- Resisting Trump’s Anti-Environmental Agenda
- SF Needs to Clean Up Its Act
- Challenging a Dangerous Dam Project
- Take Action: Is Your Holiday Meal Polluting the Bay?
- Stopping Plastic Pollution with Levi’s
- Bay Gift Ideas: For Puzzlers and Wine Lovers
Resisting Trump’s Anti-Environmental Agenda
With the pending appointment of Lee Zeldin as the new EPA administrator, Trump is doubling down on his agenda to dismantle environmental protections for the sake of industry profits. If executed without challenge, it will destroy our environment, hurt the Bay, and harm public health, as Baykeeper executive director Sejal Choksi-Chugh told KQED.
But Baykeeper battled similar threats during Trump’s last term, and we won. This time, we’ve prepared own counter strategy to defend the Bay and fight back.
SF Needs to Clean Up Its Act
San Francisco’s combined sewage and stormwater system is falling apart—whenever a big storm hits, millions of gallons of raw sewage spill into the Bay.
Yet, SFPUC is refusing to modernize its infrastructure. SFPUC’s own analysis found that the cost to upgrade is “not likely to be substantial.” But that hasn’t prevented SFPUC’s representatives from exaggerating the costs to ratepayers for fixing the system.
Learn what SFPUC needs to do to clean up its act.
Pictured, above: flood gates at Mission Creek releasing sewage into the Bay (credit: SFPUC via Public Records Act).
Challenging a Dangerous Dam Project
The planned Sites dam project will worsen the Bay’s water woes—especially for fish on the brink of extinction.
Baykeeper’s science director Jon Rosenfield recently testified before the State Water Board to explain the negative effects of this project.
“The San Francisco Bay estuary and the rivers that feed it are in ecological crisis,” as Jon told the Board. “Sites Reservoir will divert flow from the Sacramento River and deny much-needed flow to the Delta and San Francisco Bay ecosystems.”
Photo: Baykeeper drone still of the area proposed for the Sites project
Take Action: Is Your Holiday Meal Polluting the Bay?
Every year, the Bay faces a yucky combination: pipes clogged with discarded fats get overwhelmed by winter rains and spill raw sewage onto city streets and into the Bay.
Sewer utilities need to maintain and repair their infrastructure to reduce these kinds of spills. But home cooks like you have a role to play, too, by being careful to not to dump any fats, oil, or grease down the drain.
Learn more about making your kitchen cleanup Bay-friendly!
Photo: Shane Huang, Flickr/CC
Stopping Plastic Pollution with Levi’s
In September, we held a special cleanup at Mission Creek in San Francisco with Levi Strauss & Co. employee volunteers. Our pollution experts trained 20 volunteers to identify and collect plastics produced by ExxonMobil to support our recent lawsuit against the oil giant.
The results will help us raise awareness about Exxon’s role in polluting Bay Area waterways and hold the oil giant accountable for their plastic pollution worldwide.
Photo: Robb Most
Bay Gift Ideas: For Puzzlers and Wine Lovers
This holiday season, how about delighting your loved ones with gifts that benefit the Bay?
Proceeds from Baykeeper’s new puzzle Under the Bay support our work defending the Bay creatures depicted in the puzzle’s beautiful underwater scene. A great gift for any puzzler in your life!
Obsidian Wine Co.’s 2023 RosĂ© for the Bay pairs perfectly with Thanksgiving turkey and shows off your love for the Bay. And 100% of proceeds go directly to Baykeeper. (Under “How did you hear about us?” select “SF Baykeeper.”)
You can also make a tax-deductible donation to protect the Bay in your loved one’s name to honor them this season.