SF Climate Strike -- Annotated Table of Contents

This is an annotated table of contents for 4 years of weekly SF Climate Strike letters.  Over the next 210 days, with time off for good behavior, I’ll be posting these letters here, one at a time.

This table of contents was created when I discovered, about 20 weeks into the strike, that I was hunting through prior letters for citations or data or images.  These were easier to find them if I had a brief reminder of what each letter covered.

You can find more information about the context of the strike in this article.  Both this table of contents and the context article will be linked in all subsequent published strike letters.

LIST OF STRIKE TOPICS (by week)

1. Water – intro (recycling, Hetch Hetchy, delta tunnel, rain gardens, etc.)
2. Ideas – how to and why to solicit ideas from everyone
3. Carbon sequestration – how to do carbon sequestration and where
4. Recycling – includes cradle to cradle push
5. Elevation – yup, old data on what’s going to be under water
6. Planting – planting bio buffer zones
7. Transportation – all electric, no private vehicles, etc.
8. The planet – short timeline and big problems, need to plan now!
9. Insects – how to fight the insect crash (including native plants)
10. Money (divest-invest) – title sort of says it all, with specifics
11. The coasts – plan to retreat from the coasts now
12. Light – light pollution and increasing our albedo
13. Early financial risks – focus on 30-year bond insurance, lawsuits, building codes
14. Self-assessment – a test to see if they’ve done anything yet
15. Environmental justice – who gets hit hardest, what that means for SF
16. The ocean – it’s dying and what we have to do about it
17. Numbers – deadlines, local issues, prior timelines, ways to get it done
18. Now or never – the news keeps getting worse and what SF must do
19. Municipal bonds – credit rating agencies are getting wise, assume very little time
20. Access to water – no future snow = blackwater recycling now
21. Priorities – dividing up what needs to be done by when it has to be done and how
22. Examples pt 1 – albedo, bioswales, coasts, pavement, planting, insects, plastic, wildlife corridors
23. Examples pt 2 – environmental justice, investment, light pollution, local recycling, ocean, blackwater recycling, transportation
24. Science – how science works, what science says about current crises
25. Climate strike – what for, why, what it will accomplish (this was the big gen strike)
26. Why I strike – in title, my environmental bio
27. Trees – focus on natives only
28. Water recycling – the basics of blackwater recycling
29. Transit -- % CO2 to transit, how to reduce, get rid of private vehicles, promote bikes
30. Time – assessing time per potential tipping point, and what SF has to do to meet these
31. Plastic — defining plastics and the problem they represent
32. CH4 — chem of rxn
33. Other GHGs — amts, greenhouse potential, actions
34. CO2 pt 1 — where we produce CO2
35. CO2 pt 2 — how do we get rid of it
36. CO2 pt 3 — what does SF need to do
37. Focus — there are no other issues
38. Energy — how to get to 100% net-zero C emissions
39. Energy details — details for each type of green energy for SF
40. Climate Emergency — act or get out of the way
41. Scope of the Plastic Problem — it’s worse than we thought
42. Resilience and Self-Sufficiency — how we can do it and why we have to
43. Recap — cheat sheet on what to do and timeframes for SF
44. Insects in SF — what we must do to preserve insects
45. Bio Highways — how to create these in SF and why
46. Delta Tunnel — it will hurt SF, we need to stop supporting it
47. Covid-19 — Covid-19 is bad, ecocide is much worse
48. Green New Deal — SF needs a Green New Deal now
49. Basic Tenets — we must act to survive, and we must act right now
50. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize — act now, focus, Covid-19 is a small part of the disaster on its way
51. The Price Is Right — acting is much cheaper than not acting, with #s
52. Build Blackwater Recycling — megadrought, we need to recycle our water
53. Fiddling While Home Burns — what are you doing?!
54. Taking Action Fast — why and how to act fast, Process For Action
55. Biosphere collapse — biosphere collapse directly endangers SF
56. What have you done? — report card
57. A livable world is still possible — SF needs to take charge and act, details on how
58. Restorative Justice — how it works to fix harm, inc to the environment
59. Start with the easy stuff — infrastructure, policy, and community list of projects
60. Scope — the news just got a lot worse, very fast, because of clouds
61. CAF — carbon added fee
62. CAF — how to implement it
63. Carmageddon — how to avoid it and make roads safe, and not for cars
64. Environmental racism — it drives local and global environmental destruction
65. How to take action — what may be stopping you and how to get past that
66. The Big Goal — setting an overarching goal that focuses and drives action
67. Art — how the arts are vital to fixing the current mess
68. Electrification — on the need to electrify everything now, and how it saves money too
69. The Streets of San Francisco — why we need to get cars off the streets
70. Getting everyone involved — who, how, and why everyone needs a say and to be acting
71. No Nukes in SF — clean it all up, already!!
72. Heat — it kills, and it’s easy and obvious how to reduce it
73. Wreckers — SF is playing Vichy government to plastic, oil, big ag, and big corps.
74. Good, Cheap, Fast: you only get 2 out of 3 — why taking action on big projects is now expensive but has to be done anyway.
75. It’s Accelerating — all the tipping points are being reached rapidly, and SF is suffering already but it will only get worse
76. Green Building Practices — why building is a mess in SF and how to fix and green it
77. Bargain Hunting — multi-outcome projects since we’re past cheap as an option
78. We Are Here — what’s going on and what SF can and has to do
79. Have You Figured It Out Yet? — what the countdowns mean, and that we’re one week away from exiting Paris
80. Will We Always Have Paris? — and we’re out, and what that means, and we can do Paris as a city; we have to!
81. Energy, it’s all about energy — we need public power now; dump PG&E
82. Water, Water, Water — endangered snowpack and pipelines, blackwater recycling now
83. Reclaim Space from Cars — make permanent and add to pandemic shutdowns
84. Sacrifice Zones — we’re talking literal human sacrifice of poor and BIPOC people
85. We’re All On A Ghost Ship — it’s burning down around us now
86. Science Is Conservative — so what’s coming is worse than the predictions
87. A Summary for Winter — we’ve got 2 weeks left and you’ve done so little
88. Protect and Serve — stop working for the rich because they don’t care if we burn
89. Sister Communities — we’ve got to make connections in CA for a bunch of reasons
90. Use The Tools You’ve Got — like the Climate Crisis declaration and regulations
91. Get On The Job Or Get Out Of The Way — why you aren’t acting, and who can act
92. Finding the Resources — stop the thieves and get the stuff we need to act
93. Doing What’s Right — kindness and legal rights
94. Energy for SF, in Great Detail
95. Water for SF, in Great Detail
96. Science, PP, and Resiliency — PP is the Precautionary Principle
97. Who Will Be Harmed — the poor and most vulnerable
98. Data Geek Out — #s for everything
99. Are You As Smart As A High School Student? — no
100. You Can Make A Difference — local government can accomplish things
101.  A Strike Glossary — definitions because words are important
102.  Inertia — act sooner, and overcome your inertia to do so
103.  Water & Energy — they’re linked and we’re in a megadrought
104.  Scale — it’s WAY bigger than you think or than you’re acting
105.  Plastic — the plastic cycle and its impacts
106.  Return of the Natives — plant natives now
107.  It’s Always About Water! — we gotta act now
108.  SF & Water — the Lab — how do we make sure we have water to survive
109.  We’re doing water wrong — Hetch Hetchy is the wrong solution to our water problems
110.  Traffic and Toilets — the receipts on making wrong choices
111.  Cars - What are they good for? — absolutely nothing (say it again!)
112.  The Dying Commons — SF is actively destroying the urban commons we depend on
113. Megadrought! The Musical — let’s make it fun and see if you pay attention
114.  If You Only Had The Nerve — Act already!
115.  You Can’t See a Forest Without Trees — our tree situation is getting worse, not better
116.  Recipe for Disaster — comparing SF’s lack of action to the condo that collapsed
117.  RCP8.5 — let’s look at what the IPCC says, shall we?
118.  It’s not enough to just act — you have to take the right actions
119.  Water, Again — how to get it when there’s a megadrought
120.   IPCC — the latest report is out and it’s bad
121.  Work the Problem — focus, folks!
122.  Climate Cowardice — you don’t act because you’re cowards; shame works
123.  Pay to Play — corruption is killing us
124.  You Can’t Fight Physics — list of laws and what they’re doing to us
125.  A Case Study — Vision Zero and how SF screwed it up
126.  Elevation — mega-skyscrapers are stupid on a city on a peninsula that’s sinking
127.  Transparency — y’all have no idea what’s going on in SF gov
128.  Water and the Common Good — you’re bad at water
129.  Too Much Water — the assault — we’re already going to flood no matter what
130.  Not Enough Water — the siege — while we die of thirst in a megadrought
131.  Dinosaurs — Unsafe for San Francisco — um, cars
132. Act Like Our City’s On Fire — because it is, so ring the alarm and act
133. Fix Your Priorities — budget numbers don’t lie
134. Enforcement — neither does SF’s lack of action, aka greenwashing
135. Wrong Story — telling the wrong story produces wrong actions, aka Thanksgiving
136.  Choose Your Own Adventure — continue on as is or change, that’s the choice
137.  Resources — colonialism, capitalism, and locusts: that’s us
138.  Welcome to a New World — errth is not amenable to life
139.  Baby Steps pt 1, Electrification — it’s a start but you’ve got much more to do
140.  Baby Steps pt 2, Blackwater Recycling — it’s just barely a start at all
141.  Massive Waste — building housing in flood zones is insane!
142.  Tiny Forests — just what it says
143.  Baby Steps pt 3, Divestment — SFERS not doing so well, and nobody else is trying
144.  Because It’s Been Rough On The Frontline Lately — recap and review
145.  Let’s Do The Numbers! — Harper’s Index list of numbers more important than stock #s
146.  Don’t Build In The Flood Zone, Darlin’ — where not to build housing
147.  Martians! — We can learn a lot by thinking like Mark Watney
148.  Lessons of the Recall — you all aren’t acting any better than the School Board
149. The Course Is Clear — water and energy first, a bunch of stuff after
150. How To Ensure SF Has Water — tiny forests, composting toilets, permeable surfaces, native plants, efficiency and leakage, blackwater recycling, etc.
151. How To Ensure SF Has Energy — tons of resources here, most untapped
152. State of the World — rapidly getting very bad in every sphere we inhabit
153. Finance for Climate Change 101— taxes, divestment, loans, old insurance policies, shared resources, etc.
154.  Efficiency and Conservation — these works, are really cheap, and can be done now  
155.  Solutions-Based Governance — a “put up or shut up” method to get stuff done
156.  Three Years — it’s Earth Day, wanna act before we all die from heat
157. Megadrought 101 — why this is way worse than prior CA droughts
158.  You’ve Made Your Choice — choosing not to act makes you legally liable
159.  Imagine Survival — water and energy, order and timeline for SF implementation
160.  Zero Vision — using Vision Zero to show how little SF does
161. Learned Helplessness and DARVO — reacting to avoid abuse isn’t working
162. It’s Not A Hard Puzzle — put the pieces together and you get The Scream for real
163.  How To React — you aren’t going to act, so let’s focus on getting your resources to react
164. Reaction Water pt. 1: Sewage — blackwater in an emergency
165. Reaction Water pt. 2: Gray Water — how to reuse it in an emergency
166. Reaction Water pt. 3: Potable Water — there won’t be much of this in an emergency
167. A Lesson From Theatre — acting lessons for non-actors
168. Energy Reaction Guidelines pt. 1: Immediate Needs — generators available, time
169. Energy Reaction Guidelines pt. 2: When It Stretches On — there’s nothing
170. Flooding Reaction Guidelines pt. 1: Precipitation — some resources, under cared for
171. Flooding Reaction Guidelines pt. 2: Sea Level Rise — nothing we’ve got is enough
172. Heat Reaction Guidelines — it’s gonna get hot and we’re not prepared
173. People Displaced by Climate Change Reaction Guidelines — We are not prepared
174. Communications Reaction Guidelines — HAMS and nothing
175. A Mid-list Summary — all our prep is below C level
176. Ready for Disaster? You Better Be! — melt of glaciers and elevation of SF
177. Cooling Reaction Guidelines — we’ve got almost nothing
178. Food Reaction Guidelines — we’re in bad shape and dependent on charities
179. What Are You So Afraid Of? — SF cannot withstand the lawsuits for failure to act
180. Coastal Retreat Reaction Guidelines — doing nothing
181. Cars Rule! — all cars, all the time, everywhere
182. Harmful Algal Bloom Reaction Guidelines — we got no HAB plans
183. Health Reaction Guidelines — nope, we’re so not ready
184. Saltwater Intrusion Reaction Guidelines — we’re only doing things to make it worse
185. Transportation Reaction Guidelines — our transportation system is already shaky
186.  Fire Reaction Guidelines — not terrible, but not adequate
187. Reaction Guidelines Summary — full summary grade is F+
188. Why Prepare? — list o’ current disasters adding to the stress
189. What to Prepare — energy and water first
190. Thwaites — the water to come and SF’s economy
191. Back to Basics — failures have solutions, each solution has a time limit
192. How is SF Govt like the GOP? — failure, disaster after disaster, all talk no action
193. State after State after State of Emergency — not ready and not listening
194. Cherry Orchard — choosing not to act is a choice
195. You Know The Answers — the actions needed are obvious
196. Another Lesson from Theatre — acting a farce, creating a tragedy, rules
197.  Jeopardy! - City Killers — run the category
198. Cars and Roads and Housing, Oh My! — failure to act, again
199. Energy — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
200. Water — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
201. Heat — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
202. Elevation — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
203. Transportation — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
204. Pollution — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
205.  Housing — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
206. A Biosphere Check for Earth Day — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
207. Consequences — summarizing for the end of this part of the action
208. Nothing Will Come From Nothing — summarizing exactly what SF politics has accomplished regarding all these issues, in the last 4 years