During our recent "Rethinking the Way We Move: Active Transportation for Wellness, Community, and the Planet" event, we had the privilege of hosting informative presentations from Carlos Moreno, Peninsula Clean Energy, Program Specialist, Vanessa Castro, Office of Sustainability Active Transportation Specialist, and Anthony Montes, Silicon Valley Bike Coalition, Community Organizer.

On Wednesday, May 24, Thrive hosted an insightful event "From Canopy Cover to Community Equity: Protecting and Managing Our Urban Forest." This engaging gathering brought together environmental enthusiasts, community activists, and experts in urban forestry to discuss the importance of safeguarding and effectively managing our urban forests.

On April 28th, we held our Environment & Sustainability event, "Keeping the Power On Energy Resilience in San Mateo County," which took place at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Community Space. The discussion focused on the issues surrounding electrification and resilience of the power grid, especially for the Coast Side community, and how different counties in the Bay Area approach electrification from an equitable standpoint. Senators Josh Becker also attended the event and presented the state's efforts to reach the get-to-zero emissions goal by 2045. Dr. Liang Min, managing Director at Stanford's Bits and Watts Initiative, discussed was about the vulnerabilities of our grid system infrastructures and found inequities in the aging infrastructure.

Public transportation plays a critical role in reducing our carbon footprint and promoting sustainability. It is also an essential mode of transportation for many individuals who cannot afford a personal vehicle or who have limited mobility. However, as highlighted by the diverse group of community members in our recent event, access to reliable, affordable, and efficient public transportation remains a significant challenge.

If you weren't at the Cultural Barrier to Induction Cooking event, you missed out on Francesca's quesadillas' warm welcome! It has been well-documented that gas stoves contribute to climate change and produce dangerous indoor air pollution. Yet, cultural barriers often make it difficult for people to make the change.

The first E&S meeting of 2023 came from the need to gather together after much of northern California was impacted by winter storms that caused widespread flooding, mudslides, high winds, and power outages at the beginning of this year. Thrive brought together a panel of experts in the county that will discuss the county's flood risk, current mitigation projects, and the regulatory framework for green infrastructure.

The first Environmental & Sustainability Thrive Action Group meeting was held in 2018. As 2022 comes to a close, we want to recognize and celebrate the many accomplishments of community-based organizations, academia, philanthropy, and government working to make San Mateo County a more resilient place in our final meeting of the year. We discussed our organizations' stories of growth, successes, and challenges, and shared what we have in store for 2023. 

It was the second time this year that we gathered together in person. We reflected on the success of the Climate Summit for San Mateo County, which brought forth commitments to equitable climate adaptation from community organizations, government, funders, and community members. It was the right moment to turn stated commitments into action.

On October 3, Thrive Alliance, along with Climate Resilient Communities, Nuestra Casa, and Rise South City hosted the first annual Climate Summit for San Mateo County. The occasion was monumental for everyone working together in the field with frontline communities against climate change. The event focused on engaging new potential relationships to learn how to the efforts in climate adaptation and equity. The Summit brought together nearly 250 people virtually and in person from community-based organizations, philanthropy, government, academia, and community members to share knowledge and make collective commitments to ensure climate adaptation and equity.

The Inflation Reduction Act is the most extensive climate bill ever, was signed in mid-August 2022, and was discussed in the September E&S TAG meeting. Thank you to those who joined us, and a huge thank you to our presenters, Brian Perkins, Senior Policy Advisor, Congresswoman Jackie Speier's Office, and Jared Johnson, Policy and External Relations Senior Manager, Acterra. Provided much valuable insight into how the new bill would affect your local communities.