The Bay Area and The Climate Crisis: What Six Local Counties Are Doing
The table at the end of this post, which can be sorted and filtered, lays out goals and actions regarding climate and the environment for six Bay Area counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Marin.
This has been assembled from publicly available material and is imperfect, but will give you a starting point if you are interested in the topic.
I recommend you click on “view larger version” in the lower right hand corner of the table, on a desktop/laptop browser, to get the most productive look at the information.
Zulie Malone, a summer intern at Amasia, did ALL of the research here. Thank you Zulie!
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A quick refresher on the basics. Three numbers matter.
2 degrees is the ‘point of no return’ for the increase in the average temperature of the planet that’s possible before irreversible disaster. So far, the global temperature has risen by about 1.1 degrees celsius.
565 gigatons is the computer-simulated amount of carbon dioxide that can be released into the atmosphere while keeping temperature change below 2 degrees celsius.
2795 gigatons is the amount of carbon dioxide contained in known coal, oil, and gas reserves that companies and countries are planning to extract.
Gulp.
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Now to the Bay Area.
As the Bay Area is located next to a large body of water, sea level rise presents the most immediate threat. Due to Arctic ice melts and thermal expansion, the bay could rise a projected 1.1 feet by 2050 if no action is taken.
Sea level rise could cause more frequent floods, overflowing into shoreline communities and homes, and destroy the Baylands which are home to some of the Bay Area’s most diverse flora and fauna.
Another major threat to Northern California is wildfires. As temperatures warm, winds increase, and land becomes drier due to climate change, wildfires will become ever more common.
Longer seasons and more intense fires will lead to more of the state being impacted by the flames, particularly large Bay Area counties.
In short: climate change matters in the Bay Area — and it matters a lot. Counties need to work to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and implement adaptation strategies for the unavoidable impacts.
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California as a state has taken steps that have influenced the measures taken by local counties. For example, the California Global Warming Solutions Act requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.
Many individual counties adhere to this goal along with their own regulations. While the counties’ approaches vary, almost all have implemented climate action plans or similar legislation, and community groups have worked to organize other programs and measures.
A first cut at what six Bay Area Counties are doing is provided below: