2009 BrooksPark SanFrancisco 3899032980.jpg
San Francisco has had a very active environmental community. Starting with the founding of the Sierra Club in 1892 to the establishment of the non-profit Friends of the Urban Forest in 1981, San Francisco has been at the forefront of many global discussions regarding our natural environment. The 1980 San Francisco Recycling Program was one of the earliest curbside recycling programs. The city's GoSolarSF incentive promotes solar installations and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is rolling out the CleanPowerSF program to sell electricity from local renewable sources. SF Greasecycle is a program to recycle used cooking oil for conversion to biodiesel.

The newly completed Sunset Reservoir Solar Project has installed 25,000 solar panels on the 480,000 sq ft (45,000 m2) roof of the reservoir. The 5-megawatt plant more than tripled the city's 2-megawatt solar generation capacity when it opened in December 2010. [1]

Initiatives by topic

Cycling activism

Bay Area Bike Share - Bike Kitchen San Francisco - San Francisco Bicycle Coalition - SF Critical Mass on facebook

Wikipedia:

San Francisco Bay Trail in Hayward Regional Shoreline.jpg
Cycling in San Francisco Cycling in San Francisco has grown in popularity in recent years, aided by improving cycling infrastructure and community support. San Francisco's compact urban form and mild climate enable cyclists to reach work, shopping, and recreational destinations quickly and comfortably. Though San Francisco's famed steep hills can make cycling difficult, many parts of the city are relatively flat, including some of the most densely populated. However, heavy automobile traffic, the lack of bike lanes on many streets, and difficulty in crossing major streets deter most residents from cycling frequently in San Francisco. 75,000 residents commute by bicycle per day. [2]
Bay Area Bike Share is a regional public bicycle sharing system in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. The system began operations in August 2013 and has 700 bicycles available in 70 stations, half around the city of San Francisco, and the rest along the Caltrain corridor in Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose.
The system is operated by Alta Bicycle Share Inc. in a partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The Bay Area Bike Share is the first large-scale bicycle sharing system deployed in California and on the West Coast of the United States.
Bike Kitchen San Francisco: bike co-op — a 501(c)(3) non-profit assisted-self-service bike shop located at 650H Florida Street in the Mission neighborhood. Its mission is to "teach people of all ages and backgrounds how to repair bicycles." Member pay a day-use fee, annual membership fee, or volunteer to gain access to the Bike Kitchen's tools, parts, and volunteer mechanics.
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition: California 501(c)(4) nonprofit public benefit corporation established to "transform San Francisco's streets and neighborhoods into more livable and safe places by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation." The SFBC in 2011 has a dues-paying membership of over 12,000, making it the largest bicycle advocacy organization in the United States. The SFBC organizes or promotes cycling-related events such as Bike to Work Day, Winterfest, Sunday Streets, and bike valet parking at public events.
SF Critical Mass: The first Critical Mass bicycle ride took place on September 25, 1992 in San Francisco, and has since spread to hundreds of cities worldwide. The ride meets on the last Friday of each month at 6:00 pm at Justin Herman Plaza, and is typically attended by several thousand cyclists, who then ride through the city en masse, claiming the normally auto-dominated streets for bicycle use. The event is controversial even within the cycling community in San Francisco, some claiming that it raises beneficial public awareness of cycling issues, and others claiming that it reduces public support for cyclists' needs by enraging motorists and commuters blocked by the event.
Cycling in San Francisco (category) - Bike paths in San Francisco (category)

Education for sustainability

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Candlestick Point Eco-stewards - EcoCenter at Herons Head Park - Education Outside

Wikipedia:

The EcoCenter at Herons Head Park is an environmental education center in San Francisco sponsored by youth empowerment organization Literacy for Environmental Justice. The center is intended to demonstrate green building in a hands-on manner, with demonstrations highlighting renewable energy, pollution and greenhouse gas reduction, wastewater treatment, “green” building materials, and the green economy.

Environment quality

Adopt-A-Street Program, San Francisco Public Works

Ethical consumerism

The Good Hotel, a San Francisco hotel in the SOMA district that prides itself on being environmentally friendly. Its motto is “Renew, Reuse, Recycle, Relax”.

SF Approved, Products that meet San Francisco's Health and Environmental Requirements, published by San Francisco Department of the Environment

Food activism

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more video: Guerrilla grafters: splicing fruit onto a city's trees

CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture), cultivating a healthy food system - forageSF - La Cocina, busi­ness incu­ba­tor cultivating low-income food entre­pre­neurs - Slow Food San Francsico - SF-Marin Food Bank

Farmer's markets: S.F. Farmers’ Markets: The Full List, Together In Food

Open spaces

SF Conservatory of Flowers 3.jpg

San Francisco Parks Alliance

Wikipedia:

San Francisco, Beaches and parks: Several of San Francisco's parks and nearly all of its beaches form part of the regional Golden Gate National Recreation Area, one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States with over 13 million visitors a year.
San Francisco Parks Alliance: non-profit environmental organization based in San Francisco, California that contributes to the green movement by supporting and advocating for urban parks. The Neighborhood Parks Alliance supports the development of localized community groups interested in the stewardship and improvement of neighborhood/neighbourhood parks. The Neighborhood Parks Alliance is an advocacy group that encourages and promotes environmental health through the development of open space policies, an example of which is Open spaces SF 2100, which it operates together with the City of San Francisco and which is described on its website as "a planning project to help provide a long-term, sustainable roadmap for using, acquiring, developing, funding, and managing open space in San Francisco." The activities also include advocating for better and safer playgrounds.
The organization sometimes acts as a guide to community groups who aim to generate community support and raise the funds necessary for improving parks in San Francisco, California[citation needed], for example by re-building a playground in the Crocker Amazon neighborhood. The Council also has a website that allows non-technical park users to generate reports online that are directed to the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (RPD).
List of parks in San Francisco

Road safety

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Wikipedia: San Francisco, Safety: San Francisco has significantly higher rates of pedestrian and bicyclist traffic deaths than the USA on average. In 2013, 21 pedestrians were killed in vehicle collisions, the highest since 2001, which is 2.5 deaths per 100,000 population – 70% higher than the national average of 1.5 deaths per 100,000 population. Four bicyclists were killed in vehicle collisions in 2013, a rate twice as high as the national average of 0.23 deaths per 100,000 population. On January 14, 2014, Supervisor Jane Kim introduced Vision Zero, a proposal to eliminate all traffic fatalities in San Francisco by 2024.

Reduce, reuse, repair and recycle

Recology SF, Recycling, Composting & Trash - Recycling and Composting, information from the San Francisco Department of the Environment

See also: San Francisco Sustainability#Waste Management

Sharing

Maps: google.com/maps

Social inclusion

San Francisco Homeless Resource wiki - Glide, Glide's mission is to create a radically inclusive, just and loving community mobilized to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization.

Wikipedia: San Francisco, homeless: The homeless population is estimated to be 13,500 with 6,500 living on the streets. The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major U.S. city.

Sustainable transport activism

Sf cable car.jpg

Transit.511.org, plan a trip

Wikipedia:

San Francisco, Public transportation: 32% of San Francisco residents use public transportation in daily commuting to work, ranking it first on the West Coast and third overall in the United States.
San Francisco was an early adopter of carsharing in America. The non profit City Carshare opened in 2001. Zipcar closely followed.

See also: San Francisco Sustainability#Air Quality and Transportation

Walking:

San Francisco Bay Trail - Walking San Francisco Bay (blog)

Wikipedia:

San Francisco, Public transportation: In 2011, Walk Score ranked San Francisco the second-most walkable city in the United States.
San Francisco Bay Trail: bicycle and pedestrian trail that will eventually allow continuous travel around the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. As of 2014, approximately 335 miles (539 km) of trail have been completed. When finished, the Bay Trail will extend over 500 miles (805 km) to link the shoreline of nine counties, passing through 47 cities and crossing seven toll bridges. It is a project of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).
The Bay Trail is a collaboration between elected officials, government agencies, private companies, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups and the public to increase access to the edge of the bay. It provides recreational opportunities for hikers and bicyclists; offers a setting for wildlife viewing and environmental education; and serves as a bicycle transportation corridor. The Bay Trail provides access to points of historic, natural and cultural interest, and to numerous recreational areas, including over 130 parks. The Bay Trail consists of paved paths, gravel trails, bike lanes or sidewalks.
Trails in the San Francisco Bay Area (category)

News and comment

2018

2,000 new trees for San Francisco - and less carbon in the air, too, Apr 19 [3]

2017

San Francisco, Oakland Sue 5 Oil Giants for Climate Change Impacts, Sep 20 [4]

2016

This City Just Banned Fossil Fuel Extraction in Light of Trump Presidency, Nov 16 [5]

San Francisco just banned all polystyrene products in the city, Jun 30 [6]

San Francisco to require rooftop solar on all new buildings, Apr 21 [7]

2015

San Francisco Becomes First City To Ban The Sale Of Plastic Bottles, November 11 by Amanda Froelich, [8]

Why I Quit Ordering From Uber-for-Food Start-Ups, Nov 6 [9]

2013

San Francisco: how the Bay Area plans to increase its cycling modal share, June 11 [10]

2011

How San Francisco Became a Cycling City Against the Odds, November 24 [11]

2010

Bay Area Air Quality Management District to a first of its kind regional pilot bike-sharing program. The project will deploy approximately 1,000 bicycles at up to 100 kiosk stations along the Peninsula transportation corridor in locations of up to five cities including San Francisco, Redwood City, Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Jose, October 28 [12]

2009

San Francisco opens the city’s data, TechCrunch, August 19 [13]

Events

Regular events

San Francisco Green Drinks, 1st Tuesday of Every Month

Sunday Streets: Introduced in 2008, Sunday Streets aims to promote public health and community participation by closing a series of streets on automobile traffic on selected Sundays throughout the year. In 2014, there were nine events. The events allow residents to bicycle, skate, run, walk, do yoga, or just people-watch in public spaces normally devoted to automobiles. [14]

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April: Earth Day San Francisco

2015

May 14 San Francisco Bay Area's 21st annual Bike to Work Day

May 28 - June 3 San Francisco Green Film Festival (Wikipedia): According to the festival's official website, the San Francisco Green Film Festival's mission is "to educate and connect communities through forward-thinking programs of environmental films and discussions."

2014

May 8 San Francisco’s Bike to Work Day, (Wikipedia): San Francisco's Bike to Work Day, held in May of each year, aims to encourage commuters to try bicycling as a healthy alternative means of getting to work by organizing groups of cyclists to ride together starting from various neighborhoods, matching new bicycle commuters with more experienced "Bike Buddies", and providing free snacks and coffee at "Energizer Stations" along the busiest routes. Bike to Work Day raises awareness of cycling as a form of transportation, as bicycle have far outnumbered automobiles on the main commercial street, Market Street, during commuting hours on Bike to Work Day in recent years.

Resources

Citizens data initiative

DataSF, the City and County of San Francisco’s official open data portal

Community resources

  • San Francisco Community Land Trust (SFCLT), membership-based, nonprofit organization whose mission is to create permanently affordable, resident-controlled housing for low- to moderate-income people in San Francisco through community ownership of the land

Maps

Cycling: Regional BikeMapper, 511.org - San Francisco Bike Map & Walking Guide

Sustainable energy: San Francisco Solar Map

Networks

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Empowersf, Neighborhood Empowerment Network

See also

Interwiki links

Wikipedia: San Francisco

External links

  • City and County of San Francisco (Government Organisation) on facebook


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