Sustainable San Mateo County is proud to present the 2009 Indicators for a Sustainable San Mateo County report. This is the thirteenth annual edition of Indicators for a Sustainable San Mateo County! This report tracks data on 33 different "indicators," or trends, each of which affects the health and prosperity of our county. It also highlights actions cities in the county are taking to move toward a more sustainable future. Are we better off now than we were yesterday?
See Below
Click HERE to Download the Full Report (PDF)
To reserve a hard-copy of the report call the SSMC office at
(650) 638-2323.
Sustainability is a short-hand term for viewing the relationship between our actions today and their effect on the future. Living sustainably means that we meet today's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable planning recognizes the interconnections between the environment, economy, and society. A disruption in any one area affects the health of the other two.
Atherton
TransportationThe City Council has asked the Environmental Programs Committee (EPC) to compile recommendations that enable Atherton to reduce town-wide carbon emissions. The EPC plans to submit its recommendations to the City Council this spring for inclusion in the council's agenda for the 2009/2010 fiscal year.
Why Is This Important?
Farmland-or working landscapes-can provide economic, environmental, and quality of life benefits to a community. Locally grown food maintains its freshness and nutritional value and may reduce transportation-related air pollution and costs. The cultivation and use of native species may reduce the need for landscape irrigation, the largest non-industrial use of water in the county. The adoption of organic farming practices is especially important because they reduce the harmful environmental and health effects of pesticides and protect long-term soil quality.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where agriculture is economically viable for both owners and laborers and agricultural practices conserve natural resources and biodiversity, maintain healthy soils and ecosystems, and provide food security for local communities.
Why Is This Important?
Clean air is essential to human and environmental health. Air pollution increases the risk of lung disease and contributes to a variety of health problems, including asthma, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory problems in children. Air pollution can also damage local ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where the air is clean and poses no threat to human health or environmental quality.
Why Is This Important?
Carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, is the primary cause of climate change. CO2 enters the atmosphere through nature's carbon cycle and human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Human activities are the main driver of increased CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere; global atmospheric concentrations of CO2 are now 30 percent higher than they were before the industrial revolution. Anthropogenic climate change is causing extreme weather events (including drought andfloods), changes in sea level, increasing temperature, glacial and polar ice melt, and species extinction or migration. Climate change may also exacerbate air pollution and expand the range of certain infectious diseases into San Mateo County.
What Is a Sustainable State?
In a sustainable state, humans have reduced CO2 emissions to a level that is in balance with nature's ability to absorb those emissions.
Why Is This Important?
Healthy children in stable families provide the foundation for a sustainable community. Unable to protect themselves, children depend upon adults to provide them with a safe environment in which to grow and learn. When a child is abused, particularly by an adult with whom that child has a significant relationship, that child's development is often profoundly impacted. Trauma from child abuse can result in lifelong social impairment and affect academic and occupational performance. Many perpetrators of child abuse experienced abuse during their own childhoods.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where instances of child abuse are rare and all children grow up in nurturing and safe environments.
Why Is This Important?
The quality of child care and early childhood education influences emotional and cognitive development, including language learning, problem solving, self control, social skills, and school readiness. San Mateo County's high cost of living makes the availability of affordable and quality child care extremely important as many families have two working parents. Many of the county's middle and low-income families do not qualify for state or federal child care subsidies as they earn too much based on guidelines that do not account for regional differences in cost of living.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where there are a variety of child care options that supply enough diversity, flexibility, and affordability to meet parental choices and needs, such as those with irregular work schedules and children with special needs.
Why Is This Important?
A child's health affects all aspects of its life. Children who are physically fit and well nourished are happier and do better in school. Obese and overweight children are at greater risk of developing health complications, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, later in life. Immunizations protect children against serious diseases. Good mental health as a child is the foundation for the same during adult life.
What is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where the incidence of childhood health problems continues to decrease over time and health insurance is provided for children regardless of ability to pay.
Why Is This Important?
Contaminated sites are areas with ground pollution that jeopardize public health, the environment, and the economy. Ground contamination has been found on public and commercial land as well as in residential areas. Contaminated sites are an economic liability as site cleanup can be costly and time consuming. Contaminated sites are most common in larger cities with significant industrial or commercial activity and abandoned gasoline stations. There are many sources of ground pollution:
- Leaking underground storage tanks containing gasoline, heating oil, or other potential contaminants
- Chemical or sewage leaks
- Hazardous material spills
- Landfills
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where the number of contaminated sites decreases and new cases of contamination are identified and remediated promptly.
Why Is This Important?
Increased crime impacts a community's social and economic well-being. High rates of crime discourage neighborhood vitality and economic development. High crime may also impact the ability of a local government to deliver essential public services by diverting scarce resources to increased police enforcement. While violent crimes such as homicide
grab most headlines, lesser crimes such as theft and vandalism weaken the morale and civic engagement of residents. Juvenile crime rates are particularly important indicators as they are strongly correlated with continued criminal activity in adult years.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where crime levels are low and communities have safe schools and neighborhoods.
Why Is This Important?
Natural or human-caused disasters can have devastating effects on a community, the economy, and the environment. Having a plan for your community or your household that provides food, clean water, emergency medical services, temporary shelter, and transportation during emergencies can lessen the impacts of disasters. Government agencies must have plans that enable areas to quickly restore vital services so that the effects from a disaster are not compounded by a lack of power, water, sewer, and/ or other services.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where a community is prepared to meet the emergency needs of all of its members in the event of a disaster.
Why is This Important?
All human activities depend on the biological support of nature. An Ecological Footprint is a tool designed to measure a population's use of natural resources. It measures the area of land and water a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it produces. When a population has a footprint exceeding the area available to replenish its resources, it draws down the natural inventory of those resources. If a society continues to consume more natural resources than can be produced
by nature over a long period of time, the ultimate sustainability of that society may be in question.
The components of an Ecological Footprint include:
- Natural resources used in production (crop land, grazing land, fishing grounds, and forest land),
- Surface area of the earth (land and water) needed to sequester carbon dioxide emissions from energy use and production, and
- Land required to accommodate human infrastructure (housing, transportation, industrial production, and other built-up land).
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where society's demand upon nature is in balance with nature's productive and regenerative capacity, and each person has access to the natural resources necessary to sustain his or her needs.
Why Is This Important?
Household income can impact access to health care, good nutrition, and quality housing. High-income households often have access to better schools and live in safer neighborhoods, and children of high income households are more likely to complete college. Low-income households may have difficulty meeting basic needs, particularly in areas with very high cost of living. Children are especially vulnerable to poverty, as poor nutrition can stunt physical growth and cognitive development.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where all community members share in the benefits of economic development and income growth and the number of households living in poverty continues to decline over time.
Why Is This Important?
A sustainable economy provides a diversified mix of jobs to community members of all skills and backgrounds. Job growth in emerging industries is an important means of encouraging economic growth, and employment spread among many industries reduces the potential impacts of economic downturns. Reducing unemployment may lead to reduced use of public assistance and increased revenues to local governments.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where the number of jobs and number of people seeking employment is in balance, and job growth keeps pace with population growth.
Why Is This Important?
The unemployment rate is a basic indicator of economic vitality. Unemployment rates fluctuate with economic cycles and vary across regions. Unemployed individuals are unable to earn money to meet financial obligations, may lack health insurance they normally would receive through an employer, and could be at risk of losing their home.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where the level of unemployment is low and the unemployed have access to training and other resources to help them find employment.
Why Is This Important?
A good education provides a foundation for children to become productive members of society, obtain high-quality jobs, and contribute towards their community's general welfare. By providing equal education for all children, schools can play a large role in increasing the overall social equity of a community. Further, a highly skilled and educated work force will attract new businesses to the area along with new jobs and other economic benefits.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where all children receive a good education that equips them with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to fully reach their potential and become active participants in society.
Why Is This Important?
California and San Mateo County depend on the burning of nonrenewable fossil fuels-coal, petroleum, and natural gas-for energy. The burning of fossil fuels negatively impacts air quality and releases significant quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that causes climate change. California has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Increased energy efficiency and an increase in non-greenhouse gas emitting energy sources are keys to achieving this goal. An overreliance on fossil fuels can also make an economy vulnerable to price spikes in the oil or natural gas markets.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one that is carbon neutral, where energy is produced from clean, renewable sources, and is used efficiently amongst all user groups.
Why Is This Important?
The construction, operation, and removal of buildings use a tremendous amount of energy and natural resources and generate large quantities of waste and pollution. Green building practices seek to minimize the impact of our built environment by creatinghealthier and more resource-efficient buildings. Green buildings provide environmental benefits by reducing solid waste and conserving energy and water, economic benefits by reducing operating costs and enhancing asset values, and social benefits by minimizing the strain on local infrastructure and providing healthy indoor environments.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where buildings are resource efficient, produce minimal waste, are built with nontoxic substances, and have healthy indoor environments.
Why Is This Important?
San Mateo County is home to a diverse mix of ecosystems, including beach and intertidal zones, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, oak woodlands-even redwood forests. Preservation of these habitats provides a number of benefits to county residents, both monetary and non-monetary. Visitors to area beaches, forests, and lakes spend money in local stores, and unspoiled habitat increases property values and provides area residents with opportunities for recreation. Ecosystem impacts such as development in sensitive areas, excessive pollution, and the introduction of invasive species can lead to habitat loss and destruction.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where ecosystems are healthy and land use or other decisions are balanced with the need for habitat protection.
Why Is This Important?
Neighborhood characteristics, social influences, and individual behavior are among the most important factors affecting community health. Access to recreation areas or the availability of affordable housing can indirectly impact the ability of residents to get exercise. Social factors may impact residents' health, including the availability of health information (including linguistically and culturally appropriate information), norms encouraging healthy behaviors, and inequalities across socioeconomic or ethnic groups.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where all people have the knowledge and ability to lead a healthy lifestyle and the adoption of healthy behaviors increases over time among all members of a community.
Why Is This Important?
Affordable quality health care is necessary for a healthy and productive life. High costs for health insurance, treatment, and medications are a deterrent to obtaining proper care and leave less money for other basic needs. Health insurance allows for better access to health care and spreads the cost of care across the community. Deferring care because of cost often leads to more severe illness, which burdens individuals and the health care system further.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where all members of the community have access to affordable quality health care and health insurance.
Why Is This Important?
A lack of affordable housing limits the ability of people to live in San Mateo County and may reduce the availability of qualified workers for local businesses. In response to high housing prices, local workers may be forced to live in another county and face long commutes, or pay more than they can comfortably afford for housing. The provision of affordable housing for low- and very-low-income individuals is of particular importance if community members of all socioeconomic backgrounds are to share in the benefits of job growth and economic development.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where housing is available and affordable to all members of society and new housing is built to meet projected population and job growth.
Why Is This Important?
Homeless individuals lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. Homelessness detracts from an individual's ability to hold down steady employment and can negatively impact their health and safety. Homelessness among children can impact a child's ability to succeed in school and maintain relationships with peers. High rates of homelessness may negatively impact businesses by reducing the attractiveness of downtown areas to patrons.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where all residents of a community have access to a safe and permanent residence and those at risk of becoming homeless have access to high-quality temporary shelters and support services.
Why Is This Important?
Land use decisions by local governments have far reaching impacts on the long-term sustainability of the county. By 2050, San Mateo County's population is projected to grow by 80,000 residents. With many towns and cities in the county fully built-out, accommodation of these new residents and businesses will require adoption of "smart growth" policies that direct development to areas within close proximity to commercial services, jobs, and transit stations. Some of the benefits of in-fill development and increased density include:- Revitalized and thriving downtown areas
- Reduced driving and dependence on fossil fuels
- Cost savings by maximizing use of existing infrastructure and public services
- Accommodating the housing needs of employees and our growing senior population
- Reduced commute time and traffic congestionMore affordable housing
- Preserving natural space and agricultural land
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where land use policies accommodate growth, protect open space and agriculture, and encourage increased development in areas that have easy access to commercial services, jobs, and transit.
Why Is This Important?
Parks and open space enrich a community's quality of life. Access to and use of parks and open space may improve public health and increase values of nearby property. Parks are also public gathering places that bring people together and build a sense of community. Open space attracts tourism, and safeguards clean air and drinking water.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where parks and open space are abundant, of good quality, and readily accessible to all residents.
Why Is This Important?
Widespread use of toxic pesticides can damage human health and the environment. Toxic pesticides are nerve toxins and can cause cancer or pose reproductive hazards. Pesticides that are applied to homes, gardens, buildings, agriculture, rights of way, and other areas can run off into waterways, polluting water and threatening the health of wildlife. Organic food production and nontoxic pest management are emerging as alternatives to toxic pesticide use.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where the most toxic pesticides are eliminated from use and nontoxic management practices are widespread.
Why Is This Important?
Population is an important indicator of the health of a community. New residents moving into the county are important drivers of economic growth and can increase social diversity. At the same time, increased population can deplete natural resources and put strains on essential public services, while changing demographics may require local governments to adapt their services to their populations' specific needs.What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where a community is able to accommodate population growth and changing demographics without negatively impacting quality of life or depleting scarce natural resources.
Why Is This Important?
Public libraries provide all members of a community-regardless of income or status-with access to information and a safe place to read, research, work, and learn. For some members of a community, public libraries are the only place they can access computers or the internet. Libraries' reference tools and staff can be equally helpful to both students in their studies and to job seekers looking for new or different work or training. Community rooms, children's programs, and special literacy programs are offered by most libraries, helping foster an environment of unity and learning.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where all members of society have access to public libraries and where use of those libraries continues to strengthen over time.
Why Is This Important?
Households and businesses generate solid waste that is put in landfills. This waste is composed of a variety of natural and manmade materials, including wood and green waste, plastic, paper and cardboard, and food waste. Much of this material contains nonrenewable resources such as petroleum products and metals, while materials that are renewable may be consumed at a rate that outpaces nature's ability to replenish them. Further, collecting, managing, and properly landfilling waste is a costly task for municipalities and the environment. Reducing the amount of waste generated is a critical component of balancing resource consumption with resource supply.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where consumption of resources is in balance with nature's ability to replenish them and resources are diverted through reuse and recycling rather than thrown away.
Why Is This Important?
Motor vehicles are the largest source of pollution in San Mateo County, impacting both air and water quality. The transportation sector accounts for over half of the county's total carbon dioxide emissions, a greenhouse gas linked to climate change. High fuel costs can have a major impact on household budgets through direct spending on transportation, and indirect price increases on other goods and services.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one that is carbon neutral and where alternative fuels or modes of transportation are available so that high fuel prices do not severely impact a household's ability to purchase needed items.
Why is This Important?
Efficient, cost effective transportation is a fundamental necessity of any sustainable community. Residents need access to a variety of transportation modes in order to move to and from work, school, homes, and local businesses. Businesses must be able to deliver goods and services to their customers in an economically competitive manner with little or no time lost to congestion. Local governments must be able to fund maintenance of existing infrastructure without adverse impacts on other required services. And in all cases, transportation infrastructure plays a critical role in reducing the use of the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the county-the fossil fuel burning vehicle.
What is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where transportation infrastructure allows a range of convenient, cost effective and affordable transportation choices that support a vibrant economy while minimizing single occupancy vehicle travel.
Why Is This Important?
Our transportation choices have significant impacts on the economy, environment, and individual quality of life. Fossil fuel burning vehicles pollute the air and water and are a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. Traffic congestion reduces worker productivity and free time. The availability and use of efficient public transit may lead to improved air quality and more vibrant, sustainable communities focused on walking and biking rather than automobiles.
What Is a Sustainable State?
In a sustainable state, single-occupancy vehicle trips decline over time and use of public transit increases.
Why Is This Important?
Voting allows people to participate in community-wide decision making. High voter turnout indicates citizens are engaged and feel empowered to influence decisions affecting them. High voter participation is essential if public policy is to accurately reflect the will of the people. Low voter turnout can signal disenfranchisement and skew local government focus toward the desires of those who voted, rather than for the common good of all community members.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where all community members who are able participate in the democratic process by voting, and voter participation increases over time.
Why Is This Important?
San Mateo County borders San Francisco Bay to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Both water bodies support unique aquatic ecosystems that are easily impacted by onshore activities. Bay and ocean resources support local economies through tourism and fisheries, and provide residents with recreational opportunities. Pollution and degradation of water quality in the Bay or Ocean can adversely impact economic growth through restrictions on development, fines to local governments, or loss of tourism revenues.
What Is A Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where the presence of harmful pollutants in the Bay and Ocean is minimized, and marine habitats are healthy and support native species.
Why Is This Important?
Communities need safe, clean drinking water in adequate quantities to accommodate theirresidential and non-residential needs. San Mateo County has limited sources of local water, however, and relies heavily on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) to meet much of its water supply. The SFPUC system gets 85 percent of its water from Sierra Nevada snowmelt stored in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The remaining 15 percent comes from local Bay Area watersheds.
Four main factors could impact or endanger the balance between the county's future water supply and demand: population growth, drought, an earthquake, and climate change.
What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where water supplies and demand for water resources are in balance and there is a diversity of supply to reduce the risk of shortages or disruptions from any single source.
