County Locations

Crunching the Adaptation Numbers – Not Peanuts

Regional agencies made splashy headlines when they released a joint study on the likely cost of protecting Bay Area shores from rising seas: $110 billion. But the top-line number didn’t offer much insight into the complexities. A new inventory and map from the same agencies is much more revealing.

Being Human in Big Weather

Being Human in Big Weather

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….

New Flood Protection Standard for the Peninsula

New Flood Protection Standard for the Peninsula

In San Mateo County, new planning guidance may help cities account for rising seas when approving new developments. OneShoreline’s proposals are stricter than current requirements from federal, state, and local agencies, but those are also evolving. “The intent is to go where we already see regulators are going,” says Makena Wong, a project manager.

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Crunching the Adaptation Numbers – Not Peanuts

Crunching the Adaptation Numbers – Not Peanuts

Regional agencies made splashy headlines when they released a joint study on the likely cost of protecting Bay Area shores from rising seas: $110 billion. But the top-line number didn’t offer much insight into the complexities. A new inventory and map from the same agencies is much more revealing.

Being Human in Big Weather

Being Human in Big Weather

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….

New Flood Protection Standard for the Peninsula

New Flood Protection Standard for the Peninsula

In San Mateo County, new planning guidance may help cities account for rising seas when approving new developments. OneShoreline’s proposals are stricter than current requirements from federal, state, and local agencies, but those are also evolving. “The intent is to go where we already see regulators are going,” says Makena Wong, a project manager.

Humanity on the Fence

Humanity on the Fence

A new public art installation, called Fencelines, redefines the only barrier separating Richmond’s residential neighborhoods from the Chevron oil refinery: a wire fence.

Growing a Rainbow in the Urban Dirt

Growing a Rainbow in the Urban Dirt

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.”

Food Forests Green Solano

Food Forests Green Solano

This spring, Sustainable Solano hosted open gardens that they helped plan and plant, offering visitors a chance to discover these food forests: a garden layered like a natural forest that includes fruit-bearing trees and edible plants.

Picturing Winter on Coyote Creek

Picturing Winter on Coyote Creek

In this photo essay, Megan King captures the Coyote Creek watershed swollen with water after winter storms. Last year, she explored something completely different: drought.

Five Threats in Five Places

Five Threats in Five Places

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.

Future-Proof Homes?

Future-Proof Homes?

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.

Oaklanders Leading on Climate

Oaklanders Leading on Climate

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.

Two Towns Shortlisted for FEMA Millions

Two Towns Shortlisted for FEMA Millions

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.

Flipping the Switch on All-Electric Housing

Flipping the Switch on All-Electric Housing

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.

Oakland Tailors Resilience Hubs to Neighborhood Needs

Oakland Tailors Resilience Hubs to Neighborhood Needs

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 Pumps Up Resiliency

Suisun City Pumps Up Resiliency

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.

Valley Cities Beat Back the Heat

Valley Cities Beat Back the Heat

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.

Napa Bets on Bikes for Students

Napa Bets on Bikes for Students

What’s flat, covered in pavement, and unsafe for cyclists? Most Bay Area cities. But a Napa coalition recently published “Safe Routes to School” reports for 31 schools in the county. The routes also offer a healthier alternative to back seat commutes to class.

Sinking and Sharing a New Well

Sinking and Sharing a New Well

A new well will allow the North Marin Water District to transition away from aging wells situated where high tides (and rising sea level) can cause increased salinity in tap water.

Why Napa Planners Nixed a New Gas Station

Why Napa Planners Nixed a New Gas Station

In April, a developer proposed a new gas station near a busy intersection in the City of Napa. But thanks to footwork of high schoolers, citizens and elected leaders Napa County and a growing number of North Bay cities have set zero-emissions goals for 2030, and declared a climate emergency. As a result, the new gas station was a no-go.

Refreshing Santa Clara County Rivers

Refreshing Santa Clara County Rivers

Santa Clara’s National River Cleanup Day brought together 596 volunteers and resulted in over 25,000 pounds of trash collected. “It was one of the first times since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we could actually organize group cleanups,” says Valley Water’s Nick Ingram

Tears for Trees

Tears for Trees

I’ve watched an army of white trucks topped with cranes and chippers remove the oaks, redwoods, bays and manzanitas from around the power lines on our mountain in Napa. PG&E is felling a million trees per year and spending over a billion to do it.

Suisun City Is No Island

Suisun City Is No Island

Suisun City has always had the waterfront and nearby wetlands at its heart but it won’t be long before the entire area is vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise.

The Farm That Could

The Farm That Could

In 2019, Governor Newsom signed AB 1486 into law which connects developers interested in building more affordable homes with surplus public land suitable for housing. In the Bay Area, the housing crisis is nothing new. Using public land to create affordable housing is a step towards solving the crisis. However, taking Happy Lot Farm and Gardens land to service one need would also be squandering another need, in this case, urban farming in food deserts.

Yell Fire on a Community Network

Yell Fire on a Community Network

When Sonoma County residents smell smoke, they usually hop on social media or check some alert services like Nixle or PulsePoint to find out what’s going on. But social media isn’t really designed for quickly and accurately sharing disaster alerts.