Imagine the future.
Imagine what's possible.
It's very clear that climate change is a problem, but what are the SOLUTIONS?
GOOD NEWS: the solutions already exist. Some are easy and you can do them right now.
Others are going to take all of us working together. The question we all ask is,
"What can I do? I'm just one person - how can anything I do make a difference?"
We can all do something.
Imagine what 7.7 million people living in the Bay Area can accomplish if we work together, because...
everyone has a part to play.
But we all need a place to start!
DRAWDOWN Bay Area is for everyone: individuals, community groups, businesses, and local government.
Here you'll find that first step, and then your next, and the step after that, connecting the power of people, businesses, and communities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as we take the most significant steps to implement climate solutions.
As you continue to explore this website, you'll get answers to the "how", the "why", and the "how much" questions, you'll make connections where you are to do what you can do, whether in your home, your business, or beyond.
Imagine what's possible by
2030
"What's possible" depends on the choices we make
Actions we take now will help all of us by improving our health and the air we breathe, improving our economy and our own pocketbooks, and making our communities more resilient, while also "doing a solid" for the planet. So imagine what's possible and how easy those actions could be...
No, really...see
"What's Possible"
Narrated by Morgan Freeman
Directed by Louie Schwartzberg
The challenge is real.
We have less than ten years to make significant progress. Sound serious, doesn't it? It is - but we know we can do this, together, joining efforts throughout California, the nation, and around the world, starting right here in the Bay Area: 9 counties, 101 cities & towns, and 7.7 million people.
We can dramatically reduce our GHG emissions here in the Bay Area and do our part to slow global warming. We're protecting our communities, our economy, and everything we love about the Bay Area.
from the 2014 UN Climate Summit
Imagine what else you can do right now:
Our partners help take the mystery out of our options & provide easy ways to take action
discover thousands of actions you can take in just minutes every day, right from your phone.
Bay Area SunShares provides a discount on turnkey solar installations and home battery storage for any resident of the 9 Bay Area counties. Sign up between September 1 and November 15, 2022.
Ride & Drive Clean is the trusted resource for everything you need to know about electric transportation. With over 70 models - 4 wheels and 2, new, used and leased, they've done the work, so you don't have to.
a statewide policy campaign to achieve net-negative greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Why does it matter?
Our planet is heating up
The very fuels that have improved our lives for the last 200 years since the industrial revolution have added gases to our atmosphere that are now causing significant climate disruption.
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We're seeing the impacts right here: longer, hotter summers, increased fire danger, rising sea and bay levels, worsening air quality, prolonged droughts, challenges to our agricultural communities, and threats the Bay Area's infrastructure.
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The major cause is our use of fossil fuels - gasoline in our vehicles, diesel in trucks and trains and generators, and the gas that we use to warm our buildings, heat our water, and cook our food.
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But we can do something about it.
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In order to avoid the worst impacts of climate disruption, we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 80% no later than 2030 and be "fossil-free by '33”.
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To get there, we need to do two things:
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stop using fossil fuels in our buildings and our vehicles,
and begin to “draw down” greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are warming the planet, putting our people, our economy, and our beautiful natural resources at increasing risk.
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Why does this matter? What are your reasons?
"Whoever you are, you already have every reason to care about climate change. And if you don't think you do: you just haven't connected the dots between what already matters to you, how climate change affects it, and how climate solutions benefit us all."
- Dr. Katharine Hayhoe
climate scientist and author
If ever time was of the essence, it is now.
If ever a region could meet the challenge, it is the Bay Area.
Together, the Bay Area can make a world of difference.