Climate change is an opportunity to
reimagine our relationship to the natural
world and to each other.Extreme weather events are increasing as are trends in precipitation and temperature changes. Climate change has presented an opportunity to reimagine our relationship to the natural world and to each other. As we plan for the impacts of climate change in the Bay Area, we must seek transformational change toward true long-term prosperity. This transformation will require confronting our shared history, and centering in our decision-making practices.
We also know that not all of us are impacted by climate change in the same way. Climate change exacerbates the inequalities already present in our political, social, and economic systems. We need to work together to make sure our lands and communities are resilient to upcoming climate disasters in a way that encompasses the diverse needs of the Bay Area.
California is leading the way with significant efforts underway to reduce (GHGs) and prevent the worst-case scenarios of climate change and its impacts on people and the environment. At the same time, we are already experiencing the effects of climate change caused by past land-use policies, and even under the best-case scenarios of future emissions, we will continue to experience changes to our environment, communities, and way of life.
Greenbelt Alliance envisions a Bay Area that is healthy, thriving, resilient communities made up of lands and people that are safe during climate disasters and recover quickly from wildfire, floods, and drought, where everyone is living with nature in new and powerful ways for generations to come. Illustration created by artist Alfred Twu.
As climate hazards worsen due to climate change, the cost of these hazards is going to continue to increase. According to researchers from the University of California at Davis, in 2015 alone the drought cost California $1.84 billion and resulted in the loss of over 10,000 jobs (Kerlin, 2015). The 2020 California wildfire season was the largest wildfire season in modern history and cost over $12.079 billion in damages (Louie, 2021). The human cost is even more devastating.
There were over 10,000 structures burned in the 2020 fires and 33 people lost their lives (Center for Disaster Philanthropy). By taking proactive steps now and integrating the impacts of a changing climate into local policy documents, cities across California can minimize future devastation by enabling communities and natural systems to withstand, respond, and adjust to extreme weather events caused by climate change.
This Playbook aims to provide the guidance to transform our existing systems through policy and planning recommendations, template language, and innovative example ordinances that local decision makers and community leaders can use to accelerate their adaptation to multiple climate risks. These policies will leverage natural and working lands as defense mechanisms to absorb floodwaters, sequester carbon, protect water supply, and provide buffers to wildfires. In tandem, we address critical issues of housing justice, a just transition away from fossil fuels towards green jobs, and environmental justice in order to ensure the outcomes of these policies prioritize the resilience of the most vulnerable communities.
ABOUT US:
THE GREENBELT ALLIANCE APPROACH
At Greenbelt Alliance, we envision a Bay Area of healthy, thriving, resilient communities made of lands and people that are safer during climate disasters and recover quickly from wildfire, floods, and . A place where everyone is living with nature in new and powerful ways for generations to come.
This understanding of resilience is influenced in part by our legacy of advocating for the protection of the Bay Area’s natural and working lands during our 60-year history. We know that with the appropriate policies and measures, our unique natural ecosystems can give us their full benefits, or , and ensure that our communities will be able to respond to current and future climate shocks and stressors.
We seek to harness the power of natural and working lands to not only advance climate change mitigation and adaptation but also embed into our work to leave communities stronger than they were before and remediate historic harms. In developing a holistic approach to our challenges, we are employing solutions that seek to solve multiple issues at once:
Endorse the principles of the Resilience Playbook and urge policymakers to adopt them today!
Introduction
How to Navigate the Playbook
Implementing Climate Policies
Taking Action
Policy Matrix
Toolkit
Glossary
Acknowledgments
The 5 Action Areas
Centering People and Equity First
Protecting Communities from Floods and Drought
Harnessing the Power of Nature
Equitably Addressing the Bay Area Housing Crisis
Co-Existing with Wildfire
Contact Us © 2020 Greenbelt Alliance. 312 Sutter Street, Suite 402, San Francisco, CA 94108, (415) 543-6771 !"#$ environmental justice
greenhouse gas emissions
drought
ecosystem services
environmental justice
USE NATURAL AND WORKING LANDS THROUGH EQUITABLE NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS.
Natural and working lands like wetlands, green spaces, forests, and farmland can provide numerous environmental, social, and economic benefits. As the impacts from climate change worsen, wildfire, flooding, drought, and extreme heat are compromising the land’s ability to provide the ecological benefits we need, making it more challenging for the Bay Area to meet its climate goals and protect vulnerable communities.
Fortunately, if we act now with targeted
policies and capacity building to establish,
protect, and restore these natural assets, we
can work to reduce our greenhouse gas
emissions and sequester carbon to help
reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
and leverage natural buffers to wildfire,
flooding, and sea level rise. And we can do it in
a way that centers those who have been
traditionally excluded from reaping the innate benefits of nature.
1. INCORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRINCIPLES AND PRIORITIZE VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES.
As a result of decades of and other discriminatory land-use practices, among other challenges, low-income communities and communities of color have experienced a combination of historic injustice, negligence, and political and economic disempowerment.
Today, these Bay Area communities are struggling with a disproportionate pollution burden, worsening health outcomes, and socioeconomic issues like poverty and housing instability. All of which position these groups to be the most severely impacted by climate change.
These communities must be prioritized.
Residents of must be
involved in research, planning, implementation,
education, and decision-making about
potential climate change impacts and about
the development, funding, implementation, and
evaluation of adaptation and resilience
policies. Although it is not easy to do so, all
climate policies should identify and reduce
frontline communities’ vulnerabilities to climate change, with a focus on physical, economic, and quality-of-life factors.
2. redlining
frontline communities
ADVOCATE FOR CLIMATE SMART (SUSTAINABLE, MIXED, AFFORDABLE, RESILIENT, TRANSIT-ORIENTED) HOUSING AS AN EQUITABLE CLIMATE STRATEGY.
California is facing an extreme affordability crisis that is driven by the interrelated housing and climate crises. We are not building enough homes for any income level, which is driving up housing prices and forcing people to live far away from where they work or grew up. California is short over 3.5 million homes, according to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, which forces more people to drive over 90 minutes to get to work.
To address our affordability, housing, and
climate crises, we need to plan for and actually
build more climate-smart housing in the
appropriate places—near jobs and transit, in
more temperate zones with lower risk of
extreme heat, wildfire, and flooding.
3. COMMIT NOW
Introducing the Resilience Playbook
Introduction How to Navigate Implementing Climate Policies Taking Action Policy Matrix Toolkit
RESILIENCE PLAYBOOK
Centering People and
Equity First
Protecting Communities
from Floods and Drought
Co-Existing with Wildfire Equitably Addressing the
Bay Area Housing Crisis
Harnessing the Power
of Nature