Zali’s Californian Dream
As part of her climate change mission, independent MP Zali Steggall looks to the US for inspiration.
As part of her climate change mission, independent MP Zali Steggall looks to the US for inspiration:
“I want Warringah to be a mini-California and lead the way,” Ms Steggall said.
Well, let’s just see how things are working out for our Cali pals:
Hot, dry winds sweeping into Southern California raised concerns that the region’s largest utility could widen power shut-offs Friday to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires, as a new blaze swept through the San Fernando Valley’s northern foothills.
Southern California Edison turned off electricity to about 20,000 people in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino and Kern counties.
They’re living the dream:
Many families impacted by the blackouts are struggling from paycheck to paycheck and don’t have the luxury of buying backup power.
The blackouts are highlighting a divide in a region with growing income disparity where access to electricity is increasingly available to those who can afford to pay.
Or you can just go off grid – permanently:
A Northern California man dependent on an oxygen supply died Wednesday, shortly after power cuts by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. affected his home, fire officials said Friday.
Under Steggall's rule, Warringah might also expect another Californian phenomenon:
Between 2011 and 2018, San Francisco experienced a massive increase in reported incidents of human faeces found on public streets.
In 2011, just over 5,500 reports were logged by the San Francisco Department of Public Works; in 2018, the number increased to more than 28,000.
LA Times columnist Steve Lopez has had enough:
It’s kind of embarrassing. In California, we like to think we’re the center of the can-do universe, progressive, all-inclusive and leading the war against the Trump administration in defense of the environment, innovation and civility.
But we’ve got tent villages up and down the state, a shameful rich-poor gap, three homeless people dying daily in Los Angeles County, and, in the midst of a housing shortage, homes going up in flames by the hundreds.
And we’re not very good at fixing any of these things.
Which may explain why so many Californians are fleeing:
Between 2007 and 2016 a net 1m American residents, or 2.5% of the state’s population, left California for another state. Texas was the most popular destination, attracting more than a quarter of them. More Americans have left California than moved there every year since 1990 …
Still, at least the Californian government has its priorities in order:
California has signed a law that bans hotels from using tiny plastic bottles filled with shampoo and soap.