Views from Cool OC & Cool Irvine

Patty Oh, program manager for the Cool Irvine program under the nonprofit Cool OC – a local grassroots organization providing programs to educate the community on creating planet-friendly and disaster-resilient neighborhoods – is at the forefront of what’s “cool” in sustainability and climate mitigation education in Orange County.

Cool Irvine was one of the first recipients of OCPA’s Bright Futures Grant. We caught up with Patty to chat about how the grant is supporting efforts to spread the word about green energy across Orange County.

Q: There are lots of “cool” sustainability initiatives happening in Orange County! What is Cool Irvine and Cool OC and how are they making an impact in our communities?

Cool Irvine started as a pilot program that began in 2022. We train what we call “Cool Block Leaders” to educate neighborhood groups about sustainable living, disaster preparedness and community building. As part of the pilot program, participants performed roughly 1,700 actions and reduced about 727 pounds of carbon emissions, which is the equivalent of taking about 71 cars off the road for an entire year.

This program is wonderful because it allows neighbors to get to know each other while also learning about sustainable living and climate resilience. People have a reason to come together for a shared purpose. Getting back in touch with our community makes us better neighbors, better stewards of our community, and in turn, better protectors of our environment.

As neighboring cities saw what was happening in Irvine, other cities wanted to bring the program to their city as well, so we created Cool OC, and began working throughout Orange County.

Q: Cool Irvine received one of the very first Bright Futures Grants from OCPA. How is that helping your climate and sustainability efforts? Is it already making an impact?

The Bright Futures Grant from OCPA is allowing us to reach new populations through our block leadership program. For example, we engaged student volunteers who speak Mandarin to help share information about community energy and how OCPA works at the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is one of the largest events in Irvine for the Chinese community.

We also used the support from this grant to help organize the Local Conference of Youth, under the official youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This event was attended by more than 150 youth from all over Orange County with speakers highlighting the need for a clean energy future and how youth can get engaged in climate advocacy or even a career in this field. We are also currently adapting the cool block program for under-resourced communities and will be running a pilot in new communities with the funds from the Bright Futures Grant.

Q: Why is it especially important to reach underserved communities? How are they impacted by climate change and what does Cool OC do to help?

With the cost of living being so high and our weather disruptions becoming more extreme, disadvantaged communities bear the strongest impact of climate change yet have the least resources to mitigate those effects. These communities need to be prioritized in the climate movement.

At Cool OC, we’ve expanded our mission to reach these under-resourced communities that are most affected by climate change. We help to make sure people are aware of essential resources and information that they often do not receive. For example, that cooling centers are available during heat waves and electric and gas utility assistance exists for lower-income residents. These resources are important to share in addition to education about climate resilience, adaptation and community empowerment.

Q: How can Cool OC and OCPA work together to move Orange County to a greener future?

Cool OC and OCPA can continue work on making the community aware of the impact of climate change and the critical need for a sustainable future. Hopefully, as the community’s understanding increases, it will spur positive action. We can also work together to help people understand how Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) can play an important part in this transition to a greener future.

What I really love about CCAs is that they are not-for-profit entities focused on providing an essential service to the community, not corporate profits. They have other goals like delivering more green energy and taking community input into account. CCAs are a great model that we need to see more of in our communities. I hope we can expand OCPA’s member cities and greatly increase the amount of clean energy used in Orange County.

About Orange County Power Authority

The Orange County Power Authority is a not-for-profit public agency that offers clean power at competitive rates, significantly reducing energy-related greenhouse emissions and enabling reinvestment in local energy programs. To learn more, visit www.ocpower.org.