The community is invited to attend the City’s first ever Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) Open House. The event will take place on Saturday, June 2, 2018, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, 1950 Lemon Ave., from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“It’s imperative Long Beach continues its efforts to be a more sustainable and resilient city, and plan for the future in the face of climate change impacts,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “This event will give our residents, business owners, students and other community stakeholders an opportunity to get involved in creating an effective and successful CAAP.”

Community members are welcome to stop by anytime between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The CAAP Open House will kick off a yearlong outreach effort and allow the community to get involved in creating a meaningful, actionable CAAP that makes sense for Long Beach and meets state mandates for Green House Gas (GHG) reductions while improving health, quality of life and economic vitality in Long Beach. This community event will provide more information on the CAAP and interactive ways for the public to provide feedback. Attendees can look forward to family-friendly activities, gift card drawings and light refreshments. Detailed presentations on results of the GHG forecast and vulnerability assessment will be given throughout the event for those who are interested.

The free event will also include a Sustainability Resource Fair featuring:

• Sustainability resources and information from City Departments and public agencies.

• Augmented reality mobile games.

• The Environmental Health Emergency Van.

After Mayor Robert Garcia signed the Compact of Mayors (now the Global Covenant of Mayors), signaling the City of Long Beach's support of an array of efforts to reduce the City’s carbon footprint and prepare for the impacts of climate change, the Long Beach City Council awarded a contract in December 2016 appropriating funds to develop the City's first ever Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP).

The CAAP will address two related issues, climate action, which focuses on reducing future emissions of GHG in the City, and climate adaptation, which focuses on preparing the community for the impacts of climate change in response to climate issues such as rising sea levels, more extreme heat waves, and worsening air quality.

Long Beach has already taken green and sustainable approaches to improve the health and safety of residents, businesses, neighborhoods and the natural environment. The CAAP will build off existing sustainability efforts, and it is an important next step in furthering the City's leadership in sustainability. Environmental sustainability entails understanding the limitation of finite resources (e.g., water, fossil fuel, natural gas and more), and adopting practices that limit or eliminate pollution and waste, with the goal of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.

The community is also invited to get involved on social media by sharing what they are doing to help keep Long Beach green on the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan Facebook video to be entered into a gift card drawing. The public is also encouraged to join the CAAP conversation with the hashtag #ClimateActionLB. For more information on the CAAP, visit: http://www.lbds.info/climateactionlb/.