Resources
Change and Ozone
and Streetscapes
Economic Development
and Education
Sustainability |
Bioregion |
Civic Renewal |
Air Quality |
Biodiversity |
Map:
Selected Major Habitat Types of the Baylands Ecosystem
These two maps, produced from the Bay Area EcoAtlas, compare
the distribution of several major habitat types in the region circa 1800 and 1997.
Energy, Climate Change, and Ozone Depletion |
Food and Agriculture |
Hazardous Materials |
Recycling Contaminated
Land
“The purpose of this resource guide is to help local residents,
community organizations and others participate in decisions about how brownfield
sites will be prioritized, cleaned up and redeveloped in their neighborhoods. It
is designed to highlight major issues, recommend opportunities for action and provide
examples of community involvement.
The goal of the Center for Neighborhood Technology's brownfields
program is to promote the cleanup and reuse of specific contaminated sites, but with
an emphasis on strategies that will foster sustainable redevelopment, job creation
and community empowerment. In addition, we believe brownfields redevelopment must
be linked to other important community development issues. In many areas, an integrated
approach that deals with clusters of contaminated sites instead of site-by-site cleanup
will be needed to ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability.”
This report uses a tiny font size -- ask your browser to
display it bigger so it's legible.
Human Health |
The Busy Citizen's
Discussion Guide: Violence in Our Communities
“Violence has commanded the attention of the nation,
inspiring fear, anger, and grave concern. Though some elected officials are afraid
to admit that the criminal justice system by itself can't control violent crime,
a growing number of mayors, judges, police chiefs, and others are urging citizens
to get involved. Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ) has called for a "national rebellion"
made up of citizens working against violence at the local level.
The Busy Citizen’s Discussion Guide: Violence in Our Communities
is designed to help you enter into this national rebellion by joining with others
in dialogue about how best to confront crime and violence in your community.”
Rising
Toxic Tide: Pesticide Use in California, 1991-1995
by James Liebman, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, Pesticide Action Network & Californians
for Pesticide Reform
“Each year California is drenched with literally hundreds
of millions of pounds of chemicals applied to our crops, to our soil and water, and
to our homes, schools and workplaces. Many of these materials are toxic, and their
use is increasing each year. ...
The sad truth is that there is a gap between what the public
indicates it wants -- safe food, sustainable food production and distribution systems,
decreased use of pesticides -- and the reality created by agribusiness, the petrochemical
industry and the regulatory agencies. The state’s own data indicate that we are moving
in the wrong direction, with increasing use of and dependence on toxic materials.”
Failing Health: Pesticide
Use in California Schools by Californians for Pesticide Reform
Toxic pesticides, including those that cause cancer, reproductive
harm and nervous system damage are being used in California schools, according to
this report released by the CALPIRG Charitable Trust and the coalition Californians
for Pesticide Reform (CPR).
The report analyzed pesticide-related documents from 46 California
school districts, representing over 1.5 million school children. It states that 87%
of the districts surveyed used a highly toxic pesticide to manage pests.
Parks, Open Spaces and Streetscapes |
Solid Waste |
Transportation |
SF Bicycle
Plan
“The San Francisco Bicycle Plan presents a guideline
for the City to provide the safe and attractive environment needed to promote bicycling
as a transportation mode. ...
The report presents a comprehensive review of the many aspects
of the policies, procedures, practices and physical infrastructure of the City that
affect bicycling. It recommends ways to make bicycling safer and more convenient
through a variety of efforts including street improvements, bicycle parking facilities,
new city policies, education programs, promotional efforts and transit access.”
RIDES' 1996
Bicycle Resource Guide
“The first part of this guide provides practical information
about bicycle commuting in the Bay Area. The second part is a directory of local,
state, and national resources. The appendix provides information about RIDES' bicycle
programs.”
Water and Wastewater |
Protecting
Your Groundwater: Educating for Action
“Groundwater is water held in the pore spaces of soil
and in cracks and crevices of rock within the "saturated zone," an area
beneath the land surface in which all pore spaces are filled with water. The top
of the saturated zone is called the "water table". Surface waters such
as lakes and streams mark the intersection of groundwater with the land surface.
As with surface waters, groundwater is replenished in the continuous circulation
of water and water vapor known as the hydrologic cycle.
Aquifers are beds of sediments, such as sand or gravel, or
formations of rock, such as fractured shale, that hold significant amounts of underground
water and are permeable enough to allow it to flow. They are replenished, or "recharged,"
in the hydrologic cycle by rainfall or surface waters traveling through the ground
to the aquifer. The "recharge area" includes any land through which water
is transmitted to the aquifer. "Discharge areas," where groundwater leaves
an aquifer, may include springs, streams, lakes, seeps and water wells.
Groundwater resources are vulnerable to contamination from
surface and subsurface activities in the recharge area. Risk of contamination comes
from a number of sources including: ...”
Protecting Your Property From Erosion
“The loss of soil from a construction site results in
loss of topsoil, minerals and nutrients, and it causes ugly cuts and gullies in the
landscape. Surface runoff and the materials it carries with it clog our culverts,
flood channels and streams. Sometimes it destroys wildlife and damages recreational
areas such as lakes and reservoirs.
Such erosion costs the home construction industry, local
governments, and homeowners of the Bay Area millions of dollars a year. We have to
pay for damage to roads and property and our tax money has to be spent on cleaning
out sediment from storm drains, channels, lakes, and the Bay. As an example, road
and home building in the Oakland hills above Lake Temescal filled the lake to such
an extent that it had to be dredged in 1979 at a public cost of $750,000.”
Economy and Economic Development |
Stories of Renewal: Community Building and the Future of Urban America
A Report from the Rockefeller Foundation, January 1997, by Joan Walsh
“From visits to a dozen projects in recent years, it is clear
that community builders are working on five major fronts in their efforts to reduce
poverty and increase economic opportunity in their target area. ... Engaging the
government systems ... Building local institutions ... Investing in outreach and
organizing ... Involving the corporate sector ... Developing new structures.”
This is a long (217k), substantial text document on a single
web page. It will take awhile to appear on your screen.
The
Swedish Natural Step
“This is the story of the early stages of the Swedish Natural
Step, the environmental organization whose work provides a compass we can use to
orient ourselves toward a more environmentally sustainable society. Today this work
is spreading on all continents.
In telling the story of the Natural Step we, who have created,
supported and documented this work, hope that it will inform other efforts of large
scale social transformation.”
Environmental Justice |
Municipal Expenditures |
Local
Environmental Budgeting -- International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives (ICLEI)
“Budgeting with natural resources should become just as familiar
to decision-makers as budgeting with "artificial" financial resources.
While local income and expenditure accounting in "money" is common, controlling
the flow of materials and energy into and out of the community seems to be new territory
politically. But why should the management of natural resources have less priority
for local government than the management of finances?”
Public Information and Education |
Risk Management |