San Francisco Estuary, Bay Area

If you stand in the wet mud on the bayshore and imagine the water over your head, no matter what size you are you get a sense of the changes about to engulf the San Francisco Estuary. The bay is getting bigger. The more we drive, burn, consume, live like there’s no tomorrow, the more the ice melts and the ocean rises. In the next few decades, the San Francisco Estuary and the surrounding metropolitan Bay Area will be on the front lines of West Coast climate adaptation. From the west, the Pacific Ocean is advancing inland; from the north, south and east, hundreds of creeks and rivers will be bringing more flooding as they flow through our cities and communities.  Since we have built right up to the edge of bay shorelines and creek banks, and even filled the Bay to create more land to build on, we are very vulnerable to increased flooding. Luckily, many creative people, organizations, governments, and activists are looking out for the Bay Area’s future. They recognize that the water we live around, and use everyday, touches every aspect of the region’s resilience and health.