Every week across the state, government bureaucrats and elected officials are proposing, debating and passing ordinances, rules and legislation that impact our lives and those of our neighbors. These decisions sometimes don’t have the direct impact we hoped for or have dire implications on our lives. We need to constantly remind these decision makers that budgets are more than just math exercises.

The budget cuts and/or tax increases that are debated monthly fall squarely on the pocketbooks of those who can afford it the least. California is a special place to live, work and play primarily because of the wonderful people who call it home. It’s time we put pressure on our elected officials to pass ordinances, rules and legislation which improve the quality of life in California, not complicate it.

Coalition for California:

  • Educating our elected officials and their staff about the impact their decisions – and lack of decisions – have on us.
  • Providing a forum for Californian’s to share with others the direct impact government decisions at the local, state and federal level have had on their lives.
  • Support legislation that improves the quality of life in our state and oppose ordinances, rules and legislation that fails to take into account its human impact.

It is our hope that together we can continually keep our elected officials aware that their decisions are just NOT mathematical exercises in budgeting, they are directly impacting our lives and those of our neighbors.

Climate Change: The problem and what you can do personally.

The problem:

  1. The summer of 2022 in the Northern Hemisphere was the second hottest on record, slightly behind the summer of 2020. Antarctic sea ice set another record low for coverage. Greenland’s glaciers continue to shrink. The earth is indisputably warming.
  2. 412 parts per million. The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere, as of 2022, is the highest it has been in 3 million years. CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas causing heat trapping and global warming. It is up 11% since 2000 and nearly 50% since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

What can you do at the state or local level?

  1. Buildings are one of the biggest sources of CO2 emissions. Up to one-third of total carbon emissions come from buildings. We can demand from our state and local officials better building codes that would eliminate poorly constructed buildings, install better insulation, and switch more quickly from natural gas to electricity as cleaner electricity becomes available.
  2. Parents can demand that schools move away from diesel powered school buses, convert to eco-friendly landscaping, upgrade buildings, and install more efficient water saving systems.

What can you do at home?

  1. Install solar panels where appropriate. Turn off lights when not in use. Keep your A/C at 78 degrees and your heat at 68 degrees. Switch to all LED light bulbs.
  2. Save water: take five minute showers and use less full bathtubs, install high efficiency ultra- low water use toilets, fix leaks, install natural low water use drought tolerant landscaping, mulch where possible.

Sources:  
www.latimes.com     
https://saveourwater.com     
www.noaa.gov    
www.conservation.org

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Coalition for California, a non-profit organization (IRS Tax ID 45-3995490)
22410 Hawthorne, Torrance CA 90505

info@CoalitionforCalifornia.org