CEC’s Santa Barbara Earth Day Celebration

Join the Community Environmental Council for a full day of events at the Arlington Theater on Saturday, April 23, 2022.

The FREE daytime event will take place in and around downtown Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theatre from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. A separate ticketed evening concert will begin at 7:00 p.m. Learn more and register now.

• Short films from the SBC Food Action Network, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Wildling Museum
• Secondhand fashion show in partnership with UCSB students, Buffalo Exchange Ventura, The Closet Trading Company, and VanJane LA
• CEC’s Environmental Hero Award Ceremony
• CEC’s Annual Climate Leadership Summit, from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• In-person networking with 28 organizations and businesses offering action on climate
• Green Car Show in parking lot behind the Theatre
• Evening concert featuring local favorites Jackson Gillies, Alastair Greene, and No Simple Highway, along with some exciting special guests. Continuing our celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the concert’s theme is “1972” and performances will feature songs from that year. The concert will be a separate, ticketed event.

About CEC’s Santa Barbara Earth Day

Widely acknowledged as the birthplace of Earth Day, Santa Barbara’s involvement began with the devastating 1969 oil spill off its coast. This led a local group of concerned citizens to begin discussing a different way of looking at environmental systems. During that time, Senator Gaylord Nelson visited Santa Barbara to view the oil spill damage. When he returned to Washington, D.C., he introduced a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the earth. Over the next few years, the environmental movement was born across the country – including Community Environmental Council (CEC). Led by a group of forward-thinking youth and elders, CEC incorporated in the spring of 1970 and its first act as a new nonprofit was to hold an Earth Day celebration – a one block long teach-in between State St. and Chapala St. along Anapamu. Around the country, 20 million concerned citizens attended similar events. We recognize that “every day is earth day” and that special events like this are a way to bring diverse voices from our community together as a reminder to tread lightly on the planet.

Earth Day 2022 will highlight the critical role CEC has played across the region for more than 50 years, shining a light on the system changes, policy implementation, and individual action needed to meet the urgency of the climate crisis. Key to this is the Annual Climate Leadership Summit, which will feature climate actions that organizations and individuals are undertaking throughout the region, with an emphasis on nurturing strategies that leverage intergenerational connections. Eric Cardenas, CEO of LOACOM, will act as the program’s emcee and co-facilitate the Climate Leadership Summit with Sigrid Wright, CEO of CEC.