Greenbelt Alliance is shifting the perceptions and actions of leaders across government, communities, and businesses to protect and prioritize people and lands in the face of the climate crisis.
With every policy decision and inclusive planning process that prepares the Bay Area for wildfires, floods, and droughts, we succeed. With every additional acre of natural and working land restored to reap climate-resilience benefits, we succeed. With every new climate SMART development we endorse that cities then approve to build for the communities of the future, we succeed.
We do this by researching and communicating solutions that will protect more natural and working lands and by prioritizing the conservation of our highest-value landscapes. We do this by driving local, regional, and state-level advocacy efforts—building local partnerships and coalitions with residents, community groups, and nonprofits. We do this by supporting development that creates thriving, resilient neighborhoods with ready access to transit and housing choices for everyone who lives in the Bay Area.
In order to plan and implement policies that protect and enhance valuable natural lands that in turn protect communities from climate change, we need decision-making that draws from a full picture of the multiple climate risks—as well as the resilience benefits—of the Bay Area’s natural lands.
Elevating the most promising, feasible, and equitable policy recommendations that will accelerate the Bay Area’s adaptation to climate impacts and reducing vulnerability to wildfire, flooding, and drought through land-use decisions is at the heart of our climate advocacy.
Working with local, regional, and state governments as well as diverse coalitions, we break down silos and push for public participation with a true diversity of voices—increasing the likelihood of equitable outcomes.
In February 2021, after hearing from hundreds of Pittsburg residents and environmental organizations that the city should preserve the beautiful hills that overlook the future park at the former Concord Naval Weapons Station, Pittsburg’s City Council approved the Seeno Faria project. The homes would be zoned for single-family residential with a 4,000-square-foot minimum lot size.
San Francisco is currently undergoing a state-mandated rezoning of the city. According to the Housing Element, the city must adopt a rezoning map that will result in the construction of roughly 36,000 new homes by 2031. This rezoning, combined with the construction of already approved projects and projects already allowed under current zoning, gets the
Header Photo by Shira Bezalel
