On January 19th, 2026, climate activists — from elementary schoolers to retirees — gathered for the second annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Climate Rally hosted by the Bay Area Youth Climate Summit (BAYCS). This year’s motto, “Out of a mountain of despair, together we’re stones of hope,” took inspiration from Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” address, stressing his message of peaceful protest as the most powerful way to enact change.

What exactly does it take for a climate-related policy to reach the mayor’s office? To find its way into our laws and legislature? To become a part of our spending habits, housing search or daily commute? For many of the proposed policies currently circulating among the ranks of government in California and the Bay Area, you can ask an employee of SPUR. The San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (aka SPUR) is a nonprofit public policy organization that tackles pressing...