Author: Allison Chan

In the next few weeks, our region is due for its first major storm of the season. Bay Area residents will be faced with flooding in our neighborhoods and along our commutes. Many of us will see a lot of trash being quite literally flushed from our city streets into local creeks and the Bay, along with a long list of dangerous chemicals and toxic pollutants. Some of that rain could have been captured and stored for local use during the dry season, but it will flow away instead. One of the reasons that flooding is prevalent in urban areas …

Read More

Living in the Bay Area right now means you are acutely aware of the housing crisis our region is facing. The local news headlines are a constant reminder of the staggering rates of displacement—particularly of low-income communities and communities of color—to the outer boundaries of the Bay Area and beyond. Crushing commutes are a constant topic of conversation. Unsheltered individuals are struggling more than ever to access services and find permanent housing. But did you know that the housing crisis is also a threat to the Bay? The lack of infrastructure available to homeless encampments is resulting in staggering amounts …

Read More

I moved to the Bay Area almost ten years ago. I was drawn to the region’s stunning beauty, diverse communities, and delicious food. Each year brings special life experiences for my family; we have countless memories of being together by the Bay. The Bay is the heart of my home. It’s why I’ve chosen to set up roots and raise my daughter here. But the Bay doesn’t just connect my family; it connects us all. The Bay defines our geography, bridging the gap between quiet neighborhoods and bustling downtowns. When the pace of city life becomes too frenetic, the Bay …

Read More

Distressing images of birds trapped in plastic debris and trash fouling beaches have sadly become common news stories. Events like International Coastal Clean Up Day (Saturday, September 16) and National Estuaries Week (September 16-23), bring much-needed attention to the cleanliness of our Bay, coastline, and waterways. But, often overlooked and not often discussed, is where the vast majority of this trash begins its journey to the Bay. When we look for answers we need to look further inland to one of the greatest sources of Bay trash… our city streets. Trash is a daily and persistent threat to the health …

Read More

Like many of us, on the night of the election I cried. I cried for women, for immigrants, for people who have been wronged by a racially-biased justice system, for the unemployed, for the LGBTQ community, and for our environment. I cried for the daughter I’m about to bring into the world, that the society she will be born into is one in which you can mock, ridicule, and verbally abuse people on national television and still win a presidential election. So I stuck my head in the sand. I barely opened Facebook for weeks (gasp). I limited most of …

Read More

While California voters made the historic decision to ban plastic bags statewide in November, Bay Area cities continue to push the envelope in eliminating plastic from our landfills and creeks. Stopwaste, also known as the Alameda County Waste Management Authority, is now officially moving forward with an expansion of the county’s bag ban, that currently mirrors the state’s requirements. In addition to grocery stores, plastic bags will soon be banned in all other types of stores and restaurants in Alameda County, taking thousands more wasteful plastic bags out of circulation. Here’s a comparison of the two bans:  Where are plastic …

Read More

Greening urban areas with street trees, rain gardens, parks, and other natural infrastructure offers many benefits to our communities. Neighborhoods become more hospitable to pedestrians and cyclists, getting people out of their cars. Urban heat islands—the increase in local temperature resulting from heat retention by an overabundance of asphalt and concrete—are reduced, decreasing the need for energy-intensive air conditioning during warm weather. Chemicals, trash, and other pollutants picked up by rainwater are filtered by vegetation and soil, reducing the pollution we send into our creeks and the Bay. There’s even evidence that urban greening leads to improvements in public safety. …

Read More

There’s no question that the election left many of us discouraged, mystified, and fearful. As we all search inside and out for ways to support one another in this strange new political climate and defend the causes we believe in, it is important to also recognize the amazing victories we have achieved and the positive changes we still have the power to make. I, for one, am proud to say that Californians made some very good decisions on their ballot last week. By approving Prop 67 and rejecting Prop 65, we stood up for creeks, beaches, and our environment, capping …

Read More

Prop 65 is a classic “look here, not over there” distraction tactic by none other than the plastics industry, and they’re banking on their ability to confuse California voters. We’re here to make sure you know better. Let’s be clear: Prop 65 does not ban plastic bags. It simply requires that the 10 cent charge for paper bags at the checkout stand is sent to a state fund instead of being kept by the store. So what’s wrong with that? The state fund that would be created by Prop 65 is vaguely defined and likely won’t amount to much. We …

Read More

Bay Area residents are well-acquainted with the region’s critical need for better public transit and affordable housing, but our streets and our stormwater infrastructure are also badly in disrepair, and contribute greatly to the runoff of trash and toxic pollutants into San Francisco Bay. Potholes and cracked streets are a huge liability for cities. For example, Oakland’s potholed streets are among the worst in the region, ranked 89 out of 109 Bay Area cities. They cause serious damage to peoples’ cars and create serious costs for the city. They also are harder for street sweepers to clean, causing trash and …

Read More