If Becerra wants to mend fences with enviros, he should appoint Steyer to head up California's PUC. That would give him the platform he needs to enact the changes we want in the utility and oil sectors.
I mean, not that us climate activists want to take credit for Autopia's electrification or anything, but we filed our official complaints with AQMD and CARB in late 2022 and March 2023, respectively, following up with calls and emails to CARB. Honda notified Disney it had failed to certify the engines in August 2023, months after we began objecting to Autopia's air quality. All's well that ends well--and park visitors and employees, as well auto and other journalists had been complaining about Autopia's fumes for years and years--but yeah, would love to know if we made an impact. I'll have to call up Bob Eisner, whose wife, Willow Bay, was feet away when I announced our protest at a public lecture just three days before Disney comms called me to say Autopia was going all electric. True fact.
Sammy, I hope all is going well. Miss your column in the Times. I'm curious about your thoughts about Ezra Klein's interview with Michael Lind in November 2024 about the "End of the Obama Coalition" and Lind's book (if you have read it) as it relates to environmental NGOs. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/opinion/obama-ezra-klein-podcast-michael-lind.html - description: Michael Lind, a columnist at Tablet, the author of the book “The New Class War” and a co-founder of New America has argued that it was kind of a political machine, one built around urban political support, foundations, nonprofits, mass media. Bottom line in '24 is that they were expecting the NGO portion of the coalition to rival MAGA as a driver of votes for Harris. According to Lind, it turned out that they really didn't represent many people, and that the NGOs (not just environmental) were to a significant degree vanity projects for wealthy funders who also support campaigns. Wonder if there's an environmental angle to this as well. Adan Ortega
I hope Steyer quickly retools and uses his platform to join forces with a broad tent of enviro and other groups demanding serious climate action. As you say, Sammy, this is a moment to aggressively reframe the public conversation about "affordability" and not let the oil-agarchy and Silicon Valley continue to manipulate the discourse.
If Becerra wants to mend fences with enviros, he should appoint Steyer to head up California's PUC. That would give him the platform he needs to enact the changes we want in the utility and oil sectors.
Great idea! He should find a good job for Katie Porter top
I mean, not that us climate activists want to take credit for Autopia's electrification or anything, but we filed our official complaints with AQMD and CARB in late 2022 and March 2023, respectively, following up with calls and emails to CARB. Honda notified Disney it had failed to certify the engines in August 2023, months after we began objecting to Autopia's air quality. All's well that ends well--and park visitors and employees, as well auto and other journalists had been complaining about Autopia's fumes for years and years--but yeah, would love to know if we made an impact. I'll have to call up Bob Eisner, whose wife, Willow Bay, was feet away when I announced our protest at a public lecture just three days before Disney comms called me to say Autopia was going all electric. True fact.
Sammy, I hope all is going well. Miss your column in the Times. I'm curious about your thoughts about Ezra Klein's interview with Michael Lind in November 2024 about the "End of the Obama Coalition" and Lind's book (if you have read it) as it relates to environmental NGOs. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/opinion/obama-ezra-klein-podcast-michael-lind.html - description: Michael Lind, a columnist at Tablet, the author of the book “The New Class War” and a co-founder of New America has argued that it was kind of a political machine, one built around urban political support, foundations, nonprofits, mass media. Bottom line in '24 is that they were expecting the NGO portion of the coalition to rival MAGA as a driver of votes for Harris. According to Lind, it turned out that they really didn't represent many people, and that the NGOs (not just environmental) were to a significant degree vanity projects for wealthy funders who also support campaigns. Wonder if there's an environmental angle to this as well. Adan Ortega
I hope Steyer quickly retools and uses his platform to join forces with a broad tent of enviro and other groups demanding serious climate action. As you say, Sammy, this is a moment to aggressively reframe the public conversation about "affordability" and not let the oil-agarchy and Silicon Valley continue to manipulate the discourse.