Image by by-studioOPINION – After a big year of action in 2022, our state had some monumental wins in 2023 but also undercut this progress with actions and policies that move us in the opposite direction on environmental protection and climate leadership. In 2023, California’ took two steps forward and one step back.
Image by palidachanOPINION: Our schools should be safe places for our children to learn, thrive, and build community. But California schools are not equipped for the challenges that we are already experiencing as a result of climate change – especially heat and wildfire smoke.
Truck exhaust, image by LestermanOPINION – Nearly every Californian – 98 percent of us – lives in a community impacted by unhealthy air, and climate change is making the job of cleaning our air more difficult. The legislature and Governor Newsom must renew clean transportation funding, and do so immediately, as the legislative clock is counting down and nearly $2 billion in clean air funds are at risk of expiring.
Via ShutterstockTo counter industry propaganda and build support for the urgent action required, California must launch a creative, coordinated, aggressive, well-funded media advocacy campaign that connects the dots between the fossil fuel industry and its catastrophic impacts on our health and our climate.
Environmentalist Heidi Sanborn.(Photo: Screen capture via YouTube, from California insider)California recently approved three sweeping environmental laws: SB 54, SB 343, and AB 1201. Hopefully, this game-changing legislation will shape national policy about recycling, composting, plastic pollution, and human health. We have many people to thank for the recent measures to reduce plastic pollution and increase plastic recycling, but we citizens rarely know who. Heidi Sanborn is one of those people.
The Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles. (Photo: Jose Luis Stephens, via Shutterstock)OPINION: It’s time for California to change lanes when it comes to transportation. For generations, transportation and land use decisions have placed inequitable burdens on the health of Californians with vulnerabilities. Communities designed almost exclusively for cars, even for the shortest trips, increase air pollution and reduce opportunities for building health into daily routines.
Sunset and silhouette of a joshua tree in Joshua Tree National Park. (Photo: Sean Lema, via Shutterstock)OPINION: This month is a pivotal moment in the fight against the climate crisis. On the table is the single largest government investment in U.S. history to support our transition to clean energy, improve our drinking water systems, mitigate the impacts of wildfire on our state, and much more.
An Uber car in traffic. (Photo: Cristi Croitoru, via Shutterstock)OPINION: With the pandemic finally abating, people are moving around more, and business is picking up for ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. So the timing is right for the California Air Resources Board to curb the pollution coming from those fleets. Fortunately, CARB’s agenda for its Board Hearing on Thursday includes a well-crafted measure called the Clean Miles Standard which will do just that.
Illustration of school children, education and the pandemic. (Photo: Felipe Sanchez, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California is dealing with cascading crises the likes of which have never been experienced before. Between February 2020 and today, California’s unemployment rate rose from a record low of 3.9% to 13.3%. Nearly two million Californians who were working then aren’t working now. And California’s clean energy economy — which employed 3% of the state’s workforce before COVID-19 — has also taken a hit.
A look at the L.A. skyline at sunset on a clear day. (Photo: Nadia Yong, via ShutterstockNot everything’s been “doom and gloom” on social media during the coronavirus pandemic as trending posts have shown “Los Angeles without smog,” clear skies in India’s often-polluted airspace and dolphins swimming through the canals of Venice. But what can we actually learn about climate change during this virtually global, economic shutdown?