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.
This is the letter for week 22 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 to see topics for all the strike letters, see this story.
STRIKE FOR THE PLANET
because very little of what we have to do is new.
This week’s annotated list is part 1 of FINDING EXAMPLES OF ACTION.
We must act now, while action can still accomplish anything. Fortunately, most of the actions we have to take have already been taken somewhere else. Detailed information about each of these topics is in prior strike letters; this list is a reference of other places that are working concretely on these issues, places that can provide help, information, examples, and warnings.
In alphabetical order by subject:
Albedo
- In playgrounds, “The Albedo Effect, Urban Heat Islands, and Cooling Down Your Playground”, (https://www.sciencefriday.com/educational-resources/the-albedo-effect-urban-heat-islands-and-cooling-down-your-playground/)
- In cities, “Albedo Effect and Energy Efficiency of Cities”, (http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/29929/InTech-Albedo_effect_and_energy_efficiency_of_cities.pdf)
- In Spain, using greenhouses, “Global and Local Effect of Increasing Land Surface Albedo as a Geo-Engineering Adaptation/Mitigation Option: A Study Case of Mediterranean Greenhouse Framing”, (https://www.intechopen.com/books/climate-change-research-and-technology-for-adaptation-and-mitigation/global-and-local-effect-of-increasing-land-surface-albedo-as-a-geo-engineering-adaptation-mitigation)
- In Sapporo and Tokyo, “Surface Albedo in Cities: Cast Study in Sapporo and Tokyo, Japan”, (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10546-014-9952-0)
- From UCB, “New anti-warming tool: white roofs”, (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-10-me-roofs10-story.html)
Bioswales
- In New York City, “The bioswales of New York: A city plan to make more tree-stands and less sewage runoff”, (https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2012/03/the-bioswales-of-new-york-a-city-plan-to-make-more-tree-stands-and-less-sewage-runoff-067223)
- In China’s “China’s sponge cities: soaking up water to reduce flood risks”, (https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/oct/01/china-sponge-cities-los-angeles-water-urban-design-drought-floods-urbanisation-rooftop-gardens)
- At Wayne State, “Ecological wonder: In a Wayne State Parking lot, bioswales provide unique stormwater solution”, (https://today.wayne.edu/news/2019/08/01/ecological-wonder-in-a-wayne-state-parking-lot-bioswales-provide-unique-stormwater-solution-34047)
- In New Haven, “Bioswale Projects”, (https://hixon.yale.edu/practice/bioswales/bioswale-projects)
- In Davis, “Performance of Two Bioswales on Urban Runoff Management”, (https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/mcpherson/psw_2017_mcpherson004_xiao.pdf)
Coastlines
- In Boston where they’re building parks and wetlands, “With nowhere to hide from rising seas, Boston prepares for a wetter future”, (https://www.sciencenews.org/article/boston-adapting-rising-sea-level-coastal-flooding)
- In the Netherlands, “Can the ‘masters of the flood’ help Texas protect its coast from hurricanes”, (https://grist.org/article/can-the-masters-of-the-flood-help-texas-protect-its-coast-from-hurricanes/)
- Retreating , “The case for retreat in the battle against climate change”, (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190822141856.htm)
- How mangrove forests provided protection from the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, “Coastal Mangrove forests mitigated tsunami”, (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222661244_Coastal_Mangrove_forests_mitigated_tsunami)
- And the application of this data to sea level rise, “Mangroves buffer the effects of rising sea”, (https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/mangroves-buffer-the-effects-of-rising-seas)
Cool pavement
- Examples of cool pavements in action, with reflectivity and temperature data, “Cool Pavements”, (https://heatisland.lbl.gov/coolscience/cool-pavements)
- American-based cost/benefit analysis, “Pavement Interactive”, (https://www.pavementinteractive.org/reference-desk/pavement-management/impacts/cool-pavementgeneral/)
- In Los Angeles, “California Today: A Plan to Cool Down L.A.”, (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/us/california-today-cool-pavements-la.html)
- In Qatar, “Qatar’s ‘cool pavement’ project aims to reduce road temperatures”, (https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/qatar-cool-pavement-project-aims-reduce-road-temperatures-190825115139701.html)
- Using permeable concrete, “How Roads Can Help Cool Sizzling Cities”, (https://news.rutgers.edu/how-roads-can-help-cool-sizzling-cities/20190731#.XWVnhS2ZPYU)
Mass tree planting
- Potential mapped, “Tree planting ‘has mind-blowing potential’ to tackle climate crisis”, (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/04/planting-billions-trees-best-tackle-climate-crisis-scientists-canopy-emissions)
- In social justice terms, “Economic status and its influence on tree planting in urban areas”, (https://environment-review.yale.edu/economic-status-and-its-influence-tree-planting-urban-areas-0)
- In India, “India Plants 50 Million Trees in One Day, Smashing World Record”, (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/07/india-plants-50-million-trees-uttar-pradesh-reforestation/)
- In Ethopia, “Ethiopia Says It Planted Over 350 Million Trees in a Day, a Record”, (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/world/africa/ethiopia-tree-planting-deforestation.html)
- In China, “China reassigns 60,000 soldiers to plant trees in bid to fight pollution”, (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-tree-plant-soldiers-reassign-climate-change-global-warming-deforestation-a8208836.html)
Non-toxic landscaping for insects
Plastic bans
- Kenya, Vanuatu, Taiwan, Zimbabwe, France, Morocco, Rwanda, and others, “16 Times Countries and Cities Have Banned Single-Use Plastics”, (https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/plastic-bans-around-the-world/)
- More on Vanuatu, “Vanuatu Has One Of The World’s Strictest Plastic Bans. It’s About To Get Tougher.” (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vanuatu-plastic-ban-law-ocean-pollution_n_5c6ee757e4b0f40774cd355d)
- And still more – they are probably the best documented case study on various types of plastic bans, “Vanuatu to ban disposable nappies in plastics crackdown: ‘We had no choice’” (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/22/vanuatu-to-ban-disposable-nappies-in-plastics-crackdown-we-had-no-choice)
Wildlife corridors
- A collection of studies done in a variety of locations: Botswana, SF Bay region, Shenzhen, Lisbon and Montreal, and Zurich, “Urban corridors: research updates around the globe”, (https://conservationcorridor.org/2017/04/urban-corridors-research-updates-around-the-globe/)
- In Oregon, “Conservation in Urban Areas”, (http://www.oregonconservationstrategy.org/conservation-toolbox/conservation-in-urban-areas/)
- In Boston, “Corridor Ecology and Planning”, (https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/corridor-ecology-and-planning/18365/)
- In New York City, “Using POPs to Create Healthy Wildlife Corridors in Dense Urban Environments”, (https://commons.pratt.edu/sesresearch/wp-content/uploads/sites/157/2017/01/2013_Castro_M_Presentation.pdf)
- Multiple examples from all over the world, “Wildlife Corridors: A Solution to Ending Roadkill”, (https://wp.natsci.colostate.edu/findingporpoise/wildlife-corridors-a-solution-to-ending-roadkill/)
We only have 70 weeks left to start taking action, and we know from multiple prior examples that, when it comes to the climate crisis and the current extinction event, the best timelines are ridiculously optimistic at best. We have 70 weeks to make plans, raise capital, begin work, even finish some of the easier projects –we have to start now. The groups above have started. Follow them.
Part 2 of the list comes next week.