Candidate for
Mayor; City of San Diego

Jim Bell - A Brief Biography

Family History

Jim Bell was born in Willmington, North Carolina in 1941. His family moved to Long Beach California in 1943, and to San Diego in 1951. Jim has lived in San Diego for almost 50 years.

Education

Jim attended Chesterton Elementary, Montgomery Junior High School (in Linda Vista), Grossmont High School (9th + 11th grades), and graduated from El Capitan High School in 1960. He attended Palomar College and Long Beach State University. He graduated from SDSU in 1985 with a bachelors degree in Art and Art Sciences.

In high school and college, Jim participated in a number of sports, including track, cross country and basketball. He played varsity basketball at Palomar College and Long Beach State University.

Work History

During high school Jim helped support his family by working as a gardener, ditchdigger and as a carpenter's helper. During and after college he worked as a carpenter.

During the late 60s and early 70s Jim became concerned about the impacts of human activities on the environment and our quality of life. He became increasingly convinced that there were "smarter" ways to conduct our lives and build our communities.

Toward this goal, Jim became the world's first ECOLOGICAL DESIGNER.

Since then Jim has given thousands of lectures on the principals of Ecological Design. Additionally, he is the author of Achieving Eco-nomic Security On Spaceship Earth and numerous articles and papers on creating sustainable economies. His latest book is called LONG RANGE PLANNING: Creating a Sustainable Economy and Future in the San Diego/Tijuana Region - A Case Study.

Basically the book shows how to gracefully transform the San Diego/Tijuana Region's non-sustainable economy into an robust economy that's completely sustainable and solidly anchored on a foundation of local energy water and food self-sufficiency. To read his book on line or print out free copies, go to http://www.jimbell.com, click on Jim Bell for Mayor, then on LONG RANGE PLANNING.

Working with People

Jim has served on the Board of Directors of numerous groups. These include the San Diego Ecology Center, I Love a Clean San Diego, Environmental Health Coalition, and the California Association of Cooperatives. He now serves as the Director of the Ecological Life Systems Institute and the San Diego Center for Appropriate Technology. He's also a board member of Ocean Beach People's Food Cooperative.

Professional Life

Jim Bell is an internationally recognized expert on life support sustaining development. His projects include the design and construction of the San Diego Center for Appropriate Technology and Ecoparque, a prototype wastewater recycling plant in Tijuana, Mexico that converts sewage into irrigation water and compost.

He also worked as a consultant for the Otay Ranch Joint Planning Project, the East Lake Development Company, and on the design of a life support friendly hotel for Terra Vista Management. He was also the Ecological Designer for the Ocean Beach People's Food Cooperative's new "green" store. Jim has over 40 years experience in the design and construction industry.

As a lecturer, Jim speaks to many groups each year. His lecture credits include the AIA California State Conference, the Society for International Development's World Conference in Mexico City, and keynote addresses at the University of Oregon's first "Visions for a Sustainable Future" conference and the State of Oregon's Solar Energy Association Conference.

Jim is often interviewed on television, radio, and by the written press and has been a guest on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation." An article titled, "Mr. Green Jeans" in the L.A. Times Currents section generated more phone calls than any article written in that section prior to the article being published.

Jim also hosted a Sunday night radio show show on KFMB for almost 5 years. The show called "Jim Bell & Common Sense," focused on using our minds and following our hearts toward creating a win-win world, now and for future generations.

Jim's honors include: The Society of Energy Engineer's Environmental Professional of the year for the Southwestern States, a "Beyond War" award, and a City of San Diego Water Conservation Design Award for one of his development projects.

Political Involvement

In 1996 and 2000 Jim ran for Mayor of San Diego. He ran again for the 2nd District City Council in 2002. He is now runing for Mayor of San Diego for the third time. Though he has not yet been elected, his ideas relating to making our region as energy, water and food self-sufficient as possible as soon as possible are being embraces by an increasing number of elected officials and public and private agencies.

Jim has also served on numerous boards and committees. These include the Mayor's Environmental Task Force and board of director stents for I Love a Clean San Diego, Environmental Health Coalition, California Association of Cooperatives, San Diego Ecology Center, and the Sierra Club. He also represented the Sierra Club on San Diego's Regional Energy Advisory Committee.

Currently, Jim is a board member of the Ocean Beach People's Food Cooperative and a member of SANDAGS Long Range Planning Stakeholders Working Group.