environmentalleader.com - by Erica Morehouse - June 23, 2014

Governor Brown signed a budget last week that lays out for the first time how to invest the millions from California’s landmark cap-and-trade program ($734 million so far). California has shown another way that cap-and-trade is like the Swiss army knife of environmental policies: a versatile tool known for its usefulness and adaptability.

A Multi-faceted Investment Portfolio

California will invest $850 million over the next year to reduce dangerous climate pollution, a portfolio of investments that will benefit almost every part of California’s economy, going to low-carbon and public transportation, weatherization and energy efficient buildings, water efficiency, waste diversion, and natural resources like urban forests.

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The California Air Resources Board wants cities to compete in fighting climate change by signing up residents to log actions they are taking to cut carbon emissions. Above, bicyclists during a morning commute on Market Street in San Francisco. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

latimes.com - by Tony Barboza - January 30, 2014

The California Air Resources Board thinks a little friendly competition might inspire Californians to scale back their driving, cut electricity use and take other steps to reduce carbon emissions.

The agency on Thursday announced a second round of the CoolCalifornia City Challenge, where cities compete to see how much they can cut their emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change.

On the line is $100,000 in prize money that will go to cities based on how many people they sign up and how many points they earn in an online tracking system.

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California’s Central Valley—prime agricultural land—is being hit the hardest by the state-wide drought which could cause catastrophic losses to crops and food supply.

As California enters its third consecutive dry winter, with no sign of moisture on the horizon, fears are growing over increased wildfire activity, agricultural losses and additional stress placed on already strained water supplies.

ecowatch.com - by Kiley Kroh - December 27, 2013

The city of Los Angeles has received only 3.6 inches of rain this year—far below its average of 14.91 inches, USA Today reported. And San Francisco is experiencing its driest year since record keeping began in 1849. As of November, the city had only received 3.95 inches of rain since the year began.

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Image: The Design Like You Give a Damn banner

architectureforhumanity.org

http://projects.scpr.org/firetracker/rim-fire/

Fire Tracker, KPCC's tool for following & researching California wildfires, contains fire information displayed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection -- also known as CalFire -- which protects more than 31 million acres of California's privately-owned wildlands and provides emergency services in 36 of the State's 58 counties.

About the data

                                                 (TO ENLARGE - CLICK ON MAP IMAGE BELOW)

Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct

eastbayexpress.com - by Robert Gammon - August 23, 2013

The massive Rim Fire is closing in on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park and is threatening the main water supply for the City of San Francisco and numerous other Bay Area communities. As of this morning, the fast-moving blaze was about 2.5 miles from Hetch Hetchy, according to a map created by the US Forest Service. If the enormous fire reaches the tinder-dry forests surrounding the reservoir, it could pollute the freshwater with huge amounts of ash. That’s bad news for San Franciscans and other communities that depend on Hetch Hetchy because the reservoir is not equipped with a water-filtration system.

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sfciti.com - July 25, 2013

Yesterday, sf.citi participated in a press conference with Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Mark Farrell to announce an exciting new project to bring wi-fi to 31 parks, plazas and open spaces throughout San Francisco.  sf.citi is proud to be partnering with the City and member company Google, who is providing a $600,000 gift to fund this initiative.

Free wireless service will help close the digital divide in communities where Internet access is limited, as well as increase government efficiency by providing our city’s Recreation and Park Department’s staff with more tools to more effectively manage their recreation centers and community programs. 

In this undated photo made available Monday, July 8, 2013, Ye Mengyuan, left, and Wang Linjia, right, pose for photos with other classmates in the classroom in Jiangshan city in eastern China's Zhejiang province. Both were killed in the Asiana Airlines crash. / AP Photo

cbsnews.com - July 12, 2013

One of the Chinese teenagers who died in the Asiana Airlines disaster was struck by a fire truck while she was covered in foam that crews had sprayed to douse the fire aboard the plane, police said Friday.

It wasn't clear, however, whether 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan was already dead or whether she was alive after the crash Saturday at San Francisco airport.

Authorities were still trying to determine the cause of death, and San Mateo County coroner Robert Foucrault said his initial results would likely be released sometime next week.

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cnn.com - by Arion McNicoll and Stefanie Blendis - July 4, 2013

(CNN) -- "Drop to the ground; take cover by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and hold on until the shaking stops."

This is the official advice issued by FEMA for anyone unlucky enough to be caught in an earthquake.

submitted by Stella Tarnay

securityandsustainabilityforum.org - by Kristina Byrne - January 31, 2013

                          (LINKS TO STUDY ABSTRACT AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ARE BELOW)

Scientists look at an ice core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide coring site.  Credit: Thomas Bauska, OSU

CNN - by Ben Brumfield - March 8, 2013

Global warming has propelled Earth's climate from one of its coldest decades since the last ice age to one of its hottest -- in just one century.

A heat spike like this has never happened before, at least not in the last 11,300 years, said climatologist Shaun Marcott, who worked on a new study on global temperatures going back that far.

"If any period in time had a sustained temperature change similar to what we have today, we would have certainly seen that in our record," he said.

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Study Abstract - A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6124/1198.abstract

submitted by Albert Gomez

energymanagertoday.com - by Linda Hardesty - March 15, 2013

Electricity rates for about 90,000 San Francisco ratepayers could almost double if the San Francisco Board of Supervisors goes forward with a deal for Shell Oil to provide 100 percent renewable energy for the city, according to NBC Bay Area.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has strongly criticized the scheme and even launched an online campaign “Stop the Shell Shock” where ratepayers can enter their kilowatt hours to calculate how much more they’ll have to pay.

PUC financial directors predict a maximum rate of .15 cents per kilowatt hour, about double the current rate of .0788 cents per kilowatt hour based on a report prepared for the city’s Rate Fairness Board in late January.

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submitted by Samuel Bendett

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - February 18, 2013

Mounting scientific evidence indicates climate change will lead to more frequent and intense extreme weather that affects larger areas and lasts longer. We can reduce the risk of weather-related disasters, however, with a variety of measures. Experts say that a good strategy should include a variety of actions such as communicating risk and transferring it through vehicles such as insurance, taking a multi-hazard management approach, linking local and global management, and taking an iterative approach as opposed to starting with a master plan.

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submitted by Albert Gomez

urbangreencouncil.org - February 2013

The greatest obstacle to a responsible approach to climate change mitigation is a sense that the problem is insoluble. Urban Green Council’s latest research report, 90 By 50, demonstrates that the emission reductions required are in fact possible using technologies that are known and in almost all cases currently available, and that the cost is manageable from a citywide perspective.

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Document - 90 by 50 - NYC Can Reduce Its Carbon Footprint 90% By 2050
http://issuu.com/urbangreen/docs/90by50?mode=window

Study: 90 by 50 - NYC Can Reduce Its Carbon Footprint 90% By 2050 (56 page .PDF file)
http://www.urbangreencouncil.org/servlet/servlet.FileDownload?file=015U0000000nD3r