Loma Prieta Chapter eNewsletter: November, Volume 1
November 12, 2024
YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Choose your local conservation leaders; vote in Chapter and Group Executive Committee elections.
► Submit your photos to California Coastal Commission's California King Tides Project.
► Participate in avalanche transceiver practice on November 16th.
► Explore upcoming OneShoreline events and speak for sea level rise resilience that maintains a healthy Bay.
► Register to learn more about restoring local lands from the Lehigh quarry and cement factory on November 13th.
► Take a hike! See the comprehensive list of Chapter activities available through November.
Bay Area Sierra Club Members and Supporters Showed Up in Force for a Healthy Bay
You did it! We urged you to comment on the Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s (BCDC) plan for sea level rise resilience and boy did you deliver. BCDC Commissioners received an unprecendented number of written comments on the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP) guidelines draft and 90 percent of them came from Sierra Club members and supporters like you!
Congratulations and thank you!
We’re not done yet. Recently, there have been calls to weaken the RSAP’s required Standards. Now is our one opportunity to strengthen, not water down, the RSAP. You’ll be hearing more from us soon with more ways for you to speak up. Still, we’d like to take this moment to again say thank you very much for all you do!
Chapter and Group Executive Committee Elections
It's time again for you to choose your local conservation representatives, the next members of the Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee (ie, the local Board of Directors) and Group Executive Committees. Your vote is simple but powerful to say thank you to the volunteers that annually dedicate thousands of hours for your priorities.
Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and oldest grassroots environmental organization, is proudly democratic and member-driven. The at-large delegates which you elect will direct the work of our Chapter, along with the local Group delegates that represent geographic regions. Those elected will start their terms in January, 2025.
This year, five individuals have been nominated to run for the five at-large Chapter seats. Visit here to see voting instructions and candidate statements. Paper ballots should be received by all eligible members by November 15th; alternatively you may cast your ballot online! If you haven't received your paper ballot by November 15th and would like one, call 650-390-8411. Voting extends until December 15th; paper ballots must be received at our office by then.
California Coastal Commission’s California King Tides Project
What are King Tides? They are predictable high tides that occur annually. King Tides form naturally from the alignment of the sun, moon and earth's gravitational forces. The King Tides Project is a visual representation (your photos) of what SLR may look like for the Bay Area. It helps determine which areas may have the greatest impact from SLR and allows decision makers to be informed with planning and adaptation. See our King Tides Project webinar recording for more information. King Tides will occur: November 15 - 17, 2024 and December 13 - 15, 2024. Learn how you can participate in the project.
Avalanche Transceiver Practice
Saturday, November 16th
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Pescadero State Beach
Practice the use of avalanche transceivers or beacons! Leaders will bury a transmitting unit in the sand at the beach, then participants will use their own beacons to locate the buried beacon. Various scenarios will be practiced including the group searching for multiple, buried beacons.
Big Win: Disastrous Three-mile-long Off-shore Barrier Proposal Dropped!
Thanks to forceful advocacy by the Bay Alive Campaign, Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, and others, San Mateo County’s flood protection district, OneShoreline, has abandoned a proposal to build a 2.7 to 3.3 mile long flood barrier in the Bay, offshore of Millbrae and Burlingame. That radical plan threatened severe impacts on water quality and ecosystem health. They’ve also created a more robust outreach and public engagement process for considering three new on- or near-shore alternatives and proposed evaluation criteria that include impacts on habitat and water quality. Now’s the time to make sure these new alternatives will protect and enhance the Bay’s shoreline ecosystems as sea level rises. Please register for OneShoreline’s upcoming walking tour and/or in-person workshops in Millbrae and Burlingame to hear about the alternatives and speak for sea level rise resilience that maintains a healthy Bay. Learn about this project and more on our Bay Alive website.
Climate Summit for San Mateo County
The Bay Alive Campaign was connecting and envisioning a better future with our community on October 8th at the San Mateo Climate Summit sponsored by Sierra Club Loma Prieta. The event, hosted by Climate Resilient Communities, featured several panels of local climate leaders discussing how we can better mobilize and involve all corners of our community to build a resilient future for the Bay. Panels covered topics such as youth involvement, the role of religious organizations, and the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP). The event even featured several breakout sessions in Spanish to increase accessibility. Bay Alive was able to table and share our work on the RSAP as well as promote our educational short video series.
Sea Level Rise Webinar Series
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.
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. Register today for an evening with Joe Siimitian!
Peninsula Conservation Center EV Charger Rebate
The Loma Prieta Chapter rents its office space in the Peninsula Conservation Center (PCC). We are thrilled to share that PCC received a $48,000 rebate check from the City of Palo Alto for their six new electric vehicle (EV) chargers. This check paid for two-thirds of the cost of the charges and installation.
We are proud to rent our office space from, and have our Chapter Director sit on the Board of, such a progressive facility that not only invests in infrastructure for electric vehicles, but is the first building in Palo Alto to fully electrify the entire building.
COMMENT LETTERS
Design Level Geotechnical Investigations for the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project Notice of Preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Report
"The Sierra Club appreciates the opportunity to provide scoping comments in response to the Notice of Preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Report for Design Level Geotechnical Investigations for the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project. Our comments are detailed below. These comments reference the Design Level Geotechnical Investigations for the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project Draft - Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), published in June 2024."
"We would like to extend our sincere gratitude for your decision to require that all light sources be fully shielded and maintain a correlated color temperature of 2700K. This is a significant commitment to minimizing light pollution and protecting the natural night environment, and it will greatly benefit both our community and the surrounding ecosystems. We have two major recommendations to improve the draft ordinance, which we hope you will consider: 1) Reinstate applicability to include new luminaires (light fixtures) and replacement lighting, and 2) Prohibit light trespass entirely rather than establishing a threshold (which may be difficult to enforce and allow nuisance lighting)."
A Tale of Two Turfs: Bay Area Residents Split Over Using Artificial Grass
“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 artificial turf. Leeds encourages local governments and school districts to explore grass as a safer alternative to artificial turf, as the later can expose athletes and ecosystems to microplastics.
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. Register for both the Program and Social.
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 diligently 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.
BioBlitz (Nov. 16th), Cleanup (Dec. 1st), BioBlitz (Dec. 8th) and Naturalist Training (Dec. 11th) 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.
2024.10.05, Election Day, Chapter Director's solo hike in Joseph D Grant County Park, encountered prescribed burn on Pala Seca Trail.
"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble." John Lewis in a tweet from June 2018
