A new Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury report shows the county has been slow to inform and engage the public about ways to reach state mandated reductions in greenhouse gases.
Websites that track progress are out of date and key populations are not getting the message, the report maintains. A civil grand jury is an oversight panel of citizen volunteers that investigate county governmental issues and concerns.
The burden on counties kicked off in 2016, when the California State Senate approved Senate Bill 32, requiring the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Cities and counties across the state are also obligated by a 2022 bill, Assembly Bill 1279, to meet a statewide goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.
Santa Cruz County started out ahead of the game since it already had a Climate Action Plan in place in 2016. The county built an educational website and progress tracker that monitored the implementation of about 30 different strategies, but the website trackers have not been updated.
The county’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) began with an inventory.
Passenger vehicles accounted for 51% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the 2020 emissions inventory for unincorporated Santa Cruz County conducted by the Association of Santa Cruz Bay Area Governments. If commercial vehicles are counted, nearly 70% of all emissions are from transportation. Propane, natural gas and other building emissions accounted for 25%.
“John Q. Public is driving that greenhouse gas emitting vehicle without a second thought,” the report states, adding that the typical resident is too busy to visit the county website to learn how they can reduce emissions.
Spreading the word to John Q.
The grand jury suggested the county produce public service announcements for broadcast media, post fact sheets on its social media, include flyers in the mail with utility bills and property tax bills, or share information in person at county fairs or other tourist events.
“Would John Q. become a part of the solution if they were to learn an EV purchase can save money in the long run?” the report asks. “Might John Q. win management’s attention if they started a rideshare group at work? John Q. could claim bragging rights that they lost weight by walking to the local store instead of driving. Would John Q. want to see their photo on the side of a bus, praising their decision to bus to work instead of driving?”
The report notes that the county has admitted that it cannot meet its state-mandated climate emission reduction goals without the cooperation of the community at large.
In addition to updating its public-facing websites every quarter, and using more social media campaigns, the grand jury recommended that by 2026, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors assign an office with the task of outreach. It can be done within the county alone or in coordination with other agencies and local counties.
The Board of Supervisors has until Sept. 2 to respond to the report.