2025 Rising Together: The Bay Adapt Summit
September 15
UPDATE: Tickets for the afternoon summit sold out quickly. But don’t worry: You can still join the waitlist OR get tickets to attend the reception where we will honor the three Bay Adapt Award winners!
Get tickets for Rising Together: The Bay Adapt Summit, a unique climate change adaptation conference, presented by BCDC, in partnership with the Exploratorium and Greenbelt.
For the second consecutive year, this dynamic and immersive gathering brings together climate practitioners, scientists, advocates, and community members to celebrate regional progress on sea level rise adaptation and highlight the latest on-the-ground actions taking place across our neighborhoods. From unique field trips at iconic shoreline locations to engaging sessions and panels, the Bay Adapt Summit combines cutting-edge knowledge with the latest stories about what’s happening on the ground.
As part of the Summit, the Bay Adapt Awards recognize individuals who are leading the way with exemplary contributions and innovations addressing the critical challenges of sea level rise. These awards aim not only to celebrate outstanding contributions but also to inspire broader community action in response to the most pressing challenges of our time.
2025 Rising Together: The Bay Adapt Summit
First, we will kick off the summit with three different field trip options, with limited availability, on Sunday (September 14 ) and Monday (September 15) mornings! Check out more details on the agenda* and make sure you add a field trip to your ticket when you sign up (while tickets last)!
On Monday, we will gather at the iconic Exploratorium for a day of inspiration, learning, and collaboration. In the morning, you can choose between two optional, simultaneous activities at 10 a.m.: the Solutions Room Speed Dating or Mycelium Youth’s Gaming for Shoreline Justice Workshop.
Full Program*
*Program and schedule are subject to change at any given time without prior notice.
Sunday, September 14, 2025
MORNING (SIMULTANEOUS FIELD TRIPS, OPTIONAL)
10:00 A.M. – Field Trip 1: Rising Waters, Resilient City: Exploring Suisun City’s Shoreline with Sustainable Solano
Explore how sea level rise, flooding, and stormwater shape Suisun City on this interactive waterfront walking tour led by Sustainable Solano. As we walk together along the shoreline, we’ll discuss the climate challenges facing this unique waterfront community and explore a range of adaptation strategies that could help protect both people and the environment. Participants will learn how the slough interacts with the built landscape, contributing to both ecological richness and flood risk, and discover how nature-based solutions can play a vital role in building long-term resilience.
10:00 A.M. – Field Trip 2: At the Water’s Edge: The Future of the Canal District with Canal Alliance
Join us for a powerful walking tour through the Canal neighborhood in San Rafael, co-led by community leaders and the Canal Alliance team. We’ll begin at the Canal Alliance headquarters, where you’ll have the chance to understand and visualize the area’s vulnerabilities and opportunities. From there, we’ll walk to key locations to witness the threats to homes, businesses, evacuation routes, and other critical infrastructure, and visit a waterfront site the City is working to transform into a public park and possible pedestrian bridge over the creek. This experience offers not only a look at the challenges facing the community but a window into Canal Alliance’s model of meaningful community engagement and capacity building in action.
Monday, September 15, 2025
MORNING (SIMULTANEOUS SESSIONS, OPTIONAL)
10:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. – Pre-Summit | Solutions Room Speed Dating (Optional)
(Fisher Bay Observatory) The Solutions Room is an optional interactive session where cities and community-based organizations can present real-world challenges they’re facing—from technical hurdles to community engagement roadblocks—and receive rapid-fire insights and tailored advice from a panel of expert practitioners. Whether you’re looking for funding strategies, nature-based design input, or inclusive planning tools, this is your chance to get unstuck and move toward solutions. Advance registration is required; if you sign up, event organizers will reach out to you in advance to learn about the challenge you would like to bring to the session and ensure that the right experts will be there.
10:00 AM – 11:00 A.M. – Pre-Summit | Mycelium Youth’s Gaming for Shoreline Justice Workshop (Optional)
Led by: Marcy Brown, Lead Storyteller & Game Designer, Mycelium Youth Network
(Exploratorium Classroom 1) Discover how storytelling and role-playing games can become powerful tools for climate education and community empowerment. In this interactive session, Mycelium Youth Network will share their groundbreaking Gaming for Justice workshop, where participants can engage in custom Dungeons & Dragons–style adventures rooted in real-world environmental justice issues. Learn how this innovative program blends STEAM learning, cultural storytelling, and collective problem-solving to build climate resilience and inspire the next generation of changemakers.
10:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. – Field trip 3: Augmented Reality Walking Tour -Sea Level Rise at SF Waterfront with the Port of San Francisco
This tour is split into two parts: in the first half, Cal Poly Assistant Professor of Architecture Gabriel Kaprielian will lead us to step into the past and see into the future with an augmented reality walking tour of San Francisco’s evolving waterfront. “Postcards from the Future, San Francisco 2125” is a guided augmented reality tour along the historic downtown shoreline. It invites the public to explore the past, present, and potential future transformations of the city’s shoreline by visualizing place-based changes at six designated locations. In the second half, Port of San Francisco Senior Planner Luiz Barata will lead a walk around the Ferry Building and discuss the history of the Embarcadero Seawall and how the Port of San Francisco’s Waterfront Resilience Program is planning for a safer and more resilient waterfront. We’ll explore the shoreline together, spark conversation, and imagine the future of San Francisco through a new lens.
AFTERNOON
1:00 – 1:30 P.M. – Welcome and Check-in
- Gregg Castro, Culture Director, Association of Ramaytush Ohlone
- Lindsay Bierman, Executive Director and CEO, Exploratorium
- Zack Wasserman, Board Chair, SF BCDC
1:30 P.M. – Session 1: What We Have Accomplished
(Fisher Bay Observatory) Across the region, communities are rising to the challenge of sea level rise with bold, creative, and community-centered solutions. This session shines a light on the climate adaptation successes happening throughout the Bay Area—from shoreline restoration and flood protection projects to community-led planning efforts and innovative policy wins. Join us to celebrate the progress we’ve made, hear inspiring stories from local leaders, and recognize the partnerships and perseverance that make these accomplishments possible. With:
- Dana Brechwald, Assistant Planning Director for Climate Adaptation, SF BCDC
- Dr. Kris May, PhD, CEO, Pathways Climate Institute (2024 Bay Adapt Awardee)
- Violet Saena, Founder and Executive Director, Climate Resilient Communities (2024 Bay Adapt Awardee)
2:00 – 3:15 P.M. – Breakout Sessions
Choose among simultaneous sessions happening around the Exploratorium:
1. Engineering with Nature: Implementing Nature-Based Solutions in Dense Urban Areas
Nature-based solutions hold enormous promise for building climate resilience, but how do they take root in dense, urban environments like San Francisco? This panel brings together experts to explore the challenges and opportunities of designing, permitting, and implementing green infrastructure and ecological adaptation strategies in the built environment. Drawing from real-world examples across the Bay Area — including innovative pilots like the Living Seawall project — panelists will share lessons learned, emerging best practices, and what it takes to engineer with nature in cities where space is limited but the need for resilience is urgent. With
- Devyani Jain, Deputy Program Manager – Environmental, Port of San Francisco
- Julie Beagle, Engineering with Nature Program Manager, US Army Corps of Engineers
- Emily Corwin, SF Bay Living Shorelines Collaborative, San Francisco Estuary Institute
- Andrew Chang, Ecologist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
2. Community Engagement: Building Community Capacity for Meaningful Engagement in Adaptation Planning
Equitable climate adaptation starts with inclusive, community-driven processes—but meaningful engagement doesn’t happen by accident. This session explores how local governments and community-based organizations are working together to build the capacity of frontline communities to shape adaptation planning. Through case studies, conversation, and interactive activities, participants will learn strategies that go beyond outreach to foster leadership, deepen trust, and ensure that adaptation efforts reflect local priorities. Join us to learn how investing in community capacity today leads to more just, effective, and lasting climate solutions tomorrow. With:
- Nicole Aguilera, Community Development Coordinator, Canal Alliance
- Eva Calderon, Miembro del Consejo de Residentes, Canal Alliance
- Kamille Lang, Resilient Leadership Manager, Climate Resilient Communities
- Victorina Arvelo, Resilience Manager, Greenbelt Alliance
3. Advancing Permitting for Adaptation Projects
Permitting can be challenging for adaptation projects, especially those that span jurisdictions, involve nature-based solutions, or sit at the edge of land and water. This session dives into efforts to streamline permitting for sea level rise and climate resilience projects, featuring examples of cross-agency coordination, regulatory innovation, and lessons learned from pilot initiatives. With:
- Xavier Fernandez, Planning and TMDL Division Manager, San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board
- Mitsuko Grube; Senior Environmental Scientist, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Ethan Lavine, Assistant Regulatory Director for Climate Adaptation, SF BCDC
- Harriet Ross, Director of Regulatory Affairs, SF BCDC
4. Tides of Understanding: Advancing Public Education on Sea Level Rise
As climate impacts accelerate, public understanding of sea level rise (SLR) is more urgent than ever. This session celebrates a key milestone: the upcoming adoption of a formal SLR education program by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) as part of the Bay Plan and Special Area Plan—an effort catalyzed in collaboration with the Exploratorium. We’ll explore how this moment can serve as a launchpad to elevate SLR education across the region.
Join leaders from museums, schools, and nonprofit organizations to discuss how we can deepen awareness, inspire action, and ensure that communities across the Bay Area have access to accurate, accessible, and engaging climate science. Panelists will share lessons from successful public engagement initiatives and explore how the Joint Platform can support and scale this work. Let’s chart the course for a more climate-literate Bay Area. With:
- Susan Schwartzenberg, Senior Artist, Exploratorium
- Emma Greenbaum, Project Director, Exploratorium
- Mulika Musyimi, Civic Science Fellow, Exploratorium
- Phoenix Armenta, Senior Manager for Climate Equity and Community Engagement;
- Luiz Barata, Senior planner and urban designer, Waterfront Resilience Program at Port of San Francisco (2025 Bay Adapt Awardee)
- Shy Walker, Director of Ninth Root
5. Financing Resilience: Models for Scalable, Community-Centered Adaptation
With an anticipated nearly $100B funding gap for Bay Area sea level rise adaptation, and support from Washington at an all-time low, innovative models for organizing, funding, and delivering adaptation are more important than ever. This session explores new and emerging approaches to funding and financing from across the Bay Area and beyond: resilience districts, creative financing, and public-private-community partnerships. Panelists will share real-world examples of how cities and partners are leveraging public, private, and philanthropic funds; aligning adaptation goals with infrastructure investments; and ensuring that frontline communities benefit from and help drive these efforts. Learn what it takes to turn bold visions into funded, place-based action. With:
- Len Materman, CEO, OneShoreline (San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resilience District)
- Nuin-Tara Key, Executive Director of Programs, California Forward
- Louise Bedsworth, Executive Director at the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment, UC Berkeley
- Zach Knight, Co-founder and CEO, Blue Forest
- Jessica Fain, Director of Planning, BCDC
- Eric Olson, Co-founder & Managing Partner, HeatWve LLC
3:45 – 4:00 P.M. – Session 2: Keynote Speaker: Alexis Madrigal
Journalist, co-host of KQED’s current affairs show, Forum, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic.
4:05 – 5:00 P.M. – Session 3: Where To Go From Here?
(Fisher Bay Observatory) Do you have a project you want to get off the ground? Do you want to start a campaign or find like-minded people who can help your project come to fruition? Building on the inspiring breakout sessions, this convening will help us think about the future. After registering for the summit, submit your project or idea via this form.
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. – Bay Adapt Award Ceremony and Reception
The Bay Adapt Awards recognize individuals who are leading the way with exemplary contributions and innovations addressing the critical challenges of sea level rise. These awards aim not only to celebrate outstanding contributions but also to inspire broader community action in response to the most pressing challenges of our time. We’ll raise a toast to leaders who are helping the Bay Area communities adapt, mitigate, and prepare for rising sea levels.