Large-scale carbon removal: How do we phase out big industries?
While we're designing policy for scaling up carbon removal, we should think about the eventual need to ramp it down.
Authored with Edward A. Parson Just a few years ago, carbon removal wasn’t seen as something that could be realistically scaled, observed Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “It is now becoming clear that technologies to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the air and the ocean are not only real, but they are needed and they are certainly worth pursuing,” she told the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources at the end of July, which held a hearing...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia House Races and the Environment
Control of the House isn't in play, but some California seats are up for grabs.
Control of the U.S. House doesn’t seem to be in play this year, but there are a lot of individual districts across the country that could flip. Cook Political lists 28 toss-up races and another 28 that lean one way or the other but are still competitive. Obviously, I’m not going to try to talk about all these races here. There are three in California, however, that deserve some attention. CA-21. Cox v. Valadao. Here, incumbent TJ Cox (D) faces David Valadao (R...
CONTINUE READING“Knocking on Our Door”: Wildfires Threaten Mt. Wilson Observatory and San Gabriel Foothill Communities
On Sept. 15, Angeles National Forest reported the Bobcat Fire was within 500 ft. of historic observatory in San Gabriel Mountains
The Bobcat fire blazing in the San Gabriel Mountains is threatening lives and homes, forcing evacuation of communities in foothills clogged with acres of brush dried out by the hottest August ever recorded in California. For flatland Angelenos like me, the fires are both omnipresent and distant, sensed only by the hazy skies and smell of smoke. With windows kept shut, I’ve been tuned in to the Los Angeles Times’ wildfire map, SCAQMD’s Current AQI map, Twitter hasht...
CONTINUE READINGHow can California make water data work for decision makers?
by Alida Cantor and Michael Kiparsky
California produces immense amounts of water-related data. Yet, California also struggles to adapt its water systems to pressures such as climate change and population growth. To meet these challenges in an informed way, decision makers need data that supports their needs. In 2018, spurred by the Open and Transparent Water Data Act of 2016 (AB 1755), we engaged stakeholders to learn how to make water data more useful. Since then, California state agencies have worke...
CONTINUE READINGBattle for the Senate: Iowa
The Iowa race features two candidates with very different views about climate change.
The Senate race in Iowa pits incumbent Joni Ernst against Democrat Theresa Greenfield. Climate change is the area where the two contrast most strongly. Greenfield accepts the science and calls for action. Ernst is still in the "maybe it relates to a little bit to humans" phase of climate denial. She also says she's "so skeptical" of the COVID death count. “These health-care providers and others are reimbursed at a higher rate if covid is tied to it, so what do you th...
CONTINUE READINGWhen Republicans Supported the Environment: Bush 41
The GOP wasn’t always the sworn enemy of environmental protection.
Younger people today probably know about George Herbert Walker Bush (R) as the father of George W. Bush and (perhaps) as the architect of the first Iraq War. But he also had some notable environmental achievements to his credit. Here are some of his accomplishments: Air Pollution Law. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments were a massive revamp of the statute. The Act established a successful cap-and-trade system for cutting acid rain. Bush had to engage in considerable...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Burning. What’s the Link to Climate Change?
Answering your denialist friends
It's a hard day to work in California, what with all the burning. Those closest to the fires and smoke are evacuating (or being rescued), or are among the brave men and women fighting in inferno-like conditions to increase fire containment. But even those of us far away and physically safe from the fires are distracted and scared. The skies won't let us forget what's happening all around. We're posting photos, checking air quality monitors, texting friends, a...
CONTINUE READINGRebuilding Environmental Protection
It will take years to fully recover from the damage of the Trump era. We will need some new ideas.
After almost four years of Trump, federal environmental protection is in about the same shape as Western Europe at the end of World War II, filled with bomb craters and destruction. If the election turns out in Biden's favor, he will be faced with the task of rebuilding from the smoking ruins. Here are some initial, somewhat tentative thoughts about "rebuilding better." One component of being "better" is "less vulnerable to being axed by conservative judges." Rec...
CONTINUE READINGHousing Solutions Fizzle In California’s Legislature
A rundown on the failures (and few successes) this session
Housing policy is at the center of all of our major societal problems in the United States: Care about racial justice? Restrictive housing and land use policies are responsible for our deeply segregated towns and cities. Climate change? Bad housing policies are the reason why so many people are forced into long, emission-spewing commutes, because they can't afford to live close to their jobs. Economic inequality? Inflated home prices and rents increasingly force mid...
CONTINUE READINGNorth Carolina: A Tight Senate Race with High Environmental Stakes
Control of the Senate may hang in the balance.
In the Tar Heel State, Republican Incumbent Thom Tillis faces a tough face against challenger Cal Cunningham. This race is central to Democratic hopes to flip the Senate. The candidates have contrasting environmental views. Thom Tillis. When Tillis ran in 2014, his main claim to fame was championing deregulation in the North Carolina legislature, which endeared him to the Tea Party. His campaign website doesn’t have an issues tab. (My impression is that this is more...
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