Blog: How Green Is My Valley?

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While San Mateo County presents itself as a climate leader, the real test is implementation.

Why does San Mateo County feature no wind turbines? [Source: Getty Images]

How “Green” is San Mateo County really?

Climate change is a real threat, especially for coastal communities, and San Mateo County is particularly exposed because it faces risks along both the Bay and Pacific shorelines. That should make local climate action a priority.

Earth Day is a good moment to ask whether San Mateo Democrats and county leaders are acting like climate warriors, or just talking like them.

“Climate Warriors” versus “Climate Deniers”

The two extremes on the climate action front are the Climate Warriors and the Climate Deniers. In between, there is plenty of space for a whole zoo of climate categories.

Category	Primary Stance	Common Criticism
Climate Warriors	“Emergency action is required now.“	Accused of being “alarmist” or “unrealistic.”
Conspicuous Conservationists	This is all about displaying green virtue. Without this, Tesla would have never survived.	Bill Gates owning a ‘Carbon Capture’ company while also leading emission charts would be a great example of how this doesn’t work.
Delayers	“We should act, but *now* is never a good time.”	Punting goals to 2030, 2050, or 2100. Missing the window for prevention.
Climate Coward	“It’s a problem, but it’s China’s and India’s fault.“	Avoiding personal/national agency. Too convenient or too fearful to take action and make simple changes.
Climate Doomer	“We’re already finished.“	Encouraging paralysis.
Luke-Warmer	“Earth’s climate has always been changing.”	Pretending not to understand the difference between 100 and 10,000 years of evolution.
Denier	It’s not happening / It’s a hoax. Rejection of scientific consensus (… or public confessions).	Denial is futile. The CEO’s of all major oil companies have confessed under oath that they ‘believe’ in Climate Change.

One of the worst categories is the one with the climate delayers. This is where greenwashing and astroturfing are ruling the space. This is where most politicians made their bed; this is where many organizations with names using green or sustainable make a good living; this is where the real deception is happening.

We really can’t trust anyone about how seriously they are taking the issue. If there were just a set of ultimate litmus tests to find these guys out – here and now?

The Ultimate Litmus Tests

How green is our valley really? San Mateo County has a Sustainability Department to answer that question for us. And luckily, they are all about The Future Generation. And who knows better than us here what the Last Generation really needs, right? The county has strong [future] goals and policies that would build the infrastructure needed to help them answer that question with “yes”.

Goals:

2030: 90 miles of additional bike lanes.
2030: 3% reduction in vehicle miles traveled.
2030: Increase to 18% zero-emission vehicle and equipment adoption.
2040: Increase to 100% zero-emission vehicles and equipment.

Those goals were already established in 2020. And those 90 miles of bike lanes have been in county plans since the 1970s. Ok, this might look a little bit like slow-rolling and unnecessary punting.

Let’s soldier on and look at …

Strategies and Policies:

Policy T-1: Increase electric vehicle adoption
Policy T-2: Encourage urban density and the revision of parking standards, support bicycle and pedestrian-friendly planning
Policy T-3: Implement programs for shared transit to reduce VMT

So far, the litmus tests look good on paper. Though there are a few points that are throwing me off. We need to ask some questions.

Asking the Simple Questions

Smart Cities around the world have taught us to ask the right questions:

Does San Mateo County have a solid network of bike lanes?
Does San Mateo County have bike lanes leading to ALL schools (public, charter, private)?
Does San Mateo County offer solid public transportation?
Does San Mateo County provide school buses for all children?
Does San Mateo County produce renewable energy?
Are there wind turbines producing electricity at night?
Does San Mateo County have a microgrid?

Suspicion is Rising

While San Mateo County presents itself as a climate leader and champion for future generations, the real test is implementation. And so far, the answer to all these questions seems to be NO. The part about ‘support bicycle and pedestrian-friendly planning‘ reminds me of the famous Seinfeld episode with the rental car reservation.

“So you know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to hold the reservation. And that’s really the most important part of the reservation, the holding.” [Jerry Seinfeld]

It’s not the planning part that makes the valley green; it’s the buildout. Planning only benefits the likes of Fehr & Peers, Kimly Horn, Alta Planning, Jennifer Toole, and other campaign-donating planning companies. For residents and the environment, the buildout is really the most important part.

But wait, there is more …

No city is really building Safe-Bikeroutes-To-School.
No city plan is based on real bicycle infrastructure; it’s mostly marketing products (bicycle boulevards, slow streets, bike routes, sharrows)
No city is building strategically separated bike lanes.
Over the last five years, Redwood City, Burlingame, and San Mateo have turned down plenty of bike lane projects and especially around schools. They are even threatening to remove existing bike lanes.
Salaried leaders of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) have been opposing bike lanes and embracing Vision Zero marketing instead.
SamTrans isn’t exactly a champion of customer service.
Caltrain’s diesel fleet is still polluting in Peru.
Two long coastlines, but not a single wind turbine.
Consumer Choice Aggregates (CCA) were a thing in the early 2000s and became obsolete by 2012. Four years later, San Mateo County created its own CCA, named Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE).
Peninsula Clean Energy is handing out e-bike rebates, while its chair blames them for everything.
In fact, several San Mateo leaders and jurisdictions have been attacking the e-bike, the only real Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) currently available in this county.
15 years ago, the county started collecting emissions (RICAPs). 5 years later, they suddenly stopped and declared victory.

The litmus test results don’t look so great anymore. There seems to be a lack of urgency in local politics. Almost as if the creation of an outdated CCA structure gave county politicians permission to take it easy on implementation.

There is something rotten in this Green Land

Maybe these are all just little misunderstandings.

And these ‘little misunderstandings’ might just be ‘translation issues’. Let’s not forget, while the county and 19 cities are spending millions on Peninsula Clean Energy and its 60+ energy-marketing people, all cities in San Mateo County have yet to install that one bicycle person who cares. That move was recommended by San Mateo’s Grand Jury some 24 years ago.

Happy Earth Day!

The general lack of bike lanes means we need to revisit this topic.

It takes many different pieces to solve a puzzle. Pretending to solve this with just one piece won’t work. [Source: gettyimages]

Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of one author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.