Submitted by Mayor Richard Bailey and Councilman Whitney Benzian
As part of the City of Coronado’s forthcoming Climate Action Plan, Mayor Bailey and Councilmember Benzian are proposing the City Council incorporate a carbon sequestration strategy based on planting thousands of new trees over the next decade.
In addition to enhancing the beauty of our city, newly planted trees would also improve the air quality for Coronado residents and visitors.
Councilmember Benzian hopes this initiative will encourage other cities to follow. “Planting trees is the single simplest thing we can do as a community to mitigate the carbon dioxide being pumped into our air by car commuters. This proposal will be Coronado’s part in what is hopefully a widespread trend to purify the air we breathe every day,” said Benzian.
According to an article published in National Geographic titled, “How to Erase 100 Years of Carbon Emissions? Plant Trees – Lots of Them,” a global effort to plant trees in all available space without affecting existing cities or agriculture would “cut atmospheric carbon dioxide 25 percent.”
Mayor Bailey and Councilmember Benzian are calling for an initial goal of planting 1,001 new trees by the end of 2024 and the eventual goal of planting enough new trees to sequester all carbon emissions from car trips by Coronado residents that originate and terminate within our city limits by 2030.
Mayor Bailey said, “This new initiative would continue our City Council’s commitment to smart environmental policies that are good for the environment and good for our taxpayers.”
The two Coronado representatives hope to leverage cooperative partnerships with the U.S. Navy, state of California and the Port of San Diego to help accomplish the long-term goal of improving air quality.
– Mayor Bailey and Councilmember Benzian
