Rising Together: The Bay Adapt Summit, a partnership with the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, featured a full day of interactive programming designed to drive action
SAN FRANCISCO (August 15, 2024) – Civic leaders, community members, climate scientists, activists and practitioners gathered at the Exploratorium on August 8, 2024 to celebrate sea level rise adaptation efforts throughout the Bay Area. Rising Together: The Bay Adapt Summit, a partnership with the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), featured a full day of interactive programming that engaged stakeholders and the public in inspiring tours, panels, keynotes, and workshops designed to forge partnerships and drive action in support of the region’s Bay Adapt Joint Platform – a consensus-based strategy comprised of actions and tasks that will protect people and the natural and built environment from rising sea levels.
The sold-out event culminated with the Bay Adapt Awards, honoring the work of three visionaries – San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine, founder and executive director of Climate Resilient Communities Violet Saena, and CEO and Founder of the Pathways Climate Institute, Dr. Kris May – in building a more resilient shoreline, and protecting communities from the impacts of sea level rise.
“With sea levels on the rise, our region is at the forefront of innovative solutions and collaborations to change the course of our collective future,” said Zack Wasserman, BCDC Chair. “And there’s no better place to celebrate our achievements than at the Exploratorium along our shoreline.”
The Exploratorium’s climate science work builds on its mission to make science learning accessible to all. The institution is committed to educating the public on rising seas through immersive activations and partnering with scientists, artists, and others on innovative solutions to protect the world’s shorelines.
“We’re honored and fortunate to play a role in the larger movement to advance sea level rise mitigation and adaptation strategies both locally and globally,” said Lindsay Bierman, Sakurako and William Fisher Executive Director and CEO of the Exploratorium. “It’s core to our mission to inform, engage, and inspire people to care for our planet and the life it sustains. We look forward to expanding and building on our climate practice in collaboration with everyone here today to accelerate our collective impact and to ensure a better future for our descendants.”
The summit kicked off with morning shoreline tours taking participants on a journey of sea level rise risks and solutions, each led by BCDC community organization partners – including an Islais Creek tour with the Port of San Francisco, North Richmond Living Levee tour with The Watershed Project, and a bike tour of the Oakland shoreline with Hood Planning and Ninth Root — before convening for the afternoon session where leaders and experts from around the region shared exciting adaptation updates and invited community members to participate in interactive workshops.
The celebration continued at After Dark: Sea Level Rise, where adults (ages 18+) were invited to continue the hands-on exploration of this themed programming from BCDC and the Exploratorium.
About the Bay Adapt Award Recipients:
Supervisor Dave Pine
San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine has represented District 1 since 2011, and
served as Board president three times. Prior to that, he served as Trustee of the Burlingame School District Board and the San Mateo Union High School District Board.
He has worked extensively on the intersecting issues of flood control, sea level rise and tidal land restoration throughout multiple roles, including Chair of the SF Bay Restoration Authority, the Founding Chair of the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District, known as One Shoreline—the first county-level agency in the state to directly focus on sea level rise—in addition to serving as a BCDC member.
Violet Saena
Violet Saena is the founder and executive director of Climate Resilient Communities, an organization that supports under-resourced communities of color at the frontline of climate change and sea-level rise. Her dedication to elevating community voices and responding to environmental injustice is rooted in her lived experience in the South Pacific.
She has served as an international climate change expert with the United Nations’ Least Developed Countries and Small Island States to protect communities from the impacts of climate change. She now works in the Bay Area partnering with governments, research institutions, and community-based organizations to build community capacity to respond to climate change and sea-level rise. Violet also serves as the equity program manager for the Bay Area Climate Adaptation Network, an environmental justice advisor for the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and a community advisory council member to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Dr. Kris May
Dr. Kris May is the CEO and Founder of the Pathways Climate Institute, a research-based consulting firm that helps communities understand their climate change related risks and develop adaptation plans, and works toward filling science-based data gaps that can hinder decision making. She focuses on climate change resilience and adaptation planning in coastal communities, and has worn many hats on Bay Area projects, including leading the FEMA San Francisco Bay Coastal Study for over a decade, supporting the Adapting to Rising Tides program since 2011, and most recently serving as the lead planner for the Port of San Francisco’s Waterfront Resilience Program.
About the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) is a California state commission dedicated to the protection, enhancement and responsible use of the San Francisco Bay. BCDC protects and enhances San Francisco Bay and advances the Bay’s responsible, productive, and equitable uses for this and future generations as we face a changing climate and rising sea levels.
About BCDC’s Bay Adapt
Bay Adapt: Regional Strategy for a Rising Bay is an initiative to establish regional agreement on the actions necessary to protect people and the natural and built environment from rising sea levels.
Bay Adapt is convened by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) in partnership with a broad range of Bay Area leaders. Outreach and Participation occurred through dozens of expert working groups, public forums, community and stakeholder focus groups, presentations, an environmental justice caucus, and led by a Leadership Advisory Group—hundreds of people from across the Bay came together in 2020 and 2021 to develop the Bay Adapt Joint Platform.
Learn more at www.bayadapt.org.
