Sustainably building a climate-resilient future has been a priority for Christine Boles both as a small business owner and an elected official. Her architecture firm designed the first net-zero home in Pacifica, and she places environmental stewardship and climate change mitigation atop her agenda in her city council reelection campaign. Christine recognizes that Pacifica faces many of the same challenges as cities across the Bay Area — affordability, creating a more sustainable economy, and budget constraints exacerbated by federal cuts chief among them — and recognizes the need to meet these challenges with an approach befitting a coastal community particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change.

During Christine’s mayorship, Pacifica’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan received its first update in over a decade, outlining steps the city will take to meet its new benchmarks for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. These measures include incentivizing home electrification upgrades and solar panel installation, establishing sustainable building standards which exceed state guidelines for new and existing structures, and adopting a Sustainable Practices Purchasing Policy for City operations. As liaison to the Climate Action and Resilience Committee, Christine has played an integral role in the early stages of the plan’s implementation. She also sits on the board of WestLight Energy, which facilitates low-income residents’ access to affordable clean energy, and belongs to the Pacifica Climate Committee as well as Cal Cities’ Environmental Quality Policy Committee.

By presenting a clear-eyed assessment of Pacifica’s challenges and opportunities for growth, Christine charts a path forward that both improves quality of life for current residents and preserves the city’s “wealth of natural resources” for future generations.

Campaign website: https://www.christineforpacifica.com/

Volunteer some time: https://www.christineforpacifica.com/get-involved

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Image credit: Christine Boles, used with permission