Author: climateactionsantamonica

Highlights

• Santa Monica coastal development trailer bill exemption effort stopped!
• Upcoming Ocean Way Festival activities and Resiliency Picnic!
• Action alert: Renewable Energy Ordinance public comments
• Upcoming Young Leaders meetup with Mayor Caroline Torosis

CASM in the Community

In August, CASM members set up tables at a few community events, including SAMOHI Freshman ‘Get Your Stuff Day’ and the Santa Monica Forward Block Party.

CASM had a booth at SAMOHI Freshman ‘Get Your Stuff Day,’ alongside the SMMUSD Sustainability Manager, Go SAMO TMO, and Santa Monica Spoke. The groups teamed up to share key resources with students and families for using sustainable modes of transportation. Participants were grateful for the free TAP cards and route planning assistance, and had fun playing “transportation trivia,” for Too Good to Go pastries and other prizes. The booth was bustling all day!

At the SM Forward Block Party, several community groups gathered on Washington Ave between 14th and 15th Street to give residents an opportunity to experience what the neighborhood can look like when a street is designed around people rather than cars. CASM and SM Forward joined groups like SM Spoke, SaMo Safe Streets Alliance, and the Great Park Coalition to bring sustainable transportation-themed games and prizes to tables at the block party. At the CASM table, we brought back our transportation trivia game made in collaboration with the SaMo TMO team, and gave out stickers as prizes!

CASM members also authored a public comment in August about the recent threats of federal takeover of California’s Coastal Management Program, a state-operated program that has protected California’s coast for over 50 years. Last month, the federal government initiated a review of California’s Coastal Management Program under the Coastal Zone Management Act. Typically, federal reviews of these programs happen every 5-10 years. However, according to the Surfrider Foundation, “NOAA evaluated California’s program in 2024, completed a draft report in June 2025 that found successful implementation and enforcement of the program, and never released a final version.” Our state’s Coastal Management Program has a strong track record and typically concurs with federal projects, while protecting our coastal ecosystems along the way. CASM’s letter of public comment to NOAA pointed out just that… see an excerpt from the letter below.

“As Santa Monica residents and Climate Action Santa Monica members, we rely on the health of our coastline daily for our own health and wellbeing. We surf in the water; we walk, run, and bike on the beachside path; we take our children to play in the sand; our businesses thrive with the help of tourists. The California Coastal Management Program has protected our coast and community for decades. This is not a program standing in the way of “national priorities.” It’s a program operating exactly as the Coastal Zone Management Act was intended, as found in the 2024 federal review of the program.”

Upcoming CASM Activities 

September 26th – 27th: CASM Table at Ocean Way Festival

CASM will be attending the Ocean Way Festival on the Santa Monica Pier! Come visit the CASM table anytime between 11am – 4pm for information on City resources and programs focused on energy resilience!

October 11th: CASM + Climate Health Now Resiliency Picnic!

CASM is co-hosting a Resiliency Picnic with Climate Health Now on October 11th 4pm – 6pm at Hotchkiss Park. At this event, we will hold a community picnic and facilitated discussion about how we can build local resilience in response to increasing climate disasters. To learn more about this exciting upcoming event, visit this link. If you’d like, bring a dish to share that reminds you of resilience. Light refreshments will be provided.

Action Alerts

Comment on Renewable Energy Ordinance Restricting Energy Storage Projects

LA County has released a draft of the Renewable Energy Ordinance (REO) and the Notice of Preparation for an Environmental Impact Report and is accepting public comments until September 17th. If adopted as written, the draft renewable ordinance could foreclose much, if not the majority, of the unincorporated County from clean energy development – it’s highly restrictive of energy storage projects, which are a key component of the just energy transition. Several groups are raising awareness on this issue, check out this petition page from Puente Hills Community Preservation Association and the one-pager from Greenlight America below for more information on the impacts of the REO and how to submit a comment.

Climate News

Santa Monica coastal development exemption effort was stopped! The language that was added to the state budget trailer bill that would have allowed a streamlined development effort on Ocean Avenue did not survive the approval process, thanks to input from residents and state representatives. SMDP covers the story here, describing how opposition to the bill culminated in a letter to Gov. Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, signed by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur and roughly a dozen other Assembly members.

The City of Santa Monica is celebrating Sustainable September 2026! The City’s Chief Sustainability Officer shared this post on making September a month for sustainability, and we at CASM are all for that! Check out the list of events that we have gathered below and the events listed in the City’s post to get involved in both individual and city-wide sustainability efforts that we can use this month and into the future to build healthier habits.

Is Long Beach ready for a floating nuclear power plant? According to this recent story from the LA Times, the Port of Long Beach announced a partnership with a nuclear small modular reactor startup, Bluecore Energy, to power the port using small modular reactors installed on floating barges. Even with the partnership announcement, it will likely be years before a small modular reactor may be installed at Long Beach.

Upcoming in the Community

September 5: Apple Season Kick-Off at the Pico Farmer’s Market

September 12: Dune Builders: The Art of A Living Shoreline

September 13: Power Up Palisades Fair – A Community Solar Workshop

September 16: Installing EV Chargers at Multifamily Properties Webinar

September 17: Coastal Connections 2026 – The Bay Foundation Fundraiser

September 19: Soil Eco-Remediation Workshop

September 19: Young Leaders Meet with Mayor Caroline Torosis and Brett Morrow

September 19: Compost Giveaway at City Yards

September 19: Jewelry Workshop: Upcycled Ring Metalsmithing

September 24: How to Install EV Chargers at Your Commercial Property Webinar

September 26: 19th Street Garden Event

September 28: Keeping Climate in the Conversation Lecture

Want to keep your action going? Climate Action Santa Monica (CASM) is looking for volunteers with a variety of talents and interests. Check out our volunteer page to see how you can get involved!

Highlights

• Opportunity to bring EV chargers to your building
• Serve your community by adopting a BBB bus stop
• Label your landfill, recycling, and green bins
• SaMoHi Freshman ‘Get Your Stuff Day’ info

CASM in the Community

SAMOCAN Recap

Last month, CASM organized a SAMOCAN Webinar on the Future of Sustainable Mobility in Santa Monica. We had two City officials who are leading projects that advance zero-emissions transportation give updates on their projects and share how these infrastructure upgrades help Santa Monica reach our City’s emissions reduction goals.

Ariana Vito, Senior Sustainability Analyst in the City’s Office of Sustainability & the Environment, manages the expansion of the City’s public EV charging network. She shared details on recent and upcoming projects for public EV chargers in Santa Monica, as well as updates on how the City is electrifying its heavy-duty maintenance fleet. An interesting piece of her presentation touched on how far the City has come over the past decade on increasing EV ownership and EV charging availability: the share of registered EVs in the City has grown from 1.4% to 12.9% since 2015!

Eric O’Connor, Assistant Director of Transportation for the City of Santa Monica, leads the Big Blue Bus zero-emissions fleet transition and advanced EV charging infrastructure upgrade project. He spoke about the timeline of the project, broken into 6 different phases, which will culminate in a 100% all-electric BBB fleet. One of the main highlights of the presentation was an overview of the overhead charging system, which preserves the structure of the open parking lot in the bus depot and allows for buses to charge from either end after they park.

Our speakers closed the webinar with a few ways that the community can get involved with expanding electric vehicle charger access and supporting Big Blue Bus ridership.

The Charge4All Program installs EV chargers in multi-family buildings at no cost for qualified properties. Southern California EVen Access is now accepting applications for this program for multi-family properties with 50 or more units. The program covers the following expenses: equipment, installation, and 10 years of operations and maintenance for Level 2 EV chargers if accepted. Please visit this link and watch the LA County Charge4All Webinar for application details.

The BBB is introducing the Adopt-A-Stop program where community members can volunteer to maintain their local BBB stop. Adopt-A-Stop volunteers provide an invaluable service in ensuring the cleanliness and safe conditions of BBB’s bus stops. Adopters also receive exciting incentives for volunteering including free bus rides and exclusive merchandise to show off their BBB pride. If you are interested in adopting a stop to serve your community, learn more here!

State of the City Recap

A few CASM members attended the State of the City fair at the end of July to hear the Mayor’s address and spread the word about local climate action. We had a great time chatting with community members about how they act sustainably at home. Composting was a central topic of conversation – the City Waste Division had a fun game on what types of waste belong in the Green Bin and what don’t. We were able to win a prize for correctly sorting the waste!

Upcoming CASM Activities 

August 11: SaMoHi Freshman “Get Your Stuff Day”!

CASM will be tabling at SaMoHi Freshman “Get Your Stuff Day” with City staff on August 11th. Come visit the table for maps and information on trip planning from the GoSaMo TMO team. There will also be games of sustainable mobility trivia, so show us your transportation smarts to win a prize!

A photo from last year’s “Get Your Stuff Day” that shows CASM volunteers behind the table and ready to help!

Action Alerts

Label your garbage bins! At State of the City, the City Waste Management Division was handing out stickers for residents to put on their trash bins, recycling bins, and green bins that provide easy labels to tell you what belongs in each bin. Properly sorting food and organic matter into green bins is a powerful climate action that every household can take, and these stickers make it easier than ever to get waste where it belongs. If you weren’t able to pick up stickers at State of the City, they will be distributed at any of the City Resource Recovery and Recycling events found on this page.

A green bin sticker for quick reference for what belongs (and doesn’t belong) in the green organics recycling containers.

A landfill bin sticker for quick reference for what belongs (and doesn’t belong) in the black landfill containers.

Sign a petition to Stop Big Oil! The Last Chance Alliance is collecting signatures on a petition against state bills AB2711 and AB2716, which seek to attack environmental reviews for oil wells and weaken requirements for oil companies to pay for cleanup when they abandon oil wells. Sign this petition to tell state representatives that Big Oil needs no more handouts!

Climate News

Have you heard the recent buzz about the City removing a number of African Coral trees along San Vicente Blvd? According to a recent SMDP article, an arborist evaluated trees in the corridor and found that removal is the only viable option for 9 “high-risk” trees. This investigation has prompted scrutiny about the tree irrigation system in the corridor for the remaining trees, which was retrofitted in 2016.

An interesting pilot study recently found that replacing a gas stove with an electric stove at home could reduce symptoms of asthma. After replacing the gas stove in a small number of homes, researchers monitored both air quality levels in the home and asthma symptoms of the participants for 3 months after the replacement. Participants reported marked improvement in asthma symptoms, including reduced asthma-related hospitalizations and missed school and work days. Read the full study here!

Does styrofoam recycling have a future? A recent LA Times article examined the complexities associated with recycling polystyrene in its many different forms – including the vilified polystyrene foam. Though styrofoam has long been the bad boy of recycling and subject of many local bans, a producer alliance is hoping to make widespread recycling more viable.

Upcoming in the Community

August 8: Recycling Event at City Yards

August 8: Small Space Gardening Workshop

August 9: Summer of ’26 Pali Veg Fest at the Palisades Village Green

August 13: Renter Aid Program In-Person Application Support

August 15: Top Tomato in Santa Monica Contest

August 15: Westside Repair Cafe (see flyer below for info!)

August 15: Heal The Bay Nothin’ But Sand Beach Cleanup

August 22: Project Save Our Surf Beach Cleanup

August 29: The Bay Foundation & Santa Monica Yoga Morning of Mindfulness and Dune Restoration

Want to keep your action going? Climate Action Santa Monica (CASM) is looking for volunteers with a variety of talents and interests. Check out our volunteer page to see how you can get involved!

Highlights

• A month of advocacy and letters of support!
• Scholarship and fellowship opportunities for students
• Local advocacy is happening now to defend Bird Island!
• SAMOCAN webinar in July

CASM in the Community

June has been a productive month for climate advocacy! Members have contributed to several local climate action efforts by writing letters of support to decision-makers. 

CASM signed on to a letter with many other local and national environmental organizations to support the passage of SB 868, the Plug and Play Solar Act. This bill allows California residents in apartments, condos, and single-family residences to use small balcony solar systems in their homes, which can mitigate the high cost of electricity bills. SB 868 ensures that balcony solar devices meet strict safety standards, protecting both residents and landlords while the devices are in use. Many Californians are in regions with bountiful sunlight, ideal places to benefit from balcony solar, and we are happy to show our support for increased access to renewable energy.

And here’s what coalition building looks like!

Coalition of organizations that signed the Plug and Play Solar Act letter of support.

CASM members authored a letter to Senator Padilla in support of the City of Santa Monica’s funding request for the 2033 Virginia Avenue project. Funding for this project would enable the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, the new owners of the apartment complex, to make repairs and renovate the complex into all-electric, zero net energy buildings. This project creates affordable, sustainable housing in our city and keeps the current residents of the building in their homes, which is why we gladly show support to bring the project to fruition.

CASM members authored two letters of support for improvements to local transportation corridors:

We sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Washington in support of the City of Santa Monica’s application to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2026 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program to implement Phase 2 of the Lincoln Neighborhood Corridor Plan (LiNC). The LiNC plan improves the public right of way on Lincoln Boulevard through both physical streetscape and policy-level improvements to the corridor.

We also sent a letter to the California Transportation Commission in support of the City’s application for Cycle 8 Active Transportation Program funding for the Santa Monica Boulevard Safety and Connectivity Improvements Project. This project would bring a number of local benefits, including enhanced pedestrian crossings, improved mobility for bicyclists and access to transit, protection for children walking and rolling to school, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and increased “foot traffic” downtown to help local businesses thrive.

We hope that our letters of enthusiastic support for local infrastructure improvements make Lincoln Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd safer for all! 

Upcoming CASM Activities 

Our July SAMOCAN webinar will be on sustainable mobility in Santa Monica. The City of Santa Monica has an ambitious Climate Action & Adaptation Plan (CAAP) that includes an overarching goal to “achieve an 80% reduction (below 1990 levels) in community carbon emissions by 2030.” Sustainable mobility is one of three sectors that is included in the climate action part of the CAAP to reach that goal. Vehicle emissions are Santa Monica’s largest source of emissions. This webinar will feature speakers from the Big Blue Bus team as well as the City’s Department of Transportation to discuss zero emissions transportation projects in Santa Monica. Please stay tuned for a specific date and time!

Action Alerts

Scholarship Opportunities

There are many scholarship and fellowship opportunities accepting applications right now for the upcoming school year! If you are a current high school or college student, you may be eligible. Deadlines are approaching, so be sure to visit links below for full application and deadline details for each program.

California Climate Action Corps Fellowship — Deadline: July 31, 2026 

Paid 11-month fellowship (starts Sept 2026), $35,250 stipend + $10K education award. Age 18+. Arguably the best opportunity in the state right now. → Applications opened May 1 and are accepted until July 31, 2026. 

Visit the application link here and find more details here.

Ventana Surfboards Ocean Conservation Scholarship — Deadline: July 15, 2026
$3,000 for California-based students who have completed at least one year of college with a major related to ocean conservation. Essay: 400–600 words on why you care about protecting the ocean.

Visit the application link here.

Apprentice Ecologist Initiative Scholarship — Deadline: August 31, 2026

Open to high school juniors (Class of 2027) and seniors (Class of 2026). Lead or join an environmental stewardship project, write a 750–1,500 word essay, submit photos. Three scholarships totaling $1,750.

Visit the application link here and find more details here.

City of Santa Monica REACH Program

The Office of Sustainability & the Environment’s new Renter’s Energy and Cooling/Heating (REACH) program addresses climate challenges for Santa Monica renters by offering free portable heat pump HVAC units, air purifiers, and portable power stations to income-qualified renters in Santa Monica. The program has plenty of funding still available after distributing the first group of appliances, so please apply for these appliances if you qualify and spread the word to neighbors! Flyers in English and Spanish are attached below. To learn more about the REACH program, visit this link.

Climate News

Data center regulation in California:

Data centers have been a hot topic amongst CASM conversations as of late, due to their huge energy impact and the many bills percolating through California legislative pipelines. At a time when the world needs to urgently transition to renewable energy, adding huge new power consumers to the grid stands to hinder climate progress. Regulations are needed to mitigate community impacts of the data centers, but proposed requirements to merely disclose resource consumption don’t go far enough. The LA Times recently published a story about Governor Newsom’s views on data centers, the various proposed pieces of legislation, and the tension between local residents and big tech about siting data centers in California communities. California’s laws have the potential to create a national model for data center regulation, in absence of federal regulation. As a state, we have the power to impose regulations that make data centers responsible for the impacts that they have to people and planet. The question is, will we?

Local advocacy for Bird Island:

Bird Island is a precious piece of open space at the confluence of Ballona Creek and Centinela Creek, right at the edge of the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve—the only state ecological reserve in all of Los Angeles County. Recently, a misguided and illegal development proposal threatens to destroy the habitat and open space of Bird Island. The group Defend Ballona Wetlands has been actively advocating to protect Bird Island, including preparing for a hearing at the West LA Area Planning Commission to speak out against the development projects. Please see the July 1 event link below to support the hearing and visit this link for more details.

Upcoming in the Community

July 1: Show Up to Speak Up for the Birds! with Defend Ballona Wetlands

July 5: Surfrider x Faherty Beach Cleanup at Tower 28

July 8: Rewilding Santa Monica: Dune Restoration Update

July 11: Compost Giveaway at City Yards

July 11: Plastic Free July – Santa Monica Beach Cleanup

July 12: Restoring California, a Double Screening & Panel

July 13: Santa Monica Conservancy: Shotgun House Tour

July 15: Downtown Farmer’s Market Anniversary Event

July 18: Waste Sorting 101 with Kayla

July 18: Introduction to Seed Saving

July 19: Beach Cleanup at Santa Monica State Beach

July 23: State of the City 2026

Highlights

• Celebrate the opening of the 19th Street Community Farm
• Take action on federal food labeling and food waste policy!
• SAMOCAN webinar at the end of June

CASM in the Community

Last month, CASM partnered with Downbeat 720 to host the Let The Youth Speak event. At this event, we featured wildflower seed ball making around some climate-themed posters. The open mic encouraged participants to share their ideas about how to grow community; a few newcomers as well as Downbeat regulars took the opportunity to share music and poetry from the heart. We look forward to co-hosting future climate-themed open mic events, so stay tuned if you or any youth in your life are interested in sharing at our next event!

Let The Youth Speak participants gather for a group photo after the show.

In May, a few members of CASM also gathered to celebrate the organization’s wonderful leadership. Our Executive Director and Co-Chair, Laurene Von Klan, has been in that role overseeing our grants and administration for 7 years. The evening was filled with laughs and good company – the perfect way to thank Laurene for her thoughtful and inspiring leadership!

CASM members smile around a shaded picnic table at Santa Monica Brew Works to celebrate Laurene.

In early June, CASM and Climate Corps Club members went on a tour of the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP) on Main Street. The SWIP facility provides a drought-resilient water source for Santa Monica by recycling stormwater, urban runoff, and municipal wastewater into clean, drinkable water. SWIP has the capacity to treat and recycle up to 1 million gallons of wastewater per day and up to ½ million gallons of stormwater per day, providing a sustainable source of groundwater replenishment for the city’s drinking water supply. Touring this facility reminded CASM just how precious water is as a resource; as drought and extreme weather intensify, new, local water sources are a cornerstone of water resilience and help Santa Monica reach its goal of water independence. 

CASM members hear from Sunny Wang, the Water Resources Manager for the City of Santa Monica, about different stages of water treatment at SWIP. Pictured behind members of the tour is the reverse osmosis membrane system.

Upcoming CASM Activities

We will be bringing back our SAMOCAN webinars at the end of June! 

Our next SAMOCAN webinar will be on sustainable mobility in Santa Monica. The City of Santa Monica has an ambitious Climate Action & Adaptation Plan (CAAP) that includes an overarching goal to “achieve an 80% reduction (below 1990 levels) in community carbon emissions by 2030.” Sustainable mobility is one of three sectors that is included in the climate action part of the CAAP to reach that goal. Vehicle emissions are Santa Monica’s largest source of emissions. This webinar will feature speakers from the Big Blue Bus team as well as the City’s Department of Transportation to discuss zero emissions transportation projects in Santa Monica. Please stay tuned for a specific date and time, likely during the last week of June!

Action Alerts

Take action to improve food labeling and reduce food waste!

In the United States, over 30% of food goes uneaten. Right now, there are two bipartisan bills in Congress with the power to cut food waste in half: 

• The Food Date Labeling Act standardizes expiration date labels nationwide. No more confusion about “sell by” vs. “best by” vs. “use by.” This will help you determine when food has gone bad versus when it just might not taste quite as fresh.
• The NO TIME TO Waste Act establishes a federal Office of Food Loss and Waste, funds critical research, and launches a national campaign to cut food waste in half by 2030. 

To get these policies into action, representatives need to hear from supporters like us. Sending letters to congress in support of these two bills will send a clear message that Americans are ready for coordinated effort to reduce food waste. To use your voice, visit the attached link from the World Wildlife Fund to use a template and send a letter to your representative. This action is quick, easy, and will have a meaningful impact on food labeling and waste policy!

Climate News

19th Street Community Farm:

The 19th Street Community Farm is finally opening! This community agricultural space was purchased by the City in 2019 and has gone through several phases of community planning and development to bring the project to fruition. The City is hosting a block party on June 14 to celebrate the opening of our new Community Farm and 50 years of Community Gardens in Santa Monica. To get involved with the Community Farm project, learn more by visiting this link.

CASM supports Resilient Palisades:

Are you curious about how Pailsadians are rebuilding their community?  Then you might want to follow Resilient Palisades.  Their work includes youth education, native plant stewardship and landscaping, electrification, and more.  They report great news in their recent newsletter: “As of April, LADWP’s HOME LA program has received 31 applications from Palisades-area home rebuilds, with 5 already approved and approximately $100,200 in rebates committed, pending project completion. That might not seem like a high number but 2025 ended with only 14 applications.   Hypothetically…If applications kept doubling every four months, we’d be looking at something like 5,600 applications by the 2028 deadline.”  Wouldn’t that be great?

To get the Resilient Palisades newsletter, visit https://www.resilientpalisades.org/join-us 

If you are a Palisadian, please reach out and share your ideas for how CASM can support the Pacific Palisades community.

Research on how ocean warming is weakening sea breezes:

The most recent volume of the Nature Climate Change journal features an open-access article titled ‘Ocean warming weakens the sea–land breeze in coastal megacities.’ In this paper, researchers use simulations to study how rising ocean temperatures may affect liveability in coastal megacities by reducing the number of days that the cities experience sea–land breezes. The study simulates that rising ocean temperatures will slightly reduce the number of sea–land breeze days in Los Angeles. To read the full paper, visit this link.

Upcoming in the Community

June 11: The Last Dive Film Screening and Panel Discussion

June 13: The Comedy Swap (clothing swap and comedy event)

June 14: The Garden Series at Tongva Park

June 14: 19th Street Community Farm Block Party

June 20: UC Master Gardeners at Pico Farmer’s Market

June 24: Annie Leonard & André Carothers present Protest: Respect It, Defend It, Use It book tour

June 25: Santa Monica Beach Cleanup

June 27: The Bay Foundation & Santa Monica Yoga Morning of Mindfulness and Dune Restoration