Bye bye fog

On all sides, water. Six major bridges criss-cross the Bay, connecting the big cities at each corner. To the south, you see the Bay Bridge. Directly in front of you, the Golden Gate, and to the north, the Richmond Bridge to San Rafael. A staggering 40% (605 km2) of the San Francisco Bay has been filled since 1850. That means 40% of the marshes and estuaries that once flourished with life have been converted to shipyards, industrial buildings, apartment blocks, and luxury highrises. But the tide keeps coming. By 2040, it is estimated that 200,000 Bay Area residents currently live in a location that will be inundated. Already, 355,00 Bay Area residents are directly impacted by sea-level rise. This includes the severe winter flooding seen in West Oakland, and the toxins displaced by a rising water table that now threatens the health of San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point community. Living on the edge of the Pacific, the tide is a twice daily reminder of the ecological precarities of this era. Learning how we as a species can live in harmony with the natural world begins with the recognition that the forces of the ocean and atmosphere are not within our control, and that we do not need such control to be prosperous and fulfilled.

Bye bye fog see you later
Tell the egrets wait for me
Give my love to shoreline breezes
So long ocean view
We’ll be back beside the bay