Free Republic

As usual, California was ahead of the game. It's been two decades since lawmakers passed the first law to begin requiring electric utilities to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. Nearly as long since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for 1 million solar roofs. A decade since the state first mandated large numbers of electric cars on the road, and four years since Berkeley became the first U.S. city to ban gas appliances in new homes. None of those initiatives have protected the Golden State from the ravages of the climate crisis. Will Californians be willing to give up cooking with...

What’s more important: Keeping the lights on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or solving the climate crisis? That is in many ways a terrible qBut absent major breakthroughs in carbon-capture technology, we’ll eventually need to shutter most if not all of those gas plants to avoid disastrous temperature jumps. Scientists say we need to cut carbon pollution nearly in half by 2030. Could we get started ditching gas sooner — and save some money — by accepting a few more blackouts for the next few years? It’s a heretical question in power-grid circles. When I posed it...

Like many Angelenos, I spend a lot of time behind the wheel of my car. I drive from my Westside apartment to Dodger Stadium near downtown and farther east to hike in the San Gabriel Mountains. I take the 405 Freeway north to the San Fernando Valley to see friends, or occasionally south to the L.A. Times office — or to the airport, where I grow my carbon footprint even further. So I couldn’t help but consider my own complicity while reading a new study from USC researchers, finding that Angelenos who drive more tend to be exposed to less...

The climate crisis is the biggest story of our time. So why isn’t the entertainment industry acting like it? You’d think liberal Hollywood types — with their Teslas and vegan diets and eco-friendly beauty products — would be chomping at the bit to tell stories about climate. But despite a few high-profile examples — such as “Don’t Look Up” — global warming is largely absent from nearly all the TV shows and movies being produced today, according to a new report out of USC. It’s a collective failure of epic proportions — not just for human civilization, but also for...