You can make a difference to the hurt being caused by climate chaos and the great extinction event in your town or your city! How? Reuse, repurpose, and recycle this information. You can push your local politicians to act. It will make a difference!
This is the letter for week 99 of a weekly climate strike that went on for 4 years in front of San Francisco City Hall, beginning early March 2019. For more context, see this story. For an annotated table of contents of the topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile…
STRIKE FOR THE PLANET
or Are You As Smart As A High School Student?
Let’s compare what happens when high school students and you are put to the test.
What high school students do when confronted with data
Give high school students a chemistry assignment where they research and make a poster about a specific personal care product, have them present their work in poster sessions, put their posters up in the hall, then give the students a test where they look for commonalities among the products on the posters, and they will change their lives and the lives of their families right away and forever. When they are able to link specific brands and products to mutagenic effects, increased cancer rates, endocrine disruption and more, they make whatever changes are needed to protect their health and that of their families, they will apply their understandings of product safety and GRAS throughout their homes and work, and they will spread that information to others.
Have those same students do research on the environment, discovering information much like the information I’ve given you over the last 99 weeks, and they start working out how to fight for the planet. They change their lives forever to protect their own health and that of everyone and everything they know. They discover what’s at stake and try to do the right thing as much as possible. Of course they blow it sometimes; we all do. But they keep their focus on what really matters — saving a planet capable of supporting them.
What the City and County of SF does when confronted with data
Let’s look at examples of your actions to see how well you’ve responded.
- Artificial “turf” — This stuff is a chemical nightmare that’s replaced huge tracts of living ecosystems in our parks, but you continue to install it.
- The SkyStar Wheel — Diesel smoke, light pollution, and sound pollution, but you okayed it for 4 more years in Golden Gate Park.
- The SF Bay and CA’s hydrosphere — SF joined in a lawsuit with Central Valley big ag against CA’s ecosystems to refuse adequate water to our rivers and estuaries.
- Hetch Hetchy — SF destroyed the valley of Hetch Hetchy over 98 years ago and refuses to undo the damage to this day.
- Garbage — We aren’t getting closer to zero waste to landfills , and the neighboring counties aren’t too happy with taking our garbage.
- Plastic, PPE, and the pandemic — Even though we knew early on that the virus lasted significantly longer on plastics than on paper, and even though we soon found out that transmission through touch was low, you still banned reusable and non-plastic alternatives and then took forever to undo that ban. Meanwhile, there is NO public message about recycling of the masses of PPE plastics.
- Light pollution — Downtown buildings, the Salesforce Tower, the Bay Bridge: SF is awash with night lighting even though the environmental impacts on all species, including humans, is well-documented and deadly.
- Environmental injustice writ large — How are the clean-ups and health and community restorations of Hunters Point, Treasure Island, and the Bayview going?
- Our sinking land — The Bay Area is sinking from the mass of construction on it, but you’re building more, even in the face of sea level rise, even without tenants.
Do you remember that you are committed to using the Precautionary Principle in all decisions? Where is the Precautionary Principle in the artificial turf? Who is benefitting from this cementing over and carpeting-with-toxic-materials of our land? You know there are 21st century solutions to the 19th century problems of light, sound, and diesel exhaust pollution, so why aren’t you requiring these of the SkyStar? Again, who is profiting from this mess? And who was responsible for your anti-science decisions when it came to plastics and Covid? Who profited from it?
Is there a pattern here? It certainly looks like it. It looks like money, power/access, and publicity get your attention, and nothing else. It looks like any environmental gains made are subject to reversal at the drop of a hat, damn the data, while environmental destruction is never reversed, no matter how bad. It looks like you never follow up on, fix, or change damaging decisions, even when it’s clear your actions are wrong.
Are you smarter than high school students?
High school students want to learn, they want to make a difference, and they care. High school students do their job. High school students understand the timescale involved. High school students hear the authorities and then do their homework. High school students care about reality.
Are you smarter than a high school student? No. Not even close.
Seriously, what will it take to make you ACT?!
You are not going to escape climate chaos by the actions listed above; in most cases, you’re making it worse. Do you expect to die before things get really bad? Because you’re too late. Acting saves money and lives. You’ve taken oaths to act for the good of SF. You are supposedly bound by the Precautionary Principle. So act already. Because the costs of climate change are huge.
Your not acting is harming the most vulnerable people in SF.
It’s now or never; damage is already being done and it’s only going to get worse. Act! You have to fight for the people of SF now while accomplishing anything is still possible!
FOOTNOTES
1. GRAS stands for Generally Regarded As Safe and is the FDA’s designation for chemicals grandfathered in for common use without testing, due to their age. They include sugar, hydrochloric acid, butane, sodium hydroxide, parabens, BHA and BHT, sorbitol and much more. Visit https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=42bb02884fc7049a74766606865e2a61&mc=true&node=pt21.6.582&rgn=div5 for more information, then crack open your chem books.
2. Nathan Donley. “Should I Give a Crumb About Crumb Rubber?” Center for Biological Diversity. 22 August 2019. https://medium.com/center-for-biological-diversity/should-i-give-a-crumb-about-crumb-rubber-a25fd4c7bd10.
3. Rahul Kini. “Study Led By Gaboury Benoit Looks At Chemicals In Synthetic Playing Surfaces”. Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science. 7 July 2015. https://seas.yale.edu/news-events/news/study-led-gaboury-benoit-looks-chemicals-synthetic-playing-surfaces-0.
4. Emily Holden. “US playgrounds: fears grow over health risks from rubber particles”. The Guardian. 25 June 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/25/lawmakers-concerned-chemicals-rubber-playgrounds-push-safety-rules.
5. Julian Davis. “Astroturfing San Francisco”. Fog City Journal. 22 September 2009. http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/1434/astroturfing-san-francisco/.
6. David Romano. “GG Park’s Artificial Turf is Toxic”. Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon. 17 March 2021. https://sfrichmondreview.com/2021/03/15/letter-to-the-editor-gg-parks-artificial-turf-is-toxic/.
7. Marjie Lundstrom and Eli Wolfe. “Fields of Waste: Artificial Turf, Touted as Recycling Fix for Millions of Scrap Tires, Becomes Mounting Disposal Mess”. Fair Warning. 19 December 2019. https://www.fairwarning.org/2019/12/fields-of-waste-artificial-turf-mess/.
8. Melody Gutierrez. “Critics say EPA played dual role in recycled tire controversy”. San Francisco Chronicle. 21 February 2015. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Critics-say-EPA-played-dual-role-in-recycled-tire-6094382.php.
9. Katherine Howard. “The SkyStar Observation Wheel in Golden Gate Park Should Close to Protect Our Wildlife”. Sierra Club. 4 February 2021. https://www.sierraclub.org/san-francisco-bay/blog/2021/02/skystar-observation-wheel-golden-gate-park-should-close-protect-our.
10. Sam Whiting. “Golden Gate Park SkyStar wheel will spin for 4 more years, S.F. supes decide”. San Francisco Chronicle. 16 March 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Golden-Gate-Park-SkyStar-wheel-will-spin-for-4-16031008.php.
11. Kurtia Alexander. “San Francisco sues state over potentially drastic water reductions”. San Francisco Chronicle. 10 January 2019. https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/San-Francisco-sues-state-over-potentially-drastic-13524356.php.
12. Bruce Pienini. “How Did the Hetch Hetchy Project Impact Native Americans?” Sierra College Press. 2015, vol. 6 no. 1. https://www.sierracollege.edu/ejournals/jsnhb/v6n1/pierini.html.
13. Chris Clarke. “5 Reasons Dam Removal Still Makes Sense Despite the Drought”. KCET. 22 March 2016. https://www.kcet.org/redefine/5-reasons-dam-removal-still-makes-sense-despite-the-drought.
14. Joshua Sabatini. “SF fails to meet annual reduction targets to reach zero waste to landfill by 2020”. San Francisco Examiner. 16 October 2017. https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/sf-fails-to-meet-annual-reduction-targets-to-reach-zero-waste-to-landfill-by-2020/.
15. Heather Knight. “SF’s zero-waste failure littered with fines, frustration”. SF Chronicle. 24 September 2016. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-s-zero-waste-failure-littered-with-fines-9243555.php.
16. Dan Walters. “San Francisco’s environmental hypocrisy exposed”. Daily Republic. 14 December 2012. https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/opinion/state-national-columnists/san-franciscos-environmental-hypocrisy-exposed/.
17. Rosie McCall. “This is How Long Coronavirus Can Survive on Plastic, Cardboard and in the Air”. Newsweek. 16 March 2020. https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-survive-plastic-cardboard-air-1492489.
18. Stephanie Watson. “Coronavirus on Surfaces: What’s the Real Risk?” WebMD. 3 September 2020. https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200903/coronavirus-on-surfaces-whats-the-real-risk.
19. Dustin Gardiner. “Recycling takes a hit in coronavirus California as plastic waste piles up”. SF Chronicle. 20 April 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Recycling-takes-a-hit-in-coronavirus-California-15211553.php.
20. Rebecca Boyle. “The Dark Side of Light”. The Atlantic. 24 September 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/09/light-pollution-destroying-environment/598561/.
21. Heather Knight. “San Francisco/ Trudging on the Toxic Tour”. SFGate. 11 January 2012. https://www.sfgate.com/green/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Trudging-on-the-Toxic-Tour-Most-2466114.php.
22. Investigative Unit. “Navy Subcontractor Breaks Silence About Treasure Island Radiation”. NBC Bay Area. 12 December 2013. https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/navy-subcontractor-breaks-silence-about-radiation-contamination-at-treasure-island/2075066/.
23. Jason Fagone and Cynthia Dizikes. “‘Extremely unlikely that they will find anything’”. SF Chronicle. 28 August 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Extremely-Unlikely-That-They-Will-Find-15519861.php.
24. Kurtis Alexander. “Buildings like S.F.’s Millennium Tower are causing the Bay Area to sink under their weight”. SF Chronicle. 19 February 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/environment/article/San-Francisco-Bay-Area-sinking-under-its-own-15961703.php.
25. Roland Li. “S.F. approves $1 billion Transbay tower, construction planned despite Salesforce’s canceled lease”. SF Chronicle. 16 March 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/S-F-approves-1-billion-Transbay-tower-16031209.php.
26. Harper’s Index. March 2021. https://harpers.org/archive/2021/03/.
27. Harper’s Index. March 2021. https://harpers.org/archive/2021/03/.
28. Dana Nuccitelli. “New report finds costs of climate change impacts often underestimated”. Yale Climate Connections. 18 November 2019. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/11/new-report-finds-costs-of-climate-change-impacts-often-underestimated/.
29. Rebecca Hersher and Nathan Rott. “What Are The Costs Of Climate Change?” NPR. 16 September 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/16/913693655/what-are-the-costs-of-climate-change.
30. Samantha Fields. “Insurance increasingly unaffordable as climate change brings more disasters”. Marketplace. 31 August 2020. https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/31/insurance-increasingly-unaffordable-as-climate-change-brings-more-disasters/.
31. Matt McGrath. “Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months”. BBC News. 24 July 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736.
32. Heather Smith. “Climate Change: Even Worse Than We Thought”. Sierra. 8 October 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-change-even-worse-we-thought-ipcc-report.
33. Michael Grose and Julie Arblaster. “Just how hot will it get this century? It’s worse than we thought”. Phys Org. 18 May 2020. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-hot-century-worse-thought.html.
34. Amelia Urry. “The scientist who first warned of climate change says it’s much worse than we thought”. Grist. 22 March 2016. https://grist.org/science/the-scientist-who-first-warned-of-climate-change-says-its-much-worse-than-we-thought/.
35. Rafi Letzter. “Today’s Climate Change Is Worse Than Anything Earth Has Experienced in the Past 2,000 Years”. Live Science. 25 July 2019. https://www.livescience.com/66027-climate-change-different.html.
36. John D. Sutter. “Vanishing”. CNN. Accessed 30 June 2020. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/specials/vanishing/.
37. Peter Castagno. “Biodiversity Loss Worst in Human History — 1 Million Animal Species Risk Extinction”. Citizen Truth. 6 May 2019. https://citizentruth.org/biodiversity-loss-worst-in-human-history-1-million-animal-species-risk-extinction/.
38. Kristen Callihan. “Earth’s Currently Ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction Is Worse Than We Thought”. OutwardOn. 7 August 2017. https://www.outwardon.com/article/earths-currently-ongoing-sixth-mass-extinction-event-is-worse-than-we-thought/.
39. Lauren Frayer. “Scores Are Feared Dead In India After Himalayan Glacier Breaks Away”. NPR. 7 February 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/07/965046888/scores-are-feared-dead-in-india-after-himalayan-glacier-breaks-away. It’s now looking like it was a landslide which makes the situation worse.
40. Zoya Teirstein. “2020 was the hottest year on record. We’ll remember it as one of the century’s coldest.” Grist. 16 January 2021. https://grist.org/climate/2020-was-the-hottest-year-on-record-well-remember-it-as-one-of-the-centurys-coldest/.