Photo of worn shoes of someone lying on dirty pavement, skateboard next to them

Environmental review for UC Davis’ 150-acre Sacramento campus moves forward

July 31, 2020 | By Felicia Alvarez | Sacramento Business Journal

Expansion plans at the UC Davis Medical Center and Aggie Square are continuing to pick up momentum.

On Friday, the University of California Davis released the draft environmental impact report for its long-term development plans at UC Davis Medical Center. The draft report captures all 146 acres at the campus, including the university’s planned tech hub, Aggie Square, and approximately $1.9 billion in new facilities and renovations for the medical center.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2020/07/31/environmental-review-underway-uc-davis-sacramento.html

The Environmental Council of Sacramento has been working with a coalition of community members and advocacy groups to ask UC Davis to ensure that the community also benefits from this investment. Click here to learn more about the effort.

Click here to read the full article.

Photo by Taufiq Klinkenborg from Pexels.

ECOS statement: Racism in the Sacramento region

The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) laments the death of George Floyd as the result of racist policing. Recently we redoubled our efforts to improve the environment in the Sacramento region, which is usually more dangerous for our residents of color. We recognize that historic racist “red-lining” policies have led to the segregation of neighborhoods. For example, air pollution tends to be worse in under-served communities, which are often near sources such as diesel truck traffic.

We believe in equality for all regardless of race and reflect this believe in our environmental work. ECOS supports affordable, transit-oriented housing, and sues to prevent suburban sprawl such as the expansion of freeways. We have been lobbying for more funds for public transit and active transportation. We have urged local jurisdictions to provide more services for our increasingly large homeless population. We helped found “Sacramento Investment Without Displacement”, which is pushing for a “community benefits agreement” for Aggie Square: UC Davis plans to double the size of its Med Center, but not provide housing in our most gentrifying neighborhoods.

Together, we will make our region more environmentally friendly and healthy for Sacramento residence those who are most effected by inequality.

Summer Days Often Feel Much Hotter If You Live In One Of California’s Historically Redlined Neighborhoods

May 26, 2020 | By Randol White | Capital Public Radio

California’s triple-digit heat is back — and new research shows residents in the state’s most underserved neighborhoods suffer the most when the mercury rises.

Portland State University’s heat-mapping project tapped volunteers last summer in four California metro areas to attach GPS-equipped temperature collection gadgets to their cars and drive along set routes for an hour in the morning, afternoon and evening. They drove through the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Victorville and Sacramento.

The research project was led by Vivek Shandas, a professor who believes this form of heat-data collection can help city planners solve decades-old problems.

“We’re trying to bring the understanding of climate change and the changes happening on a planetary scale down to the individual person and down to the individual city block,” Shandas said.

The data collected that day indicates the temperature differentials between neighborhoods can vary by as much as 20 degrees.

Wealthy, tree-canopied neighborhoods are typically cooler, and low-income, asphalt-heavy communities run hotter.

Click here to read the full article.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.

Stockton Blvd Transportation Study

Do you walk, bike, take transit, or drive on Stockton Boulevard?

Help choose which features will be used to improve Stockton Boulevard from Alhambra Boulevard to 47th Avenue in the City of Sacramento!

City transportation planners have just launched a survey to hear what features residents would like to see on this roughly four-mile stretch of Stockton Boulevard in southeastern Sacramento.

The City of Sacramento has created some options that aim to improve safety and mobility for people using all modes of transportation. They need to get opinions from YOU, the people who walk, bike, take transit, and drive on Stockton Boulevard.

Thank you in advance for your input! This survey will take approximately 5 minutes. Also available in Spanish or Vietnamese.

Deadline: June 30, 2020

Click here for the City’s announcement of this survey.

Click here to learn more about the the Stockton Boulevard Corridor Study.

Why the 1st Earth Day was a Success

April 10, 2020
Op-Ed by Denis Hayes
The Seattle Times

Author Denis Hayes was one of the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970. The first thing to know about the beginning of Earth Day is that the big win wasn’t establishing Earth Day itself, but bringing the same organizing skills to the 1970 November elections.

“That November political triumph made clear to Congress that Earth Day had not been just a frolic in the park. One month after the 1970 election, the Clean Air Act of 1970 passed the Senate unanimously and the House with just one dissenting vote.

In short order, Congress also passed the:

• Clean Water Act

• Occupational Health and Safety Act

• Marine Mammal Protection Act

• Endangered Species Act

• Safe Drinking Water Act

• Set Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards for cars

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

• Toxic Substances Control Act

• National Forest Management Act

In the 10 years following Earth Day, bold new laws changed the direction of the United States economy more profoundly than any other period in history, except perhaps the New Deal. And the New Deal was pushed by a wildly popular president whose party controlled both houses of Congress. The environmental revolution came from the grassroots up.”

Click here to read the full article.

Photo from University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, via flickr.com.