Posts Tagged: communities

News

Action needed now to meet our climate goals

A view of Los Angeles blurred by a hazy atmosphere. (Photo: evijaf, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: For 11 years, Next 10 has been measuring economic and environmental indicators in the California Green Innovation Index. This year, the data is sobering. If the current pace of emissions decline continues, we will miss our 2030 climate targets by more than thirty years.

Opinion

Why California needs another water bond in 2020

A photo illustration showing the depletion of water in aging infrastructure. (Image: miophotolap, via Shutterstock) infrastructure.

OPINION: The California Legislature is currently considering several proposals to put a $4 billion bond measure on a 2020 ballot for safe drinking water, drought preparation, wildfire prevention, and climate resilience. An $8.9 billion bond initiative has also been filed by environmental advocates. Many Californians might ask, “Didn’t we already pay for that?”

News

Sea level rise: California’s new reality

Pacific Ocean waves lap against beach front properties in Malibu. (Photo: Elliott Cowand Jr., via Shutterstock)

While wildfires have gotten much of the attention in California as consequences of climate change, it’s really rising sea levels that will likely wreak the most damage. With more than 25 million people living near the coast, some $150 billion worth of property is at risk.

Opinion

Grocery, beverage taxes hurt working families

An assortment of soft-drink brands at a Cypress, Calif., market. (Photo: David Tonelson, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: While health and wellness must be a top priority for communities across the US, taxing the poor is not the way to do it. Taxes such as these place a considerably larger share of the economic burden on working families, poor communities and small business owners.

Opinion

Health care workforce crisis: Need more diversity, access to care

Health care workers in a hospital corridor. (Photo: Pixel-Shot, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: California has a healthcare workforce crisis. Over the next decade, this state’s 39 million residents face a health worker shortfall of 4,100 primary care physicians and 600,000 home care workers, and we will have only two-thirds of the psychiatrists and mental health providers needed.

Opinion

Investment target: ‘Transformative Climate Communities’

A community with rooftop solar panels, a leading source of renewable energy. (Photo: Roschetzky Photography)

During the past June primary elections, the process of how the Legislature should allocate funds from California’s climate change program was front and center in Proposition 70. Voters were loud and clear in rejecting that ballot measure — which was born out of a nefarious deal with the oil industry. Now, the question of what those funds should be invested in still hangs in the balance, as the Legislature will soon decide on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) budget for the coming year. 

Opinion

A power grab by Caltrans?

A California freeway sign provides information for motorists. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

OPINION: Flashing Amber Alerts, public safety messages and directional traffic alerts – for decades, Californians have agreed this type of information is what belongs on the changeable outdoor message signs along our highways’ public spaces. Common sense and public policy says it is in the best interest of the public to keep this public right-of-way space limited to such content and free of blight.

Opinion

Helping communities cope with climate change

Skyline of downtown Los Angeles on a smoggy day. (Photo0: EvijaF via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Growing up in New Orleans, summertime brought mixed feelings. It meant the end of the school year and endless snow cones, but also the beginning of hurricane season. Here in California we experience extreme heat in the summer and floods and fires throughout the year, all made worse by climate change. Unless we take action now to prepare our communities, many will suffer, some more than others.

Opinion

California’s road to sustainable freight

A freight-laden train makes its way through a city's core. (Photo: Serjio74,. via Shutterstock)

When most of us receive a package at our door from Amazon or another delivery service, we rarely think about the complex system that brought it to us, from manufacturing and packaging to shipping, sorting and last-mile delivery. But California’s massive freight system is key to both our economy and our environmental health.

Opinion

Paint: Time to get the lead out

Two painters in protective suits remove lead paint from an old house. (Photo: Jaime Hooper)

OPINION: Seeing no way to prevail in the courts, the Big Three filed a ballot initiative that would nullify the court judgment holding them responsible for lead paint cleanup in 10 counties, and effectively pardon them by preventing any future suits. Perhaps worst of all, the toxic paint producers’ initiative would force taxpayers to clean up the companies’ own toxic paint mess, draining nearly $4 billion dollars from our state budget.  

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