Bay Area climate ‘hot spots' need immediate action

Greenbelt Alliance, a local nonprofit organization, is sounding the alarm on 18 Bay Area communities that need climate action now, with five being labeled as "hot spots" due to overlapping risks to disasters making them a top priority.

For the last 65 years, Greenbelt Alliance has made it their mission is to educate, advocate and collaborate to ensure the Bay Area’s lands and communities are resilient to a changing climate. After extensive research, they’re pairing up with local nonprofits to begin urgent work in those hot spots to identify and deploy nature-based solutions to build resilience to worsening climate impacts.

Here are the five hot spots:

• Southwest Santa Rosa in the Roseland area due to heat risks.
• Suisun City due to sea level rise and flooding risks.
• North Richmond due to flooding, building a horizontal levee.
• Southern Alameda County in Newark along the Bay shoreline for wetland protection.
• Gilroy due to wildfires, extreme heat and flooding.

Greenbelt Alliance is working on getting grants to fund those projects, but it also needs more community volunteers to put these plans in action.

Sadie Wilson, Greenbelt Alliance senior resilience manager, says, "At the local level there is the biggest opportunity for change. And climate adaptation will happen at that local level. So getting involved in that local planning processes, voting, and making sure your voice is heard. If you think it’s a priority for your community to be thinking about the future, to be planning for an equitable and resilient future where everyone is going to survive and thrive into the future. That is so important so that starts at the local level, getting involved."

Greenbelt Alliance will be hosting climate resilience outings and educational events. To find out more and how you can get involved go to www.greenbelt.org.