Santa Barbara City Councilwoman and City College professor of environmental geology Kristen Sneddon chimes in on climate change, sea-level rise, parklets and outdoor dining, in a wide-ranging conversation with journalist Josh Molina.

Sneddon discussed climate change and riffed on last week’s podcast with self-described “doomer” Eliot Jacobson, in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks.

“The moment is now,” Sneddon said. “The moment is now to make these changes. It’s not tomorrow.”

Jacobson in the June 19 episode of Santa Barbara Talks said it is too late save the planet for humans, and that the green energy steps, such as electric cars, bikes, wind and solar are equally as bad for the environment as fossil fuels.

“There’s no question that each one of these comes with a pro and a con, but even if you stacked all the cons together, they don’t add up to what the petroleum industry is responsible for,” Sneddon said.

Sneddon did not dispute Jacobson’s data, but where she differs is that she believes there’s still time to do something, as long as it happens now.

Regularly across the world, there are atmospheric rivers, intense rains, major droughts and huge fires, she said.

“I don’t know about labeling it ‘doomer,’ or ‘pragmatist,’ or ‘optimist,’ or what label to put on it, but there’s no question that these things are intensifying and we need to address them,” Sneddon said.

In the second half of the podcast, Sneddon talks about cars on State Street and outdoor dining. The City Council is set to vote on Tuesday whether to continue the car ban on 9 blocks through at least 2026.

Sneddon supports a car ban on those blocks, but raised concerns about how to manage bicycles.

“We’ve had over two years, three years where we could be really piloting different ideas on different blocks. Even if the blocks were different, at least that would slow people down,” Sneddon said.

“We have to address this situation or the support and the momentum of the State Street master plan is going to implode.”

Check out the full interview by clicking here or on the video above.

Joshua Molina is an award-winning journalist, who also teaches journalism at Santa Barbara College and Cal State University, Northridge. He formerly covered City Hall for the San Jose Mercury News. Santa Barbara Talks is a private venture owned by Molina. To consider a contribution to support community conversations visit www.santabarbaratalks.com or santabarbarapodcasts.com. email him at josh@santabarbaratalks.com