Today, Save the Bay has become an environmental giant, consisting of 25,000 supporters and over 2,000 active volunteers. To see how Save the Bay grew to one of the largest environmental efforts in the region, we sat down with campaign manager Josh Sonnenfeld.
Q: So Save the Bay is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. What makes it so special?
A: Save the Bay is the largest and oldest organization dedicated to restoring and preserving San Francisco Bay. We have a lot of different programs in place that get the community involved. Every year we get thousands of volunteers to come out and help the bay. We get kids to take out invasive species and plant native ones. We meet with community groups to spread awareness about how to protect the bay.
Q: How has Save the Bay changed in its 50 year history?
A: Nowadays, Save the Bay has over 30 staff members and 25,000 supporters and volunteers. When they founded the organization back in 1961, they were happy just to get to 2,000. In the 60’s, the bay had over four dozen trash dumps lining its shores, and it wasn’t nearly as clean as it is now. Today, it is a lot cleaner, and there are no dumps pouring their waste into the bay. We also restoring over 40,000 acres of wetlands around the bay. We have made a lot of progress, and we owe most of it to the public, who changed their attitudes about conserving the bay and helped clean it up..
Q: What were the some of biggest achievements in Save the Bay’s history?
A: One of our biggest achievements was the establishment of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. It was the first type of legislation in the country to regulate things based on environmental impact. We have also helped set up organizations that educate the community about local environmental issues.
We also talked about Save the Bay’s current projects, most notably their opposition to the proposed Cargill development off of Redwood City.
Q: Are there any non-environmental concerns that come from building “Cargilleville”?
A: .Oh of course. We are talking about 10,000 houses and 30,000 more people, which is basically a whole new city. There will be added traffic on Highway 101. There are concerns from the port of Redwood City, which is right next to the marshes where the new development would be built. Cargill hasn’t even said where they will be getting their water, and there is already a strain for water on the peninsula.
Q: What are the major obstacles in stopping the Cargill development?
A: There are a few major ones. First, Cargill is the largest private company in the nation, and they employ over a dozen staff just to promote the development. They run full page ads in the newspaper, donate to community groups to gain support, and even hire lobbyists to ensure that the development plans get passed.
Q: If the Redwood City council is most likely going to pass the proposed building of Cargill, what is Save the Bay’s plan to stop this?
A: More likely than not, this development is going to go down to the ballot, so the citizens of Redwood City are probably going to have to vote on it. And what Cargill doesnt have is the public opinion. My job is reaching out to the community and talking to as many different people as possible and making sure they know about the development and know the concerns with it.
When asked what’s next for Save the Bay, Sonnenfeld quoted its founder Kay Kerr, saying, “The Bay is always in the process of being saved.” With over 90% of the Bay’s wetlands gone, the statement seems very true. But with more work, we may soon have a Bay we can be proud of.
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