Environment

Environmental, youth groups team up to clean Richmond Greenway

Youth leaders and environmental organizations kicked off their fall programs with a joint clean-up of Richmond’s greenway earlier this month. And the accumulated junk was impressive: One group unearthed two satellite TV dishes, a Rick James album, a fake deciduous tree covered in Christmas lights, one dead lizard in a wine bottle, and a disembodied red bike frame, among other items.

At a mulching party, East Bay residents learn how to convert lawns to gardens

On a warm Saturday morning, people began to slowly stroll into the Memorial Tabernacle Church in Oakland’s Bushrod neighborhood. They were gathered not for a morning service, but for a special kind of lawn party. Trail mix, cookies, apples, and fresh-cut pieces of banana were laid out in colorful bowls on a table, but nothing smelled more fresh than the two 4-foot piles of compost and wood mulch laid out on the road in front of the church. StopWaste, a public…

KaBOOM! and Target help Richmond build a park in a day

On Friday, March 17, staffers from KaBOOM! and Target gathered with members of the community to build a park for Richmond in one day. KaBOOM! is a nonprofit that provides new playgrounds and park equipment to cities that lack economic resources. The lot on Wendell and 24th Street had been empty for 15 years after the playground equipment was removed due to its hazardous conditions. Click the video above to see how people turned transformed it into a space for kids…

East Bay drinking water reservoirs reach full capacity

The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD)’s recent announcement that its drinking water reservoirs have reached full capacity might sound alarming after the spillway crisis in Oroville, but staffers say that is actually good news. It means a steady water supply to over a million of its customers in the East Bay, including Oakland and Richmond.

Tales of Two Cities: Spaces

For our final episode of 2016, we bring you stories about different types of spaces and the creatures that inhabit them. Tune in to hear stories about an East Oakland mural transforming the space around a community center, a heated governmental debate about the best way to stop illegal dumping in the East Bay, and a trip up to Bodega Bay to explore the legacy of the classic film The Birds.