Environment
During the holiday season people tend to get presents of new computers, cell phones, televisions and more. While it’s exciting to upgrade your electronics, it leaves you with old gear that’s often hazardous to simply throw away. Here’s a guide to where to recycle electronics in Oakland.
The week before Christmas is the busiest time of year for Oakland’s mail carriers, so reporter Roberto Daza tagged along to see how they get the job done.
Circled by three freeways, scattered with industrial factories and a stone’s throw from one of the largest ports in the United States, West Oakland has a high pollution rate. That’s why this neighborhood has become the centerpiece of a new partnership between a local environmental justice group and a high-tech research company to develop a cell phone that can measure pollution.
Early Sunday morning in the drizzling rain, a small group of people is standing on the shore of Lake Merritt peering out onto the lake through binoculars. They are birdwatchers participating in the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count— the group’s annual tally of different species of birds.
Despite the gloomy weather, Bay Area skywatchers will be eagerly awaiting tonight’s total lunar eclipse, which falls on the northern winter solstice—the moment at which the Earth’s axis is tilted farthest from the sun, giving us our shortest day and longest night of the year, and heralding the first day of winter. According to NASA Science News, there’s only been one other lunar eclipse on the northern winter solstice in the last 2,000 years … and that one was back in 1638.
Javier Amaro is one of hundreds of people in Oakland who have started reusing “greywater”—or run-off water—in their homes. California’s laws recently changed to allow certain kinds of greywater reuse systems to be installed without requiring permits, so residents are increasingly conserving water from their showers, bathroom sinks, washing machines and more.
One of the City of Oakland’s goals is to become a model green city, according to its sustainability program. For the past year and a half, the city has been hashing out an Energy and Climate Action Plan (ECAP) to identify and prioritize what it can do to lower Oakland’s greenhouse gas emissions and reduce energy use.
During the morning rush hour, commuters in cities across the East Bay climb into a stranger’s car. It’s part of casual carpooling, an informal ride-share system to save time and money while crossing the Bay Bridge. But a recent toll increase is causing turmoil in the casual carpool community.
After meeting resistance three years ago to a proposal for converting a lakeside parking garage into a 37-story apartment building, a local real estate developer is back with what he says is a greener, more innovative plan for the project.