Two Laguna Climate Activists in LA
This past week my friend and fellow Citizens’ Climate Lobby activist, Gary Stewart, and I carpooled into LA to attend the Los Angeles Times’ (LAT) forum titled “Climate California.” Gary is a fount of knowledge, as anyone who reads his blog, “Random Guy Noticing Stuff,” is aware. He and his wife had just returned from a month in Greece, so Gary regaled me with stories about their visit to three islands and the mainland. I was told about their tour of Olympia, where the first Olympic games were held and how conflicts among any warring city-states were suspended, for the protection of the athletes (all male and naked), until the competitions ended.
Retired history professors, like me, eat this stuff up. Before I knew it, we had arrived at the forum venue, the Colburn School in downtown LA.
Like me, Gary tracks climate coverage in several national newspapers and we agree the LAT by far offers the best (most comprehensive and frequent) coverage in our nation. That paper trotted out 10 of its prominent journalists and editors who were clustered into three panel discussions: climate anxiety; lifestyles and sustainability; and climate activism, youth, and the birth of rage. I’m guessing that maybe 300 people attended the first-rate program. The audience was diverse in ethnicity and age (from youth to geezers like me).
Here are some highlights. In the “Climate Anxiety” segment, columnist Tony Briscoe observed that as climate change denialism has retreated, public unease has increased. People need to see that “we’re going to have to make sacrifices, change the way we’re living.” Sammy Roth, who writes the column “Boiling Point,” agreed but responded “people are afraid of change.” We need more amenable working, biking, and public transit options. “We need to eat less meat and dairy.” Briscoe, agreed, adding we need more public transit, given the fact that 30 percent of the Southland’s carbon emissions come from motor vehicles. He said we also need to build out our “rail and bus systems.”
Columnist Rosanna Xia, who recently authored a book, California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline, confessed: “I feel guilty getting on a plane. But that’s how I do my job.” Briscoe noted that Californians burn more aviation fuel than the citizens of any other state.
In the “Lifestyle and Sustainability” panel discussion, one of the discussants affirmed “we’re now swimming in plastics. Only 5 percent of plastics have been recycled. The bulk of the rest “winds up in landfills.” Attention was given to California’s lawsuit against Exxon Mobil for deceiving the public on the recyclability of plastics. One panelist winced “the amount of plastics in our lives is “soul crushing.” So-called “forest schools” were discussed within the context of educating children about climate change. Such schools would see to it that children get out into open space and thereby learn “to prioritize natural systems.” One panelist emphasized that parents should play a big role in this by acquainting young children with nature.
Under the third and last category “Climate Action, Youth, and the Birth of Rage,” Roth stressed that young people protesting was important but insufficient. “We must build community.” The Sunrise movement was highlighted along with the LA County Youth Climate Commission. Next, nuclear power came up for discussion. Roth said the issue was “tricky.” At bottom, “we need to get off fossil fuels as fast as possible.”
All in all, the presenters seemed to agree that California is the nation’s leader in addressing climate change. That said, society has no time to waste as the window of opportunity to take effective action to provide a livable climate seems to be closing.
That evening, fueled by the climate change-induced warming waters of the Gulf of Mexico, hurricane Helene inundated much of Florida’s west coast, killing at least 130 people regionally, knocking out power for millions of residents in the Southeast, and destroying homes. Nuff said?
Tom Osborne is an environmental historian. With his wife, Ginger, he co-leads the Laguna chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. tomosborne@cox.net.
