Chula Vista Considers Getting Greener

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published April 1, 2008 at 1:53 PM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The Chula Vista City Council is expected to vote on a plan tonight to reduce the city's greenhouse gas emissions. The council is considering seven recommendations from adding solar to requiring green

The Chula Vista City Council is expected to vote on a plan tonight to reduce the city's greenhouse gas emissions. The council is considering seven recommendations from adding solar to requiring green building standards. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

Chula Vista started reducing emissions from city buildings and operations several years ago.

Now the council's climate change working group has proposed establishing green building standards and six other measures to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Leo Miras is with the Environmental Health Coalition and part of the group that developed the plan.

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Miras: One of the major recommendations is the mandatory citywide green building standards. I think is key first of all because this will make Chula Vista the first city in the county to do that - to adopt citywide mandatory green building standards.

He says other cities have the standards, but only for city-operated buildings and operations. Green building standards help reduce greenhouse gas emissions because they require buildings to maximize energy efficiency. Other recommendations include using solar power and expanding the city's use of alternative fuel vehicles.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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