Welcome to Monitor Notes, a weekly roundup of news items, event announcements, and updates on past Bay Area Monitor articles.
SPUR of the Moment
Got ideas about how the Bay Area should look in 2070? The San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) wants to know. Attend a “Launch and Listen Day” either this Friday, October 19 in San Francisco or on Friday, November 2 in Oakland. The events are part of SPUR’s initiative to develop a regional strategy for the Bay Area, starting with a recent report on four uncertainties facing us over the next 50 years. For more perspective, read our interviews with public officials offering policy advice to regional agencies planning for unknowns.
Sustainable Resource
Head to San Rafael on Thursday, October 25 for the 2018 Marin Sustainable Enterprise Conference. The focus is on green economic development trends affecting North Bay businesses, including sessions on topics like clean energy, community health, leadership, and new transportation approaches. It’ll be especially interesting to hear about the last one; when we previously wrote about transportation from the employer perspective, the Bay Area Commute Benefits Program was showing promise for nudging workers toward vanpools, bikes, and other options. Enterprising minds can register for the 2018 Marin SEC here.
Treating a New Ale-ment
Climate change is brewing another blow — this time to the availability and cost of beer. It turns out the production of barley, beer’s main ingredient, drops sharply during extreme heat and drought, according to researchers in the academic journal Nature Plants. While they noted threatened beer supplies are “not the most concerning impact of future climate change,” the new data joins a growing list of climate-related agricultural issues the Monitor has covered. But instead of crying in your beer, attend the Sierra Club’s Oakland tree-planting event Sunday, October 28 as a way to fight climate change locally.
Heavyweight Tidal
New work is underway to restore Bay Area wetlands sites. The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that the Department of Water Resources is breaking ground this week on a 1,200 acre project at Dutch Slough in the City of Oakley and along the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The new project will reestablish a tidal marsh, acting as a buffer to the Bay shoreline and creating a rich habitat for fish and wildlife. Click here for the Chronicle’s coverage, then read the Monitor’s piece about what’s involved in restoration work.
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