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The Santa Barbara City Council officially threw its support behind the Make Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, and this local climate activist — and high school student — is grateful.
When you make a mess, you clean it up. You break it, you buy it. We learn this as children. In California, the same principles are now being applied to the climate conversation. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act would force major corporations to pay for damages related to climate change.
The legislation would require companies responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions (over one billion metric tons since 1990) to pay into a fund that would be used to address climate projects like disaster preparedness and response, zero-emission transportation, green workforce training, upgraded energy systems, and local climate efforts. The idea is to shift the burden of paying for climate-related disasters from the taxpayers to the corporations responsible for the emissions.
The act is still making its way through the legislature. But on March 10, the City of Santa Barbara joined more than 20 California cities in officially supporting it.
That vote was the culmination of efforts by climate activists young, old, and everything in between. I’ve seen the hard work first-hand: I’ve been involved in the Make Polluters Pay (MPP) movement since last September, when Lauren Leland, the Santa Barbara campaign lead, and I began planning a walkout in support of the legislation at Santa Barbara High School, adding our school and 100-plus students to the 50 schools statewide in protest.
Since then, I’ve continued to work with Lauren and Brooke Balthaser, community organizing manager at a local group called Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas, to build support for the bill locally. We’ve hosted community events, like our recent potluck, where we united the movements in both Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Community leaders and local politicians joined us in a community-building event. We painted signs for a banner drop in Ventura and a parade banner for Santa Barbara outreach. On the banner, we stamped human handprints, our gloved hands pressing black paint deep onto the canvas.
We passed a resolution with the County of Santa Barbara after working with multiple county supervisors, both in planning our walkout and Lauren and Brooke’s individual lobby meetings. We met with people individually to find our city and county champions. After months of back-and-forth, our resolution was supported by the Sustainability Committee, and then it moved to the city council. Our group of 20 activists — from the Fearless Grandmothers to UCSB students — showed up to support.
By charging fossil fuel giants for the damages they have knowingly caused, it creates an opportunity to invest in the work that is so desperately needed.
– Lauren Leland, Make Polluters Pay
On the night the Santa Barbara City Council debated officially supporting the bill, supportive councilmembers argued that responsibility should rest with polluters who create conditions that increase the likelihood of a natural disaster.
“I teach about wildfire, floods, coastal erosion, water resilience, food and agriculture sustainability,” said Councilmember Kristen Sneddon, who is also a geology teacher. “Every single risk we face is amplified by accelerating climate change.”
In her public comment, Lauren listed the things a climate superfund could do: provide funding to address coastal hazards and allow for investment in wildfire mitigation efforts, community clean energy projects, and green jobs. “By charging fossil fuel giants for the damages they have knowingly caused,” she said, “it creates an opportunity to invest in the work that is so desperately needed.”
We worked closely with Councilmember Sneddon to pass the resolution, and what she said that day stuck with me.
“I’m so grateful — to the youth in particular — who continue to bring this forward over and over and to hold us accountable,” Sneddon said. “This is your future. Some of us won’t be here in 30 years, and you will be… this is your [future].”
The median age of our national legislators is approximately 60 years. Our president is 79. The decisions leaders make today will ultimately impact young people like me the most. I’m 15, but still very involved in this advocacy. Should we have to do this work? No. But should the voices of people my age be included in a conversation about our future? I’m inclined to think so.
This Make Polluters Pay resolution passed unanimously in Santa Barbara, and it’s gaining attention statewide. It’s not just a push to ensure the next generation doesn’t inherit the growing costs of climate change — it’s a platform where my voice has power, and I have a chance to make a difference. I have no idea whether we will be able to pass this in California. But I’m holding out hope.
Thank you, Santa Barbara, for joining us in this fight.
