Luis Obispo counties.
“The Solarize program also provides homeowners the opportunity to purchase panels at a fixed, discounted price from Solar installers,” Davis said. And collectively the projects will, “avoid the emissions equivalent of burning 50,000 gallons of gasoline,” he added.
Additionally, the CEC installed more than 300 charging stations for electric vehicles in the tricounty region.
“These now include a couple of Fast Chargers, which are critical as more people make the transition away from gas cars,” said event emcee, Randy Weiss of Union Bank.
Fellow emcee Dawn Mitcham, chief financial officer for Pacific Capital Resources, expressed the importance of the CEC’s movement against the push for fossil fuels.
“These fast chargers give electric vehicles a full charge in about the time it would take you to fill up your gas tank, wait in line to use the restroom, grab a snack, refill your re-usable water bottle and change your Pandora station,” Mitcham said.
In addition to the informative messages, guests enjoyed a seated three-course dinner created especially for CEC by The Lark chefs, with wine and food from local farms and vineyards.
“We have also launched a new initiative in partnership with the Foodbank, the Santa Barbara Foundation and the Orfalea Foundation, to dig into how our county can create a healthy, vibrant food system that is good for people and the environment,” Weiss said.
CEC’s work with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County builds on what the organization learned from developing a “Regional Food Blueprint.”
“With its year-round growing climate, rich agricultural lands and diversity of crops, Santa Barbara County should be able to provide nutritious, affordable, healthy food to all of its residents,” Davis said.
“And yet, like many communities, we struggle with high rates of obesity, diabetes, poverty, food insecurity and even hunger. Our region is also faced with a multiyear drought, pressure to develop ag lands, and other significant threats to the long-term sustainability of our food system.”
The event also launched CEC’s partnership with Edible Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Famer’s Market in the annual Eat Local Challenge.
Additionally, in the spirit of the gala, nearly everything for the event was repurposed for the evening to fill the space with added ambiance, such as the greenery, décor and table centerpieces that dazzled the crowd of supporters.
The “Rethink the Drink” program at participating schools is designed to urge students to cut down on plastic water bottle usage and waste with the installation of 17 water refilling stations to schools in Goleta, Santa Barbara and the North County.
“We also added two stations in community facilities used for after-school activities,” Davis said. “To date, all the refilling stations installed over the last four years have been used 872,239 times.
“In addition, CEC continued to include a variety of environmental education presentations at each participating location.”
Mitcham summed up the importance of the event that raised $135,000 toward CEC programs and activities.
“One of the ways that we keep our budget so small is that CEC does an amazing job of getting goods and services donated — in fact we get about a quarter of a million dollars a year in in-kind donations,” Mitcham said.
“Tonight is a perfect example — every Green Gala vendor we work with has either significantly reduced their fee or provided their service for free.”
Click here for more information about the Community Environmental Council. Click here to make an online donation.
— Noozhawk iSociety columnist Melissa Walker can be reached at mwalker@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.
