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A close up image of a strip of sea blite plant, with green branches growing off of a green stem pictured horizontally. — A Rare Plant Tough Enough to Save the Future Bayshore

Author By Jacoba Charles

Date February 17, 2026

A large high school classroom with a long whiteboard in the back and bulletin boards on each side of it, with 11 individual desks arranged in front of the board. The walls and ceiling are made out of wood, and the floor is made of silver panels. There are two floor to ceiling windows on the right, with cubbies and a sign saying "welcome" in between. — Building Sustainably with Mass Timber

Author By Duncan Agnew

Date February 17, 2026

This building method can help clear forests of smaller trees that burn easily while also reducing the carbon footprint of new homes and offices.

Two construction workers in orange shirts and hard hats lay down a square of pervious concrete in a parking lot with the help of a bulldozer or some other kind of construction vehicle. — Hardscapes That Filter Rain

Author By Nate Seltenrich

Date February 17, 2026

Heavy rain can overwhelm storm drains and pollute waterways, but materials like permeable pavements help filter runoff and prevent flooding.

A white man wearing a white hat, sunglasses, a long sleeve blue shirt and blue jeans holds a white bucket and pours "baycrete" — a mixture of concrete, oyster shells, sand, and gravel — into molds to make reef structures for a living shoreline project. Yellow equipment is seen in the background, behind which is a body of water and land on the other side. — The Gray-Green Alchemy of Baycrete

Author By Sonya Bennett-Brandt

Date February 17, 2026

Baycrete is a nature-based hybrid of concrete, shell, and sand designed to attract oysters and create shallow water reefs in SF Bay.

A close up shot of a beaver walking out of a pond and onto wet soil, with shimmering water in the background and blurry soil and foliage in the foreground — Tools Tweak Beaver Dams

Author By Mark DeGraff

Date February 17, 2026

Humans find ways to co-exist with beavers, tweaking dams to prevent flooding and create more climate resilience.

Three Department of Water Resources employees wearing blue winter jackets and snowshoes. The man on the left writes numbers in a notebook as a woman in the middle overlooks equipment and a man on the right uses a long blue cylinder to measure snow depth and water content. — Hopes and Fears for Sierra Snowpack

Author By Duncan Agnew

Date February 17, 2026

February's drought and deluge confirms that uncertainty may be a given for California snowpack, western water supply, and wildfire risk.

A white man wearing a yellow and black rain jacket, a black and red helmet and black pants pedals a white electric bike as his 10 year old son, wearing a blue helmet, gray zip up sweatshirt, blue jeans and a backpack, sits on the back wheel. They are riding in the right lane of a two-lane road, with a yellow house in the background and a green street sign in the top right corner of the photo — Errands by E-Bike

Author By Nate Seltenrich

Date February 17, 2026

Electric cargo bikes are climate-friendly car replacements for everyday activities, from taking the kids to school to grocery shopping.

An empty, sand-colored flatland with clouds and blue sky above and one person in red walking in the distance. Mountains rise in the background — Reforming Rules to Speed Adaptation

Author By Cariad Hayes Thronson

Date January 21, 2026

Bay Conservation and Development Commission to vote early this year on amendments designed to expedite approval of climate projects.

A crowd of about 30 people sits on folding chairs assembled inside a large room inside a community center — Coordinate or Fall Short: The New Normal

Author By Angela Swartz

Date January 21, 2026

Public officials and nonprofits say teaming up and pooling resources are vital strategies for success in a climate-changed world.

KneeDeep organizes its stories in three departments: In Fight or Flight, read about decision-making in the face of advancing water, fire, or stormy weather, and building for safety, efficiency and equity. City & County zeroes in on where change begins: with local government and within each community. Hearts and Minds recognizes that without human connection, all the engineering or money in the world can’t save us.

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Extremes-in-3d

This special, seven-part KneeDeep Times investigative series explores fire, flood, heat and other extremes in three dimensions — science, people, place — and reports on how researchers, activists, city planners, and community leaders are building climate resilience.

A bird's-eye view of an urban walkway/park in the center, with Mission Creek pictured below and buildings pictured above — The Race Against Runoff

Douglas fir seedlings. Photo: CAL FIRE — Reforesting a Fiery, Warming World

Insurance Innovations Reward Communities Trying to Reduce Climate Risk

How Two Rivers Could Rescue Sinking Beaches and Marshes

One Man’s Five-Fire Learning Curve

scientists looking at oyster castle — A Living Shoreline, Built One Oyster at a Time

Residents meet to discuss heat. Photo: Eliana Perez — Slow Progress on Shade For California’s Hottest Desert Towns

In Uncertain Times, the Port of Oakland Goes Electric

Small house fire in 2025 in Boulder Creek near Santa Cruz. Photo: Steve Kuehl — Staying Wise About Fire – 5 Years Post-CZU

Handouts at the Climate of Hope Fair. Photo: Sierra Garcia — Pajaro Residents Weigh In on How to Use Climate Funds

Chatter

free library in Mill Valley — Live Near a Tiny Library? Join Our Citizen Marketing Campaign

Author By KDT Staff

KneeDeep asks readers to place paper zines in tiny street libraries to help us reach...

The youth advisory team debriefed with Cesar Estien after noting temperature variations at four nearby locations. — Six Months on the Community Reporting Beat

Author By KDT Staff

The magazine worked with four journalists in training from community colleges, and began building a...

Six people sit in chairs at the Sustainable Solano meeting — Rio Vista Residents Talk Health and Air Quality

Author By Daniela Ramirez

A Sustainable Solano community meeting dug into how gas wells, traffic, and other pollution sources...

Six GreenLatinos members in Washington, D.C. — Threatened by Trump’s Policies, GreenLatinos Refuses to Back Down

Author By Dave Rhody

National nonprofit GreenLatinos is advancing environmental equity and climate action amid immigration enforcement and policy...

Illustration of group of different people in bright colors. — Noticias en español

Author By KDT Staff

Encuentra más historias en español esta primavera, dentro de nuestro boletín KneeDeep con vecinos, y...

Ten fellows pose in front of a Resilient Roots poster. — Field Clips: What 7 Newly-Minted Climate Leaders Did for Solano County

Author By KDT Staff

After 10 months of climate leadership training, the graduates of the Resilient Roots program tell...

Climate Adaptation: A Guide — Climate Adaptation: The Basics

Author By Vrinda Manglik

Resilient sweet potatoes and stilts on houses remind us how adaptable human beings can be....

A sign in front of a garden — Digging in the Dirt Got Me Into Student Climate Action

Author By Sydney Quan

A public garden at El Cerrito High School in the East Bay inspired my love...

A blue bus stop structure designed to give people shade only casts a small, thin shadow — Making Shade a Priority in LA: An Interview with Sam Bloch

Author By Maylin Tu

After witnessing fire disasters in neighboring counties, Marin formed a unique fire prevention authority and...

Picture of the Month

An overhead view from an upper floor of an office space with cubicles, desks, and computers with floor to ceiling windows and beams of timber supporting the building — January 2026

Google’s new office space in Sunnyvale was built with mass timber — a technique using digital technology to prefabricate small pieces of wood (2 x 4s and 2 x 6s) into a structural system that is code approved for midrise and highrise buildings. This has enormous potential to transform the construction industry away from the exorbitant use of concrete and steel. Mass timber framing is lighter, fire-rated, and sequesters carbon, thereby tremendously reducing embodied carbon, an important tactic to combating climate change. Photo: Paul Okamoto

Editor’s Picks

Every month our editor selects a few extraordinary stories from our news archives. This month we daylight bread, hawks, urban trees and resilience hubs.

Seeding Urban Gardens with Love

Author By Kofi Ansong

Date May 22, 2024

Two Bay Area gardens are getting a boost from a new, country-wide seed sharing model promoting permaculture.

Fresh loaves milled and baked with local wheat at a San Francisco bakery. Photo: Josey Baker. — Leaders of the Local Grain Economy

Author By Kayla Zola

Date August 23, 2023

While wheat accounts for just under 3% of California's harvested cropland, a local grain economy has given the crop new significance.

Red-tailed hawk perched on wire. — Feathered Flames

Author By Aiyana Washington

Date September 21, 2022

Among the more well-known causes of wildfire — lightning, volcanic activity, neglected cigarettes, gender reveal parties gone awry — there remains a less notorious culprit: electrocuted birds.

Chinatown residents review vision for a redeveloped Lincoln Recreation Center. Photo: Jonathan Fong, Courtesy Friends of Lincoln Square Park. — Oakland Tailors Resilience Hubs to Neighborhood Needs

Author By Nicole Wong

Date September 21, 2022

Faced with a health crisis, or stifling heat or smoke, most people will go somewhere familiar for help, a place they feel welcome. Oakland Chinatown's Lincoln Center is that kind...