Earth Day Organizers Announce
2018 Environmental Hero & Youth Award Recipients and Activities for a “Climate Resilient” Future
Legendary singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins to play and copresent awards with Congressman Salud Carbajal
SANTA BARBARA, CA, April 9, 2018 – The Community Environmental Council (CEC) proudly announces the recipients of its 2018 Environmental Hero Award: water activist and author Florencia Ramirez of Oxnard, and ocean/climate activist organization SeaLegacy. The awards are granted as part of CEC’s annual Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival being held Saturday, April 21 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 22 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Alameda Park.
At the first large community festival to be held since last winter’s Thomas Fire and subsequent deadly Montecito debris flow, events over Earth Month will connect the dots between climate change and a more than 300% increase in extreme weather catastrophes worldwide since 1980.
“In keeping with Santa Barbara’s history of turning disaster into an opportunity for meaningful change – such as the eras following the 1925 earthquake and the 1969 oil spill – the Community Environmental Council believes that the recent disasters present an opportunity to build momentum around climate resilience,” commented Sigrid Wright, CEO/Executive Director of CEC. “Our two heroes this year reflect dual approaches to building climate resilience: direct, mindful action in our daily lives – like Florencia’s call to reconsider each meal – and banding together en masse to safeguard the ecosystems that we depend on to stabilize climate – like SeaLegacy’s international movement for healthy, abundant oceans.”
Environmental Hero Awards
SeaLegacy and Ramirez will each accept the honor at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 21 at the festival Main Stage. SeaLegacy, whose Starving Polar Bear video went viral in late 2017, emphasizes that healthy oceans absorb carbon from the atmosphere and help reduce the impact of climate change – a critical component of building climate resilience. The award will be accepted by local resident and SeaLegacy patron Jodie Willard.
Oxnard resident and award-winning author Florencia Ramirez, whose book Eat Less Water has recently been featured on CBS and NPR, draws a direct line between climate resilience and adapting to a water-constrained world. After accepting her award, she will share her kitchen-table approach to protecting water supplies in a cooking demonstration at the festival’s Roots stage on Saturday at 4:15 p.m.
The awards will be co-presented by musician Kenny Loggins and Congressman Salud Carbajal, a past CEC Environmental Hero Award recipient. Loggins, a Montecito resident, has taken part in multiple events to support the community since the Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flow. A deeply committed environmentalist with a long history of advocating for the planet and green parenting, his song "Conviction of the Heart" was coined the "unofficial anthem of the environmental movement" by Al Gore. As part of the Environmental Hero Awards ceremony, he will play a tune with his daughter Hana.
Carbajal, whose congressional district has been hard-hit by multiple weather-related disasters in the past year, has made climate a top priority. His first legislative action in Congress was to introduce The California Clean Coast Act, a bill that would permanently prohibit future oil and gas leasing off the coast of the entire state of California to simultaneously protect our ecosystems and push the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
One of only 3 California appointees to the White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience under Obama, Carbajal is currently part of five caucuses that are committed to preserving our environment, including the Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.
Explore Ecology Environmental Stewardship Awards
For a second year, CEC is partnering to bring the Explore Ecology Environmental Stewardship Awards to local students, teachers, and classrooms in Santa Barbara County that have spearheaded positive change to help the environment. The 2018 award recipients are:
Gabriel Ramirez (3rd grade, La Patera Elementary); Pyp Pratt (4th grade, Marymount); Sarah Dent (7th grade, Goleta Valley Junior High); Josh Benson (10th grade, Dos Pueblos High); Jill Means (3rd grade teacher, Ellwood Elementary); Jose Caballero (Environmental Science AP & Small Scale Food Production, Santa Barbara High); and Adams Ocean Guardian Ambassadors (Adams School).
Recipients will be honored and give acceptance speeches on the Kids Stage on Saturday, April 21 at 12:45 p.m., and afterward will join CEC Environmental Heroes Florencia Ramirez and SeaLegacy on the Main Stage at 2:00 p.m. for further recognition.
Other Climate Resilience Events/Activities
CEC is also adding events to foster conversation and action before, during and after the festival that will support the community in rallying to face the realities of climate change that have so strongly impacted our region, and in taking action to build a more climate-resilient future.
8:00 - 10:30 p.m., Santa Barbara County Courthouse.
Enjoy a free, immersive video experience, projected on the walls and arches of the County Courthouse, that evokes our tangled web of humanity, sea life and pollutants. Produced by environmental steward Lamara Heartwell. Sponsored by CEC.
Saturday, 11:00 - 6:00 p.m.; Sunday,11:00 - 5:00 p.m. Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival.
Take part in an interactive writing and art project to visually connect the dots between climate change, a 300% increase in extreme weather events since 1980, and the solutions we can act on today to create a climate-resilient future. Sponsored by CEC, The Poetry Booth, South Coast Writing Project’s Young Writers Camp, and Santa Barbara High School’s Visual and Arts Design Academy.
7:00 - 9:00 p.m., Granada Theatre.
Join a free community town hall that will address urgent questions: how we can improve our readiness and response to climate impacts, and what this new reality requires for both policy and practice to improve the resiliency of our infrastructure, our businesses, our homes, our community, and our region. Includes flash talks from UCSB experts, a keynote from former FEMA Director James Lee Witt, a panel discussion moderated by CEC’s CEO/Executive Director Sigrid Wright, and Q&A with key officials from Santa Barbara Fire, County, and nonprofits. Presented in association with CEC, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Santa Barbara Foundation, the Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts (Granada Theatre) and UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.
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The festival itself will have dozens of other ways to learn about and take action on building climate resilience. Community members can support by volunteering at the festival. Sign up for 3-hour shifts as individuals or groups at SBEarthDay.org/Volunteer. Attendees can connect with over 200 organizations throughout the park that are involved in responding to recent disasters and/or cultivating solutions.
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