Climate Change
Experts Weigh In on Sea Level Rise
Experts weigh in on the local effects of sea level rise. Hear from an oceanographer, an academic, a climate scientist, a policy professional and an environmental planner.
Climate Change
Interactive Map: A Baywide Building Boom Threatened by Rising Waters
We found 27 proposals for major construction projects that could be flooded in decades due to climate change. View our interactive map.
Climate Change
As Science Gets Better, Dramatic Sea Rise Seems More Certain
Sea level rise of 8 feet is an unlikely but worrisome possibility. Many objections to preparing aggressively for sea level rise center on the uncertainty in projections about how quickly global warming will cause the oceans to expand. But the science is increasingly clear.
California
Groundwater Depletion Is Destabilizing the San Andreas Fault and Increasing Earthquake Risk
Research published today also links seasonal water levels to seasonal patterns in seismicity
Depletion of groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley is having wide-ranging effects not just on the agricultural industry and the environment, but also on the very earth beneath our feet. Massive changes in groundwater levels in the southern Central Valley are changing the stresses on the San Andreas Fault, according to research published today.
Climate Change
Q&A: Bay Area Needs to Organize to Fight Sea-Level Rise, SPUR Researcher Says
Laura Tam, who has done environmental sustainability research at the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association for six years, says climate change adaptation planning is one of her most important responsibilities. She helped shape the Bay Plan, a controversial policy that answered complaints about guidance recommending restrictions on bay-front development issued by the Bay Conservation and Development Commission in 2010. The following year, she published “Climate Change Hits Home,” listing the ways the Bay Area could be more prepared for changes in weather, freshwater supply and sea-level rise.The following is an edited transcript of our interview with her.
A version of this story ran in the winter 2014 print edition.
Climate Change
Audio Interview: Board Game Teaches California’s Cap-and-Trade Climate Program
Public Press reporter Chorel Centers sat down with editor Michael Stoll and illustrator Anna Vignet to discuss the creation of a board game that allows teaches players how California’s year-old cap-and-trade greenhouse gas pollution control program works. It’s part of a trend of “gamification” of the news, using interactive formats to engage audiences and teach complex policy issues. Players work as greenhouse gas tycoons in a race to make money before the caps on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases take full effect. The game is laid out like a Monopoly board.
The project was published in the summer 2013 print edition, and the prototype board game was printed on the back page of the first section of the newspaper. It accompnanied an extensive investigation on California’s cap and trade program, which aims to cut back to 1990 levels of greenhouse gases by 2020.
City Hall
S.F. Board Watch: Supervisors Take Aim at Bottled Water
Bottled water is the latest bottled beverage in the line of fire after Supervisor David Chiu proposed controlling its sale in San Francisco.The proposal comes soon after another proposal to tax soda, which will likely appear on the ballot next November. In other news: The city moves forward on protections against harassment by landlords, and the Board of Supervisors approve a land swap with the school district to create more below-market-rate housing.
Climate Change
Plans to Relax California Climate Regulations Upset Some Environmentalists
California regulators are weighing plans to make it easier and less expensive for oil refineries and other big industries to comply with the state’s new cap-and-trade system for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and environmentalists are alarmed. At a hearing last week in Sacramento, the California Air Resources Board heard staff proposals to amend the year-old cap-and-trade program to extend “transition assistance” to industry through 2018. The change, coming on the heels of lobbying from industry, would give businesses possibly hundreds of millions of dollars worth of free allowances to pollute, and alter the economics of the emerging auction market for carbon.
City Hall
S.F. BOARD WATCH: City Workers to Contribute to Health Care Premiums
Thousands of San Francisco employees will be required to pay a portion of their health care premiums under a new agreement the Board of Supervisors is expected to approve today. The changes will affect more than 6,000 workers who will begin paying 10 percent of their insurance premiums starting in January.
Also: Final Decision Expected for Potrero Ave. Apartments | Restricted Formula Retail on Third Street | City Partners With Kiva
Climate Change
Many Residents in the Dark About California Carbon Cap-and-Trade, Survey Finds
A majority of California residents have never heard about the state’s landmark cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gas emissions from industry, a survey from the Public Policy Institute of California shows. While 54 percent of state residents sampled had heard nothing about the new multibillion-dollar carbon market, 33 percent had heard a little and 12 percent a lot, the survey, which was released July 31, found.
