Visit the World Business Academy Booth at the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival April 27 & 28 at Alameda Park.
The world has problems, and Santa Barbara County is no exception. The World Business Academy’s mission is to encourage businesses to create innovative solutions both locally and globally to the planet’s pressing environmental challenges.
The World Business Academy has been identifying problems and solutions through The Optimist Daily and our new live on-air radio show “Solutions News,” and now we need YOU to help us find solutions!
Since 2014, the World Business Academy has presented a number of environmental issues and strategies to the community. In our first year, we presented our California Moonshot Vision to transition California to 100% renewable energy at no additional cost to the ratepayer. Sounds a lot like the Green New Deal, right?
In subsequent years, we sounded the alarm regarding our vulnerable energy system, offered a distributed energy vision for coastal local communities, issued our plan for a renewable, reliable and resilient Santa Barbara area, and a roadmap to resilience starting with a community microgrid in Montecito.
Our priority for 2019 is to implement strategies to reverse climate change and move toward to a 100% renewable energy economy as quickly as possible. To address Santa Barbara’s unique issues, it’s now time to put our motto into effect and “think globally, act locally.”
Your first step to action is to RSVP and attend Sunday’s Earth Day Climate Summit at Alameda Park from 9 to 11 a.m. The time to mobilize is NOW!
Next, find our booth at the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival Saturday, April 27 – Sunday, April 28 at Alameda Park. You’ll find us in the Public Square area in booth # 303. We’d love to share with you all that we’re doing and some of the successes we have had in past years as we work to make the planet a better – and cleaner – place. We are seeking to engage the community and educate people on ways they can help.
Get all the details about the festival here: http://sbearthday.org
Did you know that greenhouse gas emissions in Santa Barbara County between 2007 and 2016 increased by over 14 percent, contrasting sharply against the county’s projected 15 percent reduction target? We simply have to do better!
In order to move forward, we first have to stop digging! So we also ask you to join us in opposing the Cat Canyon Oil and Gas Projects. These proposed 750 wells pose a threat to our air and groundwater resources and should be replaced with renewable energy projects that create many times the number of jobs proposed by the oil companies.
As we focus on transitioning to local renewable energy, the technology and the investments are ready, willing and able. The question is, are we?
We certainly can succeed if we follow through achieving these goals:
- Develop and implement strategic energy plans that integrate energy development as part of our community planning process.
- Dedicate serious resources to resilient transportation systems that reduce emissions, congestion and commuter stress. This will require improved mass transit service from MTD and Amtrak; developing a menu of “last mile” solutions of electric vehicles, shuttles, bikes, and scooters; and providing reliable and user-friendly access through a centralized phone app platform. Also on the topic of transportation, we need to bring housing close to jobs and job centers. (For a more detailed analysis please read our blog “Greening Our Infrastructure: Transportation)
- Repurpose infrastructure like oil platforms, which could be transformed into offshore wind facilities or marine sanctuaries offering unique eco-tourism destinations.
- Modify the existing power grid for local distributed energy and renewable hydrogen.
- Revitalize Downtown Santa Barbara and State Street by developing affordable housing predicated on a social contract to use our shared transportation network.
