What is your favorite place in our San Francisco Bay Area?
Mine are the Baylands. I love the salty crispness of the air and the sight of foraging migratory birds at the colorful marshes on a quiet winter morning in Mountain View. It’s a place where I can center myself and gain a deeper understanding of the work we do together at Loma Pieta Chapter, preserving and protecting the land we love, including one of the West Coast wonders, the San Francisco Bay.
It is easy to take the majestic beauty of our San Francisco Bay for granted, yet its resilience is being tested. Seeing the effects of climate change on our coastline can be difficult at times. Picture a future in which the Bay Shoreline disappears under 6.5 feet of water. Now imagine that we don’t just watch sea levels rise, but instead stand together to safeguard our shorelines for all living beings that depend on them.
All of the work we do together at the Loma Prieta Chapter is to protect our home. Whether it’s land conservation, environmental policy, or promoting the best environmental leaders running for office, all of these efforts help preserve the land we love.
Today, we’re halfway through the year, yet we have a lot more to do before we close out 2026. With a gift today, you will
- educate, engage, and grow the movement for change. Your gift will empower our growing network of volunteers by turning them from passionate residents into influential and well-informed advocates who build public awareness and inspire collective action.
- mobilize community-led action across the San Francisco Bay Area. Local sea level rise teams will monitor local shoreline development, push for smart, forward-looking solutions, and influence the development of Regional Sea Level Rise Plans mandated by the State of California, ensuring that local voices, and not special interests, shape how we adapt to sea level rise. By working with nature, we can build safer, more resilient communities while protecting the shoreline and the habitats that sustain us.
- influence local policy and planning to achieve a long-term positive impact. Through promoting the best environmental leaders running for office, and cultivating deep relationships with decision-makers and planners, your gift will ensure that they become champions for a healthy and resilient San Francisco Bay for decades to come.
All of these goals have one thing in common: you. Will you join me today by donating $35, $50, $100, or more? You are the difference between whether or not the land you love will be here for generations to explore and enjoy.
You’ve already made a difference. Just this year, you helped spur the City of San Mateo to consider creating a flood protection buffer zone, giving nature and the community a fighting chance to adapt to rising sea levels. You also helped set the higher standard for protecting the Redwood City shoreline. Thanks to your advocacy, the City’s design team for future levee upgrades is working to facilitate effective, nature-based solutions and has committed to a phased approach to adaptation rather than over-rigid, overdeveloped infrastructure.
None of this would have been possible without your support, which is why I am asking you to join your fellow Silicon Valley residents by making a donation today. As I explore Bayland marshes, I think about how this land might look like ten or twenty years from now. The impact of our work can be hard to see. However, the impact of doing nothing would be clear and catastrophic.
We can’t afford to leave that future to chance. Together, we can make sure that our story is one of protection, resilience, and hope. Please make your gift of $35, $50, $100, or more to finish the work still ahead and help write the next chapter for San Benito, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties.
With gratitude,
Susan DesJardin
Bay Alive Steering Committee Chair
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
P.S. Our San Francisco Bay Area needs you. Please, make a donation today of $35, $50, $100, or more.