Climate Change

Climate Change

Read about state climate change lawsuit

Newsom-Bonta lawsuit against oil industry good PR strategy, bad for fighting climate change

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court, suing a number of oil companies as well as the American Petroleum Institute for “creating, contributing to, and/or assisting in the creation of state-wide climate change-related harms in California.” The lawsuit …

Blog

Who are winners and losers of 2023 legislative session?

Progressives Dominate Legislative Session, But Will Newsom Spoil the Party?

Late Thursday evening, the Legislature wrapped up its business for the 2023 legislative session.  As bleary-eyed lawmakers travel home today for the fall recess, what is the biggest story of this year’s legislative session? This year’s legislative session will go down as perhaps the most successful legislative session ever for …

Blog

Read about Canada's recent wildfires

Bad Policy Could Make Canada’s Recent Fires Regular Occurrence in California

When California is on fire, the rest of the country looks on with the same morbid curiosity it has when yet any of the many Old Testament plagues that shake, rattle, parch, blister and sometimes flood the Golden State. But tables do sometimes turn.  Canada’s recent wildfires meant that for …

California

Cali’s Climate Change Budget Cuts Show Programs Are More About Politics Than Cutting Emissions

Sobered by the reality of a budget deficit, the governor has proposed cutting money for climate programs. It was surely a hard choice, but practical. Something has to go and there’s no better place to show spending discipline than by holding back funds dedicated to a political fantasy. After years …

Agriculture

Taking The Bread Out Of California’s Breadbasket

Extremism in the pursuit of environmental policy might not be a vice, but it’s never a virtue. See: California’s plan to convert 20 percent of its agricultural operations to organic practices by 2045. The transition is part of the California Air Resources Board’s Scoping Plan To Achieve Carbon Neutrality. Apparently, …

California

California’s misguided climate change priorities

According to a new study released last month, California’s wildfires in 2020 spewed nearly 127 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.  This was twice the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that California had achieved over 18 years, according to the UCLA-University of Chicago study. Likewise, California’s 2018 …

Blog

The Latest (Useless) Addition To Municipal C-Suites

Never heard of a chief heat officer? Safe to say most people haven’t. Safer to say scarcely anyone has.   Yet here they come, the latest in politicians’ mad dash to do something – anything – that looks like an effort to “fight climate change.” “​​As global temperatures continue to …

Blog

The Prohibitions Will Continue … Until There’s Nothing Left To Ban

In both cases, the unelected members of the California Air Resources Board are making decisions that kill consumer choice.   CARB’s unanimous Sept. 22 vote phases out sales of natural gas and water heaters by 2030, pending a final board approval in 2025 of the rules that are to be …

Blackouts

Are Europe’s Energy Problems A Preview of Things to Come in California?

As Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of climate bills that supercharge the rush to renewable energy, much of Europe was preparing for a winter shivering in the dark. Why does California think that the problems created by a reckless commitment to green energy elsewhere will bypass this state?   …

Agriculture

Life Is Too Short To Drink Subsidized Wine

Can the quality of California wine taste better than it already does? Apparently there’s a way to grow grapes that will do just that.   A farming experiment at ​​Robert Hall Winery in Paso Robles has produced grapes that, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, are “noticeably tastier” than grapes from …

Climate Change

Read about state climate change lawsuit

Newsom-Bonta lawsuit against oil industry good PR strategy, bad for fighting climate change

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court, suing a number of oil companies as well as the American Petroleum Institute for “creating, contributing to, and/or assisting in the creation of state-wide climate change-related harms in California.” The lawsuit …

Blog

Who are winners and losers of 2023 legislative session?

Progressives Dominate Legislative Session, But Will Newsom Spoil the Party?

Late Thursday evening, the Legislature wrapped up its business for the 2023 legislative session.  As bleary-eyed lawmakers travel home today for the fall recess, what is the biggest story of this year’s legislative session? This year’s legislative session will go down as perhaps the most successful legislative session ever for …

Blog

Read about Canada's recent wildfires

Bad Policy Could Make Canada’s Recent Fires Regular Occurrence in California

When California is on fire, the rest of the country looks on with the same morbid curiosity it has when yet any of the many Old Testament plagues that shake, rattle, parch, blister and sometimes flood the Golden State. But tables do sometimes turn.  Canada’s recent wildfires meant that for …

California

Cali’s Climate Change Budget Cuts Show Programs Are More About Politics Than Cutting Emissions

Sobered by the reality of a budget deficit, the governor has proposed cutting money for climate programs. It was surely a hard choice, but practical. Something has to go and there’s no better place to show spending discipline than by holding back funds dedicated to a political fantasy. After years …

Agriculture

Taking The Bread Out Of California’s Breadbasket

Extremism in the pursuit of environmental policy might not be a vice, but it’s never a virtue. See: California’s plan to convert 20 percent of its agricultural operations to organic practices by 2045. The transition is part of the California Air Resources Board’s Scoping Plan To Achieve Carbon Neutrality. Apparently, …

California

California’s misguided climate change priorities

According to a new study released last month, California’s wildfires in 2020 spewed nearly 127 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.  This was twice the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that California had achieved over 18 years, according to the UCLA-University of Chicago study. Likewise, California’s 2018 …

Blog

The Latest (Useless) Addition To Municipal C-Suites

Never heard of a chief heat officer? Safe to say most people haven’t. Safer to say scarcely anyone has.   Yet here they come, the latest in politicians’ mad dash to do something – anything – that looks like an effort to “fight climate change.” “​​As global temperatures continue to …

Blog

The Prohibitions Will Continue … Until There’s Nothing Left To Ban

In both cases, the unelected members of the California Air Resources Board are making decisions that kill consumer choice.   CARB’s unanimous Sept. 22 vote phases out sales of natural gas and water heaters by 2030, pending a final board approval in 2025 of the rules that are to be …

Blackouts

Are Europe’s Energy Problems A Preview of Things to Come in California?

As Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of climate bills that supercharge the rush to renewable energy, much of Europe was preparing for a winter shivering in the dark. Why does California think that the problems created by a reckless commitment to green energy elsewhere will bypass this state?   …

Agriculture

Life Is Too Short To Drink Subsidized Wine

Can the quality of California wine taste better than it already does? Apparently there’s a way to grow grapes that will do just that.   A farming experiment at ​​Robert Hall Winery in Paso Robles has produced grapes that, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, are “noticeably tastier” than grapes from …

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