Could this really happen? Over the next several months, we will explore what it would take to make Long Beach a model of green urbanism. In this article, I frame the issues and opportunities, list major city initiatives, and suggest a few relatively modest and one more ambitious initiative with which we could begin.

Long Beach has an opportunity—some might argue a responsibility—to create such a model. We are a city large enough to be relevant and small enough to be manageable. We are the most ethnically diverse large city in the U.S. We are blessed with a Mediterranean climate—the only region in the United States to have one. Our city lies within one of the most heavily modified watersheds in the world in one of the most urbanized coastal regions in the world. We have one of the nation’s two largest container ports. And we are at the mouths of the Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Rivers. The Los Angeles River is one of the most channelized and maligned rivers in the world, and Long Beach is the recipient of floating debris and microbiological contamination from communities upstream. Too often, our beaches are closed because of non-point source runoff.

Greening efforts of cities often focus on energy and water. But sustainability entails all dimensions that determine the quality of life, including enhancing the living conditions of the least fortunate among us.

Green urbanism would not only enhance the quality of life of those of us who live and work in Long Beach, but would be a major driver of tourism and conventions. People from across the country would want to discover the secret behind the green miracle by the sea.

Long Beach has a panoply of policies, plans, and programs designed to green our city. Some date back to 2000, but most were promulgated within the last two years, and several only earlier this year. Success will require a major and sustained effort by city leaders from all sectors—government, business, education, non-profit, cultural, and spiritual—but city-government leadership is key.

Many of the things that could make a big difference would require relatively little in the way of financial resources and could be done quickly. A few early and visible victories would go a long way in generating and sustaining interest and support. Here are a few we might start with.

Our topography and climate make Long Beach an ideal city to nurture a biking culture. Long Beach Transit’s larger buses are equipped with racks to accommodate bicycles, and we have a bike station on First Street near the Blue Line, designed for those who want to combine cycling with mass transit. We need better signage downtown to raise awareness of the bike station, and we need to make it easier to get there. At present, the only safe access is to ride on the sidewalk, and this is a clear violation of a city ordinance. And where are the bike lanes that would make cycling safe and inviting? We should begin to make major moves to join the ranks of the great bicycle cities of the U.S.—Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Boulder, and Davis.

Given our climate and that we are a city made up of a mosaic of relatively compact neighborhoods, we should have a strong walking culture. We like to say that our city is pedestrian-friendly, but in many areas of the city, we are not. It is not unusual to be confronted with a blinking orange hand within seconds after stepping off a curb and long before you are even halfway across many of our streets. I have lived downtown on Third Street since arriving in Long Beach to work at the aquarium. I have two candidates for adjustment of the pedestrian crossing signals—the lights at Third and Pacific, and the crossings on Shoreline Drive. Some streets have signals that provide the number of seconds pedestrians have to cross safely. This is a good move.

A more ambitious undertaking would be to make Long Beach the first large city in the nation to switch entirely from incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs. This would save energy, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and save our residents money. For only about $1 million, Long Beach could become the first city in the nation to achieve this distinction, putting Long Beach on the map among cities seeking to establish themselves as models of sustainability. A major light bulb exchange program at locations around the city on Earth Day 2008 would be a good first step.

Long Beach has promoted construction of city and institutional buildings that meet criteria for LEED certification—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—but we need to be much more assertive in these efforts. We have only one LEED-certified building in the city—the Mark Twain Neighborhood Library. The aquarium has a LEED platinum building under construction that will be dedicated this fall. A number of others have been proposed, including Press-Telegram Lofts, and several are well along in planning. The city should create a LEED Advocates Office to work with institutions and individuals to help them comply with LEED requirements.

They could help remove, or at least reduce, barriers— perceived and real—to complying with LEED certification. The first time through the process can be intimidating, but it need not be.

Converting Shoreline Drive into a pedestrian- and cycling-friendly promenade with art shows, cafés, a farmers’ market, and street performers would be a more ambitious project. At present, Shoreline Drive is a major barrier between the city and the ocean. Its primary function seems to be to shunt automobile traffic from the 710 freeway and Ocean Boulevard for a short distance and then back onto Ocean Boulevard in the fastest way possible. While Shoreline Drive has been a raceway for the Grand Prix since its construction, might we not convert it to a higher and better use for the community for the other 51 weeks each year? The city might redesign the section, say, between Shoreline Village Drive and Aquarium Way, to enhance the quality of life of those who live and work in Long Beach, as well as those who are visiting the city. There are a number of low-cost approaches that would dramatically transform this space into a dynamic urban zone and do it on a reversible basis to preserve the Grand Prix tradition.

Water is a major issue for Long Beach and for all of Southern California. We simply do not have enough locally to meet demand, and imports from Northern California and from the Colorado River will be under increasing scrutiny. Conservation is important, but it cannot meet the growing demand for water from a growing population. And too often we forget about the environmental impacts that result from diverting water away from San Francisco Bay and the Gulf of California.

The Long Beach Water Department is a pioneer in promoting conservation and in developing a new source of water through ocean-water desalination.

The department has taken a responsible, thoughtful, systematic, and incremental approach to ocean desalination. It started with research, progressed to a pilot project, and now has moved to a demonstration project. The design of its ocean intake and discharge structures avoid the ecological problems that have caused some environmental groups to oppose ocean desalination. And its patented membrane technology reduces by 20-30 precent the energy needed to create potable water.

There are other areas where Long Beach could be a leader in reducing its water demand. One primary target should be residential landscaping. It accounts for as much as 75 percent of all residential water use and could be reduced by more than 80 percent if we converted to native, drought-tolerant vegetation. Such a move not only would reduce water consumption, but would create habitat for birds, butterflies, and important insects. Creating habitat near the places we live and work will become an increasingly important strategy for conserving biodiversity as a complement to setting aside undeveloped areas for special protection as the population grows. Native landscaping also requires less fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides, and less effort by residents to maintain. There should be incentives for conversion to native landscaping. We also need a very visible native-landscaping demonstration project. There is a wonderful one at the Long Beach Water Department headquarters. It should be replicated in several other areas of high pedestrian traffic, the front lawn of the aquarium, for example.

The city uses reclaimed gray water for golf courses and some parks, but there are additional opportunities for reclamation and for conservation. Our parks could save significant amounts of water through a combination of different vegetation, state-of-the-art irrigation technology, and monitoring.

In future columns we will explore what greening efforts are underway at the Port of Long Beach, Long Beach Transit, Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach City College, Cal State Long Beach, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and other agencies and organizations.

Long Beach has a wonderful opportunity to create a new model of green urbanism, one that goes beyond reducing our carbon and ecological footprints and enriches our humanitarian legacy.


Adoption of the Long Beach 2010 Strategic Plan. Its goal is to make Long Beach a sustainable city.

Adoption of a Green Building Policy for Municipal Buildings, which states that all new construction of municipally owned and operated buildings will meet the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard. To date, one building has been constructed under this policy—the Mark Twain Neighborhood Library, which opened in August 2007.

The Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine adopted the Riverlink plan to green the approaches to the Los Angeles River and make it more accessible to nearby neighborhoods.

The Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center installed a 700-kilowatt solar panel array on its roof.

The city mandated the reuse or recycling of at least 60 percent of the waste materials generated during building demolitions; began documenting carbon-dioxide emissions from all city facilities, sites, and operations; and updated its General Plan with the Long Beach 2030 Plan, which calls for a major commitment to making Long Beach a more sustainable city.

The city partnered with a Green Ribbon Committee to draft green building requirements for private development and created an 11-member Sustainable City Commission.




To contact Jerry R. Schubel, CEO of the Aquarium of the Pacific, e-mail him at jerryschubel@longbeachmagazine.com.

Special thanks to Daniel Lee, Assistant General Manager and Rob Collins, Director of Operations for the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.