Since the 1990’s there has been a growing concern in the scientific community about climate change due to greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions from human activities. In California municipalities are adopting Climate Action Plans (CAP) to address ways to lower GHGs and respond to potential changes such as rising sea levels, droughts and floods, and changes in agricultural productivity. Preserve Calavera has worked with Vista to help implement their CAP and offered extensive input on Carlsbad’s CAP which was first adopted in Sept. 2015.
In the summer of 2023, after years of continuing worsening of the climate crisis with little movement to mitigate GHG emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a synthesis report, to help guide action It states that since 1750 the rise in emissions are unequivocally caused by human activities primarily from the burning of fossil fuels but also, poor land use policies, and overconsumption. At the end of 2024, levels of carbon dioxide, the most common GHG in the atmosphere reached 422 ppm.
The situation is getting worse with more and more weather-related disasters and not nearly enough being done.
As a way of recognizing the severity of climate change, many communities are passing climate emergency resolutions. The cities of San Diego, Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas all have done so. In September, 2021 Carlsbad, too, adopted a climate emergency resolution.. While not necessarily binding, the resolutions do bring the crisis to the attention of local residents and ask cities to consider climate change in their decision-making processes.
After years of lobbying for Community Choice Energy (CCE) in the region by local environmental groups and individuals, Carlsbad, Solana Beach and Del Mar launched the Clean Energy Alliance in May 2021. Since its inception The Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) has added Escondido and San Marcos (2023) and Oceanside and Vista (2024). As a result of Carlsbad joining a CCE, it amended its CAP to add a measure on CCE which greatly improved its efforts to reach its emission targets.
Encinitas has joined the city of San Diego in the formation of San Diego Community Power (SDCP) which launched in 2022 for residential customers. Encinitas already has a goal of 100% clean energy for municipal operations by 2030 and its default electricity option with SDCP is 100% renewables for its customers.
Another effort to address climate change is through building electrification – getting fossil fuels out of buildings. As the grid becomes cleaner in California, going all electric means lower greenhouse gas emissions. In Nov. 2020, the San Diego Building Electrification Coalition (SDBEC) formed with activists from many local environmental groups and community organizations. Through its efforts, this coalition has help in the adoption of building electrification our region. Due to a federal case overturning actual outright bans on natural gas, cities throughout CA, including Encinitas have shifted to moving toward electric-preferred ordinances in new construction.
More recently SDBEC has focused on school districts to electrify their buildings. As of January 2025, San Diego, Sweetwater and Carlsbad Unified School Districts have passed electrification resolutions in a move to address their GHG emissions.
