Blue Summit Leads Panel on Sustainable San Diego

August 16, 2007

Last Thursday, the discussion featured City Attorney Mike Aguirre moderating, and several business and academic leaders sharing their perspective and money-making solutions to issues such as access to clean water, clean technology, waste management, responsible investing and green building.

View the video: http://www.sandiego.gov/cityattorney/media/videos.shtml

Click "View Video" next to the "Solutions for a Sustainable San Diego" Aug 16 2007

All in all, the gathering was impressive with nearly a full house and just as many lined up for questions at the end.

Mike Aguirre did a nice job capturing the city's point of view, focusing on the presently-debated "City Plan," that gets reviewed only once every five years and now is the year. Aguirre clearly sees this as a powerful window of opportunity to implement some of the ideas that were echoed on the panel that night. Some of those ideas included:

  • A city fleet of car sharing hybrids
  • A solar powered hybrid that goes faster than a Porsche
  • A possible cooperation between Scripps and the City Plan reviewing process
  • Flush-less urinals in all municipal buildings
  • Turning our garbage into energy

Aguirre listened intently to our presentation including the growth of responsible investing and the enormous opportunities with businesses capitalizing on "green" products & services, portfolio risk reduction through additional screening criteria and shareholder action making a difference in corporate behavior around the globe, not to mention the phenomenal growth of the SRI industry itself. Aguirre was applauded for announcing plans to continue dialogue of public incentives for a more sustainable focus in our local economy.

After many well-received comments from the attendees, the general consensus was supportive and open-minded. Joe Vecchio, an audience participant and Executive Director of HOME International, was excited about the idea of creating a highlight film of the evening's event and hosting a public viewing event to garner region-wide attention.

Clearly, water shortage and the increasingly high cost of energy are driving entrepreneurs in San Diego to search for solutions. The question is, will they get to market fast enough to avoid the approaching emergency?

Moral of the story - turn off the water when you brush your teeth!

Stay tuned for continued updates on local, national, and global pushes towards a more responsible and sustainable community and keep spreading the word!

We had an excellent group of panelists from various sectors that are challenging our sustainability "road blocks" through innovative, entrepreneurial means.

Academia Lisa Shaffer, Assistant Director at Scripps Institute of Oceanography & Executive Director at UCSD Environment & Sustainability Initiative
Transportation Joshua Gelfand, Bus. Development Manager of Flexcar
Alternative Energy Robert Wilder, Founder and President of Wildershares
Finance Judith Seid, Founder and Principal of Blue Summit Financial Group & Shane Johnston, Financial Advisor, Blue Summit Financial Group
Waste Management Anthony Arand, Founder & CEO of Envirepel
Green Building Mike Wiggins, COO of Melhorn Construction
Apparel Julie Bernath, General Manager of Buffalo Exchange
Water Klaus Reichardt, Founder and President of Waterless
Public Official Michael Calabrese, Chief Deputy Attorney, Resource Conservation & Management at City of San Diego