CEC’s New Environmental Hub Sprouts in the Heart of Downtown Santa Barbara

A Focal Point and Incubator
for Climate Activism and Awareness

By Callie Fausey | Photos by Ingrid Bostrom
July 6, 2023

ABUZZ WITH EXCITEMENT: CEC’s staff is eager to make the most of their new space. | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom

A tree blooms through the floorboards of a State Street construction site. Its roots reach down into the Earth’s soil, its branches extend upward, and its green leaves shine under a speckled constellation of light.

The juvenile ficus is a sprouting metaphor for the space that houses it: the Community Environmental Council’s (CEC) new “Environmental Hub.” Amid the din of electric tools, the tree thrives in its bright indoor environment, symbolizing the growth and potential of the Central Coast nonprofit and its new home.

This space aims to foster creativity and collaboration to address environmental issues, paralleling how the soil and light nurture the tree. Never mind that it’s maintained by “Steve Jobs’s arborist” Dave Muffly, who was Apple’s tree guy and happens to live locally.