Posts Tagged: buildings

News

Facing drought, climate change recycled water is key to survival

Scant water at Granite Island and River Valley along the North Fork of the American River east of Sacramento. (Photo: Lisa Parsons, via Shutterstock)

In 2019, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled what the city calls “The Green New Deal.” This ambitious sustainability plan stipulates many policy and infrastructural changes to prepare the four-million-person city for climate change. To name a few, the Deal includes: transitioning the power grid to 100% renewable energy by 2045; modifying 100% of buildings to be net zero carbon by 2050; increasing zero emission vehicles, and electrifying all Metro and LADOT buses, to reach zero carbon transportation by 2050.

Opinion

Lawmakers have chance to block worst aspects of climate change

An eerie orange sky over San Francisco, caused by smoke from wildfires linked to climate change. (Photo: Benny Marty, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: For decades, I helped shape the state’s policy priorities as a senior member of the Assembly Speaker’s Office – including being the lead Assembly staffer on the historic passage of AB 32, which made California the first state in the nation to place caps on greenhouse gas emissions. So trust me when I say, California’s elected leaders have a huge opportunity to stave off the worst impacts of climate change by enacting the governor’s current Climate Budget.

News

Tangled tale: Research, profits and the ‘bubble baby’ syndrome

Evangelina, a former 'bubble baby,' plays inside a giant plastic bubble. (Photo: Stem Cellar Report, CIRM)

Little Evangelina Padilla-Vaccaro is more than a poster girl for the $12 billion California stem cell agency. She embodies a big bet by the agency that its efforts will conquer at least a few of the terrible diseases that are currently incurable. In the case of Evie, as the eight-year-old is known, she was born with what has come to be described as the bubble baby syndrome, a rare genetic mutation that crippled her immune system to the point that she would have died if left untreated.

News

California wants a hefty slice of that $2 trillion pie

A damaged highway in a rural area of California. (Photo: Tupungato, via Shutterstock)

What might President Biden’s colossal proposal to address the nation’s crumbling infrastructure mean to California? Admittedly, the $2 trillion fix is a long way from becoming reality. It’s still in the House, and Senate passage as the bill is written is a big “if.”

Opinion

Fighting Trump’s ‘dirty air’

A black-and-white view of smoggy Century City, Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. (Photo: trekandshoot)

President Trump, his nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Republican leaders in Congress have all declared plans to allow the oil and coal industries to extract, transport and burn dirty fuels with little restraint, to quash the free expression of science within the federal government, and to neuter the agencies that are supposed to safeguard our air and atmosphere.

Opinion

Legislature acts — and we breathe easier

Downtown Los Angeles seen through the smog. (Photo: Justin Dennis, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Millions of Californians suffered from smog and smoke this summer, but help is on the way. Defying the expectations of many observers and the fierce opposition of the oil industry, the Legislature passed a historic climate protection package in August.

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