San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay is the westernmost of three interconnected bays - the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays - that carry water from the state’s central river valley out to the ocean. In California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, the San Francisco Bay Area includes the nine counties that ring these bays, from Sonoma County in the north, to Solano and Contra Costa Counties in the east, to Santa Clara county in the south.
7.2 million people live here. That’s about 18% of the state population and 30% of the state’s economy. Many of the world’s best-known tech companies are based here – Google, Apple, Tesla, Facebook, plus two major ports, three international airports, and a thriving wine industry.
In this episode we’re going to explore how climate change will alter the San Francisco Bay Area.
Questions
How is climate change expected to affect the San Francisco Bay Area region? Which of these effects will have the greatest impact on people’s day-to-day lives, in your opinion?
Use the Our Coast Our Future hazard map to see how different amounts of sea level rise will alter the Bay Area. Then, check to see how sea level rise will contribute to groundwater rise.
Explore the projects teams developed for the Resilient By Design Bay Area Challenge. What do you like or dislike about them? What kinds of characteristics do they have in common?
Have you had any weather- or environment-related experiences similar to the young people in this episode? If so, how are your experiences similar? If not, why do you think that is?
Voices
In order of appearance, the young people I interviewed for this episode were: Zoriana (San Francisco), Nadine (San Rafael), Mikayla (Windsor), Isha (Oakland), and Hriday (Livermore). I also spoke with my scientist-collaborator, Nancy Freitas.
Listening
Want to listen on another platform? You can find Future Imperfect on Apple Podcasts and on Stitcher.
Resources
If you want to dig deeper into some of the topics in this episode, here are some places to begin.
About anticipated climate change impacts:
About heat:
“Beat Extreme Heat with These 8 Tactics” from the American Planning Association
Planning for Urban Heat Resilience by Ladd Keith and Sarah Meerow
About fire:
“The Day the San Francisco Sky Turned Orange” from New Yorker
“Nowhere to escape’: Rippling impacts of California wildfires” from The Daily Californian
“3 Reasons California Is Always on Fire” from Poopy Archaeology
“To Manage Wildfire, California Looks To What Tribes Have Known All Along” from NPR
“Preparing Homes for Wildfire” from National Fire Protection Association
About sea level rise and groundwater rise:
“Rising Seas and Sinking Land: The Precarious Future of Treasure Island” from Bay Curious podcast
“Sinking ground in San Francisco Bay will worsen flooding from rising sea levels” from Phys.org
“Many Stinson Beach homes could be flooded amid rising seas within a decade. Would building dunes save them?” from San Francisco Chronicle
“The Sea Beneath Us” from Bay Nature Magazine
“How Rising Sea Levels Could Push Up a 'Toxic Soup' Into Bay Area Neighborhoods” from KQED
Explore sea level rise and groundwater rise via interactive tools:
Our Coast Our Future interactive map
Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer from Adapting to Rising Tides (ART)
Sea Level Rise from Cal Adapt (to view flooding in Delta area)
East Contra Costa Shoreline Flood Explorer from Adapting to Rising Tides (ART)
Indigenous history and present in the Bay Area
“Yelamu: the Native Peoples of San Francisco” from San Francisco Estuary Institute
“Modeling the Prehistoric Extent of San Francisco Bay and Potential for Cultural Resources” from Far Western Anthropological Research Group
“Long Lost Oakland, chapter 1: Grizzly bears & redwood trees” from East Bay Yesterday
Map of Shellmound Locations from Nelson’s 1909 publication
Castro Shellmound (photo) on flickr
“There Were Once More Than 425 Shellmounds in the Bay Area. Where Did They Go?” from KQED
“Excavating Memory: Shellmounds of the Bay Area” from SFMOMA
“The Ohlone: San Francisco's Original People” from Mother Jones
“Kashia Pomo Tribal Traditions in the MPA” from Sonoma MPA Collaborative
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe website
Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo) website
Confederated Villages of Lisjan website
Formation of the San Francisco Bay:
Formation of the Bay video from Saving the Bay Education
“The Bay Area During the Ice Age (Think Saber-Tooth Cats and Mammoths)” from Bay Curious at KQED