Region: California
Does the Future Have Standing?
Climate change may devastate future generations. Is there a way to get their interests before the courts?
Climate change is not just a long-range problem; it’s one that will get much worse in the future unless major emissions cuts are made. For instance, sea levels will continue to rise for centuries. But the people who will be harmed by these changes can’t go to court: they haven’t been born yet. How can …
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CONTINUE READINGAfter Trump
Suppose we get a pro-climate-action unified government. What then?
Someday, the stars will surely come into alignment and Congress will be able to pass climate legislation. A national cap-and-trade scheme or a carbon tax would be definite possibilities. But let’s suppose they aren’t politically feasible, maybe because of opposition from progressive on equity grounds, or maybe because for some reason the public rejects them. …
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CONTINUE READINGSave the Monarch!
The plight of California’s iconic butterfly highlights the need to overhaul the state’s endangered species law
The Monarch butterfly is an iconic species for Californians. And it is heading rapidly towards extinction within the state, as the population counts for the California population this year indicate that butterfly numbers fell 86% in a single year, over a 99% drop since the 1980s, and the size of the population is now small …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate policy and horcruxes
What Harry Potter might have to teach us about making climate policy more resilient to political shifts
As the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes clear, the negative impacts of climate change are now upon us, and we have a very limited amount of time to decarbonize global economies in order to reduce the risk of catastrophic impacts from climate change, impacts that might begin as soon …
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CONTINUE READINGPolicy Brief: Low-Income Multifamily Energy Savings Retrofits
New CLEE/UCLA Policy Brief Highlights Top Solutions to Increase Access to Incentives and Unlock Benefits
Improving the energy performance of existing buildings will be key to achieving California’s efficiency and greenhouse gas emission goals. But owners of low-income, multifamily buildings face some of the greatest obstacles, including difficult access to capital, complex financing arrangements, and competing renovation needs. Residents in these buildings also experience a “split incentive” problem that limits …
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CONTINUE READINGNew CEQA SB 743 Transportation Guidelines Finally Finalized
Critical revisions will be discussed at March 1st Conference in Los Angeles — register now!
It took five years, but California has finally ditched an outdated and counter-productive metric for evaluating transportation impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). With the guidelines finalized on December 28th, a mere half-decade since the passage of SB 743 (Steinberg) in 2013, the state will ditch “auto delay” as a measure of project …
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CONTINUE READINGJerry Brown’s Top Climate Accomplishments
Amazing successes, coupled with unfinished business
Today California inaugurates a new governor, Gavin Newsom, and says goodbye to four-term governor Jerry Brown. Governor Brown made climate change a central issue in his last two terms. Rick already offered an excellent assessment of the governor’s overall environmental accomplishments, so here are (to my mind) his top achievements on the specific issue of …
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CONTINUE READINGTo Be or Not to Be an Energy Utility
Questioning the continued existence of California’s largest energy utility
What can we do to ensure the safety of the massive electric and natural gas delivery systems that we rely on every day? Eight years after the horrific explosion and fire stemming from one of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E’s) natural gas pipelines in San Bruno, California, the state’s legislators and utility regulators …
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CONTINUE READINGEveryday Christmas: The Gift of the Commons
Clean air. Clean water. We receive these public goods every day without payment.
Every day, we reach receive bountiful gifts in the form of what economists call public goods. I thought it might be worth reposting some Christmas Eve musings on that subject. After all, the holiday season is a time for watching the same old movies and hearing the same old carols as before, so why shouldn’t …
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CONTINUE READINGLooking Back at the 2018 Elections (Governors Races & California House Seats).
Both sets of elections went well for pro-environmental candidates.
Before the election, I did blog posts on some key governors’ races and California House races. How did those come out? As it turns out, pro-environmental Democrats swept these races, many of which had been rated as toss-ups and some of which did turn out to be very close. I picked these GOP-held seats because …
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