CLIMATE ACTION AND THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
“Even if you’re not a born activist, life can damn sure make you one.”
I couldn’t agree more with Billie Jean King. Not only was I not born into it, I didn’t become a climate activist until I was 67 years old. I finally realized that I could no longer sit on the sidelines watching us destroy our planet.
After training with the Climate Reality Project in Atlanta (2019) and attending my first Bay Area Chapter meeting, I knew I wanted to grapple with climate policy. But, to be honest, I’m not much of a follower. And, the only long term partnership that’s ever worked for me is the one I’ve been lucky enough to have with the love of my life. We ran a Bay Area events business together for thirty-two years.
So, I sought opportunity in what I already knew. Over the years, RhodyCo, produced 60 events or more on the Golden Gate Bridge. Most were running events, like Across the Bay 12K, our inaugural 1984 race (known then as ‘Houlihan’s to Houlihan’s’).
But we also produced two amazing community awareness events that formed hand-in-hand chains across the Golden Gate Bridge – ‘Bridging Communities’ for ABC-7 and Bay Area United Way in 2007, and ‘Hands Across the Golden Gate’ for KFOG Radio in 1986.
Through thirty-two years of working with Golden Gate Bridge management, I knew them to be professional and cooperative, and little else. Of all the government agencies we worked with in the Bay Area, we considered them to be the most ‘event friendly.’
I was familiar with the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District’s board of directors, but only as it related to event permits. So, after Al Gore got me all fired-up, I began my research. My focus was on the board’s clean energy policies for their extensive bus and ferry commuter fleets.
On their official website, under the heading of ‘Green Energy’, the GGB promoted their recent adoption of ‘renewable diesel’ (RD), a drop-in replacement fuel for petroleum diesel. Diving into the archives of the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), I learned that RD’s claim of major reduction in carbon emissions was false, misleading information promoted by the giant oil company, Neste, that created RD and green-washed with the name ‘renewable diesel.’
I started planning presentations to the GGB District board. For the first one, in August 2019, eight other CRP members joined me. My wife did as well, because we wanted ten speakers, each one hitting the three minute limit for 30 minutes of ‘climate reality.’ We denounced RD as a carbon emissions solution, promoted electric ferries and buses and petitioned the board to adopt a Climate Emergency Resolution.
At the next board meeting, September 2019, all 19-member board of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District voted in support of a Climate Emergency Resolution which was authored by their Public Affairs Department. Using the language of the UN IPCC, it documented the imminent threat of the climate crisis and underscored the need to achieve net-zero GHG emissions as fast as possible.
Since then, I’ve made twenty-four additional speeches to the GGB board. I’ve met with GGB General Manager, Denis Mulligan, and with Ferry Division Manager, Jim Swindler. And, I’ve had several independent discussions with board members.
Each time, I remind them of their climate emergency resolution. They’ve agreed to hasten their timeline for buying all-electric buses, though it’s still way too many years away. And, though nothing’s official yet, I think I have them convinced to start looking at electric ferries. It’s just a matter of time. They know what needs to happen. My job, as I see it, is to keep putting their feet to the fire.
And, I will keep doing so until the day I die, or until I take my first ride across the bay on an electric ferry – whichever comes first.
Dave Rhody, Climate Reality Leader