Green SF Now Blog

A shocking Supreme Court decision in March 2025 has significantly weakened federal water quality protections nationwide—and it started right here in San Francisco. In a controversial 5-4 ruling, the Court sided with the City in San Francisco v. EPA, limiting the federal government's ability to enforce clean water standards and potentially subjecting communities across America to unsafe water quality. While this represents a major setback for environmental protection, it also highlights why local green infrastructure solutions are more critical than ever. Cities can no longer rely on federal mandates to protect our waterways—we must take action at the grassroots level to implement nature-based solutions that reduce pollution, manage stormwater, and restore natural processes that keep our Bay clean.

Read the full story: When Courts Fail the Bay: The Supreme Court Ruling and San Francisco's Water System - Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter

Green SF Now and the Sierra Club SF Group Leaders met with key state legislators in San Francisco this week to advance our 30x30 initiative and discuss expanding green infrastructure opportunities on Caltrans-owned properties throughout the city.

Our productive meeting with Senator Wiener's office focused on legislative pathways to unlock underutilized Caltrans parcels for green infrastructure projects. We presented our case for converting 60 acres of asphalt and concrete into permeable surfaces like parks and rewilding areas as part of our "Green SF Now" campaign.

The timing is particularly relevant as Caltrans has recently decided to end most of its leases for parking and industrial use underneath highway structures due to safety concerns around fires and encampments. This creates an opportunity to repurpose over 40 acres of San Francisco land currently located beneath highways into productive green space.

While existing legislation like SB 211 authorizes Caltrans to lease property for emergency shelters and food distribution, green infrastructure use isn't explicitly permitted. We also discussed connecting our local Green SF Now initiative with the state's broader 30x30 conservation program, which aims to conserve 30% of California's lands and waters by 2030.

Our earlier meeting on May 16th with Assemblymember Haney's staff provided valuable insights into the legislative landscape and addressed compliance issues with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission regarding "complete streets" requirements during excavation activities.

Our advocacy team will continue working with allied organizations already engaging Caltrans staff on leasing programs, while exploring legal pathways to approve green infrastructure uses.

After over a dozen activations over the past 2 years, we've retired our display boards exhibit of Treat PAST PRESENT FUTURE after our May 17 event.

These interpretive panels engaged thousands of community members in conversations about the history of the land underneath our feet and the actions of generations of people who have disrupted the natural flow of the earth and water in the historic Mission Creek watershed.

Special thanks to Sam Conkling and Into the Streets who provided the manpower and funding to create and maintain these displays for the community.

These boards live at Sam Conkling's wood shop and we're open to finding a new home for them by August, otherwise we'll deconstruct them and use the wood for future Sam creations. Contact kieran.farr(at)gmail.com if you're interested.

What a perfect way to cap off our series of events with our partners Evolved SF and Into the Streets at Treat Plaza! Our final Saturday activation brought together an amazing crowd of community members, environmental advocates, and curious neighbors for one last celebration of green infrastructure possibilities in the Northeast Mission. This continues outreach work that we started in 2024 supported by Into the Streets and Sierra Club.

Sierra Club volunteers Sam Conkling, Dheyanira Calahorrano, Irene Ferrera, Vicky Hoover, and Parker Kjellin-Elder were joined by new faces and returning community members who have become regular supporters of our work. The blend of familiar faces and new participants showed how our presence at Treat Plaza has become part of the neighborhood fabric over these past months.

While our regular presence at Treat Plaza is ending, the momentum we've built here will carry forward into exciting new phases of our campaign. Stay tuned for announcements about upcoming events and opportunities to get involved with Green SF Now!

Green SF Now was honored to participate in Marshall Elementary School's Native American Heritage & Earth Day Celebration in San Francisco's Mission District. This vibrant cultural event brought together students and families for an afternoon of learning, art, food, and performances.

Our team provided interactive art activities for students from kindergarten through 5th grade. We brought maps showing the existing city layout and historical waterways of San Francisco, inviting young artists to add their own creative interpretations directly on top. Many students chose to highlight the prehistoric waterways and green spaces that once characterized the area, while others envisioned new possibilities for their neighborhood. The youngest participants enjoyed using markers and crayons with Sierra Club "wildlife" coloring books.

This hands-on approach proved to be an engaging way to help students connect with the natural history beneath San Francisco's built environment. By visualizing the historical waterways that once flowed freely through what is now an urban landscape, students gained a deeper understanding of how our city has evolved and how we might restore some of these natural elements in the future.

One of the primary benefits of green infrastructure is providing safe, green spaces for people—enhancing street safety by using natural elements and removing non-permeable hardscape. So it's no surprise that a group of safe street advocates had plenty of ideas on how and, more importantly, where to put green infrastructure throughout San Francisco.

At a recent visioning session hosted by Matt Biggar of Connected to Place at the SPUR offices, our team prepared a map of San Francisco showing all 11 supervisorial districts and invited participants to mark potential sites for green infrastructure projects. From bioswale-protected slow streets to converting streets to parks, the ideas kept flowing well past our scheduled session time.

These community-generated insights will help inform our advocacy work as we continue pushing for a greener, safer San Francisco. Special thanks to Matt Biggar for organizing this productive session and to SF New Deal for hosting at the SPUR office.

A long-neglected underpass in Potrero Hill has blossomed into a vibrant green gateway, showcasing the power of neighborhood advocacy and sustainable urban design. Mayor Daniel Lurie joined Supervisor Shamann Walton, Donovan Lacy, Carla Short, Tilly Chang, and community leaders to celebrate the ribbon-cutting of the Potrero Gateway project — a transformation that turned a challenging stretch of urban infrastructure into a safe, green passageway. The project revitalized the Highway 101 underpass on 17th Street and the adjacent block of Vermont Street with widened sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and concrete dividers that create a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists alike. As Supervisor Walton noted at the event, "This area was neglected—unsafe, uninviting, and overlooked. Today, we're celebrating a transformation that didn't start at City Hall but with neighbors who demanded better." What makes this project particularly exciting from a green infrastructure perspective is the thoughtful integration of ecology and art. Native plantings now soften the urban edges, while four striking public art sculptures titled "Metamorphosis" rise from terraced gardens. This project represents exactly the kind of transformation we champion at Green SF Now — community-led initiatives that replace hardscaped urban environments with green spaces that improve safety, build community, and reconnect us to the natural history beneath our city's concrete.

Read more from SF.Gov News: Mayor Lurie, Community Leaders Cut Ribbon, Celebrate Completion of Potrero Gateway Project

Peter Belden and Kieran Farr represented Green SF Now at University of San Francisco's Earth Day celebration on Tuesday. Our table at Gleeson Plaza attracted students interested in local environmental initiatives, and our informative signage about Green Infrastructure sparked new conversations. We collected nearly 50 sign-ups and discovered many students hadn't yet encountered the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club Wildlife-themed coloring books were particularly popular among visitors. True to our green values, all materials were transported to campus by bicycle! Special thanks to USF's Office of Sustainability for organizing this celebration and providing the table and chairs, those are hard to bring on the bike.

Our second activation at Treat Plaza transformed the space into a collaborative urban planning workshop. Karen Curtiss from Red Dot Studio Architecture and Design led a visioning exercise that engaged community members in reimagining green spaces throughout the Northeast Mission. Participants gathered around a detailed map of the neighborhood, adding their ideas via colorful post-it notes and markers while enjoying live mixed music from The DJ Project and art from Evolved SF and partners. The atmosphere was both productive and festive, with the historical exhibit "Treat: Past, Present, Future" providing context for the area's evolution and Sierra Club volunteers Elizabeth Creely, Parker Kjellin-Elder, and Vicky Hoover on hand to provide guidance and discussion. This participatory mapping approach allowed community members to identify potential sites for green infrastructure while considering the neighborhood's history and cultural heritage. Take a look at some of the feedback from this picture of the feedback here:

Don't miss your last chance to see Green SF Now at Treat Plaza! We're hosting a final Treat event on Saturday, May 17: Green SF Now Interactive Exhibit with Evolved SF.

Cole Valley's innovative pop-up town square experiment transformed an awkward wedge of road into a lush urban garden. As the N Judah emerged from the tunnel, riders found over 500 plants creating an unexpected pocket of urban tranquility. I came early with my son and dad to to snap a few photos with organizer Luke Spray from the Green Street Fund and Robin Pam from KidSafeSF. The arrangement of tall plantings and other diverse greenery from Flora Grubb created natural safety barriers that allowed my kid to play comfortably without normal roadway hazards. This pop-up model presents an exciting new concept for quick, effective green activations across San Francisco!

Read more from SFGate: Tiny San Francisco neighborhood embraces huge idea for safer street

The official kickoff of San Francisco's 2025 Climate Action Plan Update brought together leaders across sectors at SF's War Memorial across from City Hall. Sierra Club members Kieran Farr, Vicky Hoover, Elizabeth Creely, Maya Chaffee, and Tom Radulovich from Livable City joined diverse stakeholders from community organizations, businesses, and government agencies to help shape our city's climate future. Our table focused on clean water systems and nature-based solutions. We explored how freshwater, stormwater, and wastewater infrastructure face increasing climate challenges, emphasizing the importance of working with nature rather than against it. Restoring wetlands and implementing natural solutions emerged as key strategies for climate adaptation. SF Environment Director Tyrone Jue set the tone by highlighting alarming trends: 2024 marked the hottest year on record, following record-breaking temperatures in 2023 and 2022. Mayor Daniel Lurie reaffirmed the city's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2040, spotlighting transportation and building operations as priority sectors comprising 89% of city emissions. Youth Commissioner Gabby Lester-Coll delivered a powerful speech on climate justice and youth involvement, reminding attendees that climate action isn't just about technology but about centering vulnerable communities in our solutions.

A full transcript of the keynote speeches is available here: City and County of San Francisco, GovTV Transcript, Wednesday, April 16, 2025

What a thrill to see SF New Deal's Building Blocks parklet program launch at Excelsior Coffee on a foggy Tuesday morning! The energy was electric as Lea Sabado and her son cut the ribbon on their bright yellow modular parklet, bringing "light green" infrastructure to life in the Excelsior District. As I chatted with Hoh Chen from SF New Deal, I was struck by how this Lego-inspired approach tackles both environmental and economic challenges. At just $400 monthly instead of the $60,000 upfront cost, these parklets are accessible to small businesses and community groups alike. The beauty of this system is how perfectly it aligns with our Green SF Now mission. These parklets are quintessential "light green" infrastructure, creating planted spaces that absorb rainwater, create community spaces, add biodiversity, and naturally calm traffic. The yellow sides of Excelsior Coffee's installation aren't just eye-catching; they're functional planters bringing nature back to our concrete corridors.

Read more from SF Standard: Parklets peaked, then died off. A new model inspired by Lego aims for a revival

The Sunset Dunes Park opening celebration was a remarkable success for the Green SF Now initiative! Sierra Club volunteers Terry, Vicky, Elizabeth, Brian, Kieran, and others helped create an incredible presence at this community event. The turnout exceeded our expectations with nearly 100 on-site registrations at our table and Green SF Now displays. Dozens more signed up for our guided nature walk, thanks Brian for organizing these!

We're excited to continue our momentum with upcoming events. Thanks to all the dedicated volunteers who make these community activations possible.