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The West Oakland Greenbelt Campaign

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:50:00 +0000

Urban Biofilter’s West Oakland Greenbelt Project would use marginalized and contaminated land to strategically plant greenbelts along West Oakland transportation routes and downwind of stationary pollution sources.

Greenbelts are proven to be highly effective windscreens and have a great capacity to sequester carbon, produce oxygen and remove Particulate Matter. Greenbelts can also mitigate noise pollution and provide visual relief from highways and industrial areas.

City-scale urban forestry projects like those envisioned by Urban Biofilter can remove SO2, NOx, CO, CO2, Ozone, PAH & other VOCs, as well as Particulate Matter and metals from contaminated air-sheds and have been shown to capture at least 15 kilograms per day per square kilometer of PM10. Strong rhizomatic root systems can be utilized for erosion control and planters can filter and treat stormwater. It’s the fastest-growing plant you can use to reforest an area, and it produces 35% more oxygen than an equally-sized batch of trees and can sequester 5 times the amount carbon dioxide. Unlike most trees which need to be cut down, bamboo can be harvested without damaging the original plant, and it then regenerates in three to five years. Unlike most trees which take 25 years or longer to achieve maximum pollution filtration, in only a few years the Urban Biofilter can effectively improve air quality, reduce storm water runoff, and provide quantifiable ecosystem benefits.

While the Port of Oakland and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) are working to improve emissions standards and mitigation requirements, these reductions and alternative vehicle plans are long-term and costly, and the impact on West Oakland residents’ health won’t be felt for at least 20-30 years.

Our masterplanning for West Oakland and the former Army Base Redevelopment proposes Low Impact Development solutions, which would control against flooding in our highly floodprone area. The plan will analyze and propose various ecological buffers, wetland and ocean setbacks, and ecological bank stabilization designs for the former Army Base Redevelopment, affecting 300 acres along the bay waterfront. These mitigation measures will be more effective than mechanical stormwater management systems as they work synergistically with as well as support already existing wetlands and ecosystems in the area which will be facing destruction by flooding and saltwater intrusion from climate change. Our plan also will analyze and recommend species lists which will be compared against temperature, rainfall and other climate predictions.

We serve on a Rainwater and Greywater Taskforce with the East Bay Municipal Utility District. We are pursuing more extensive collaboration with East Bay MUD regarding green infrastructure strategies for utilizing city reclaimed water, also known as purple pipe, for irrigation and integration into our Urban Forestry projects. We have been very well received in our presentation of Urban Biofilter concepts to a group of 50 EBMUD engineers and are eager to further engage EBMUD staff to integrate reclaimed water standards into the Urban Biofilter’s irrigation requirements as well as pursue and assess pilot projects for wastewater reuse.

Green Collar Jobs and Urban Timber

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:31:00 +0000

Green Jobs Training programs present solutions for West Oakland and other Urban communities including poverty alleviation, employment, pollution mitigation and environmental justice, but the scope of existing programs could be more complex and greatly expanded.

In 2000 the unemployment rate in West Oakland was 18.3%. Since that time, these rates have gone up dramatically. The bioremediative horticulture and green infrastructure sector we are developing is an untapped and highly necessary area of employment and poverty alleviation; Oakland and other Urban youth and residents would be prepared to enter jobs in the fields of sustainable landscaping, urban agriculture, water retrofits to increase water efficiency and conservation, bioremediative plant propagation and harvesting, urban timber harvesting, alternative sustainable construction methods, data collection and analysis, community organizing, as well as parks and open space maintenance and expansion.

Green Collar Jobs

For the green job training aspect of the project we are developing a green infrastructure curriculum for Merritt College. By leveraging teacher’s salaries and small materials budgets we will be able to get started while we seek funding to develop a more comprehensive training program, which would incorporate local organizations with related experience.

We have an able workforce from Merritt College and two classes of 35 students each per semester, which can be relocated from the Merritt campus in the Oakland hills to the flats of West Oakland. Over a three years, we plan to develop a Green Jobs Training Program in eco-landscaping where young people will gain transferable skills while working on real projects in their community. Participating students will be receive training in a college-level program in job-skills, urban gardening, eco-literacy, propagation, installation of plants, irrigation design and implementation, root barrier installation, bioremediation, water efficiency and landscape maintenance.

Through the Peralta community college system we have an opportunity to build on the successful systems and infrastructure that Laney College has developed for Green Collar Job training programs. While Laney College has focused on preparing youth for jobs in construction and solar PV installation, Merritt College Landscape/Horticulture Department has spent the last decade developing an innovative Eco-Landscaping and permaculture curriculum. Through the development of a Green Jobs Training program in Eco-Landscaping, coupled with cutting-edge research in bioremediation, a Merritt College program based in West Oakland would address urban ecological injustice, while propelling the environmental movement forward.

Urban Timber

Urban Biofilter could potentially help Oakland become the leader of a new Urban Timber industry. One of our primary and most effective bioremediative plants for air and water filtration and erosion control is bamboo. The bamboo trade is estimated by some to be over $10 billion per year. Over 20 million tons of bamboo are collected and harvested per year, primarily by people without economic means. Our Greenbelts and Propagation facilities would produce incredibly versatile plant materials which could be used in framing construction, turned into composite building materials, furniture, flooring, biofuel, charcoal, bicycle frames, and many other value-added products. Over a billion people in the world live in homes made of bamboo. A large scale urban bamboo forestry project would provide stable green collar jobs for the community of West Oakland, create a new sustainable source of city revenue, and fashion a model for urban timber production in other cities. Sourcing timber from within the city limits would be a major shift in resource management and economics toward sustainability.

Greenbelt Demonstration @ OT-411

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:29:00 +0000

Urban Biofilter has partnered with Merritt College, the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Oakland Maritime Support Services and OT-411 (Oakland Trucker-411) to launch a micro-industrial, urban greenbelt demonstration project.

Our inaugural bamboo planting in August, 2009 occured at the central hub of independent West Oakland truckers, OT-411, which provides rest-stop facilities, services, and parking for truckers and is housing the outreach and testing space for several local non-profits focused on air quality issues. This bamboo planting sets a precedent in facilitating collaboration between environmentalists and industry and by helping truckers mitigate their impact on the air quality of West Oakland by opening up space for them to park off residential streets.

Urban Biofilter has created multiple micro-industrial bamboo plantations strategically located to demonstrate filtration of air pollution from transportation and industry. These projects demonstrate how untapped local resources, including treated wastewater and the opportunities presented by vacant lots, can be used to improve quality of life in neighborhoods that face the most acute health problems from air pollution.

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Tijuana Biofilter

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:27:41 +0000

In Summer, 2009 Urban Biofilter joined the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Earth Island Institute’s Restoration Initiative on a binational project to restore the Tijuana River Estuary Watershed.

Urban Biofilter hosted a 30-person workshop in the Tijuana neighborhood of San Bernardo to help restore the flow of water to the local river system. As is the case with many of the informal settlements in the area, San Bernardo does not have a centralized sewage treatment system. This means that wastewater from San Bernardo simply drains through the streets to the Tijuana River Estuary, one of the last 24 estuaries remaining in the country. Each side street becomes a tributary to the main street, Calle Amanecer, which eventually flows to the estuary, dramatically impacting the water quality and aquatic ecosystem. These open channels also pose a serious health concern, as a vector for contamination, putting the local people at a greater risk of contracting hepatitis and staph infections, mosquito-borne diseases, and diarrhea.

In the course of the workshop, participants lined the channel with gravel to reduce human exposure to the water, and replanted the surrounding area with locally collected native willows to provide a natural air filter. The group also planted a small pilot crop of local bamboo.

Unlike other restoration groups working in the area, Urban Biofilter brings a holistic approach to restoration and water management. Working with communities who do not have access to municipal wastewater treatment systems to build decentralized waste treatment wetlands and ecological sanitation systems, which have the ability to yield building materials, which are in high demand. Now, Urban Biofilter is advocating for the expansion of this pilot project to address the wastewater infrastructure for the 1.2 million Tijuana residents who live in communities with currently inadequate wastewater management systems.

A Bamboo Curtain for the AMCO Superfund Site – The Bay Citizen

admin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:22:46 +0000

A Bamboo Curtain for Superfund Site – The Bay Citizen.