Posts Tagged: climate
Opinion
OPINION: This has been a crucial time in international climate negotiations. In December, in Paris, negotiators signed an agreement on the next round of targets and actions to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997 and will effectively close down in 2020. Negotiators established a new and meaningful agreement for multinational action through individual country “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” (INDCs).
Analysis
Weeks after returning from the Paris summit on climate change where he was hailed as a leader in the movement to limit greenhouse gases, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed a new transportation budget that celebrates the car. In 2016-17, Brown wants to spend $16 billion on transportation, and most of that would go toward making it easier for people to drive. The Democratic governor wants to build new roads and highways and repave old ones, and use more technology to speed traffic.
Opinion
OPINION: The Paris talks brought into clearer focus just how many so-called moderate Democrats who sided with the oil industry this year re out of touch with their caucus, their party and their state. This small tribe of transactional politicians, whose campaign coffers have been filled with oil company dollars for years, did the shameless bidding of Big Oil once again this year, failing to protect Californians from greater environmental harm.
Opinion
Six months after Gov. Jerry Brown called for a special session of the Legislature to fix the state’s crumbling roads, the potholes are just as deep, the motorists are just as irritated and the multibillion-dollar price tag is just as high. The goal is to offer a package to improve the worst of the state’s 50,000 miles of state-run roads and 13,000 bridges, and provide new capacity in freight-clogged zones and provide a regular source of funding over time.
News
When Gov. Jerry Brown traveled to the Vatican to attend Pope Francis’ conference on climate change, the Democratic governor allowed one of his most extended public glimpses into how Catholicism helped shape his career. Brown, who turned 77 in April, is nearly the same age as the Pope who turns 79 in December. Pope Francis is the first Jesuit Pope and Brown was a Jesuit seminarian until he dropped out of the Society of Jesus in 1960 to attend the University of California, Berkeley.
Opinion
California is in the midst of multiple regulatory efforts to reduce methane emissions from natural gas and oil operations throughout the state. It’s a key opportunity to make a real dent in the state’s climate impact since methane, the primary component of natural gas, packs over 84 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it is released unburned.
Opinion
As a physician – especially a physician living in Los Angeles – I am deeply concerned about the effects of air pollution on lung health. Southern California is home to some of the most entrenched air pollution in our nation and it affects the millions of our residents living with asthma, heart and lung disease and other chronic health conditions.
Opinion
Last week’s executive order on climate change from Gov. Jerry Brown offers a valuable opportunity to reflect on what Pacific Coast climate leadership is helping us achieve. As someone whose career has spanned both economic and environmental interests, I have a unique vantage point on why reducing carbon emissions is a win-win for both business and the environment.
Opinion
While most people have heard of lobbyists and have a general idea of what the lobbying profession is about, few understand the breadth and complexity of this work and the important role that lobbyists play in developing state policy. When I first began lobbying, long-time relationships ruled the process, there was far more bipartisan collaboration, and individual legislators wielded enormous clout.
Opinion
OPINION: Cleaning up the air is a big challenge, so everyone needs to be part of the solution. Now is the time for elected leaders and residents around the state to join the American Lung Association and charge ahead to electric cars instead of guzzling gas.
A powerplant at sunset. (Photo: David Crockett)
