Alameda County

Science Is Like Punk Rock

Biomedical engineer Cynthia Prieto-Diaz is bringing DIY air quality monitors, community cleanups, and a punk spirit to environmental activism in San Leandro.

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Science Is Like Punk Rock

Science Is Like Punk Rock

Biomedical engineer Cynthia Prieto-Diaz is bringing DIY air quality monitors, community cleanups, and a punk spirit to environmental activism in San Leandro.

Hard Park Going Soft in Alameda 

Hard Park Going Soft in Alameda 

The City of Alameda is planning to de-pave an area of the former Alameda Naval Air station the size of nine football fields and transform it into an ecological nature park.

Crunching the Adaptation Numbers – Not Peanuts

Crunching the Adaptation Numbers – Not Peanuts

Regional agencies made splashy headlines when they released a joint study on the likely cost of protecting Bay Area shores from rising seas: $110 billion. But the top-line number didn’t offer much insight into the complexities. A new inventory and map from the same agencies is much more revealing.

Shores that Can Shapeshift AND Stay Put?

Shores that Can Shapeshift AND Stay Put?

The region is obsessing over beach-building. Whether it’s a degraded salt marsh in downtown San Rafael or a sliver of wetlands near the old San Francisco shipyards, local practitioners are adding beaches as nature-based buffers against waves and rising seas to adaptation projects around the Bay.

Growing a Rainbow in the Urban Dirt

Growing a Rainbow in the Urban Dirt

Debbie Harris directs Urban Adamah, a Jewish urban farm in Northwest Berkeley. She is a farmer by trade but her role at Urban Adamah requires her to be “a horticulturalist, a plumber, a therapist, a teacher, an organizer.”

Five Threats in Five Places

Five Threats in Five Places

Coastal erosion in Pacifica, drought in Brentwood, fires in the North Bay, flooding in Union City, and urban heat in San Jose. Anissa Foster takes us on a revealing virtual tour.

Oaklanders Leading on Climate

Oaklanders Leading on Climate

The 14 graduates of the inaugural 2021 Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy have new skills to confront the rising tide head-on. “It’s completely changed how I look at the environment,” confesses Academy alum Shy Walker.

Oakland Tailors Resilience Hubs to Neighborhood Needs

Oakland Tailors Resilience Hubs to Neighborhood Needs

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 of safe haven, the perfect location for one of the city’s new “resilience hubs.”

Mama Wanda Sows Resilience

Mama Wanda Sows Resilience

After a career of school administration and community engagement, Wanda Stewart saw firsthand how schools can be a central space for activating people.

Cruising the San Pablo Spine: Video

Cruising the San Pablo Spine: Video

Hop on a speeding bicycle with photographer Lonny Meyer as he travels the urban artery that is San Pablo Avenue and visits green infrastructure installations.

Purple Air Warnings Not Enough

Purple Air Warnings Not Enough

If late fall fires start up again after the October deluge, Alameda County will already have smoke alert protocols in place. The county developed specific thresholds and delivery systems for alerts over the past two years. “Our geography…