Environment

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From water shortages to climate change to wildfires, we cover everything you need to know about environmental issues that confront California.

Meet the Team
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Molly Peterson
Environment and Health Editor
Rachel Becker
Water Reporter
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Alejandro Lazo
Climate Reporter
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Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
California Divide / Environmental Justice Reporter
Climate Change
Oil money flows for black and Latino Democrats
It’s not often that interest groups call out public officials by their race, but as environmentalists evaluated state lawmakers’ voting records last year, that is just what they did. Black and Latino Democrats “must do better” to buck the interests of the petroleum industry and help the communities they represent, the California Environmental Justice Alliance […]
By • June 1, 2016
Climate Change
Reader reaction: Carbon credits essential to fighting climate change
This letter was sent in response to a letter that was published in the San Francisco Chronicle regarding California ponders expanding cap and trade to Brazil. We appreciate the concerns raised by James Feichtl regarding the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) forest protocols. Carbon credits are essential to combat climate change. If designed right, they have the […]
By • May 24, 2016
Climate Change
California ponders expanding cap and trade to Brazil
With feathers adorning his head and red paint decorating his face, Haru Kuntanawa hardly looked like a potential business partner for California’s oil industry when he addressed the crowd gathered last week in a Sacramento conference room. But under a plan state air regulators are considering, industries that emit greenhouse gas pollution in California could […]
By • May 4, 2016
Environment
San Francisco’s ‘benchmarking’ was first in California; state will follow
SAN FRANCISCO—Barry Hooper’s co-workers can be forgiven if they try to avoid him in the office. No one wants to be fingered as an energy hog. Hooper manages San Francisco’s five-year-old building-efficiency ordinance, created to measure wasted energy in the city’s largest structures, give them a score the public can see and prod owners to […]
By • April 30, 2016
Climate Change
A pivotal race for California Democrats
Can a Democrat cross environmentalists and labor unions and still keep her seat in the California Legislature? Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown (D-San Bernardino) is putting that question to the test. After two terms in the statehouse, Brown is facing a challenge from the left as she runs for re-election. Environmentalists and union leaders unhappy with Brown’s […]
By • March 30, 2016
Climate Change
California will rate big energy users
State officials recently added a new piece to the patchwork quilt that is California energy policy:  a mechanism for easily—and publicly—tracking how non-residential buildings use energy. The details aren’t worked out yet under a law that took effect three months ago. But such programs are already in place in San Francisco and a smattering of other […]
By • March 29, 2016
Environment
California officials say going green will cost you some, save you some
Before remodeling a kitchen or building a house, Californians should consider Title 24 of the state building code. It spells out the state’s energy-use requirements for new and existing structures. Since 1978, Title 24 has set such standards for builders and homeowners, guiding them along a path that will lower the energy footprint of California’s buildings. The code is updated every three years, with the […]
By • March 16, 2016

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