california

In terms of natural disasters, 2018 was a really bad year. Communities in the United States and around the world were devastated by record-breaking wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and other catastrophes. Lamentably, these weather and geophysical events caused 10,400 human deaths and $160 billion in estimated damages last year, reinsurance company Munich Re said on […]

The population of monarch butterflies that spend winter along the California coast dropped 86 percent since 2017, according to a recent count by the Xerces Society, an invertebrate conservation group. Preliminary results from the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count, an annual citizen science program, recorded less than 30,000 butterflies overwintering in California, a significant decline from […]

By Tara Lohan In the last few weeks of 2018, the Trump administration set the stage for a big battle over water in the new year. At stake is an important rule that defines which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. The Trump administration seeks to roll back important protections for wetlands and […]

By Emilie Karrick Surrusco As 2019 begins, it’s out with the old and in with the same old, same old. Scandal-ridden Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke released a brief farewell letter Wednesday in red marker. With Zinke’s successor not yet named, David Bernhardt becomes acting secretary. The move swaps out one political insider closely […]

By Sharon Kelly 2018 is set to rank as the fourth warmest year on record—and the fourth year in a row reflecting a full degree Celsius (1.8° Fahrenheit) temperature rise from the late 1800s, climate scientists say. This was the year that introduced us to fire tornadoes, bomb cyclones and in Death Valley, a five-day […]

By Jeff Deyette Despite the Trump administration’s ongoing attempts to prop up coal and undermine renewables—at FERC, EPA and through tariffs and the budget process—2018 should instead be remembered for the surge in momentum toward a clean energy economy. Here are nine storylines that caught my attention this past year and help illustrate the unstoppable […]

By Adrian Martinez Dean Florez is preparing for what he calls “one of the biggest votes I’ve ever taken” as an air regulator at an influential agency with national clout. When he and 13 other members of the California Air Resources Board (the agency responsible for cleaning up California’s air and climate pollution) cast their […]

Sunny California is officially the first state in the nation to require solar panels on most new homes. The California Building Standards Commission unanimously confirmed the standards during a vote on Wednesday, The Mercury News reported. Commissioner Kent Sasaki described the new policy as “historic” and a model for the rest of the nation to […]