month we were all shocked to

read a draft of a supreme court opinion. i decision that would overturn roe versus wade and set our country back by 50 years. this is a very dark momentfor the highest court in our land and our country's rule of law . the potentialconsequences of this opinion cannot be underestimated .we're not just talking about the arrests, the prosecutions, the criminal convictions ofwomen seeking reproductive health care or medical professionals providing that care. we know from history that women will die because of this decision . now, over the years that bay area has had a proud tradition of lawyers taking up the cause of justice

during the turmoil of the 1960s , bay area lawyers formed the lawyers committee for civil rights leveraging the efforts of thousands of pro bono attorneys. after a mass shooting at a downtown san francisco law firm their area lawyers started the community againstviolence which has led the nationalfight for gun safety . and when no one bought it possible , bay area lawyers in our san francisco city attorney's office teamed up to leavethe fight for marriage equality .today we are here to announce that the san francisco city attorney's office, the bar association of san francisco and at this time over 20 law firms are joining forces to launch the legal alliance for reproductive rights. this alliance will seek to provide pro bono services to address the myriad of legal

needs of pregnant women and health providers who will be facing civil suits and criminal charges for seeking or providing reproductive health care. our city attorney's office will be looking for litigation opportunities to protect rights, advising our policymakers on how we protect that access to care and will be teaming up with these law firms and the lawyers standingwith us today and hundreds of their colleagues as well as other public law offices . reverend martin luther king taught us that the ultimate measure of a person is not where we stand in moments of comfort and convenience but where we stand at times of challenge and controversy. as lawyers, as officers of the court we cannot standidly by during this most precarious moment for constitutional rights in our lifetime . i am very grateful to the bay area legal community for

stepping up today during this moment to stand up for justice and the rule of law. and today we invite and challenge legal communities around our states and our country to join us . together, we can dispel the darkness. i am honored to be joined today by significant leaders in our legal community and beyond. we're going to hear from our first speaker, presidentof the bar association of san francisco mary mcnamara . [applause] >> thank you david. esteemed members ofthe san francisco legal community , just over a month ago mayor reed declared april 27 the bar association of san francisco day. the mayor was honoring 150 years of work that this bar association has done since its

founding in 1872. we have advocated for every major civil rights cause in the country. we've been leaders of the world in this regard and for thepast 50 years we have advocated for reproductive justice . in 1970 four roe v wade we call for the removal of restrictions from abortion in this state. in the 1970s and 80s we advocatedfor reproductive justice causes. we signed on to every major brief beforethe supreme court . today as david said we are joining together to form a new coalition , the legal alliance forreproductive rights . we know that the finest law firms in the city , everybody here has not only joined but rushed to join this effort to protect the newly vulnerable cause of pregnant people in this country. they're doing so to uphold the basic rights of legalpersonhood

for all pregnant people . the basic right or sisters, supporters, the brothers, sisters, mothers andfathers, the grandparents . everybody who helpsa woman obtain an abortion . these people will now be the subject of civil and criminal prosecutions and hospice country. all these firms recognize that a woman has a basic right to control her ownhealth care . all of them recognized that women are now going to be forced to give birth, even women have been raped. women who have beenabused . women too young to carry achild , too poor to have another child. women who have precarious pregnancies. allof them are going to be in danger through the fall of rome . in a post-real-world as david had said it's not just that women will be arrested or fully

prosecuted for doing what any other person can do with his or her body. women will indeed die. women die already in this country and getting childbirth. in fact, we have the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world and it's a race that has been climbing for two decades. the fall of rome isgoing to usher in a new appallingly high maternal mortality rate . people of color will suffer the most. the poor will get poorer. abortion is not just basic healthcare. it's an economic right and without that economic right women are going to suffer from morethe quality and the already . this city leads the state. the state leaves the country. i echo david call for our sister communities across the

country, our fellow bar association to comeand do what are doing . form agroup of lawyers who will give of themselves freely in this site . i want to thank everybody here for their civicmindedness , theirgenerosity, there will towards the constitution of this country . thank you. [applause] >> thank you marian and thank you to the leadership of the bar association . we know that as we move forward in the coming weeks, months and years there will be many strategies and tactics that will have to be determined to help leave those efforts is executive director and general counsel of the bar association, yolanda jackson . >> morning everyone. thank you to our family. thank you for being here. i cannot express how incredibly proud i am to be reading this

organization on this day and during these dark and challenging times. we always standwhen it's needed and when helps themost. in a 150 year history wewalked boldly into the fight for due process , criminal justice reform , women's equality and women's rights , raise the quality once again we are working boldly into the challenge to protect and supportthe rights of people to exercise their reproductive rights . people seeking abortions have a right to privacy and liberty. people seekingabortions have a right to privacy and liberty . roe versus wade is on the verge of being overturned. on january 2023 will be 50 yearssince the roe v wade decision was decided by the us report . none of us should be proud of this was we areabout to take

incarnation and we all should be very machine . in san francisco we always have a lighthouse shiny. a symbol of hope and security. over 20 law firms and counties have come together to be ready and prepared to assist people with legal issues arising out of there exercising their reproductiverights . these legal services will be provided for free. why? because these law firms are proud to walk the walk when it comes to upholding the rule of law and protecting constitutional rights . assisting people when they are most vulnerable is what makes mostlawyers proud to be part of our profession . the lawyers alliancefor reproductive rights is facing a crisis head-on . we had could not be more proud of the 20+ firms for their generosity . we are extremely honored to be collaborating with the san francisco city attorney david

hsu and his office in this important endeavor. finally i want to invite and encourage my. executive directors from bar association's from across the nation to replicate this effort in their cities to help people seeking and fighting fortheir reproductive rights . i want to thank all the firms who stand ready to bend the art of the moral universe towards justice. thank you to our president mary mcnamara for this amazing idea tobring these law firms together to protect the rights of those seeking the right to choose. doing whatlawyers do best . that is utilizing their unique skills and training tohelp other people .thank you all for being here this afternoon to support this effort . [applause] >> thank you yolanda. i'm going to say to the press corps we don't recognize the attorneys standing to our left or right, these are not only

some of the best lawyers in san francisco and the bay and are state, these are some of the best lawyers in the country and i would not want to miss this group. and speaking on behalf of this group is a woman who is representing one of the very first lawfirms to step up for this effort . partner and cochair of capital markets practice from arnold porter kate and scholer, teresa johnson. [applause] >> good morning everyone. my name is teresa johnson and i'm a partner with arthur and porter. i'm proud to represent the group of law firms coming together with the city attorney in the legal alliance for reproductive rights. there aremore than 20 firms who put their hands up and more joining every day. our mission is simple : to protect people exercising their reproductive rights and the

medical providers providing care and support. as we allknow the supreme court appears to be poised to take away a fundamental right that's been on the books for nearly 50 years . that calls for a public-private collaboration to pool our strength and resources and fight to ensure the personal and professional safety of pregnant people, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. no one should have toput their personal freedom on the line to exercise a constitutional right . we have a dream team of law firms in the coalition as david noted comprising some of the finest alliance in the country. there has been an outpouring of support from national and local firms to what weall see as a tragedy about to unfold . it is my privilege tointroduce the firms are part of this effort . walt schuler, arguilas cassidy,

bron katie andgordon , clarenc dyer , catch, duffy andbass , conrad kane, crowle and morgan. martel, glenn bergman and puentes. anson bridgett, lewis and llewellyn. hyman and bernstein. morrison and foerster. netheri and jung. ripken, ward and garrison. ramsey and erlich. joseph o'donnell. swanson and mcnamara and loki gallagher.

special thanks to all the firms who are part of this effort. on behalf of all of us we look forward to working with the other members to support reproductive rights. thank you . [applause] >> thank you teresa and i want to thank each and everyone of you for being here , for standing up when it really matters . our final speaker today i will introduce in the following way it's not everyday lawyers and doctors come together on an issue . but the san francisco marin medical society has been on the forefront of leading important progressive issues and i'm very grateful to the leadership of the medical society for stepping in immediately. we are looking forward to working with our healthcare professionals around the region, around the state and

around the country to protect the important work they do every day. here representingthe medical society is president phd doctor michael schrader . [applause] >> thank you david for that generous introduction. so my name is doctor michael schrader and i'm a primary care doctor in san francisco and also president of the san francisco medical society. we represent over 3000 positions living in san francisco and marin. we had a long history of advocating for theright to choose . a long history of advocating for access for patients to exercise this right and we feel that abortion is a medical decision tobe made by patient and her physician .i wanted to tell you a story. i was telling this trauma physician as i was coming here today and he told me the story resonated with me and has some real lessons.

it was a trauma surgeon and the woman had a traumatic brain injury and she was brain-dead . as part of the evaluation for trauma they checked for pregnancy turned up thiswoman was pregnant . she was stable and she was pregnant. it turns out they were working institution that shall we say is less than forward thinking about reproductive rights . and you know, normally this womanwould have been onlife support for 30 days . i'm sorry, 30 months . to carry this fetus to term. and the right thing to do in this situation is to withdraw care on this poor woman who met the legal definition of being dead . i want to tell you the right decision was made in this case but you can see how legislating these kinds of decisions takes away our power and gives power to legislatures who are not necessarily considering the individual rights of the person involved and the best medical care for the persons involved

so san francisco marin medical society isproud to be included in this initiative . david has been long been a champion of medical freedom. san franciscomarion medical assistance center defend a woman's right to choose . thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. thatconcludes today's event. i want to say to the press if you have questions for anyone today we can do interviews afterwards but i want to say to all of you who are here, thank you. thank you. we have a lot of work to do together but we are going to do it together and we will t me ask one final request . when we take a grouppicture everyone face this way and see if we can fill in the front will take a photo and then we can all say hello again . >>

>> i don't think you need to be an expert to look around and see the increasing frequency of fires throughout california. they are continuing at an ever-increasing rate every summer, and as we all know, the drought continues and huge shortages of water right now. i don't think you have to be an expert to see the impact. when people create greenhouse gases, we are doing so by different activities like burning fossil fuels and letting off carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and we also do this with food waste. when we waste solid food and

leave it in the landfill, it puts methane gas into the atmosphere and that accelerates the rate at which we are warming our planet and makes all the effects of climate change worse. the good news is there are a lot of things that you can be doing, particularly composting and the added benefit is when the compost is actually applied to the soil, it has the ability to reverse climate change by pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soil and the t radios. and there is huge amount of science that is breaking right now around that. >> in the early 90s, san francisco hired some engineers to analyze the material san francisco was sending to landfill. they did a waste characterization study, and that showed that most of the material san francisco was sending to landfill could be composted.

it was things like food scraps, coffee grounds and egg shells and sticks and leaves from gardening. together re-ecology in san francisco started this curbside composting program and we were the first city in the country to collect food scraps separately from other trash and turn them into compost. it turns out it was one of the best things we ever did. it kept 2.5 million tons of material out of the landfill, produced a beautiful nutrient rich compost that has gone on to hundreds of farms, orchards and vineyards. so in that way you can manage your food scraps and produce far less methane. that is part of the solution. that gives people hope that we're doing something to slow down climate change. >> i have been into organic farming my whole life. when we started planting trees, it was natural to have compost from re-ecology.

compost is how i work and the soil biology or the microbes feed the plant and our job as regenerative farmers is to feed the microbes with compost and they will feed the plant. it is very much like in business where you say take care of your employees and your employees will take carolinas of your customers. the same thing. take care of the soil microbes and soil life and that will feed and take care of the plants. >> they love compost because it is a nutrient rich soil amendment. it is food for the soil. that is photosynthesis. pulling carbon from the atmosphere. pushing it back into the soil where it belongs. and the roots exude carbon into the soil. you are helping turn a farm into a carbon sink. it is an international model. delegations from 135 countries have come to study this program. and it actually helped inspire a new law in california, senate bill 1383.

which requires cities in california to reduce the amount of compostable materials they send to landfills by 75% by 2025. and san francisco helped inspire this and this is a nation-leading policy. >> because we have such an immature relationship with nature and the natural cycles and the carbon cycles, government does have to step in and protect the commons, which is soil, ocean, foryes, sir, and so forth. -- forest, and so fors. we know that our largest corporations are a significant percentage of carbon emission, and that the corporate community has significant role to play in reducing carbon emissions. unfortunately, we have no idea and no requirement that they disclose anything about the carbon footprint, the core operation and sp360 stands for the basic notion that large corporations should be transparent about the carbon

footprint. it makes all the sense in the world and very common sense but is controversial. any time you are proposing a policy that is going to make real change and that will change behavior because we know that when corporations have to disclose and be transparent and have that kind of accountability, there is going to be opposition. >> we have to provide technical assistance to comply with the state legislation sb1383 which requires them to have a food donation program. we keep the edible food local. and we are not composting it because we don't want to compost edible food. we want that food to get eaten within san francisco and feed folks in need. it is very unique in san francisco we have such a broad and expansive education program for the city. but also that we have partners in government and nonprofit that

are dedicated to this work. at san francisco unified school district, we have a sustainability office and educators throughout the science department that are building it into the curriculum. making it easy for teachers to teach about this. we work together to build a pipeline for students so that when they are really young in pre-k, they are just learning about the awe and wonder and beauty of nature and they are connecting to animals and things they would naturally find love and affinity towards. as they get older, concepts that keep them engaged like society and people and economics. >> california is experiencing many years of drought. dry periods. that is really hard on farms and is really challenging. compost helps farms get through these difficult times. how is that? compost is a natural sponge that attracts and retains water. and so when we put compost around the roots of plants, it

holds any moisture there from rainfall or irrigation. it helps farms make that corner and that helps them grow for food. you can grow 30% more food in times of drought in you farm naturally with compost. farms and cities in california are very hip now to this fact that creating compost, providing compost to farms helps communities survive and get through those dry periods. >> here is the thing. soil health, climate health, human health, one conversation. if we grow our food differently, we can capture all that excess carbon in the atmosphere and store it in unlimited quantities in the soil, that will create nutrient dense foods that will take care of most of our civilized diseases. so it's one conversation. people have to understand that they are nature. they can't separate. we started prowling the high plains in the 1870s and by the

1930s, 60 year, we turned it into a dust bowl. that is what ignorance looks like when you don't pay attention to nature. nature bats last. so people have to wake up. wake up. compost. >> it is really easy to get frustrated because we have this belief that you have to be completely sustainable 24/7 in all aspects of your life. it is not about being perfect. it is about making a change here, a change there in your life. maybe saying, you know what? i don't have to drive to that particular place today. today i am going to take the bus or i'm going to walk. it is about having us is stainable in mind. that is -- it is about having sustainability in mind. that is how we move the dial. you don't have to be perfect all the time. >> san francisco has been and will continue to be one of the greener cities because there are communities who care about protecting a special ecosystem

and habitat. thinking about the history of the ohlone and the native and indigenous people who are stewards of this land from that history to now with the ambitious climate action plan we just passed and the goals we have, i think we have a dedicated group of people who see the importance of this place. and who put effort into building an infrastructure that actually makes it possible. >> we have a long history starting with the gold rush and the anti-war activism and that is also part of the environmental movement in the 60s and 70s. and of course, earth day in 1970 which is huge. and i feel very privileged to work for the city because we are on such a forefront of environmental issues, and we get calls from all over the world really to get information. how do cities create waste programs like they do in san francisco. we are looking into the few which you are and we want innovation. we want solutions.

>> restaurants will be open for take out only, but nonessential stores, like bars and gyms, will close effective midnight tonight. [♪♪♪]