Mayor Peter Tucker was praising residents for their commitments to conserve water and reduce waste, as Hermosa Beach won the title of “Southern California’s Greenest City” for Earth Month, in the Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation sponsored by the Wyland Foundation.
“We would like to thank the Wyland Foundation for the opportunity to showcase our community’s commitment to protecting the environment and conserving water,” Tucker said.
He thanked Hermosa’s “residents, service organizations and local businesses for making these conservation pledges and demonstrating that Hermosa Beach truly is Southern California’s greenest city.”
“As a city, one of our top priorities is finding ways to create a greener tomorrow for our community, and we look forward to continuing to work together to protect the environment,” Tucker said.
In the competition, which began April 1, Hermosa went head-to-head with cities throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties to see who could make the most online water conservation pledges.
When the contest ended April 30, Hermosans had topped all comers in per capita conservation pledges.
Hermosans promised to conserve 121,540,821 gallons of water, eliminate 421,711 pounds of waste from landfills, reduce the use of plastic water bottles by 28,125, and reduce carbon dioxide output by 3,651,388.80 pounds.
Keeping the pledges will save residents an estimated $289,285.81 over the next year.
People who made online pledges will be eligible for prizes including 500 tickets to a special Los Angeles Angels game honoring the city, 100 four-packs of tickets to Disneyland, and passes to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
“Hermosa’s secret to winning was the city’s ability to stay motivated throughout the month and fend off challenges from dozens of other cities, like Long Beach, Torrance and Redondo Beach,” said the renowned artist known simply as Wyland, who painted the massive whale migration mural on a western wall of the AES power plant in Redondo Beach. “Even though Hermosa was one of the smallest cities participating, it racked up more pledges than cities many times its size.” ER
