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Expert Blogs

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Underinvested Communities Lead to Food Injustices

Expert BlogUnited States, CaliforniaMireya Arana

Mireya Arana, a rising senior at UC Merced, reflects on what can be done to address the food inaccessibility she sees in her hometown of Winterhaven, California.

Heat Stress Is Killing Workers. States Can Protect Them.

ExplainerUnited States, California, Oregon, FloridaNicole Greenfield
As climate change continues to progress, workers don’t have years to wait for federal rules. So local advocates are helping states create their own.

California's Colorado River Reckoning

Expert BlogCaliforniaEd Osann
If you thought the consequences of climate change could be left to your children and grandchildren to deal with, 2023 will bring a different message. The era of the Colorado River as a security blanket for Southern California is over.

Governor Newsom Sets Bold Clean Buildings Goals

Expert BlogCaliforniaKiki Velez, Merrian Borgeson

To make good on these goals, the California legislature and the governor need to fund equitable building decarbonization programs in the state budget decisions they’re working on.

Solar Helps Keep the ACs Humming in Texas

Expert BlogTexasJohn Moore

In a month that has seen Texas sizzle under record-breaking heat, solar, and wind power have been key to helping keeping the lights on—and air conditioners humming.

Organic Agriculture Helps Solve Climate Change

Expert BlogUnited States, CaliforniaLena Brook

As farmers grapple with everything from extreme weather events to heat stress to wildfires, and agriculture becomes less predictable in the face of a changing climate, it is essential for governments to help farmers transition to practices that increase resilience…

Collaborative Junk Science Is the Core of the Delta VA

Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

If you wouldn’t trust oil tobacco companies to tell you what’s safe for your health, why would you trust these water agencies to say what’s good for fish and wildlife in the Bay-Delta watershed?

Water Rights, and Wrongs, in California

Expert BlogCaliforniaKate Poole
I’m grateful to the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Little Manila Rising and Restore the Delta for compiling this clear and compelling history of California water.

Kalamazoo's Affordable All-Electric New Homes Pilot

Expert BlogMichigan, MidwestValeria Rincon
Kalamazoo's Affordable All-Electric New Homes Pilot showcases how new homes in Michigan and the Midwest can be built to be clean, healthy, and affordable.

Delta Voluntary Agreements Are a “Plan to Fail” in Droughts

Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi
Rather than planning for droughts and ensuring that minimum water quality objectives are achieved in critically dry years, the proposed voluntary agreement appears to be a “plan to fail” to protect the Delta in future droughts.

Bay-Delta VA: A Sweetheart Deal to Subsidize Agribusiness

Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi
It’s not surprising, given who was in the room negotiating this backroom deal, that the VAs are a sweetheart deal that would subsidize the mitigation obligations of the state’s largest irrigation districts and industrial agribusinesses, undermining the Public Trust.

Let’s Help More California Farms Become Organic

Expert BlogCaliforniaLena Brook
The California Department of Food and Agriculture, along with the Office of the First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, recently released a roadmap for our state’s new and ambitious Farm to School Program.