Environment
It’s a sunny Tuesday morning on the shores of Lake Merritt, and a small group of researchers and curious onlookers is crowded around a dead fish. The silvery, 13-inch-long Chinook salmon, pulled that morning from a small, enclosed arm of Lake Merritt that leads to Glen Echo Creek, is placed on a concrete slab, and a man with a sharp instrument gets to work. First he slices through the belly, and then separates the head from the body. “We are…
The East Bay Regional Park District began during the height of the Great Depression with a ballot measure asking voters to institute a property tax for the purpose of creating a park system. Despite the hard economic times, voters overwhelmingly agreed to tax themselves so they could have more parks. Ninety years later, about 25 million people a year enjoy what has become the largest park district of its kind in the nation, a network essential to the active, outdoor…
A two-day toxic blaze that blanketed Oakland in smoke last summer has resulted in criminal indictments for Radius Recycling. “Under my leadership, this administration will not allow corporate criminals to poison our community recklessly, to create vulnerabilities for our community and for those who serve our community and just walk away having made a profit and get off with a slap on the wrist,” Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said in a news conference on Tuesday. Radius has denied…
From the end of a boardwalk that juts into Oakland’s Arrowhead Marsh, it can be hard to appreciate the fragility of this ecosystem. At low tide, native cordgrass and pickleweed brim with life, rustling, snapping and popping as they dry under the morning sun. California clapper rails dig their long beaks into the mudflats in search of small crustaceans. Above, bright white kestrels dart, periodically diving into the water and emerging with small, shining baitfish. Birdsong crescendos, sage fills the…
Despite setbacks caused by COVID-19, AC Transit expects to meet its 2023 goals to convert 10% of its bus fleet to zero emission vehicles. The California Air Resources Board enacted a regulation in 2018 that requires all public transit agencies to transition from diesel fuel to 100% zero‑emission electric bus fleets by the end of 2040. AC Transit set an internal goal of converting 10% of its 630 buses to zero emission technology by the end of this year, said…
California and cities in the Bay Area have led the country against plastic pollution: A series of laws and ordinances have already banned Styrofoam and restricted plastic bags and plastic straws. The next items on the chopping block are single-use plastic foodware — things like cutlery, cups, lids, stirrers, plates, and doggie bags. On Dec. 19, Oakland City Council will vote on the Reusable Foodware and Litter Reduction Ordinance, which would ban these items from local eateries and large events. …
As global temperatures rise, the frequency and size of dangerous blue-green algae blooms are increasing worldwide. For East Bay residents, that means more warnings not to touch the water at local lakes and reservoirs. Warnings and closures have been seen across the East Bay in recent years, from Lake Anza in Berkeley to Lake Merritt in Oakland, where an algal bloom deprived the water of oxygen and killed thousands of fish in 2022. Coming into contact with the toxic algae…
Oakland City Council recently approved the city’s first Environment Justice Element to address pollution, health food access and other health risks over the next two decades. But many of the recommendations Oakland residents put forth were ignored, some community leaders say. City Council approved the 222-page Environmental Justice Element last month as part of the city’s 2045 General Plan. While the city invited feedback from residents in low-income areas and communities of color — those most impacted by environmental pollution…
Ricky Brown wakes up and rolls down the window of his home: a 1981 Chevy truck parked on a hot, treeless block near the Coliseum in East Oakland. Just a few miles away, Nancy Wellington leaves her four-bedroom house in the city’s Rockridge neighborhood to walk her poodle along a shady, tree-lined street. Rockridge is over four times greener than the Coliseum area, which has just 5% tree coverage. This makes the area more prone to air pollution, heat island…