A group of Coronado residents have created a volunteer Climate Advisory Group to help inform Coronado City Council on climate related issues. Nine Coronado citizens with expertise in energy, water, transportation, carbon pricing, education, security, lobbying, real estate, and local government are the founding members of Coronado’s Climate Advisory Group.
As the science and technology around climate change continues to evolve, there is a growing field of complex information to monitor and process. The Climate Advisory Group intends to highlight the most relevant current climate information for City Council. One of the first topics the Climate Advisory Group addressed is Community Choice Aggregation which is an increasingly popular emissions reduction tool adopted locally in San Diego, Del Mar, Encinitas, and Imperial beach. The Climate Advisory Group plans to address additional climate-related topics including electric vehicles, solar energy generation, solar hot water heaters, and the Navy’s local climate plans.
The Climate Advisory Group is also collaborating with the community organization Emerald Keepers to share climate education materials with the greater Coronado community.
One of the founding Climate Advisory Group members, Stewart Winkler, became involved in local environmental initiatives following his 2020 move to Coronado. Stewart brings his expertise as a life-long environmentalist and certified Climate Reality Leader trained through Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. In response to the group’s most recent meeting with city officials, Winkler commented, “The enthusiasm of the group and dialogue we are creating together is very productive; we will be focusing on both incentives in the market and the feedback from the community to charge a positive course of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Other comparable coastal cities including Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, and Carmel-by-the Sea have similar citizen climate advisory groups who work closely with elected officials and city staff.
In compliance with California’s Brown Act, the Climate Advisory Group does not meet with the full City Council. Instead, the Climate Advisory Group is communicating via email with individual Council members and submitting public comments at City Council meetings. In addition, the group is working with Coronado’s city staff to understand and advise on local climate initiatives.
The Coronado Climate Advisory Group meets monthly via Zoom to identify projects and education opportunities. Coronado citizens interested in joining the Climate Advisory Group can submit their interest here.
