City Action on Accord #11
City Action on Agreement #11
In November 2006, P.G. enacted an environmental stewardship campaign,
Trees for P.G., a public-private effort to reforest Pacific Grove. The program has 2 components:
2006 Holiday Trees for P.G.
At Christmas time, our mayor, Dan Cort, encouraged the residents to consider buying a live Christmas tree, to be later planted on their property or donated to the city in support of its reforestation efforts. Trees had to be native and appropriate for our area. Residents who opted instead to make a donation became seedling sponsors (for $75.) or sapling sponsors (for $250.), each receiving a certificate, plus the opportunity for the sponsors to have their names engraved on a special sculpture plaque in city hall. Dan and Beth Cort personally collected the donated trees.
Carbon-neutral Good Old Days week-end event , April 21-22, 2007.
Good Old Days is an event sponsored every April by the PG Chamber of Commerce. This year, Good Old Days got an aura of modernity when the Chamber decided to make it carbon-neutral. The CO2 emissions resulting from transportation, on-site energy use, energy to produce the event`s products and services, were all calculated and it was estimated that 507 trees would have to be planted in order to offset those emissions. Mayor Cort personally purchased the seedlings, and volunteers from Sustainable Pacific Grove distributed them to PG residents visiting the SPG Sustainability Fair in Jewell Park.
On Arbor Day, volunteers from the community, including our mayor, city manager Jim Colangelo, and council member Scott Miller, members of SPG, and school children, planted several hundred trees and seedlings in Washington Park, where the ground had been prepared by a group gathered by our Public Works director Celia Martinez. As for the care of the trees until they are rooted, our Fire Chief, Andrew Miller, has volunteered his crew to water these new plants weekly for one year.
The Trees for PG campaign is enhancing our sense of community and instilling a new urgency about caring for our environment. The cost to the city has been $0. thanks to individual donations, a grant from the Regional Park district and volunteer time.
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