On April 22 this year, residents of San Diego County celebrate the 39th Earth Day. And we have a lot to celebrate.
We celebrate the past and the strides we have made politically, philosophically and technologically that brought us to where we are today. We celebrate the future and the shared vision of a cleaner and healthier world for our children. And we celebrate the fact that San Diego is leading our green revolution.
San Diego takes a lot of pride in being one of the greenest communities in the country. We are proud of our communities. We are environmentally conscious. We look for ways to be better stewards of the natural beauty around us. In San Diego, this isn't just a once-a-year thing; this is our way of life.
Nevertheless, Earth Day is often thought of as a day of celebration for environmentalists. I'd like to challenge that concept. California's green revolution certainly has a strong and rich tradition with individual environmentalist leaders, but today we have moved from the leaders of the past who laid the philosophical foundation to new leaders who are taking the reins of the new green economy. Today, our leaders are entrepreneurs and scientists, investors and support staff. Taken as a whole, these people provide the leadership we need to create local companies to revolutionize America’s green future. These are the people who are keeping us on track to a better — and healthier — future of our country.
San Diego is the home of these leaders. Our leadership on alternative energy production and development is second to none, and that’s understandable. Anyone visiting our fair home immediately recognizes the value we place on our environment. Our natural beauty has been protected through generations of San Diegans, and the concept of environmental protection is pervasive in each of our communities.
The new environmental leadership is everywhere in San Diego. Whether it's the Clean Tech initiative, algae-based fuels at Sapphire or the future of clean transportation at Aptera Motors (to name just a few), it is a source of pride to know that San Diego is creating tomorrow's technology that will be used in every city, in every state.
California is known as the nation's leader in environmental change, and we've done it by coming together, rolling up our sleeves and realizing that the environment is not a Republican or Democrat environment. Litter, global warming, oil spills … these things don’t care what political party we belong to. As I’ve said since I was the chairman of San Diego County, "It isn’t about whether the pothole is Republican or Democrat; it’s that the pothole needs to get fixed." We're all in this together, and we will continue to work together to make our environment safer and healthier, and eventually leave our children a cleaner world than the one we grew up in.
At the heart of it, this is the realization of the original vision. While we will never be perfect, we should be proud that we are on the path to making things better. Together we can work to make tomorrow a better day than today. Our greener tomorrow starts in San Diego.
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