What are the Accords’ recommended guidelines? They cover 7 distinct areas that comprise 3 Actions each. Energy: Renewable Energy | Energy Efficiency | Climate Change
Action 2 Adopt and implement a policy to reduce the city’s peak electric load by ten per cent within seven years seven years through energy efficiency, shifting the timing of energy demands, and conservation measures. Action 3 Adopt a citywide green house gas reduction plan the reduces the jurisdictions emissions by twenty five percent by 2030, and which includes a system for accounting and auditing greenhouse gas emissions.
Waste Reduction: Zero Waste | Manufacturer Responsibility | Consumer Responsibility
Action 5 Adopt a citywide law that reduces the use of a disposable, toxic or non-renewable product category by at least per cent in seven years. action taken on 5 Action 6 Implemented “user-friendly” recycling and composting programs, with the goal of reducing by twenty per cent per capita solid waste disposal to landfill and incineration in seven years.
Urban Design: Green Building | Urban Planning | Slums
Action 8 Adopt urban planning principles that advance higher density, mixed use, walkable, bikeable and disabled-accessible neighborhoods which coordinate land use and transportation with open space systems for recreation and ecological restoration. Action 9 Adopt a policy or implement a program that creates environmentally beneficial jobs in slums and/or low-income neighborhoods.
Urban Nature: Parks | Habitat Restoration | Wildlife
Action 11 Conduct an inventory of existing canopy coverage in the city; and then establish a goal based on ecological and community considerations to plant and maintain canopy coverage in not less than fifty per cent of all available sidewalk plating sites. action taken on 11 Action 12 Pass legislation that protects critical habitat corridors and other key habitat characteristics (e.g. water features, food bearing plants, shelter for wildlife, use of native species, etc.) from unsustainable development.
Transportation: Public Transportation | Clean Vehicles | Reducing Congestion
Action 14 Pass a law or implement a program that eliminates leaded gasoline (where it is still used); and that phases down sulfur levels in diesel and gasoline fuels, concurrent with using advanced emission controls on all buses, taxis, and public fleets to reduce particulate matter and smog-forming emissions from those fleets by fifty per cent in seven years. Action 15 Implement a policy to reduce the percentage of commute trips by single occupancy vehicles by ten per cent in seven years.
Environmental Health: Toxics Reduction | Healthy Food Systems | Clean Air
action taken on 16 Action 17 Promote the public health and environmental benefits of supporting organic foods . Ensure that twenty per cent of all city facilities (including schools) serve locally grown and organic food within seven years. Action 18 Establish an Air Quality Index (AQI) to measure the level of air pollution and set the goal of reducing by ten per cent in seven years the number of days categorized in the AQI range as "unhealthy" to "hazardous."
Water: Water Access & Efficiency | Source Water Conservation | Waste Water Reduction
Action 20 Protect the ecological integrity of the city’s primary drinking water sources (i.e. aquifers, rivers, lakes, wetlands and associated eco-systems). Action 21 Adopt municipal wastewater management guidelines and reduce the volume of untreated wastewater discharge by ten per cent in seven years through the expanded use of recycled water and the implementation of sustainable urban watershed planning process that includes participants of all affected communities and is based on sound economic, social, and environmental principles. Pacific Grove Accomplishments
Pacific Grove is in the process of implementing the following actions recommended by the Accords and the Mayors Agreement. It should be noted that most of the accomplishments to date have been made possible through the volunteer work and the financial contributions by members of the grass root organization Sustainable Pacific Grove (SPG), members of the city council and city staff, and other dedicated PG residents. The severe financial constraints presently experienced by the city limit the extent to which PG can undertake some of the recommended actions requiring some financial investments which, we know, in the long run would financially benefit the city. Hopefully, the situation will soon improve sufficiently to enable us to expand the range of actions we can take.
By unanimous vote, on April 16, the city council passed the styrofoam ordinance, thus banning
the use of
polystyrene products in restaurants and for take-out foods. Polystyrene is a toxic,
disposable product made from fossil fuel, a non-renewable resource. The vote was the culmination
of a year-long campaign, spearheaded by SPG and Surfriders - Monterey. A task force was formed
to craft a model ordinance, which was adopted unanimously by the Monterey Region Waste Management
District and then sent to every city in the county for their consideration and vote. Pacific Grove
was the first city to adopt the ordinance in Monterey County.
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:
After extensively testing and evaluating the products' cleaning and sanitizing efficacy, the city has
( August, 2007 )
completed the transition from toxic to biodegradable and organic products to clean all the public facilities it oversees and is charged with. The city is using the same products the 21 Kaiser hospitals have converted to, having evaluated them as meeting the highest of standards for sanitizing and cleaning their facilities and operations. For information on the Imus line of products, click the link below,
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