Feb 16 – Monthly Meeting – Nicole Capretz, Leading the Charge for the Community Action Plan

Update:

Download slides from the meeting here.

A Woman On a Mission: Stop Climate Change

Climate change is one of the greatest threats ever posed to human existence. What science makes overwhelmingly clear is that what we are doing is not enough to solve the problem, and we must find new solutions. We have a collective duty to protect public health and our quality of life for future generations.

Nicole Capretz believes that climate action is best accomplished when the community speaks as one voice. She is creating a powerful base of support for climate protection by enlisting community leaders, grassroots organizations, students, small business owners, and policymakers. She’s uniting coalitions to build a critical mass of support for safeguarding our quality of life for future generations.

After demonstrating success at the local level, she plans to act as a resource for advocates and legislators who want to enact climate protection policies that will help solve the climate crisis. She will use victories in our community as a model for successful climate action in other regions. She aims to make climate action a number one priority for policymakers everywhere until achieving her mission: to stop climate change.

Nicole was instrumental in the creation of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan.

Climate Action Plans help public and private entities identify strategies to reduce Green House Gas  emissions as well as develop programs and policies for adapting to a warmer climate. The best plans have specific timelines for action and implementation.

The Community Action Plan is a legally enforceable document which sets out goals for the following:

• Energy and water efficient buildings

• Clean and renewable energy

• Biking, walking and transit

• Zero waste

• Climate resiliency

Here is a link to the full plan (PDF).

Nicole will provide an overview of the CAP’s goals and action steps highlighting an important part of the plan called Community Choice Energy, a mechanism the City is exploring to reach its renewable energy goals.

Nicole Capretz Executive Director, Climate Action Campaign

Nicole is an environmental attorney with over 15 years of experience working as a legal and policy advisor for local government and the nonprofit sector in San Diego. Nicole Capretz was one of the primary authors of the draft Climate Action Plan, and served as the Chair of the City’s Economic and Environmental Sustainability Task Force for three years while she was the Associate Director for Green Energy/Green Jobs at Environmental Health Coalition. She has served on a number of local nonprofit Boards including Progressive San Diego, San Diego Coastkeeper and the City Heights Community Development Corporation.

As Climate Action Campaign’s Executive Director, Nicole’s duties include overall strategic and operational responsibility for the organization’s staff, programs, expansion and execution of its mission. Nicole commutes to work on her bike, loves live music and dreams of seeing more solar panels than transmission lines and more bike racks than parking lots. Nicole earned her Bachelor in Arts in Law & Society from UC Santa Barbara and her law degree from Vermont Law School.

Email [email protected] – Follow her on Twitter @greenienic

We are meeting at Boomerangs and we have the meeting room from 6:15pm. We encourage you to get there early.

Please note we are obligated to order some food (~$10/person) to get the room without cost!

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