As I did last year, I took the train to get to SF Climate Week. In this area that means taking Caltrain up the Peninsula before switching to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to the Embarcadero, then walking to Climate Week at the Exploratorium.
Both of those train systems have been substantially improved since last year:
- Caltrain completed a years-long electrification project, replacing all of the diesel trains.
- BART finished deployment of a new generation of cars, retiring all of the 25 year old rolling stock.
From this one might infer a renaissance of mass transit deployment in urban areas... but one would be wrong. Indeed, in nearly every area of climate action where the Inflation Reduction Act had spurred progress, the new administration of the last three months has attempted to roll it all back.
Former Vice President Al Gore presented the opening keynote speech, fiery and powerful. I hope it will be posted in its entirety, but until then there are portions of it interspersed within a local newscast.