Welcome to Monitor Notes, a weekly roundup of news items, event announcements, and updates on past Bay Area Monitor articles.
Pre-game for the Big Show
Last week, organizers for the Global Climate Action Summit held their first official press conference in San Francisco to promote the upcoming international forum, which Leslie Stewart just previewed in the latest Monitor. Members of the media gathered at AT&T Park on August 9 to hear from California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross and San Francisco Department of the Environment Director Debbie Raphael, as well as Jaime Nack, the summit’s director of sustainability, who described how the summit itself will meet or exceed international sustainability standards for such events. The press conference then turned into a tour of the Giants’ stadium, showcasing the field maintenance and waste management practices that earned the team “Green Glove” awards from Major League Baseball for nine consecutive years. We’ve posted photos from the proceedings on the Monitor Facebook page, and will provide further information leading up to the September 12-14 summit.
Accelerating into the Future
While the idea of self-driving cars is starting to feel less outlandish, countless questions remain about the impact autonomous vehicles will have on transportation networks when they hit the streets. Looking to provide some answers, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments released a detailed report earlier this summer; as part of the agencies’ Horizon initiative, the so-called “Perspective Paper” lays out a set of potential planning strategies for navigating the landscape of this evolving technology. It’s familiar territory for the Monitor — we’ve written about both autonomous vehicles and the Horizon initiative in the past year. Check out those articles and then get some perspective.
Conference at a Crossroads
Throw a dart at the program for the 10th Biennial Bay-Delta Science Conference and you’re likely to hit a topic that Robin Meadows has covered, or a scientist who she’s interviewed. Among the various presentations featured at the September 10-12 (M-W) conference in Sacramento, one special bonus session explores the science of atmospheric rivers, which Robin covered for the Monitor last winter. Editor Lauren Muscatine and filmmaker Enid Baxter Ryce will discuss this compelling weather phenomenon on Tuesday afternoon of the conference, whose theme is “Our Estuary at an Intersection.” Check out the schedule.
Pitching in for Parks
In addition to reporting for the Monitor, our writers contribute work to a range of other excellent publications — as Aleta George recently did for Bay Nature in an article about the vital role volunteers play in helping manage open space. The efforts of these generous residents — pulling weeds, assisting with research, or serving as park docents and trail ambassadors — aligns nicely with the spirit of civic participation that the League of Women Voters seeks to cultivate, and we are glad to see them receive credit for their contributions.
Monitor Notes is produced by Cecily O’Connor. To receive it by email, scroll to the bottom of this page, enter your email address in the box under “RECEIVE EMAIL UPDATES,” and click the red “SIGN UP” button.