Region: California
California’s Best Investment in the Fight Against Climate Change
Trump is on a search-and-destroy mission against climate science & energy research. We need to fill the gap.
How can California best move the ball on the climate issue? Ann Carlson and I have just published an op. ed. in the Sacramento Bee making the case for a state climate-research fund and explaining how it could be implemented. Here’s why investing in new knowledge is such an important move for California. California can …
Continue reading “California’s Best Investment in the Fight Against Climate Change”
CONTINUE READINGScott Pruitt, Senator Harris and the California Question
California leadership in peril?
Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, elided many questions yesterday and made some somewhat surprising commitments to appease Senate Democrats in response to others (acknowledging that humans are at least partially responsible for climate change; saying he’ll use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases). But his response to …
Continue reading “Scott Pruitt, Senator Harris and the California Question”
CONTINUE READINGNew Study: California Climate Policies Bringing Over $13 Billion To San Joaquin Valley
Report commissioned by Next 10 and written by Berkeley Law’s CLEE and UC Berkeley’s labor center
Climate policies are under political attack, both in California and nationally. The common argument is that these policies hurt the economy and destroy jobs, particularly in disadvantaged communities. To assess those claims, the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) at UC Berkeley Law and UC Berkeley’s Donald Vial Center on Employment in the …
CONTINUE READINGThe Owls in the Vineyard
It’s smart to take precautions against climate change. More can be done, even in the Trump era.
At night, you can hear the hooting of owls in the vineyard. The owners have deployed owls and falcons to control the pests that threaten the Kendall Jackson vineyards due to milder winters. But birds of prey aren’t the only things flying above the vineyard. There are also drones, which are used to observe small differences …
Continue reading “The Owls in the Vineyard”
CONTINUE READINGHow Prop 13 Has Wrecked California
Time to roll back the 1978 tax measure
Prop 13 is supposedly the third rail of California politics. The 1978 ballot measure effectively froze property taxes in the state and ultimately ensured that any new tax increases require a 2/3 vote, whether in the legislature or among local voters approving a new city or county tax measure. It can only be undone if …
Continue reading “How Prop 13 Has Wrecked California”
CONTINUE READING2016: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
“But except for that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?” It’s an old joke, for all I know going back to 1865. That was 2016,too, in a way. Like Mrs. Lincoln’s evening at Ford’s Theater, 2016 contained a lot of good things, some bad things, and then disaster. Here’s a list of each. The …
Continue reading “2016: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
CONTINUE READINGWhoops, We Almost Forgot to Ask You For Money!
In otherwise grim times, Berkeley & UCLA are supporting California’s forward environmental progress.
Unlike a lot of blogs, we don’t plague you with requests for money. But it’s that time of year And this is your last chance for a deductible 2016 gift to support positive change in a really negative time for our country. Legal Planet is a joint product of the Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, …
Continue reading “Whoops, We Almost Forgot to Ask You For Money!”
CONTINUE READINGCheaper, Cleaner Power
The cheapest new power today: gas, wind, solar. Almost never coal.
What’s the cheapest way to add power to the grid where you live? Unless you live near Lake Superior, the answer isn’t coal — not even in West Virginia or Kentucky. Beyond that, the exact answer depends on just what you means by cheap. A major study from UT Austin digs deep into this question. …
Continue reading “Cheaper, Cleaner Power”
CONTINUE READINGYes, there’s some actual good environmental news this week
Approval of regional ocean management plans, California planning for gray wolf return provide grounds for hope
It’s not exactly been the best of weeks for those of us committed to environmental protection, and it doesn’t look like the best of years coming up. But there is some good news, even in these difficult times. Two items in particular have helped lift the gloom for me this week. First, the National Ocean …
Continue reading “Yes, there’s some actual good environmental news this week”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s internecine water war
Dianne Feinstein versus Barbara Boxer; maximizing water deliveries versus protecting the environment
If you thought California was immune to the season of political craziness, think again. California Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were elected to the Senate together in 1992. They are usually on the same side, but not always. Water is one of the issues on which they often part company. Feinstein is a water …
Continue reading “California’s internecine water war”
CONTINUE READING