Guiding More Sustainable Post-Pandemic Living

Special Guest San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine

Date - Thursday, May 21, 2020, 3:30 PM via Zoom

Slides - link | Recording - link | Survey Slides - link

Attendance - 57 people representing 39 organizations (49% nonprofit, 30% government, 12% business, 9% youth)

**25 of the 57 attendees in Zoom’s gallery view**

Description - With our planet disrupted by crisis, local sustainability leaders are resetting programs and rethinking results. Across government, nonprofit, business & youth, local environmental organizations are seeking to lock in smaller footprints and lower emissions.

Join us to hear how these leaders envision more sustainable post-pandemic living:

Roisin McElarney - President, Citizens’ Climate Lobby - Aragon HS Youth Chapter
Dave Pine - Supervisor, San Mateo County
Emma Shlaes - Director of Policy & Advocacy, Silicon Valley Bike Coalition
Lauren Weston - Executive Director, Acterra

**Moderator - Doug Silverstein, Thrive**

After the presentations, participate in a community discussion on viable cross-sector collaboration to extend the environmental benefits of SIP, including viewpoints from Supervisor Pine. Plus:

E&S Community survey summary - Policies & programs to maintain smaller footprints & emissions
Thrive E&S Community impact group update – Reduce & Rethink Single Use Plastics in SMC

Recap

**Supervisor Pine from his home office**

After a quick overview of Thrive’s mission by Petra Silton, Director of Policy & Advocacy, and an update on the Thrive E&S Community by Doug Silverstein, Environment & Sustainability Lead, Supervisor Pine began the meeting with some reflections on time.

First he announced the new appointment of Carolyn Bloede to the Director of the SMC Office of Sustainablity. Then he provided three thoughts around the pandemic - 1) preview to the world we want to live in - a sneak peak to the future we want, 2) shows the huge burden we face given we need to maintain this pace, 3) government came together to make progress with shared purpose and sense of urgency.

The three speakers then presented on the following topics:

Roisin McElarney - Pivoting to new advocacy strategies including online lobbying for carbon fee & dividend, authoring a San Jose Mercury News opinion letter, and petitioning for carbon parts/million awareness

Emma Shlaes – slow streets development including: SVBC’s outreach to councils, SMC and SCC recent slow streets policy and programs, and what’s next/possible In near-term

Lauren Weston - beneficial electrification materials and strategies for wider adoption of fossil-free devices and technologies in commercial and residential sectors, including outreach to professionals on benefits of fossil-free devices in construction, and education of residents on the benefits of fossil-free devices in homes

Excellent questions, conversations, and breakout discussion followed.