Former SLO City Council member is trading politics for farming — to fight climate change
During his four years on San Luis Obispo’s City Council, Aaron Gomez often spoke about the need to combat climate change through individual actions.
He advocated biking, walking, reducing purchases of food in plastic packaging and spending money on quality products, as opposed to cheap goods produced by exploited laborers overseas.
Gomez opted not to run for a second term in the 2020 election. His seat is now occupied by former Mayor Jan Marx, who won her council bid along with Andy Pease, who was re-elected to a second term.
And after spending significant amounts of time discussing climate action as part of aggressive environmental policies passed by the San Luis Obispo City Council, Gomez said he’s putting into practice what he preaches.
Gomez and his relatives are starting a permaculture farm that aims to develop agricultural ecosystems that are sustainable and self-sufficient.
“There’s a huge permaculture movement,” Gomez said. “It can be based around crops, animals, water, seasonal conditions. The basic idea is that you can farm to reach a certain goal, to grow something to feed a few people or many, to attract migratory birds or create climate sustainability through soil health so that soil is carbon sequestering versus carbon emitting.”
The farm will serve as a family homestead and possibly a future site for traveling growers with sustainability goals.
Gomez, who co-owns The Gold Concept family-owned jewelry store in downtown San Luis Obispo, declined to reveal the specific San Luis Obispo County location of the new farm for privacy reasons.
He said the family farm has a five-year plan to be self-sustaining before any attempt to expand or make money.
“This new shift in life direction has been motivated by four years in political office pushing for environmental policy and realizing government alone cannot solve this massive problem,” Gomez said. “The data is quite clear that the average American’s way of life comes at a huge cost to other humans around the world as well as other life forms around the globe. This is my way of putting my own actions in alignment with what I have been preaching.”
Gomez said he wants to make a “working example of what sustainable farming is — in my own backyard.”
Gomez said he divides his time between the jewelry store, which incorporates ethical and sustainable jewelry purchasing practices, and the new farm, upgrading the property in advance of future cultivation.
The Gold Concept uses recycled materials and buys mostly from small vendors who guarantee their workers fair wages. Gomez said business at the 50-year-old store has been down 45% since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Gomez said products at The Gold Concept can be more costly than at other stores, but noted that they are of high quality and were made with minimal impact on the earth.
“We want to inspire people to do what we can,” Gomez said. “Part of the reason other poorer countries are running out of resources is because of our consumption as a rich nation. We have to change how we think about buying. It’s better to buy something that lasts longer and doesn’t exploit people and resources.”
Former SLO City Council member has environmental focus
During his time on the San Luis Obispo City Council, Gomez voted in favor of initiatives such as an electric building policy, a 2035 climate neutrality target and the controversial Anholm Bikeway Plan, which created a bike corridor between downtown San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly.
He also supported housing projects such as the San Luis Ranch and Avila Ranch developments that give preference for home ownership to local workers — effectively reducing carbon emissions from commuting.
In addition, Gomez represented San Luis Obispo on the countywide Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA), serving as president of its board of directors, while pushing for initiatives to reduce the use of plastics.
The IWMA banned polystyrene (No. 6) plastics known to cause cancer in humans, according to the agency’s website.
Gomez wanted to broaden the reach of the policy, however, saying it didn’t go far enough.
“I wanted more sweeping change,” Gomez said. “Plastics are not good for recycling, and they’re not good for humans. Removing all plastics from shelves is not realistic. But banning more types of plastics would be an alternative.”
Gomez specifically sought a ban of No. 3 plastics, often referred to as PVC or polyvinyl chloride, found in food wrappings, shower curtains and plumbing pipes, among other products. They can contain cancer-causing toxins, according to Healthline.com.
Gomez also wanted to remove No. 7 plastics — used to make baby bottles, water cooler bottles, car parts and more — which can also have adverse health effects, according to experts.
“IWMA spent hours and hours on that and (the majority of board members) weren’t willing to go far enough,” Gomez said. “(Board members) often say they like the idea of local control, but when it came time for the vote, the message was it wasn’t the right time.”
Gomez said the shift to climate action involves a shift in behavior and a willingness to change.
“To have a culture so heavily based on excess consumption is quite literally leading to the depletion of biodiversity and to our own demise,” Gomez said.
Concerns about city tourism, environment messaging
During a Oct. 20 City Council meeting, Gomez questioned the city’s tourism marketing program, arguing that encouraging people to visit San Luis Obispo is in opposition of the city’s climate action goals.
About 30% of out-of-area visitors come to San Luis Obispo from Fresno, while 24% travel from Los Angeles and 12% from the Bay Area, according to local tourism data.
“We seem to have some conflicting marketing messages going on,” Gomez said at the October meeting.
“For the past four years we’ve been really pushing an environmental climate action major city goal. Now, we’re pushing people to come back to our city in a safe manner to boost (the) economy,” Gomez said, noting that car traffic is a major contributor to “our carbon footprint as a city.” “We’re still pushing a narrative to somewhat chase dollars to support an economy in which the economy is not based on sustainability.”
During the discussion, which took place before the latest coronavirus stay-at-home order, Councilmember Carlyn Christianson said that people will travel and use cars because of the nature of modern society, adding that restaurants and small businesses need financial support.
Councilmember Erica Stewart said that a balance of promoting sustainable transportation, such as train rides and bike sharing, and promoting small businesses is the key to achieving climate action and business vitality.
“We have to have a balance on everything that we do,” Stewart said. “If we were focused totally on any one of these issues, we may not be able to do the other issue as well.”
Gomez was the dissenting vote of the 4-1 approval of a 2% hotel room tax to collect funds to be used to promote local hotels and provide ongoing tourism marketing to help boost travel to San Luis Obispo.
Aaron Gomez turns focus to farming
Gomez said his experience as a San Luis Obispo council member was “enjoyable, rewarding and incredibly trying at times.”
“It’s a very exhausting process, but I do think the benefits outweigh the negatives,” Gomez said.
Gomez said San Luis Obispo is home to an “incredibly amazing group of people” who are very dedicated, including government staff members, nonprofit organization workers and private industry representatives.
Although Gomez thought about running for City Council again, he said, “I made the decision not to because I felt like as a council member you get spread so thin.“
“It was hard to get enough time in one area to develop the real policy change I wanted to, though I felt we did a lot on the environment,” he said. “I wanted a focus more on one thing really deeply and I believe the (permaculture farm) will give me that.”
Gomez said he fears for the future of the planet without drastic behavioral changes.
“I honestly believe we have a fairly limited window to make massive lifestyle shifts if we hope to mitigate the growing environmental degradation humanity has created,” he said.
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