Loma Prieta Chapter eNewsletter: October, Volume 2
October 28, 2024
YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Learn about our concerns regarding BCDC's draft Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan and send comments to the Commission.
► Readthe Mercury News article on artificial turf and join our Plastics Pollution Prevention Team.
► Register for an evening with Joe Simitian on November 13th and learn about the future of the Lehigh Quarry.
► Sign up for upcoming OneShoreline events and speak up for sea level rise resilience that maintains a healthy Bay.
► Learn about sustainable grass sports field solutions used in Australia that we can replicate here locally.
► Take a hike! See the comprehensive list of Chapter activities available through mid-November.
Comments on Public Draft of the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan
On Friday, October 18th, a joint comment letter, co-signed by the Bay Alive Campaign, was submitted regarding BCDC's draft Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP).
The RSAP makes important strides by integrating equity assessments at every stage of planning and setting some strong Adaptation Strategy Standards (Standards) related to Baylands ecosystems. However, there are critical gaps in the Standards regarding contamination risks and habitat goals, an insufficient emphasis on natural and nature-based solutions (NNBS) across plan elements, and a disconnect between the Standards and the rest of the RSAP. Addressing these issues is vital to avoid confusion, ensure compliance, and realize the RSAP’s One Bay Vision.
An Evening with Joe Simitian
Come and learn about the future of the Lehigh Quarry!
November 13th, 7:00 pm
Cupertino Library, room #201
The Guadalupe Regional Group of Loma Prieta Chapter Sierra Club will present a discussion of the Lehigh Quarry and cement operation in Cupertino by Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian. Supervisor Simitian previously served 12 years in the California State Assembly and state Senate and has followed the Lehigh situation closely for years. Supervisor Simitian will discuss the history and current status of Lehigh operations, why it's closing, and plans for the future. Learn more and register today!
Environmental Stewardship Program '25
We are excited to announce the launch of our popular Environmental Stewardship Program (ESP), designed to foster local environmental activism through a series of educational webinars, collaborative projects, and legislative action. Our program will run for six sessions, from January ’25 to June ’25, and will be held on the second Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm.
Please join us for a Holiday Social on December 6th at 6:30 pm to kickoff the program! This is a great opportunity to socialize with other environmental advocates, meet some of our Chapter leaders, and learn all about the ESP program and how you can get involved in our current campaigns. Learn more and register for both the Program and Social.
Speak Up for Sea Level Rise Resilience that Maintains a Healthy Bay
OneShoreline has proposed building a 2.7 to 3.3 mile offshore barrier in the Bay, that would would defy a longstanding state law protecting Bay ecology and prioritize costly, inflexible infrastructure over adaptable, nature-based solutions. This project would create a lagoon from San Francisco Airport to San Mateo, but raises serious water quality concerns, including risks of harmful algal blooms, and was developed without adequate input from key stakeholders. In response to pushback from key stakeholders, like local city council members, the airport, and environmental groups, OneShoreline is now seeking feedback on some draft alternatives. Please sign up for their upcoming events and speak up for sea level rise resilience that maintains a healthy Bay. Learn more about this project and more on our Bay Alive website.
Fighting Sea Level Rise with Nature: Nature-Based Adaptation in San Francisco Bay
The San Francisco Bay is far more than a beautiful backdrop to our home. It is the centerpiece of our regional identity and a vital protector of our communities and environment. With sea levels rising, the Bay’s natural defenses, its living shoreline, are as much at risk as our built environment. Squeezed between shoreline development and rising seas, the Bay’s living shoreline is at risk of drowning. Yet we all depend on its invaluable ecosystem services (benefits that nature provides to people) and will increasingly need it as a core asset in our response to sea level rise and climate change. Through nature-based adaptation, we can harness the power of the environment to build resilience, protect communities, and preserve critical ecosystems that we all depend upon. Let’s explore how this approach works and why it’s essential for the Bay Area’s future. Read the full article.
Willets at Risk
This is the eighth of an awareness through artwork series, by our 16 year-old volunteer Aiden Chen, which we introduced in January.
Shown above is the Willet exhibiting the phenomena of male birds watching the nest at night instead of females. Willets are a shorebird species with two distinct populations: the Western Willets, inland breeders that winter on coasts, and Eastern Willets, coastal breeders that winter in the south of the US. The Western Willet population is forecasted by California Audubon to lose 70% of its wintering range by 2080. Willets have lost native grassland to agricultural conversion while also losing coastal wintering sites and wetlands to urban development and sea level rise. To conserve and save these birds, Sierra Club's Bay Alive and 30x30 campaigns promote the use of nature based solutions to protect the San Francisco Bay wetlands, associated habitats and human communities, from sea level rise. The 30x30 campaign works to conserve 30% of California’s lands and waters by 2030. Learn more.
Save Marsha from the Big Squeeze!
Can our Bay depend on you? Watch the most recent video in our sea level rise educational series. Bay marshlands need space to migrate as sea levels rise. Trapped between rising sea levels and shoreline development, Bay marshlands are being squeezed to death.
Learn how nature can help us fight sea level rise with cost-effective and sustainable solutions. Watch recordings of our webinar series with SF Bay experts and please share with your local elected officials.
A Tale of Two Turfs: Bay Area Residents Split Over Using Artificial Grass
Mercury News article, October 15th
“There are many reasons to not put artificial turf on the landscape or anywhere,” said Hinton, a member of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter who actively campaigns against artificial turf. Dashiell Leeds, conservation organizer at the chapter, said natural grass can allow for just as much playing time as turf can. Leeds believes Local governments and school districts should explore grass as a safer alternative to turf, as the later can expose athletes and ecosystems to microplastics. Read the full article.
"The Project consists of two new high-voltage direct current (HVDC) terminals and associated new transmission lines. [...] the EIR must address the issues outlined [...] with a more thorough and transparent analysis of impacts and feasible mitigation measures. Specific attention should be paid to cumulative impacts, environmental justice, the protection of sensitive biological and hydrological resources, and wildlife movement through the landscape."
Unique Requirements for the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project
"This report ignores requests for information from Water Supply and Demand Management Committee (WSDMC) members at the August 26 meeting, and public input provided for that WSDMC meeting. The information provided in this staff report is materially the same as the WSDMC staff report. No additional information has been added."
Guardians of Nature Benefit Raised $100,000. Thank You!
We’re excited to share that this year’s Guardians of Nature Benefit was a great success, having raised $100,000 to support our Chapter’s fight for a healthy tomorrow! Thank you to everyone who purchased a ticket, attended, sponsored, or participated in our silent auction. Your support is crucial to our mission of environmental protection.
We extend special thanks to our honoree, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, for her inspiring words and decades of dedication to the environment and her constituents.
Visit our Facebook page to see event photos and watch the tribute video created by our volunteer, David Simon. We thank all of our volunteers and staff who worked tirelessly to make this event a success.
We hope that you will join us to celebrate our community and our future honoree at the 2025 Guardians of Nature Benefit.
Field of Dreams in Real Life: Making a Sustainable Grass Sports Field for Everyone
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter’s Plastic Pollution Prevention Team has been working very hard to convince local governments, including cities, counties, and school districts, to turn their backs on greenhouse gas producing, land and water polluting, injury and illness producing, heat inducing, unrecyclable, soil deadening plastic turf in favor of drought tolerant, sustainable carbon-sequestering plants, including grasses on sporting fields. We’ve even found experts located in California, and examples of sustainable grass fields and alternate landscape plantings, all to help landscape designers and athletic coaches understand sustainable alternatives.
But sometimes the best examples for your own backyard come from halfway around the world. Read more.
Finally, Lawsuits Reveal Petrochemical Industry Lies About Recycling.
"For 50 years, the plastics industry lied about the recyclability of plastic, a 'campaign of deception' that deflected regulation and boosted profits while unleashing a tide of toxic plastic pollution, according to a pair of groundbreaking lawsuits filed Monday by the California attorney general and four environmental groups.
[...] Thetwo paired suits filed in San Francisco Superior Court follow an investigation announced in April 2022 by California attorney general Robert Bonta, and a separate probe by lawyers working for the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation, Heal the Bay, and San Francisco Baykeeper. " - Sierra, the Magazine of the Sierra Club Read more.
In the Community
Cleanups (Oct. 27th and Nov. 2nd), BioBlitz (Nov. 16th), and Weeding (Nov. 17th) from our friends at Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful.
One of the best ways to safeguard a thriving and just future is by ensuring that your Loma Prieta Chapter remains a champion for the environment of Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Benito Counties. Naming us as a beneficiary in your bequest will provide meaningful and enduring resources that will allow continued local and powerful environmental activism.
Please contact our Chapter Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman for the specific language for your estate planning and/or read more here. For additional information about planning a bequest please contact Julia Curtis, (800) 932-4270.
Photographers, see the great images in our Chapter Annual Summaries and help protect local nature with your images! Share with us your high-resolution photos of local nature, with or without people, to inspire local residents to support Loma Prieta Chapter work. Please contact Chapter Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman.
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value." Thomas Paine, Dec 23, 1776
"Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde, est en droit de vous rendre injuste." Voltaire, Questions sur les miracles, 1765