If you were to ask a resident if Santa Barbara was a “green” community, they’d probably point to the fact that the first Earth Day was a response of the 1969 oil spill. Or that the City of Santa Barbara has a goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2035. The “Together to Zero” plan is ambitious, but steps are already underway to make that a reality in our coastal community. For instance, the City of Goleta’s Go Green Goleta initiative asks residents to go plastic free, join coastal cleanups, and conserve water.
I find it curious, then, that our community doesn’t invest directly in getting to “zero” themselves. In 2025, I made it a goal to go plastic-free in the bathroom — not an easy feat when you consider that plastic is everywhere, from your toothbrush to your shampoo bottle. But things were made easier thanks to local stores like Mission Refill and Sunkissed Pantry. I switched to bar shampoo and conditioner, introduced toothpaste tablets and bamboo toothbrushes (even getting the approval from my dentist!), and refilled every bottle for facial oils, lotions, and more.
Now both are those stores are gone. Santa Barbara’s Sunkissed Pantry closed its doors in December, and Goleta’s Mission Refill is saying goodbye at the end of the month. Why can’t these sustainable businesses find homes in our community? Why aren’t they being supported just as we’ve taken steps to ban single-use plastic, introduce electric or hybrid public buses, increase pedestrian or alternative infrastructure, and more?
