Preserving the legacy of Bay Area Action’s environmental work from 1990–2000 and beyond.
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Bay Area Action cleaned a lot of creeks, pulled a lot of invasive weeds, and planted a lot of trees, but BAA’s impact goes beyond stats.
“Thank you for helping me become the person I am. May you continue to empower future generations of young active environmentalists, as you did with me.”
“My fondest memory as a Schoolie would be sleeping, adrift in a canoe, on Lake Temagami during the Schools Group EarthWatch expedition in Canada. Since graduating from high school, I earned a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. While there, I was active in the Berkeley Chapters of the Student Environmental Action Coalition and the Society for Conservation Biology. I participated in research projects in northern California and Moorea (Society Islands, French Polynesia). After graduating from Berkeley, I worked at Archbold Biological Station in Florida doing research on rare and endangered plants. I published a paper on fire management for the threatened Florida Scrub Buckwheat. I am currently working on a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCSC, while teaching an upper division Quantitative Resource Management Class at San Jose State.”
“Being in the Schools Group really inspired me. I majored in biology at Reed College and did a thesis in forest canopy ecophysiology. I served as an AmeriCorps volunteer for two years in Portland, was a service learning coordinator, a waste reduction educator and a naturalist at an environmental science middle school. Now I’m getting a PhD at Cornell in soil science and plant pathology. My thesis research is on vermicompost and compost teas as pesticide alternatives. I volunteer with Tompkins County Cornell Cooperative Extension as a Master Composter, and I generally have a lot of fun! Thanks for offering such a great program. I feel like my work with BAA really helped launch me at an early age to where I am now by giving me a great experience with grassroots activism and ‘how to get involved with things that matter 101.’ I hope that the students I worked with in Portland tell me the same thing 10 years from now!”
“Well what can I say? The Schools Group still makes it onto my resume, and I’ve been employed in some shape or form since I was 14, so it’s not due to a lack of other experiences. Since I chose to attend Foothill College instead of Menlo-Atherton after my freshman year, the Schools Group was my primary social network, and I still count alumni among my closest friends. Since my days at BAA, I spent a couple of years living in Santa Barbara where I earned my BA in Creative Studies Biology at UCSB and learned how to race outrigger canoes. My partner (now husband) Colin and I then moved to New Hampshire where we pursued our MS degrees in Earth Science. I’ve spent the last three years studying the role of long range transport of natural aerosols and their impact on the New England region. My first paper, which tracked an Asian dust storm and other pollutants to New England, is in press, and my second paper on the impact of a large forest fire in Quebec on air quality along the East Coast is nearly ready for submission. We have recently moved to Fort Collins Colorado where I am a researcher at Colorado State University. I will be working for the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network doing data management and quality assurance work as well as continuing with my research efforts.”
“I fell in love with [Bay Area Action’s] people and its purpose immediately. It helped me grow into the leader I am today and for that I am forever indebted.”
“The Schools Group is probably what kept me sane through high school. It was an opportunity to connect with other youth who wanted to shape a better world. The vision we shared and inspiration we gave each other helped me believe we could make a difference. After graduation I attended UC Santa Cruz, where I continued working for the preservation of Headwaters Forest. I became interested in how cultural values and perspectives determine our ecological actions, and I designed an independent major in Cultural Ecology. I traveled to Israel and attended the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, producing a video documentary on ecology, conservation projects, and cultural perceptions of nature in Israel. I studied Permaculture design, worked on an organic farm, and moved to Los Angeles to promote healthy food in public schools. I am presently at the University of Michigan, earning a Masters of Public Health degree in Epidemiology. I am working at the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Center on nutrition research and education. I hope to move to Israel and continue researching and promoting integrative medicine and healthy, ecologically-sustainable living.”
“I’m so glad you're doing this project. I was one of the founders of BAA back in 1990. I had started volunteering out of the Palo Alto HQ for Earth Day, and had made friends with Peter D and a number of other 20-somethings during the months of furious work to get ready for the big day in April. When Earth Day was over, we were looking for a way to stay involved, and to stay connected to each other. We kept using the Earth Day HQ as asort of clubhouse. I don’t remember how long I was involved, probably not more than that first year, because I went off to Berkeley for grad school. But I loved watching BAA flourish from afar. I wish I had more pictures from back then. I remember the night we came up with the slogan ‘Bay Area Action: Saving the world one bay at a time’.”
“This past January, I attended your Deep Green Global Training program, and found it amazingly informative and helpful. I would say it is the best progressive conference I have ever been to, and it really affected my life and my activism.”
“BAA changed my life in many ways — teaching me about myriad environmental issues, showing me how nonprofits run from the inside, lighting a passion for North Coast forests, and helping me foster a sense of place. Most of all, the people I met through BAA became my chosen family, lifelong friends and compatriots I’m proud to know and love.”
“I live just a few blocks from Matadero Creek, but it wasn’t until I became a Streamkeeper that I really got to know it. Walking the creek I’ve noticed things, like the frogs croaking, that I’d never noticed before.”
“Looking back, it’s incredible to think about all we accomplished together. While it’s been a long time, I still cherish the time spent with many like-minded, dedicated activists. Those experiences shaped me in ways I continue to carry forward.”
What did Bay Area Action mean to you?
