Special Series: Extremes in 3D
When it rained this May, it felt unexpected. Based on over 150 years of climate data for San Francisco, May typically gets several days with a light rain. But context is key, and we are coming out of three years of drought—a fact which will generally color memories in a drier hue. “If I’ve learned anything it is that people’s perceptions are usually wrong,” says Jan Null….
33 Fruitvale homes in Oakland could look forward to improved air quality, lowered water usage, greener energy and an innovation in the local energy system called a microgrid through a project called EcoBlock.
A new public art installation, called Fencelines, redefines the only barrier separating Richmond’s residential neighborhoods from the Chevron oil refinery: a wire fence.
All Stories
You’re on the bus. It’s your evening commute. The bus is almost full. Soft waves of chatter wash over you as you watch the blurred lights of storefronts pass by.
When it rained this May, it felt unexpected. Based on over 150 years of climate data for San Francisco, May typically gets several days with a light rain. But context is key, and we are coming out of three years of drought—a fact which will generally color memories in a drier hue. “If I’ve learned anything it is that people’s perceptions are usually wrong,” says Jan Null….
33 Fruitvale homes in Oakland could look forward to improved air quality, lowered water usage, greener energy and an innovation in the local energy system called a microgrid through a project called EcoBlock.
A new public art installation, called Fencelines, redefines the only barrier separating Richmond’s residential neighborhoods from the Chevron oil refinery: a wire fence.
Debbie Harris directs Urban Adamah, a Jewish urban farm in Northwest Berkeley. She is a farmer by trade but her role at Urban Adamah requires her to be “a horticulturalist, a plumber, a therapist, a teacher, an organizer.”
Coastal erosion in Pacifica, drought in Brentwood, fires in the North Bay, flooding in Union City, and urban heat in San Jose. Anissa Foster takes us on a revealing virtual tour.
Oona Khan dreams about her home of the future, after losing her Malibu retreat to fire. Caught in a quagmire of legal battles with Southern California Edison, and surging construction costs, Khan is still waiting to start construction.
On a clear morning in January, a group of tide worshippers gathered at the Santa Monica Pier to “celebrate the ocean and build our climate community,” said Laurene von Klan.
Research confirms the drastic impacts wildfire smoke has had on school learning. But 16 East Bay schools now have updated air filters and more actions are in the pipeline statewide.
Typical flood protections rely on engineered structures. But there’s a new push at the national level of the US Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize working with nature. Storm surge plans currently underway in New York, Miami and San Francisco highlight a range of nature-based fixes.
In November 2022 San Rafael launched a resilience planning project that has community-based organizations playing an active role in decision-making.
The 14 graduates of the inaugural 2021 Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy have new skills to confront the rising tide head-on. “It’s completely changed how I look at the environment,” confesses Academy alum Shy Walker.
San Francisco is increasingly seen as a “green” city but its track record doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Grimes and Belvedere were the only two northern California towns that FEMA shortlisted this year for flood prevention funding. But flood protection is often more easily planned than done.
When he purchased a house, Ever Rodriguez noticed how North Fair Oaks differed from surrounding areas. “We don’t have the same infrastructure or services as in Menlo Park.”
Buried in the blueprints for a refurbished San Francisco seawall is a cutting-edge experiment in texturing pieces of this buttress against sea level rise so they attract native species.
An East Palo Alto affordable housing project is at the forefront of a trend cities across California are trying to encourage: switching from natural gas appliances to electric ones. But the transition isn’t without headaches.
My sister and I joke that any temperature above 75 is too hot to leave the house. But I decided to venture outside during the heat wave after Labor Day to see how the people of Sacramento were faring.
Warren Logan is confident that if we fight for safer streets, we can have them. “In Oakland you are more likely to be hit by a car than cancer or a stray bullet,” he says.
Faced with a health crisis, or stifling heat or smoke, most people will go somewhere familiar for help, a place they feel welcome. Oakland Chinatown’s Lincoln Center is that kind of safe haven, the perfect location for one of the city’s new “resilience hubs.”
Suisun City has been exploring ways to increase its resiliency to sea level rise and storm surges, including updating infrastructure, building an ecotone levee, and holding a resiliency workshop.
Although cannabis has a reputation as an environmentally-friendly plant, indoor cannabis cultivation demands significant energy to maintain precise light and temperature requirements. Last year, Colorado State researchers published the first study on the topic.
In the capital region and Silicon Valley, two cities have been experimenting with cooler roofs, walls and leafy canopies. Turns out cooling measures in one spot help those downwind.
It’s July 30th at the San Francisco Exploratorium and three teams of 10 to 15 adventurers, ranging from ages 9 to about 50, are assembled to participate in a live-action role-playing event unlike anything most had experienced before.
After a career of school administration and community engagement, Wanda Stewart saw firsthand how schools can be a central space for activating people.
Billy Krimmel decided to sow tens of thousands of native seeds around Davis and do everything wrong. Everything wrong, at least, by the standards of the professional landscapers.
Jocelyn Gama is a college student, activist, educator, athlete, model, and fashion designer. “I’m focused on helping my community heal,” she says.
KneeDeep interviewed Marcy Brown, master of “Death by a Thousand Breaths,” about what went into her thinking in designing a 90-minute, live action role-playing Dungeons and Dragons game called Cerulean Port City.
Durham’s play Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids is a story of not only wildlife conservation and low-flow toilets, but of police brutality, grief, and our relationship with the living creatures around us.
Could making friends with your neighbors be the secret to climate resilience? “All my homies are locally-sourced, non-GMO and gluten-free,” writes Maylin Tu of Los Angeles.
From tattoo parlors to senior housing, San Pablo Avenue has it all. Now the busy thoroughfare is also a testbed for a distributed network of rain gardens.
Take a drive from the Oakland Airport to the Coliseum, and it’s impossible not to feel the consequences of urban decay: potholes. Luckily, a trio of high school sophomores are proposing an unlikely solution: tree sap.
On a drizzly Thursday in April, dozens gathered beside a weedy San Jose shoreline to break ground on four miles of new levee and 2,900 acres of restored habitats, a future buffer from the rising Bay.
I set out for Heron’s Head Park on an early March morning. To my surprise, I had never heard of, nor visited, this site on the southeastern bayshore in my 20-plus years growing up and living as a visual artist in San Francisco.
Two days on the ground filming and talking with work crews planting new zones of the Giant Marsh Living Shoreline. “We need habitat to mature enough to function fast,” says Jeanne Hammond.
The “Cool Cities Challenge” launched this January in SoCal’s LA and Irvine, and the North Bay’s Petaluma. The program is designed to kick start climate action at the micro level.
Down a busy street overflowing with groceries, taquerias, Chinese medicine shops, and small businesses, an unassuming dead end is home to a thriving community garden, which also got greener during the pandemic.
Farmers markets drew people outside during the pandemic, while CSAs and produce boxes kept them eating in but supporting local food.
Maladaptation, and failing to adapt in time, can be almost as dangerous as climate change.
The historically underserved community of Marin City has struggled with inadequate infrastructure, as a result of poor city planning and a lack of resources. Now, on the frontlines of extreme weather events, the community is finding their own ways to handle the climate forces of today.
