Environmental alliance aims to make San Francisco greener
San Francisco Recreation and Parks General Manager Phil Ginzberg, left, Jean Fraser of the Presidio Trust and Academy of Sciences Executive Director Scott Sampson plant flowers on the academy's living roof.
September 7, 2023
In a city that already has more than its share of breathtaking views, a group has been formed to make it even greener still.
“Reimagining San Francisco,” an alliance of 32 environmental groups, government agencies and the California Academy of Sciences, held a kind of coming-out party Sept 7 on the academy’s roof.
It was an appropriate location, given that the organizations want to promote biodiversity within the city limits, and the roof is a huge living garden covered with native plants and grasses. Thursday was also California Biodiversity Day.
The audience included, among others, representatives from the Golden Gate Audubon Society, the Presidio Trust, San Francisco’s Environment Department and the Recreation and Parks Department.
The academy is the backbone of the alliance, providing staff to help organize the city-wide effort.
The groups will work together to incorporate more of nature into the city’s profile. By the year 2030, they hope at least 30 percent of San Francisco’s public and private land will be open greenspace, hosting a diverse collection of native plants and animals.
Other goals include building a network of corridors for people and wildlife, making certain everyone has access to nearby natural areas, and incorporating nature into existing sections of the city.
Skeptics might say that such a plan is overly ambitious in a city that has been depicted in the media as declining amid high crime, drug abuse and homelessness.
But while admitting that those problems do exist, academy Executive Director Scott Sampson said the city still has much to offer.
“Despite being the second most densely populated city in the nation, San Francisco continues to rank among the world’s most beautiful cities,” he said.
“Our city’s matrix of hills and valleys offer jaw dropping views at every turn.”
“How might we flip the doom and gloom narrative and build a path that spirals upward instead of downward?’’ he asked.
“I believe the city is in need of a new north star, a compelling vision toward a thriving future.”
Cities, he said, are the fastest growing ecosystems on earth, housing at least half of the world’s population of eight billion people.
Despite being thought of as hostile to wild things, in fact mammals, insects and birds are now inhabiting urban areas or stopping here amid lengthy migrations.
Abundant natural settings are beneficial, helping decrease health problems like high blood pressure, obesity and stress anxiety among local residents. Trees can also lower the temperature in urban areas plagued by recent heat waves, Sampson said.
“Healthy cities are essential to protecting biodiversity,” he said. “The reverse is also true. Wild plants and animals are essential for human health.”
Some cities world-wide have already incorporated the concept of a city in nature.
Singapore, a city of more than five million people, contains trails where people can observe monkeys, lizards and other animals. High rise buildings include lots of greenery and native plants are used to attract local insects, according to Sampson.
He envisions a similar outlook for the city by the bay.
“Whether in backyards, schoolyards, courtyards, street medians and urban plazas, nature-rich places brimming with life would replace expanses of asphalt and concrete,” he said.
“Ultimately San Francisco has the potential to reimagine itself and in doing so, become a global leader in the thriving cities of the 21st century.”
Jean Fraser, chief executive officer of the Presidio Trust, said the regreening effort will take place in the former U.S. Army base, which is the largest urban park in the nation.
“There are parts of the Presidio that the army never touched,” she said.
“They never built on them and there are all sorts of things growing there. Nature will just come back if we give it space. But we want to make it go a little faster than that.”
In a city that already has more than its share of breathtaking views, a group has been formed to make it even greener still.
“Reimagining San Francisco,” an alliance of 32 environmental groups, government agencies and the California Academy of Sciences, held a kind of coming-out party Sept 7 on the academy’s roof.
It was an appropriate location, given that the organizations want to promote biodiversity within the city limits, and the roof is a huge living garden covered with native plants and grasses. Thursday was also California Biodiversity Day.
The audience included, among others, representatives from the Golden Gate Audubon Society, the Presidio Trust, San Francisco’s Environment Department and the Recreation and Parks Department.
The academy is the backbone of the alliance, providing staff to help organize the city-wide effort.
The groups will work together to incorporate more of nature into the city’s profile. By the year 2030, they hope at least 30 percent of San Francisco’s public and private land will be open greenspace, hosting a diverse collection of native plants and animals.
Other goals include building a network of corridors for people and wildlife, making certain everyone has access to nearby natural areas, and incorporating nature into existing sections of the city.
Skeptics might say that such a plan is overly ambitious in a city that has been depicted in the media as declining amid high crime, drug abuse and homelessness.
But while admitting that those problems do exist, academy Executive Director Scott Sampson said the city still has much to offer.
“Despite being the second most densely populated city in the nation, San Francisco continues to rank among the world’s most beautiful cities,” he said.
“Our city’s matrix of hills and valleys offer jaw dropping views at every turn.”
“How might we flip the doom and gloom narrative and build a path that spirals upward instead of downward?’’ he asked.
“I believe the city is in need of a new north star, a compelling vision toward a thriving future.”
Cities, he said, are the fastest growing ecosystems on earth, housing at least half of the world’s population of eight billion people.
Despite being thought of as hostile to wild things, in fact mammals, insects and birds are now inhabiting urban areas or stopping here amid lengthy migrations.
Abundant natural settings are beneficial, helping decrease health problems like high blood pressure, obesity and stress anxiety among local residents. Trees can also lower the temperature in urban areas plagued by recent heat waves, Sampson said.
“Healthy cities are essential to protecting biodiversity,” he said. “The reverse is also true. Wild plants and animals are essential for human health.”
Some cities world-wide have already incorporated the concept of a city in nature.
Singapore, a city of more than five million people, contains trails where people can observe monkeys, lizards and other animals. High rise buildings include lots of greenery and native plants are used to attract local insects, according to Sampson.
He envisions a similar outlook for the city by the bay.
“Whether in backyards, schoolyards, courtyards, street medians and urban plazas, nature-rich places brimming with life would replace expanses of asphalt and concrete,” he said.
“Ultimately San Francisco has the potential to reimagine itself and in doing so, become a global leader in the thriving cities of the 21st century.”
Jean Fraser, chief executive officer of the Presidio Trust, said the regreening effort will take place in the former U.S. Army base, which is the largest urban park in the nation.
“There are parts of the Presidio that the army never touched,” she said.
“They never built on them and there are all sorts of things growing there. Nature will just come back if we give it space. But we want to make it go a little faster than that.”
India lands lunar probe
Aug. 23, 2023
India entered the latest space race Wednesday by successfully landing a probe on the moon.
Along with the lander, the Chandrayaan-3 program will deploy a lunar rover to explore the moon’s southern polar region. Scientists are focusing on that area because it contains water ice that could be used on a future lunar base or as part of future missions to Mars.
“We have achieved soft landing on the moon,” said S.Somanth, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization. “India is on the moon.”
According to the New York Times, the landing was the first in this section of Earth’s satellite. India has sent space craft to orbit the moon and Mars often with fewer financial resources than other countries.
The nation joins the United States, China and Russia which have landed probes on the moon. The U.S. was also the first nation to send humans to the lunar surface as part of the Apollo space program in the late 1960s.
A Russian spacecraft, which was to have landed Monday, crashed due to an “unexplained emergency situation,” Russian authorities said.
India entered the latest space race Wednesday by successfully landing a probe on the moon.
Along with the lander, the Chandrayaan-3 program will deploy a lunar rover to explore the moon’s southern polar region. Scientists are focusing on that area because it contains water ice that could be used on a future lunar base or as part of future missions to Mars.
“We have achieved soft landing on the moon,” said S.Somanth, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization. “India is on the moon.”
According to the New York Times, the landing was the first in this section of Earth’s satellite. India has sent space craft to orbit the moon and Mars often with fewer financial resources than other countries.
The nation joins the United States, China and Russia which have landed probes on the moon. The U.S. was also the first nation to send humans to the lunar surface as part of the Apollo space program in the late 1960s.
A Russian spacecraft, which was to have landed Monday, crashed due to an “unexplained emergency situation,” Russian authorities said.