When Chula Vista resident Mariana Lopez learned how pollution from the South Bay power plant could impact her children’s health and her own, she got involved with the Environmental Health Coalition’s (EHC) climate change efforts. Lopez, who has asthma, says she does “everything possible to reduce chances of getting (asthma) attacks” and to prevent her two children from getting asthma. So she wanted “alternative ways to (produce) energy without using power plants.”

Silvia León, also a mom actively involved in EHC, says her concern about the power plants led to the “bigger picture,” including climate change.

So these mothers and other EHC members joined a citywide group working on climate change. They developed seven recommendations for reducing the carbon dioxide the city produces—including less use of power plants. Eventually the Chula Vista City Council adopted all their recommendations. The residents’ proposals, says Leo Miras, policy advocate for the Environmental Health Coalition, show the “community wants actual, concrete action.” EHC’s strategies included:

• Building support through community leadership trainings: Lopez says the two-hour trainings started with information on a topic, then small-group discussion to “start exchanging ideas,” such as “a program for new business developments to follow (green building) guidelines.”
  
  
  Miras says, “EHC was developing our position on carbon reduction measures” and “the trainings provided us our direction.” Trainings also taught community members how to talk with neighbors and city officials about the issues.
  
  
• Active outreach: Members knocked on doors and distributed fliers. León says she also “talked to moms at school” and gave a presentation at her son’s Head Start program, telling parents, “Power plants are toxic to their (children’s) development.”
  
  
• Preparing for city council meeting: EHC members circulated petitions, “called City Council and e-mailed all city council members,” says León. She was nervous about speaking in front of the city council, but overcame it by “practicing in front of staff.”
  
  
• Meeting with the city council: Lopez brought her children and told the council, “Look at their faces, these are the children of Chula Vista. The main reason I’m here is for them.” Chula Vista Councilmem-ber Rudy Ramirez remembers that “the most important and compelling testimony came from parents, who very clearly made the case that they want to bequeath a better planet to their children.”
  
  
• Practical assistance: EHC worked with CASA Familiar to provide transportation to council hearings. EHC also provided food, child care, and translation at community meetings and hearings. “I am able to focus,” says León, “and know my babies are being taken care of.”

Unprecedented success

The city council adopted all seven carbon-reduction recommendations in April 2008, including:

• Using high-efficiency or alternative fuels for city vehicles
• Requiring new buildings to be built to green building standards
• Setting up a citywide solar energy program
• Building housing near public transportation

Next Steps

EHC is working to ensure that the “spirit of these recommendations (is) implemented in the strongest, most effective way possible,” Miras says.

“I am ready to do this again when they need me,” says León. “Now I see myself as an advocate.”

For more info:

• Leo Miras, Environmental Health Coalition,
  619-474-0220.