Plastic garbage on the beach, tossed there or brought in by the tide. (Photo: Larina Marina, via Shutterstock)OPINION: You’ve probably heard the phrase, “You are what you eat” a thousand times. It’s a motto usually used to encourage skipping the fries or chips for the recommended servings of veggies and fruits. But lately this phrase has a taken on an alarming new meaning. We are eating plastic.
Windmills at the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm in Southern California, generating clean renewable electrical energy. (Photo: Patrick Poendl, via Shutterstock)OPINION:At this week’s Global Climate Action Summit, the focus is not on countries’ efforts to curb climate change, but on how cities, states, businesses, nonprofits and other non-national actors are building a low-carbon future from the bottom up. As the host state, California is in the spotlight. And do we have a story to tell.
This poker player's hand is the stuff that dreams are made of.. (Photo: Freer via Shutterstock)OPINION: Over the last decade, many California cardrooms have moved beyond their gold rush roots by upgrading and adding hotel and dining options to meet patron demands for the gaming experiences found elsewhere. Today, more than 75 state-licensed cardrooms operate in California, providing thousands of living-wage jobs and valuable general fund revenue to communities across the state.
The bicycling competition at Manhattan Beach, Calif. (Photo: Rodolfo Arpia)For years, the California Coastal Commission has sought the power to impose fines on people who violate the state’s coastal protection laws. But the high-profile efforts – at least three times in five years — were defeated in the Capitol by business interests, developers and property rights activists, among others. But beginning July 1, in what environmentalists described as a “sea change,” the Coastal Commission will have the authority to fine property owners who block the public’s access to beaches.