Richard Matthew delights crowd with positive take on battling climate change
If anyone entered the event “Building Sustainable Communities: Driving Sustainability, Circularity, and Equality” Oct. 29 at IKEA Costa Mesa feeling anxious about local efforts to fight climate change, they received a healthy dose of optimism from a panel of experts and, especially, keynote speaker Richard Matthew.
The UC Irvine professor of urban planning & public policy, director of the Climate and Urban Sustainability Program (CUSP) and senior fellow with the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Geneva, delivered a stirring, 31-minute presentation to elected officials, city planners, business owners, sustainability advocates and representatives of a certain multinational retailer known for ready-to-assemble furniture and home accessories. Matthew began by marveling over what humankind has overcome in the past 100 years, including world wars, the Cold War, the Great Depression and the AIDS crisis.
“There were massive amounts of violence, violence that affected millions and millions of people in the 20th Century,” Matthew reminded the packed house. “Out of that violence came a remarkable plan: a blueprint for what a better world could look like. And, the U.S. was a major architect of that.”
The world shifted its focus from empire-building to democracy and human rights promotion around the world.
“It was tremendously transformative,” Matthew said. “If you look at its achievements, this is why many, many people are strongly attached to the institutions, the practices, the values, the beliefs that have emerged. Over the last 75 years, we've seen some remarkable gains, right? The global economy has increased by 150-fold in the last century. Life expectancy has increased by 40 years. Global literacy … has increased by fivefold. This is dramatic.”
However, since the 1970s, we’ve seen “stresses in that system,” Matthew explained. The lack of affordability of health care, housing and higher education has too many people living beyond their means. Effects from climate change make it increasingly difficult for global citizens to find adequate food and water, especially if they already live in impoverished conditions.
Matthew linked “our problems of sustainability” with an increasing number of folks experiencing loneliness. Citing a recent Harvard University study, he said feeling isolated and alone can be an indicator of mental health challenges. And mental health is linked to the state of our environment, and the many social and economic stresses people are experiencing.
Fortunately, “we still have time to move off of some of these alarming and unsustainable trajectories,” Matthew said. “We can improve the relationships we have with each other and our communities and the environment.”
He proposed that, working together, Orange Countians can come up with solutions to nagging societal problems that would serve as a model to the rest of the U.S. and the world. Pointing to the UC Irvine School of Social Ecology’s UCI-OC Poll that concludes this region is one of the few “purple counties” in the country, he said there is no better place to pull off such a transformation.
With roughly a third of the people Republican, another third Democrat and the final third independents, the lack of a majority forces local leaders in Orange County to cooperate with each other to get things done, Matthew said.
“We have to be able to work together on the stuff that makes sense to everybody,” he said. “This is the stuff that would make sense to everybody in the country. It has that sort of potential. That’s unique. That puts us in an unbelievable position of being an influencer, not just in California, but around the country and across the world. We have been given a gift because of the diversity in this county.”
You would be hard pressed to find anyone, no matter their politics, who favors pollution or dumping waste on the streets – and we can build on non-partisan agreement, maintained Matthew, who pointed to another Orange County-centric problem that should be a slam dunk for garnering support.
“Right now, we’re on target to lose 75% of California’s beaches,” he said. “Beaches are the number one tourist destination on the planet. If you lose your beaches, Disney and South Coast Plaza will not be enough to bring 50 million people a year to Orange County to support our economy.”
Matthew added: “If somebody is saying, ‘We don’t need the beaches; I don’t care if the water runs right up against PCH,’ I guarantee you they’re not representative of the general feelings of this county. People want the beaches to be protected. And we know that to do that, we must work together.”
Businesses, like IKEA, advocacy groups, like many of those represented at “Building Sustainable Communities,” and universities, like UC Irvine and the Cal State campuses, can play a leadership role in the transformation, Matthew said.
Decisions will require solid evidence, something the professor said is being collected by CUSP and its recently launched Disaster Dashboard, which is a project Matthew credited to program intern Alexandria Aubley (’25, BAs environmental science & policy and Earth system science), who also received a shoutout from event organizer and IKEA Brand Loyalty & Community Engagement Manager Vanessa Pasillas for making all the “Building Sustainable Communities” speaker posters.
Matthew was preceded on the stage by an expert panel that included Susan Sonne, a City of Buena Park councilwoman and chair of the Orange County Power Authority; Selene Lawrence, energy and outreach manager with the City of Irvine; alum Derek Sabori (‘95, BA fine & studio arts; ’02, MBA), founder of sustainability consultancy firm Underswell; and Adam Ereth, a former City of Costa Mesa planning commissioner who co-developed a sustainability certificate program for the entertainment industry. Tristan Miller of California Green Business served as moderator.
Sonne advocated for reaching out to people who dismiss climate change by finding common ground on issues these critics may not realize are tied to the phenomenon. Lawrence says Irvine partners with advocacy groups (many of whose representatives were in attendance) on sustainability endeavors. Ereth sees a need for agreements on common language and the elimination of greenwashing.
Sabori, who mostly works with action-sport companies, says his clients know sustainability is important. Miller seconded that emotion.
“I think not being sustainable costs more in the end,” she said. “Our businesses want to be green.”
— Matt Coker