San Diego (March 18, 2015) – Furthering the work of “San Diego, 2050 Is Calling. HOW WILL WE ANSWER?” – a first-ever collaboration among community leaders and world-renowned scientists – the new video highlights regional efforts for maintaining San Diego’s quality of life by addressing climate impacts.
Working with policymakers, business and community leaders, environmentalists and climate scientists, Climate Education Partners (San Diego Region) released Answering the Call, a new video connecting the efforts of local scientists and regional leaders, working together on efforts to maintain San Diego’s quality of life and strong economy by addressing the impacts of the region’s changing climate.
San Diego County Board of Supervisor Ron Roberts, featured in Answering the Call, opens with his view, “Quality of life is why we’re here. It’s what everybody wants. We want clean air. We want clean water. We want our beaches and bays to be clean and even our mountains and our streams.”
“Leaders from all sectors of our economy are coming together to prepare for and respond to our impact on the planet,” continues former city of Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox, also featured in the video. From the business community, Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jerry Sanders adds, “We’ve seen business really try to adapt. The innovation has just been unbelievable. We’re one of the leaders in [innovation] in the United States and, in fact, in the world.”
Answering the Call and the 2050 Report address the importance of the regional economy and how preparing for the impacts of a changing climate will help the San Diego region stay ahead of the challenges it and other communities throughout the nation are facing.
The 2050 Report and Answering the Call represent a first-of-its-kind approach for scientists and community, business and government leaders working together to solve the problems of a changing climate. California’s 52nd District U.S. Congressman Scott Peters speaks in Answering the Call to the importance of San Diego’s leadership as a national leader with this type of collaborative, “Climate Educations Partners is an example of a collaboration that is happening in the San Diego region that really could teach some lessons to other places around the country.”
Bring together a wide range of community leaders, Answering the Call also features San Diego Convention Center President and CEO Carol Wallace, San Diego Unified Port Commissioner Rafael Castellanos, San Diego County Farm Bureau President Julie Walker and San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Maureen Stapleton, among others.
Answering the Call continues the work reported in “San Diego, 2050 Is Calling. HOW WILL WE ANSWER?” This report was released by Climate Education Partners and The San Diego Foundation in June 2014. Using a practical, solutions-oriented approach to the impacts of the region’s changing climate, Answering the Call and the 2050 Report balance up-to-date local climate science with thoughts and perspectives from leaders across a wide diversity of communities and sectors, including healthcare, fire-preparedness and public safety, water, transportation and the economy.
Emily Young, PhD, Vice President of Community Impact at The San Diego Foundation, agrees. “I know that working together on a local level we protect our quality of life. I raised my children here, and I want their children to know a San Diego region and quality of life that is every bit as wonderful as we have today.”
Climate Education Partners also created a website, which includes a downloadable copy of the 2050 Report, as well as more information and research supporting the science included in the report. The site also includes a wide range of options for community leaders to consider in their climate planning and actions.
The San Diego Foundation produced its first report on this topic in 2008, titled, “San Diego’s Changing Climate: A Regional Wake-up Call.” The updated report (2014) was developed under the leadership of The San Diego Foundation as a key educational resource of Climate Education Partners, one of only six National Science Foundation-funded projects dedicated to exploring new ways to communicate climate change science to diverse audiences. Print copies of the report are available by contacting Brian Teng at (619) 260.4290 or climate@sandiego.edu.
Climate Education Partners has focused its efforts on regional leaders so they can work together with scientists to dialogue and discuss potential solutions and strategies to address the regional impacts from our changing climate. Climate Education Partners includes scientists and educators from the University of San Diego (USD) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, social and behavioral psychologists from the University of California San Francisco and California State University San Marcos, strategic community planners from The San Diego Foundation and strategic communication experts from The Steve Alexander Group. More information on Climate Education Partners is available at sandiego.edu/climate.