Virtual Town Hall Reveals Climate Change Goals in California
My Nov. 26 Epoch Times article
Events like the recent YouTube Town Hall held by state Sen. Josh Becker (D-San Mateo) for his constituents can be very revealing regarding climate change goals in California. It addressed the Glasgow Climate Summit, called COP-26, which he attended. He represents part of Silicon Valley and is vice chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change.
He brought up how his area of the state is greatly impacted by sea-level rise, smoke from wildfires, and drought. Stopping in Portugal on the way to COP 26, he said they have off-shore windmills for electric power, but he mainly wanted to talk about their wildfires, which are similar to California’s. Other countries impacted “by the climate crisis already” include Ghana and Australia, bringing us “a shared sense of momentum and action.”
He said the goal is “getting to zero,” the name of his Senate blog, meaning zero carbon use.
“We have to remake every aspect of our climate. Every aspect,” including transportation, building, building materials and agriculture. “That’s why it’s the greatest challenge we’ve ever faced, but also the greatest opportunity that we’ve ever faced.”
He said he went to COP 26 to “show it can be done” because California has “reduced its emissions 20 percent, while growing our economy by 60 percent.” But California still has to “move much, much faster to both meet our goals, and to do what needs to get done for the rest of the world.”
The problem is he doesn’t mention that California has become so expensive that its population is going down because of high taxes and cost of living. In particular, the environmental regulations he touts have slowed housing construction, reducing affordability to just 24 percent of households in the third quarter of 2021.
People are escaping the environmental and other restrictions by moving to less restrictive states, such as Texas, Florida and Tennessee. That’s hardly an example for the country and the world. He pointed out Tesla was started in his district, not seeing the irony that CEO Elon Musk just announced it would be moving its headquarters to Texas.
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