Linksploration - Bay Area

Continuing our exploration of area creeks, we are revisiting a 2023 episode about one of the biggest waterway projects in the area, one that is slated to become a public park: the Lower Walnut Creek Restoration Project.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Like everyone, we are busy busy with holiday cheer, so we are doing a minisode updating three prior episodes.

You may already be using iNaturalist as an app on your phone to identify plants and animals. If you aren't yet, you will want to get started by the end of this episode! And did you know that it got its start right here in the Bay Area? Now it's a worldwide phenomenon used by lay contributors and scientists alike. Join us as iNat board member Cat Chang explains how it works, how it got its start, and what it is used for.

So far in our creeks series, we have been looking at attempts to restore them to as close to natural as possible. But what if we look at urban creeks in a different way, as their own ecosystems, including the unhoused people who live along them? How will climate change affect these systems? In this episode, we go out in the field and talk to Dr. Costanza Rampini of San Jose State and Dr. Gregory Pasternack of UC Davis, researchers who are investigating exactly this issue in a Bay Area project called Resilient, Equitable Urban Stream Corridors.

The friends of San Ramon Creek are amazing! Tune in to hear about all they have accomplished. I guarantee you will want to join them.

After a short hiatus in August, we're back with a new series: Friends of the Creeks!  Every friends group is different.  Join us as we tour the Alhambra Native Plant Trail with the Friends of Alhambra Creek.

Fossil fuels are doing serious damage to the planet, yet public pension funds continue to invest in them. A lot of people and organizations think that's wrong, including our guest in this episode, Dr. Carlos Davidson, emeritus professor of environmental science at San Francisco State. We learn what's happening in the campaign for fossil fuel divestment.

It's time for an update from Sustainable Contra Costa. Their special theme this summer is to prepare for the next drought by developing those good water efficiency habits in the Summer Water Savers Challenge. Learn what's up with Laura Wehrley. Then sign up to help Sustainable Contra Costa reach their goal!

This is the week we would normally be publishing a new episode, but I came back from vacation with an unwelcome souvenir - not Covid, thank goodness - and so we ask your indulgence until I am back at full strength.  Thanks!

There's a plan! Adam Varat from the Port of San Francisco introduces us to the Waterfront Resilience Plan and how the city hopes to protect its shoreline infrastructure.