“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” ~ Louisa May Alcott


People like to be optimistic, even in times of crisis. We need to see opportunity and set goals – from end-of-the-year stories to New Year’s resolutions and to predictions for the year and decade to come. Many of us are ready for a decade that builds on the most promising movements, ideas and innovations of recent years.

1. SUSTAINABILITY
• Green business. Over the last few years of the decade, going “green” became very popular for U.S. consumers and for the business sector, where the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) took off.
• Graduate business programs focused on sustainability and the “Green MBA”emerged.
• Climate change activism. More people and businesses recognized that anthropogenic climate change is real and will have environmental and economic consequences – and set out to do something about it. Was the tipping point Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth of 2006?
2. GREEN LIVING
• Plastic bag bans. Plastic bags are a significant cause of pollution in the San Francisco Bay. The cities of Fairfax, Palo Alto and San Francisco, have banned plastic bags at larger retailers, as have Berkeley’s Farmers Markets run by the Ecology Center. In Washington D.C. stores selling food or alcohol now charge 5 cents for bags with revenue going to a river protection fund.
• Bay-friendly landscaping has become a popular way of reducing water use and planting for the benefit of local wildlife.
• Daylighting urban creeks and rain gardens. In the East Bay, creek advocates continue to revitalize creek habitat as opportunities arise. This interesting story also describes innovative ways one city is capturing rain water and reducing pollution of waterways.
• Living Roofs. Also called green roofs, this innovation in building construction known to help absorb rainfall, insulate, create wildlife habitat and lower urban air temperatures became a popular attraction at the California Academy of Sciences this past year. Literacy for Environmental Justice is constructing one on top of an EcoCenter in southeast San Francisco.
3. FOOD
• Food systems and economies. Yes! Magazine features an enlightening series on topics from urban farming to protecting local farms.
• Take it slow. The Slow Money Alliance is an emerging network of investors, donors, farmers, and activists committed to building local food economies. The Slow Food movement also continues to grow.
• Food justice. Some underserved communities now have grocery stores selling healthy foods for the first time such as this one in West Oakland.
4. SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
• Microenterprise. The development of microenterprise and microfinancing is not new, but with the popularity nonprofit social enterprise organizations like the Acumen Fund and Kiva, this movement is growing stronger internationally and locally. In March 2009, Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz published the inspirational book, The Blue Sweater. Locally, several Bay Area foundations have prioritized microenterprise development in their giving portfolios with an emphasis on empowering low income women of color and immigrants.
• Social entrepreneurism. This past year, The HUB, co-working centers for social innovators, came to the Bay Area thanks to support from Good Capital, Social Capital Markets Media and a small circle of angel investors. The first location is in Berkeley’s David Brower Center, and a second one is on the horizon for downtown San Francisco.
• Green jobs movement. For a good part of the last decade Van Jones successfully made the case for simultaneously solving socioeconomic inequality and environmental problems. In January 2009, The New Yorker published a feature about Jones. The successes of Green for All demonstrate how nonprofits can influence public policy. Another project, the Women’s Economic Security Campaign, published a report specific to creating opportunities for low income women in the green economy.
5. 21ST CENTURY REINVENTIONS
• Reinventing regional journalism. At a time when newspapers nationwide and locally are facing a crippling economic crisis and the traditional business models for journalism no longer work, foundations and donors are funding new nonprofit journalism ventures. In 2010, a new journalism organization focused on engaging communities in civic and community news will launch in the Bay Area.
• Museums are creating more interactive and visitor-centered exhibits using new media tools and more input from the public. Allowing visitors to experience a sense of place and community will also be important. While some visitors might complain that museum admission has become too expensive in the Bay Area, most museums offer a monthly free day, and memberships are a bargain if you visit regularly.
• Libraries in the digital age. In the economic downturn, libraries have seen a rise in patrons. In this San Francisco Chronicle article writer Tim Holt describes libraries as community gathering places “where anyone can read the newspaper, check e-mails, do homework or just sit and enjoy a safe and quiet space.” Like other traditional institutions, the role of libraries is changing in the digital age. The librarian has a new role in teaching lessons about “the reliability — or lack thereof — of information on the Internet.”
6. GETTING OUTDOORS
• Health benefits.The Washington Post reported that doctors are sending patients outdoors for physical and mental benefits.
• Parks and community health. The Trust for Public Land President Will Rogers published an article on the Huffington Post, linking urban parks to community health.
• Nature deficit disorder. A new report aims to reverse an alarming trend: 30% of teens do not participate in outdoor nature activities.
• The importance of play. This past year the Oakland-based Playworks (formerly Sports4kids) launched its first conference, PlayOn dedicated to the importance of play.
7. ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
• Environmental stewardship. Removing invasive plants from Spartina to French broom, restoring habitats, and Saving the San Francisco Bay have inspired community service and garnered resources. This year the first environmental education center in southeast San Francisco and the city’s first 100 percent off-grid building will launch.
• Open space boom. Advocates for open space, including land trusts and conservation groups are seeing a silver lining in the housing market bust in the Bay Area, in the Sierra foothills and across the country.
8. LIVABLE COMMUNITIES
• More choose bikes for transportation. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition announced on their Web site that “2009 was a year of unprecedented success with a whopping 53% increase in bicycle ridership.”
• Pavement to parks and livable streets: San Francisco is leading initiatives to make paved areas into parks and periodically close streets to traffic to encourage recreation.
9. DIVERSITY
• Parks and diversity. From the release of Ken Burns widely viewed documentary series “America’s Best Idea” to new initiatives in the national park system, promoting diversity and connecting diverse youth (future stewards) to outdoor experiences have become priorities.
• Immigrant integration. New Routes to Community Health publishes illuminating multimedia stories and resources about the lives of immigrants in the United States. Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees provides resources for funders and others working to address the challenges facing newcomers and local communities, as well as resources for Census 2010.
10. SOCIAL CHANGE
• Education reform. Schools and nonprofit educational programs are calling for closing the achievement gap. Federal “Race to the Top” grant applications are due January 19 and awards will go to States that are “leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform.” What is California doing?
• Health reform. In late December when the Senate passed its version of health care reform, social media devoted more attention to the subject than it had at any time this year according to the Pew Research Center.
• Advancing equal rights. When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered City Hall to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples soon after taking office in 2004, gay marriage and rights received national attention. While there have been many setbacks along the way, considerable progress has been made. 2010 will also mark the first time the U.S. Census will count same-sex couples.

Of course, the list goes on. Feel free to send in additional innovation highlights via comments.

My next blog post will be about Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson, author of the best selling Three Cups of Tea.

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Ever since I wrote an article on the native oysters of San Francisco Bay, I have been awed by the complexities of our estuary’s underwater ecosystems. Despite its murky appearance, the San Francisco Bay supports a diversity of wildlife — from oysters clinging to pier pilings to bottom dwelling leopard sharks.

This summer I got a little closer to the Bay’s web of life (notably jellyfish, harbor seals and brown pelicans) by training to swim from Alcatraz island to Aquatic Park in San Francisco with a close friend. Before setting this goal, the idea of “open water swimming” had not even occurred to me.

I discovered the Bay Area is full of open water swimming enthusiasts who venture out into the Bay’s cold and choppy waters routinely. Many of them are concerned about the health of the Bay – including seven brave swimmers who plan to Relay for the Bay, swimming over 100 miles, from Sacramento to San Francisco, beginning tomorrow. They will swim 40 nonstop hours from September 18 to September 20, 2009.

The swimmers are members of the San Francisco-based Dolphin Club who want to raise awareness and funding for Baykeeper’s work to protect San Francisco Bay from pollution. The 100+ mile swim route begins in the Sacramento River.

How to Explore San Francisco Bay

• Swim in It: Swim-Art organizes evening group swims at Aquatic Park (Monday evenings) and Treasure Island (biweekly Wednesdays) and expedition swims, including an Alcatraz swim.
• Learn from Bay Nature Magazine and The Bay Institute
• Volunteer with Save the Bay or The Watershed Project (The 25th Anniversary of the California Coastal Cleanup Day is this Saturday)
• Visit Aquarium of the Bay
• Join a club, team or association. Bay Access (advocates for a Bay water trail) provides a comprehensive list from kayaking and kite sailing to dragon boating.

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Wallace Stegner called our national parks “America’s Best Idea.” Based on that premise, award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns spent six years creating a documentary series that portrays our national parks as uniquely American, a symbol of democracy and the “most special places in the nation” that should be preserved for everyone. A diversity of Americans including Asian Americans, Latinos and African Americans have all played important roles in the protection and stewardship of our national parks, yet people of color have been visibly absent from scenic vistas and the backcountry trails. According to a recent visitor study by Yosemite National Park, 88% of park visitors were White; 10% were Asian; 3% were American Indian or Alaska Native and only 1% were Black or African American. By ethnicity, 16% of visitors were Hispanic/Latino.

More and more, parks and partnering nonprofits are hosting field seminars that explore the lesser-known history of people of color in the national parks. In addition to being a social equity issue, park leaders are realizing that our national parks need an informed, diverse and supportive constituency to ensure the long-term stewardship of these treasures.

In Burns’ “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” scheduled to air on PBS this September, one of the leading storytellers is African American Yosemite Park Ranger Shelton Johnson, who shares these ideals: “There is nothing more democratic than a national park. You are going into a wonderland. You are going into a different world… So why should only one part of the population have that sense of wonder and that experience of discovery? Why can’t African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and everybody have that experience? Because that is part of the experience of being an American, it belongs to everyone.”

In the documentary, Burns reveals “untold stories” of our national parks and the contributions by people of color in their conservation and preservation. Recently called “a rising star” by one reporter, Johnson is profiled in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Johnson grew up in Detroit, where the national parks seemed like unreachable places. Four years ago, co-producers of the new documentary, WETA and Florentine Films, received support from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund to launch the “Untold Stories project,” in which Johnson brings to light the story of the Buffalo Soldiers and the role of African Americans early in the history of the national parks. The purpose of the project is to engage new and traditionally underserved audiences in the “educational richness of the national parks.”

The film series weaves together stories of people transformed and inspired by the parks today, like Johnson, as well as historical accounts. Chiura Obata, a Japanese artist who moved from Tokyo to San Francisco in 1903, also gained inspiration from Yosemite and the High Sierra. Obata’s studio in Berkeley was recently named a historic landmark. Through his art he also promoted cross-cultural understanding and offered new perspectives on nature, including many Yosemite landmarks. His 1930 color wood block prints titled, “Evening Glow of Yosemite Waterfall;” “Lake Basin in High Sierra” and “Evening Glow of Mono Lake and Before Thunderstorm, Tuolumne Meadows;” are among my favorite works of Yosemite landscapes.

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is a six-episode series directed by Ken Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. You can view film clips on the PBS Web site and also share a story of your own experiences in the national parks. The film series will air on PBS beginning September 27, 2009.

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Founded in 1970 and celebrated every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the day when millions all over the world call attention to the need for environmental stewardship and justice. Many celebrations were held last Saturday and others will continue through this weekend.

The National Parks movement has also inspired a legacy of community engagement and environmental stewardship. In the Bay Area, on Earth Day, advocates will officially launch the “Parks for All” campaign in conjunction with the forthcoming release of award winning filmmaker Ken Burns’ new documentary series – The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. KQED Public Radio’s Michael Krasny interviewed Burns and a panel of national park experts on April 21 to discuss the roles and significance of diverse populations in our national parks, highlighting untold and forgotten stories.

The first episode of Burns’ six-part series airs September 27, 2009 on PBS.
A sneak preview of the documentary, followed by an on-stage conversation between Michael Krasny, Burns and writer/producer Dayton Duncan will take place at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco this evening on April 22, 2009, but as of now, the event is sold out.

You can watch a preview of the film on the official companion Web site for the series, which launched today:
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

You can also follow The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (PBS) on Facebook.

On Earth Day 2009, the war-torn country of Afghanistan also has something to celebrate: the establishment of its first national park. Band-e-Amir, a park located in central Afghanistan, has been called “Afghanistan’s Grand Canyon.”

Read the story in the New Scientist blog: Afghanistan’s tribute to Earth Day 2009.

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