Special Series: Extremes in 3D
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.
San Francisco is increasingly seen as a “green” city but its track record doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
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.
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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….
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.
San Francisco is increasingly seen as a “green” city but its track record doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Los automóviles que ingresaban a la rampa de la autopista en Mill Valley zumbaban a través de cientos de metros de agua salada hasta los tobillos. Junto a la pista del Aeropuerto Internacional de San Francisco, el agua de la bahía brotaba hasta la carretera desde un desagüe pluvial.
Cars entering the freeway ramp in Mill Valley whizzed through hundreds of feet of ankle-deep seawater. Next to the San Francisco International Airport runway, baywater burbled up into the road from a storm drain.
