Southern California is major center of the climate crisis. Los Angeles is the second largest metropolitan region in the country. It’s a globally influential city, which pioneered freeway culture and sprawling development.
And now we’re grappling with blowback from global warming, urban heat island, bad air quality, and knock-on impacts of wildfires, drought, lack of equitable access to green space.
There’s so much we can do locally to reduce emissions and to adapt to local consequences of climate change, while advancing equity.
You just need to know where to get started – that’s why we created this guide – to show you who has the power, what they could be doing with it, and how you can make a difference.
Air
Southern California’s notorious air pollution has been cleaned up dramatically over the last few decades, but the region’s air is still among the worst in the country — with no real plan to reign in the most noxious emissions. How can we put our smoggy days behind us for good?
Water
Cycles of drought and downpours are making Los Angeles’s water supplies more unreliable than ever. Our imported snowpack travels great distances at great social and environmental cost. How can we source and store more of its water locally?
Transportation
Despite billions spent on transit infrastructure, the region struggles to reduce the number of miles Angelenos spend traveling in gas-powered vehicles, the single-largest contributor to carbon emissions. How can we stop traveling in the wrong direction?
Urban Heat & Greening
It’s no surprise that Southern California is getting hotter. But higher temperatures paired with longer heat waves are especially dangerous for historically marginalized communities with substandard housing in park-poor neighborhoods with no trees. Where is the cooler, greener, shadier LA County that’s accessible to everyone?