ABOUT SPG

Creation of Sustainable Pacific Grove

Sustainable Pacific Grove was created in the spring of 2006. On March 1, 2006 representatives from the Sustainable Monterey County; beyond Peak Oil, a citizens action committee, provided a presentation on “Peak Oil” ¹ to the Pacific Grove City Council. At this meeting the Council voted to support the exploration of a sustainability program for Pacific Grove.

Sustainable Pacific Grove has formed as a local group under the umbrella of Sustainable Monterey County. We recognize that we, like local communities throughout the United States must develop “localization” programs to promote lower consumption of oil, greater local self-reliance, and more cooperative and inclusive communities.

A FUTURE VISION FOR PACIFIC GROVE

So let's imagine Pacific Grove as having transitioned to a sustainable community, a place where residents eat locally and shop locally for their daily needs. Parks are surrounded with edible landscapes. An open-air market bustling with people buying fruits, veggies and local crafts offers a place to find fresh items grown close to home.

The city has an odorless compost drop-off for all the area restaurant food waste. Residents can claim composted soil to use in their own yards, each planted with fruit trees and edibles. Cisterns collect rainwater from roofs, reducing the runoff into the bay while offering water for the dry season. A local reservoir holds local runoff and offers water for gardens. Solar panels allow a zeroing out of the electricity bill even during our foggiest years.

Residents walk throughout town finding the goods they need and new stores open to showcase locally manufactured products. A local bike store houses a bike-lending library, and citizens ride scooters and bikes down our roads. A tool-lending library and a fix-it shop opens to allow residents to share tools and knowledge.

Pacific Grove becomes a city that demonstrates simplicity and the beauty of being sustainable and grows the one thing few towns can grow -- community. Sustainable Pacific Grove is dedicated to making such a vision a reality.

1 “Peak Oil” can be thought of as the point when about half of the original endowment of economically extractable oil on the planet has been burned. The term Peak Oil refers the maximum rate of the production of oil in any area under consideration, recognizing that it is a finite natural resource, subject to depletion." Colin Campbell