New! Streets for People Draft Plan – Comments due 4/6/2025

New! Sacramento’s Streets for People Draft Plan is out! We want to make it easier for everyone to choose walking, rolling, or biking for the short trips they take every day.

Sacramento’s Streets for People Draft Plan is available for review through April 6. You can comment on the Plan in the link below or by sending staff a comment.

Part two will include completing the Streets for People Active Transportation Plan, with the public review of the Draft Plan available March 5 through April 6, and Plan adoption in summer 2025.

Comment on the draft plan at sacstreetsforpeople.org.

Climate Change Speaker Series

Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Sacramento/Roseville is partnering with the Climate Reality Project to host several Zoom presentations to keep you current with how tools to fight climate change will be impacted by the Trump administration.

Read more and register here.

  • 3/24, 6 pm – Tariffs for the Climate
  • 3/27, 6 pm – SMUD’s March to Carbon Zero in 2030
  • 3/31, 6 pm – Climate Change and your Wallet
  • 4/7, 6 pm – How to talk about Climate Change so People will Listen

Centering Youth in Climate Action: Lessons from COY19

by Anushka Kalyan
High School Senior, ECOS Executive Committee Member, and 2024 Environmentalist of the Year Awardee

“What is an Azerbaijan?” my economics teacher asked me when I asked him to sign the independent study contract before my weeklong trip. I laughed, but quickly realized that this relatively small country in the Caucasus region of Central Asia isn’t as top-of-mind as I assumed. After explaining that I would be travelling to Baku, Azerbaijan for the UN Youth Climate Conference (COY19), my teacher became as excited as I was.

The United Nations COP, or “Conference of Parties” climate discussions and process are massive, but COY, the pre-COP youth conference, is equally as important. COY was started in 2005 in Montreal, Canada,
by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to ensure that youth are empowered as key stakeholders in the climate discussion.

At COY19 from November 7-9, 2024, I was immersed in the global youth climate movement and shocked by the sheer number of countries represented. Each person that I met had a background in community organizing, policymaking, and loved natural resources and the environment. I was particularly touched by a representative of Zimbabwe who fights for youth representation in government, a graduate student from the Philippines who had represented her country at a Southeast Asian energy conference recently, and a 9th grader from South India who had been organizing her farming community for years. The best lessons from COY 19 were from listening to the dedicated youth leaders I met there.

I had the opportunity to co-present an hour-long workshop on scaling grassroots movements to influence climate policy, collaborating with one of the 10 U.S.-based organizations that helped organize it. Leading up to the conference, my team met frequently to ensure our presentation was well-researched, thorough, and engaging. As a delegate, I also attended other workshops, further enriching my experience.

When I landed in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, with my mother, it felt like a beautiful blend of Eastern and Western architecture, styles, and culture. While the political culture there is certainly controversial due to the suppression of free speech of its citizens, I still took note of how close-knit friends and family were, as well as how modern and historic architecture blended as one.

While the delegates were deeply motivated, I had hoped to find that COY19 itself was institutionally more committed to action-based solutions; and that conference organizers were committed to creating a network of climate activists that would, after the conference, provide updates and support through online forums or Zoom calls. With others, I pitched this idea to the conference organizers, and hope to help make it happen at next year’s COY through the UNFCCC’s Youth Constituency, YOUNGO.

COY19 emphasized the importance of centering youth in climate discussions. While there’s much to learn from experienced climate leaders, like many at ECOS, youth have the power to shape confident climate policy through global collaboration. Although my economics teacher once jokingly asked, “What is an Azerbaijan?” I am grateful for this experience. I look forward to applying what I’ve learned back home and nurturing the contacts I’ve made with people from around the world.

ECOS LETTER re Sacramento County Climate Action Plan, 11/6/2024

On Nov 6, 2024, ECOS submitted to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors a comment letter on the County of Sacramento Climate Action Plan, Final Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR).

The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) appreciates that County staff have developed a better Climate Action Plan than its 2022 version. However, we still have major concerns that must be addressed before we can support it.

Click here to read the letter.

ECOS Opposes new Crocker Village Residential Development Proposal

The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) opposes the request by Crocker Village Residential Development to construct 61 housing units on ±4.86 vacant acres within the R-4A-PUD and SC-PUD zones and Curtis Park Village Planned Unit Development (PUD), located at 2325 10th Avenue. 

This acreage has a Multi-Family Housing designation, which is appropriate considering its proximity to Sacramento Regional Transit’s light rail station at City College. SACOG supported funding for the bike/pedestrian bridge from this development to the light rail station based on the understanding that this would be a transit-oriented development.

ECOS is opposed to a PUD Schematic Plan Amendment to develop single-unit dwellings instead. We have two crises that must be addressed: our severe shortage of affordable housing, and climate change. In Sacramento, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions is from cars. Multi-Family Housing near a light-rail station addresses both these crises, and therefore this designation must be preserved.

Click here to read our comments as submitted.