By Rick Riviera, MBA/MPP Candidate 2018 The closest I’ve come to crying since November 8th was watching Last Week Tonight’s five-minute montage of people describing all the ways 2016 has been horrible (besides the election), followed by John Oliver dynamiting a giant 2016 sign in an empty stadium . It was a catharsis that I … Continue reading Public Policy Still Matters – Where Can We Go From Here?
By Cora Sorenson Due to overexploitation marine fish populations are in decline around the world. This has both severe global environmental as well as social impacts: weakened ocean ecosystems, depleted fish stocks, and the decline of artisanal coastal fishing communities. Furthermore, it puts large-scale fishing economies at risk by threatening the long-term viability of a … Continue reading Money in the Water: Global Subsidy Reform & the Fishing Industry
Kacey Bills, MPP 2014 #Whatthefrack? This catchy hash tag is circulating social media sites in support of Californians Against Fracking, a coalition of environmental organizations across California. The campaign seeks to have Governor Brown ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” as an oil and gas extraction method by November 2014.[1] Currently, fracking is … Continue reading Fracking Impacts California Water
Elizabeth Welsh, MPP 2014 Dumping is the illegal or improper disposal of any item including household waste, hazardous waste, and municipal waste like construction and demolition debris. In Oakland, dumping is a problem of serious scope with public health ramifications and environmental toxicology risks. It restricts properly values, contributes to a state of blight, and … Continue reading The Dumping/Donating Divide: Waste Management in West Oakland
By Kacey Bills, MPP 2014 California’s current drought is not a result of one year of below average rainfall. It is the result of four years of dry conditions. The current water crisis is not an unexpected disaster. It was completely predictable. As climate change affects weather patterns, California is in for more dry years. To … Continue reading Adapting the Water System to Climate Change
By Kacey Bills “North and South, coast and valley, urban and rural, we are in this together, and we are going to have to pull together to overcome this drought.” – Governor Pete Wilson, 1991 This remark, made over twenty years ago by Governor Pete Wilson, is as relevant in 2014 as it was in … Continue reading Water Wars: Politics Prevent Comprehensive Water Policy
By Kacey Bills, MPP 2014 When I was a child growing up in Fresno, California, beach weekends were common over the blistering summer. My family always headed to the Central Coast on I-5, making a halfway pit stop in Kettleman City to get chocolate milkshakes. My anticipation for the sugary treat would be at its … Continue reading Fulfilling California’s Responsibility to Provide Clean Water
