Best Practices
GCC MEMBER
Santa Barbara, CA
About the City*

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara's climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city is known as the "American Riviera." As of the census of 2010, the city had a population of 88,410, a loss of 1,190 from the previous census, making it the second largest city in the county after Santa Maria while the contiguous urban area, which includes the cities of Goleta and Carpinteria, along with the unincorporated regions of Isla Vista, Montecito, Mission Canyon, Hope Ranch, Summerland, and others, has an approximate current population of 220,000. The population of the entire county in 2010 was 423,895.
In addition to being a popular tourist and resort destination, the city economy includes a large service sector, education, technology, health care, finance, agriculture, manufacturing, and local government. In 2004, the service sector accounted for fully 35% of local employment.[5] Education in particular is well-represented, with five institutions of higher learning on the south coast (the University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, Westmont College, Antioch University, and the Brooks Institute of Photography). The Santa Barbara Airport serves the city, as does Amtrak. U.S. Highway 101 connects the Santa Barbara area with Los Angeles to the south and San Francisco to the north. Behind the city, in and beyond the Santa Ynez Mountains, is the Los Padres National Forest, which contains several remote wilderness areas.
*Source: Wikipedia
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Santa Barbara Best Practices
- none submitted
Climate Action Plan
- City of Santa Barbara Climate Action Plan, 2012 (draft)
Last updated October 31, 2012
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
GCC policies have resulted in...
- Conversion of over 665 million sheets of paper to 100% recycled content each year, which saves:
- 10 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions
- Almost 80,000 trees
- More than 23 million gallons of water
- More than 6,600 barrels of oil
- 1,633,302 plastic water bottles from being landfilled, which saves:
- GCC member cities over
$1.6 Million
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES
& NEWS
California Bag Ban Infographic
San Francisco Sets Example by Publishing Energy Consumption Data for Over 300 City Buildings
Climate Action Plans
GCC Welcomes New Members Chula Vista and Palo Alto- GCC Member San Jose Ranks #1 on Clean Tech Index! SF & LA in top ten.
- Green Cities Congratulates San Diego for Electric Vehicle Project
- Green Cities Congratulates Santa Monica for Community Sustainability Goal
- Judge Upholds San Francisco's Bag Ordinance
- Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use
- The Carbon We Consume
- Single Use Bag Reduction Efforts
- GCC Policy Positions
- Mayoral Executive Orders and City Manager Directives
- Urban Environmental Accords
More Issues & News

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