Save the Bay

Last updated
Save The Bay
Founded1961 (1961) [1] [2]
FounderKay Kerr, Sylvia McLaughlin and Esther Gulick [1] [2]
TypeNon-profit 501(c)(3)
Focus Open space preservation, Natural habitat restoration, Environmental justice
Location
Area served
San Francisco Bay Area
Members
25,000 [2]
Key people
Executive Director David Lewis [3]
Website savesfbay.org
Formerly called
Save San Francisco Bay Association

Save The Bay is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving San Francisco Bay and related estuarine habitat areas. It was founded by Catherine Kerr, Sylvia McLaughlin, and Esther Gulick in 1961.

Contents

The organization aims to protect the bay from development and land reclamation, and instead encourages restoration to a natural state, allowing habitats such as salt flats to reform. [4]

The Bay Sf Estuary Historical.gif
The Bay

History

The organization was founded in 1961 as the Save San Francisco Bay Association by three women, Sylvia McLaughlin, Kay Kerr, and Esther Gulick and originally began as a lobby group. In 1965, state legislation established the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission as a state agency, which the organization deemed a grave success. The organization works to protect the wildlife of the Bay Area and quality of the large inland body of water. [1] [5] Save The Bay worked to prevent the destruction of San Bruno Mountain to fill 27 miles (44km) of the San Mateo County shoreline. [1] This work has been noted as the first successful conservation efforts in an urban area. [1]

The organization's work led to the creation of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which was later used as the blueprint and inspiration for other government commissions such as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, California Coastal Commission, and Delta Stewardship Council. [1]

Plastic bag bans

The organization has also pushed for plastic bag bans throughout the entire region. It includes strong support for strengthening the San Francisco plastic bag ban in 2011, which banned all retailers from giving out bags made out of non-biodegradable materials. [6] Save The Bay supported the 2012 San Jose, California, ban on plastic bags. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Chemistry Council</span>

American Chemistry Council (ACC), known as the Manufacturing Chemists' Association at its founding in 1872 then as the Chemical Manufacturers' Association, is an industry trade association for American chemical companies, based in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic shopping bag</span> Type of shopping bag

Plastic shopping bags, carrier bags, or plastic grocery bags are a type of plastic bag used as shopping bags and made from various kinds of plastic. In use by consumers worldwide since the 1960s, these bags are sometimes called single-use bags, referring to carrying items from a store to a home. However, it is rare for bags to be worn out after single use and in the past some retailers incentivised customers to reuse 'single use' bags by offering loyalty points to those doing so. Even after they are no longer used for shopping, reuse of these bags for storage or trash is common, and modern plastic shopping bags are increasingly recyclable or compostable - at the Co-op for example. In recent decades, numerous countries have introduced legislation restricting the provision of plastic bags, in a bid to reduce littering and plastic pollution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Corrigan</span> American judge (born 1948)

Carol Ann Corrigan is an associate justice of the California Supreme Court. She is a former prosecutor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McLaughlin Eastshore State Park</span> State park and wildlife refuge

McLaughlin Eastshore State Park is a state park and wildlife refuge along the San Francisco Bay shoreline of the East Bay between the cities of Richmond, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Oakland. It encompasses remnant natural wetlands, restored wetlands, as well as landfill west of the Eastshore Freeway. Its shoreline is 8.5 miles (13.7 km) long, and its total area is 1,854 acres (750 ha), which includes both tidelands and uplands. Originally named just Eastshore State Park, it was renamed in October 2012 to honor the late Save the Bay founder Sylvia McLaughlin, who, along with the late Dwight Steele of Citizens for Eastshore Park, drove the establishment of the park. Prior to 2013, it was jointly managed by the California State Parks and East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD). The state agency and EBRPD executed a 30-year agreement for EBRPD to manage the park.

The Richmond City Council is the governing body for the city of Richmond, California. The council consists of the Mayor of Richmond and six other city council members, one designated Vice Mayor. The council members are all elected from the whole city; no members are elected by district or ward. The council members are elected to four-year terms, as opposed to the previous six-year terms. They are not all elected at once. The council members meet every first and third Tuesday of the month and, if necessary, hold special meetings on the remaining Tuesdays. Presently the entire city council is Democratic.

San Francisco Baykeeper is a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization that uses science and the law to protect, preserve, and enhance the health of the ecosystems and communities that depend upon the San Francisco Bay, the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, and its watershed. SF Baykeeper is the only organization, governmental or non-profit, that regularly patrols the Bay by boat and drone to document sources of pollution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Skinner (California politician)</span> American politician (born 1954)

Nancy Skinner is an American politician who is member of the California State Senate. A Democrat, she represents California's 9th State Senatorial district, encompassing parts of the East Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coles Bay, Tasmania</span> Town in Tasmania, Australia

Coles Bay is an Australian town on the east Coast of Tasmania 192 km north-east of Hobart and 173 km south-east of Launceston, being the main entrance point for visitors to the Freycinet National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reusable shopping bag</span> Shopping bag designed to be kept and reused by consumers

A reusable shopping bag, sometimes called a bag for life in the UK, is a type of shopping bag which can be reused many times, in contrast to single-use paper or plastic shopping bags. It is often a tote bag made from fabric such as canvas, natural fibres such as jute, woven synthetic fibers, or a thick plastic that is more durable than disposable plastic bags, allowing multiple use. Other shoppers may use a string bag or a wheeled trolley bag. They are often sold in supermarkets and apparel shops.

The Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Natural Reserve is a 7,050-acre (28.5 km2) University of California Natural Reserve System reserve in the Blue Ridge Berryessa Natural Area, in Napa and Lake counties of California. The site is owned by the Homestake Mining Company, and is the site of the now-closed McLaughlin Mine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doctors Medical Center San Pablo Campus</span> Hospital in California, United States

Doctors Medical Center was an eight-story, 120-bed public hospital in San Pablo, California which served 250,000 residents in western Contra Costa County from 1954 to 2015.

Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. City of Manhattan Beach is a California Supreme Court case, decided by a full majority on July 14, 2011, in which the plaintiffs challenged the City of Manhattan Beach's ordinance banning single-use plastic bags.

A plastic bag ban or charge is a law that restricts the use of lightweight plastic bags at retail establishments. In the early 21st century, there has been a global trend towards the phase-out of lightweight plastic bags. Single-use plastic shopping bags, commonly made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic, have traditionally been given for free to customers by stores when purchasing goods: the bags have long been considered a convenient, cheap, and hygienic way of transporting items. Problems associated with plastic bags include use of non-renewable resources, difficulties during disposal, and environmental impacts. Concurrently with the reduction in lightweight plastic bags, shops have introduced reusable shopping bags.

Esther Gulick was a pioneer in environmentalism. She, along with Kay Kerr and Sylvia McLaughlin, founded the Save San Francisco Bay Association which eventually became Save The Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia McLaughlin</span> American environmentalist

Sylvia Cranmer McLaughlin was an American pioneer in environmentalism. She, along with Kay Kerr and Esther Gulick, founded the Save San Francisco Bay Association, which eventually became Save the Bay.

Catherine "Kay" Kerr was a pioneer in environmentalism. She, along with friends Sylvia McLaughlin and Esther Gulick, founded the Save San Francisco Bay Association in 1961 which eventually became Save The Bay. The three friends also founded the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the first coastal protection agency in America. Their efforts helped spark the environmental movement in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Mirkarimi</span> American politician and sheriff

Rostam Mirkarimi is an American politician and the former sheriff of San Francisco. Prior to being sheriff, he served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he represented District 5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 California Proposition 67</span>

Proposition 67 was a California ballot proposition on the November 8, 2016 ballot. A "Yes" vote was to approve, and a "No" vote to reject, a statute that prohibits grocery and other stores from providing customers single–use plastic or paper carryout bags but permits the sale of recycled paper bags and reusable bags for a fee.

Plastic bag bans in Australia were implemented in the early 21st century by the country’s states and territories, rather than through federal law. The intent of the bans is to help reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the environment, both in and around Australia and globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic bag bans in the United States</span>

There is no national plastic bag fee or ban currently in effect in the United States. However, the states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have banned disposable bags. Over 200 counties and municipalities have enacted ordinances either imposing a fee on plastic bags or banning them outright, including all counties in Hawaii.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Taugher, Mike (2011-11-05). "A pioneer remembers how she and friends saved the bay". Contra Costa Times. Archived from the original on 2011-12-09. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  2. 1 2 3 "Our History". Save The Bay. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-01-25. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  3. Lewis, David; Russ Juskalian (2012). "Message from the Executive Director". Save The Bay. Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  4. "Our Impact – Save The Bay". savesfbay.org. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
  5. Sylvia McLaughlin, Save the Bay founder, fights on, Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, 31-10-2011, access date 10-01-2012
  6. Let's make all S.F. retailers comply with bag ban, David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle , 05-12-2011, access date 10-01-2012
  7. Attention, shoppers: Get ready to BYOB (bring your own bag) in San Jose stores, Tracy Seipel, San Jose Mercury News , 25-12-2011, access date 08-01-2012

Further reading