Archive Tag: Air Quality

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L.A. County receives a C from UCLA on energy and air quality in the 2017 Sustainable LA Environmental Report Card

The 2017 Energy and Air Quality report card examined 21 indicators in five categories to assess energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and air quality in Los Angeles County.
UCLA

The UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge released the 2017 Sustainable LA Environmental Report Card on Energy and Air Quality for Los Angeles County on April 27, 2017. After analyzing roughly a decade’s worth of key energy and environmental data, UCLA researchers gave a C grade for energy and air quality within Los Angeles County in the latest environmental report card. Read more →

Sustainable LA

State and Trump are set to collide over electric cars and gas guzzlers

Downtown Los Angeles’ tallest buildings rise above a blanket of smog in October 1973.
(Fitzgerald Whitney / Los Angeles Times)

As Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency debates whether or not to loosen federal regulations on auto emissions, the State of California is taking steps to escalate its own targets. On Friday, March 24, state regulators voted to increase pollution-reduction requirements for automakers selling cars in the state and expand the Read more →

Sustainable LA

Our wet winter could be bad news for pollen allergies

A wet winter is good for plants and trees, but bad for pollen allergy sufferers.
AL FED VIA FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

The unusually pronounced rainy season which struck California earlier this year earned praise from environmental advocates, who celebrated the storm’s contributions to alleviating the state’s multi-year long drought. However, UCLA Professor of Medicine Andre Nel recently highlighted a more negative development associated with Read more →

Sustainable LA

California legislators prepare for legal battles as they oppose federal environmental deregulation

A truck is tested to see if it meets emissions standards at a California Air Resources Board facility in Los Angeles.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

California has always had some of the strictest environmental laws in the country, and legislators hope to keep these policies intact in the face of decreased federal funding and the loosening of environmental regulation in Washington. However, this process will be difficult as it challenges the relationship between states and the federal Read more →

Sustainable LA

Drought-busting winter storms have another upside: cleaner air

Photo Credit: GREGG JADEN VIA FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

Immense amounts of rainfall in Southern California this year have not only lifted the area out of extreme drought, but also greatly improved air quality. The combination of strong winds, which blow particulates out of the Los Angeles basin, and record amounts of rain, has resulted in significantly lower levels of air pollutants than during drought years. UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain comments that the clear and calm winter conditions that Read more →

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