Long Beach Sustainability Summer Newsletter, July 2021
LB Sustainability Quarterly Newsletter
Dear Friend,

Each quarter we create a newsletter with updates on sustainable programs, projects, and events from our office and others in the City of Long Beach.
The Conservation Corps of Long Beach (CCLB) is preparing to open a wood yard at Willow Springs Park that will repurpose lumber from removed street trees. The CCLB just signed a 20-year lease with the City for the use of the 2.6 acre space which will host 1.1 acres for the wood yard and 1.5 acres of additional habitat restoration for the park. This project was funded by a CalFIRE grant received in 2018 to keep trees out of landfills and maintain the carbon sequestered in the wood by repurposing it into furniture or art. CCLB estimates they can be up and running by the end of July.

CCLB Director, Dan Knapp, views this project as a social enterprise that can help provide funding for CCLB in addition to providing new job training opportunities contributing to CCLB’s mission, “to develop at-risk youth to reach their full potential through work, service, conservation, and education.”

The City of Long Beach (City) has been selected to participate in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Cities Local Government Leadership Program: 2021 National Cohort (Cohort). The Cohort, which is a program of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), convenes a group of 15 U.S. local governments as they register, certify, and continuously improve in the LEED for Cities and Communities certification program.

The LEED for Cities and Communities certification encompasses social, economic, and environmental performance indicators and strategies with a clear, data-driven means of benchmarking and communicating progress. LEED for Cities and Communities follows a structure consistent with other LEED rating systems allowing cities and communities to select the focus areas most important to their local stakeholders through credits and points while setting a baseline through prerequisites. Strategies are organized around the following categories: Natural Systems and Ecology, Transportation and Land Use, Water Efficiency, Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Materials and Resources, and Quality of Life.

For Earth Day this year, the Office of Sustainability hosted a virtual summit for the Long Beach community of environmental professionals, students, activists, and concerned residents to discuss the future of sustainability in Long Beach. Our office is working to create a Sustainability Strategic Plan to guide our priorities for the next 5 years. This Summit focused on discussions about the major topics in sustainability today and what actions are most needed to make Long Beach a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient city.

The report from the Earth Day Summit event is now online. Find it and updates on the Sustainability Strategic Plan development at www.longbeach.gov/sustainabilitystrategicplan.
Certified Green Businesses
As part of the California Green Business Network (CAGBN), Long Beach certifies and recognizes green businesses for their efforts to protect the environment. Below are the businesses that were certified or recognized at the efficiency level since Spring 2021.
Find other green businesses or get your business certified at www.longbeach.gov/greenbusiness.

We are able to certify businesses digitally! If you're interested in getting started, please contact us at Sustainability@longbeach.gov.
Sustainability Workshops
Our workshops have gone online! Check out our Workshops Playlist on Facebook to view all our workshop videos.
Join us for our virtual Native Plant Workshops on Facebook and Instagram @LBSustainability. View upcoming workshops at:

Check out these Native Plant workshop videos:
Join us on Facebook and Instagram @ LBSustainability for our virtual Edible Garden Workshops! View upcoming workshops at:

Check out these Edible Garden workshop videos:
Commissioner Spotlight
The Sustainable City Commission elected a new chair and vice chair during its meeting in May. Get to know the commissioners stepping into these leadership roles.
The Sustainable City Commission's new Chair, Morgan Wheeler is serving his second term on the Commission and is a proud Long Beach Native. He is an avid conservationist, beekeeper and urban agriculture advocate. He is involved in numerous restoration and preservation efforts often focused on Wetlands Rehabilitation and protecting California’s Channel Islands. He grew up at the base of Rancho Los Alamitos (Puvunga) and raises his family there now too; immersed in the lore of Long Beach’s geological, ranching, native and many other histories. He leads the Business Intelligence Team at Long Beach’s F&M Bank, is a proud “49er” and has been a leader in the YMCA of Greater Long Beach for many years.
The Sustainable City Commission's new Vice Chair, Hilda Gaytan is a community organizer and activist advocating for sustainable practices, public health, and the arts. She studied sociology with a minor in urban design and received a certificate in sustainability from UCI. Hilda is a certified master gardener from UC Davis, and an Arts for LA fellow. She serves as the California Democratic Delegate for District 63, current California Walking College fellow and the founder and President of Puente Latino Association Inc. She also serves in many groups and community organization’s boards. Hilda believes that a happy community is a healthy community so you will see Hilda involved in organizing fun events and bringing the community together. Hilda enjoys being around nature, solitude time and good music. Her best gifts in life are her two granddaughters Lulu and Valentina the loves of her life.  
Join us for the next Sustainable City Commission meeting: 
Thursday July 22 at 4pm via teleconference
Agenda Items: TBD

Sustainability Summer Interns
Katherine Moreno is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Regenerative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona. As a Green Business Intern she is looking forward to assisting businesses and making it as simple as possible for them to make the transition to becoming Green Business Certified. She enjoys volunteering with Long Beach Community Compost, doing trash clean-ups, and reusing old magazines or junk mail to create junk art.
Amaiya Mason recently graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in English and is currently pursuing an AA in Recycling and Resource Management from Santa Monica College. Interning with the Long Beach Green Business Program gives her an opportunity to learn what it takes to make cities more sustainable. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, brewing kombucha, and reading fiction.
Emilia Montenegro is an international student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in Organic Chemistry at CSULB. Her goal during the greenhouse gas inventory internship is to understand and learn the relationship between greenhouse emissions and renewable energy. In her free time she loves jamming with her friends, going outdoors and doing yoga. Growing up in Ecuador taught her the beauty of our planet and the importance of taking action.