A Native-American saying goes: “We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
In that spirit, Peninsula residents and neighboring communities gathered at Point Loma Nazarene University on Saturday, May 19, during an innovative Zero-Waste Workshop.
The event was created to explore and discuss methods of preservation and conservation. The workshop featured guests speakers City Attorney Mike Aguirre and local author and ecological designer Jim Bell, among others.
Aguirre spoke to environmentally conscious community members as they exchanged ideas about recycling and related political and economic issues for a cleaner, healthier San Diego.
In a classroom-style lecture, Aguirre suggested an amendment to the city charter that would include language translating community members’ desire for more environmentally friendly programs such as increasing opportunities for recycling.
“It’s not just recycling what we need to do is think of it in terms of some kind of mandate,” he said. “The people of San Diego have issued a mandate that we have to pay attention to our environment.”
Aguirre charged those in attendance with finding the appropriate language to bring about change in curbing pollution and waste.
“We can do all the talking we want, and you can go to all the council committees you want, but I promise you that unless you fundamentally change the charter it’s not going to change,” he said.
Aguirre said he filed three charter proposals with the city clerk on Wednesday, May 16. The proposals include a Neighborhood Bill of Rights, which he said would allow more community participation in city government.
This would be done by expanding the responsibility of community planning boards to provide input not only on planning issues but also on city budget issues and the delivery of public services, he said.
Along with the Neighborhood Bill of Rights proposal, Aguirre’s other charter ideas include adding an elected city auditor for greater fiscal accountability and a proposal that would give subpoena power for the city attorney, he said.
Bell, a former San Diego mayoral candidate, said he agrees with the idea of adding a neighborhood bill of rights to the charter. A change like the one proposed by Aguirre would, in effect, be putting politicians “on notice” by providing a way for the general public to have more say, he said.
“It’s democratic,” Bell said. “It’s what the U.S. Constitution is based on: the Bill of Rights.”
Bell said he has dedicated the better part of the last decade to making San Diego a cleaner and more ecological city. According to his Web site, Bell ran for mayor of San Diego in 1996 and 2000. He also made a bid for City Council District 2 in 2002.
Although he’s never been elected, Bell’s ideas about the environment have begun to get noticed by local residents like Mignon Scherer, who openly nominated Bell for mayor during the Zero-Waste Workshop.
Bell lectured on the concept of true-cost pricing, which hinges on the idea that the true cost of products that damage the environment and human health aren’t reflected in prices, he said. Subsequently, the public ends up subsidizing that cost through health-care costs, public waste disposal and other services paid for by taxpayers, he said.
True-cost pricing is a principle that asks the question: What would be the price of a particular product or service if all costs were included?
According to Bell’s free book, found at www.jimbell.com, the true cost of a product in terms of medical, environmental and other external costs associated with production are calculated and tacked on to the end-use price.
The theory allows for market forces and entrepreneurship to balance the production of costly goods with goods made through cleaner, healthier and cheaper methods.
“If it’s done with a little intelligence it will be much better for the economy,” he said. “We end up doing things without thinking them through and then say, ‘Oh now we got to clean up the groundwater supply’ or ‘Now we can’t eat fish.'”
Bell said that some computer companies have begun to pick up on ecologically based principles and go so far as to take their product back after use, to be recycled or reused, he said.
Alon with speakers, the Zero-Waste Workshop provided resources on implementing zero-waste programs in Ocean Beach to improve the environment, stimulate the economy and create jobs.
Zero Waste San Diego started in 2005 and is the local chapter of California Resource Recovery Association, said Zero Waste Chair Laura Antony. Zero Waste San Diego advocates for consumer awareness and producer responsibility, she said. A third component involves petitioning the government to create more opportunities for recycling, Anthony said. For more information visit www.zerowastesandiego.org.