Tuesday, June 6 at 2:00 pm
How Cities Can Solve The Climate Challenge
Mayors around the country are bypassing national politics and working around federal restrictions to both clean up their cities and foster growth in renewable energy. In red states and blue states, local leaders are solving traffic congestion, promoting smart growth and preparing for the impacts climate disruption will have on public health, roads and other infrastructure. Cities are a good news climate story and most reductions in carbon pollution actually happen at the city and regional level.
Carl Pope teamed up with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to write a book about how cities are cleaning up their regional economies. Join us for a conversation with an environmental legend and Bay Area leaders who are advancing sustainable communities despite enthusiasm for the brown economy in Washington, D.C.
Speakers:
Diane Doucette
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy
As the Cofounder and Executive Director of Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy, Diane Doucette oversees a national network of local chambers of commerce focused on building non-traditional and conservative business support for clean energy. Her model of network development has been replicated in many states. She has been a strategic planner, policy advisor, and coalition builder working at the nexus of business and policy advocacy for over 20 years. Prior to working in the clean energy space, Doucette spent the first 10 years of her policy career working internationally as a policy advisor and business liaison in Russia.
Doucette has a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Political Science. In 2006, she was hired jointly by the AB32 Campaign to build significant business support for California’s Global Warming Solutions Act.
Elizabeth Patterson
Mayor, Benicia, CA
Mayor Elizabeth Patterson has served on the Benicia City Council since 2003. She was elected Mayor in 2007 and reelected for a third term in 2016. Patterson currently serves on several other regional boards, including the Solano Transportation Authority Board, SolTrans Transit Authority Board, the Solano Water Agency Board, and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy.
Ms. Patterson was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. She moved to Northern California in 1968, lived and managed a ranch in San Luis Obispo and then to Ithaca, New York for five years before returning to the Bay Area. Elizabeth has lived in Benicia since 1983, where she raised her two girls and one large dog.
Ms. Patterson is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and has been a Planning Director for two Bay Area towns. She was Executive Director of the Partnership for Regional Livability a project for the White House Task Force on Livable Communities during the Clinton/Gore administration.
Ms. Patterson was project director to create the Delta Protection Commission while she was at the California State Lands Commission. She has worked before and within the State Senate. Although officially retired from the state, she continues to work on the 2018 update of California Water Plan at the California State Department of Water Resources. In 2017 she was invited to participate in the annual invitation only brainstorming event with the San Francisco-based Meeting of Minds – a NGO that brings together urban sustainability and technology leaders to identity effective action, visionary partnership and long-term collaboration across all sectors.
Carl Pope
Former Executive Director, Sierra Club
As the former executive director and chairman of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope was at the helm of the nation's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. During Pope's 18 year tenure, Sierra Club led the charge in helping to block more than 125 proposed new coal fired power plants, achieving a 40 percent improvement in the pollution and fuel efficiency of America's passenger vehicles, and launching the Club's Climate Recovery Partnership. Pope came to the role with a distinguished record of progressive activism and leadership. He is now the principal advisor at Inside Straight Strategies, looking for the underlying economics that link sustainability and economic development, and serves as a senior advisor to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Pope has served on the Boards of the California League of Conservation Voters, Public Voice, National Clean Air Coalition, California Common Cause, Public Interest Economics Inc, and Zero Population Growth. Carl Pope is the co-author of Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet.
Rod G. Sinks
City Council Member, Cupertino, CA
Rod Sinks was elected to the Cupertino City Council in 2011 and 2016 and he served as Mayor in 2015. His second term will end in 2020.
Sinks champions issues including education, economy, transportation and environment. He is on the City’s Audit and Fiscal Strategic Committees, and is Council Liaison to local school districts. Regionally, he serves on the Cities Association of Santa Clara County Executive Board, the VTA 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board as Chair, the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority Board as Chair, and the Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission. He also serves on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) Board, its Advisory Council, and its Stationary Source, Climate Change, and Public Engagement Committees.
He helped lead two high tech start-ups from infancy to successful businesses in engineering management roles.
Source: https://climateone.org/events/how-cities-can-solve-climate-challenge