Bay City News
Solar panels, homegrown veggies and new-tech appliances are climate solutions often associated with well-to-do consumers. But a new federal grant in San Francisco will be earmarked specifically for more marginalized communities.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Environment Department announced that it was just awarded $1 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bring climate solutions to communities of concern.
Environmental justice means the just treatment of and meaningful involvement for people who are disproportionately affected by pollution. A historical example of EJ would be when residents in the Bayview neighborhood won a class action lawsuit regarding a botched cleanup in 2022.
Most of the grant money, $600,000, will go directly to fund projects ranging from building community gardens to decarbonizing buildings. It will also go to providing technical assistance and guidance in training community members to organize and apply for future state and federal funds.
"We recognize that it's the marginalized communities and environmental justice, EJ, neighborhoods that are most impacted by climate change, and so they need to be included in the decision making around the solutions," said the Environment Department's senior environmental justice coordinator, Sraddha Mehta. "Before we applied for the grant, we held an environmental justice listening session."
Direct support for climate-led solutions can include funding for teaching community groups on how to obtain grants through the federal Inflation Reduction Act, pairing a community with a solar company to train people how to work in the rooftop solar industry or just guiding homeowners on how to update their carbon-emitting utilities.
"There are federal dollars out there, incentives to replace your gas water heater with a heat pump," said Mehta. "Those can be some burdensome processes, but now with the technology that is around, this can be as easy as replacing a piece of equipment and plugging a new one in. We can communicate to communities who may not be aware that this funding is out there, that it's not necessarily a financial burden to put these efficient appliances in their home."
For example, an induction cooktop generates energy from an electromagnetic field below a glass cooktop surface, causing the cookware to heat up. No carbon-emitting gas is needed. According to Consumer Reports, induction delivers fast heat and consumers should also know they are eligible for financial incentives created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The last round of decarbonization grants issued through the community engagement program went to four projects. One focused on urban planning in the Mission and retrofitting a community building there. Another grant was used to give away induction stoves at Carnival San Francisco, along with outreach and education in Spanish. Bayview was funded to do outreach that involved the Climate Equity Hub, a one-stop shop that brings technical support and resources to people interested in decarbonizing their home or business.
For people who want to learn more about funding from the department's environmental justice program, call (415) 355-3700 or email environment@sfgov.org.
Additional information about community-led climate solutions can be found at www.sfenvironment.org.
Copyright © 2024 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.
Most Popular
Comments / 0